Discussion
I went into the back of someone after skidding on black ice this evening. It was a very low impact collision. Definitely no whip lash or anything on my part and the four passengers in the other car said they're all fine. Collision must have been at 5mph or less.
No broken lights or anything. A part of my radiator grill is cracked. His bumper has two small one inch square holes as a result of impact. Mine is a 2005 honda civic. His a BMW 318 from 2007.
The interesting bit: we're exchanging details and I smell alcohol on his breadth. His passengers have beer cans in hand and drinking. I ask him if he's been drinking. He gets slightly aggressive and asks if I'm being cheeky. I say no, I'm asking the question because I smell alcohol. He denies. I call police who say they will attend. He says he's happy to wait but then changes his mind and drives off.
I told police who said they will put an alert on his number plate out. I guess it's unlikely they will find and breathalyse him.
Where does that leave me claim wise? Obviously I can't say how much alcohol he had drunk. All I can say is that there was definitely alcohol on his breadth.
What to do from here? Should I tell my insurance company that he didn't wait. That the collision was so slow that whip lash is near impossible. Anything else I should do
Guidance would be very gracefully received
No broken lights or anything. A part of my radiator grill is cracked. His bumper has two small one inch square holes as a result of impact. Mine is a 2005 honda civic. His a BMW 318 from 2007.
The interesting bit: we're exchanging details and I smell alcohol on his breadth. His passengers have beer cans in hand and drinking. I ask him if he's been drinking. He gets slightly aggressive and asks if I'm being cheeky. I say no, I'm asking the question because I smell alcohol. He denies. I call police who say they will attend. He says he's happy to wait but then changes his mind and drives off.
I told police who said they will put an alert on his number plate out. I guess it's unlikely they will find and breathalyse him.
Where does that leave me claim wise? Obviously I can't say how much alcohol he had drunk. All I can say is that there was definitely alcohol on his breadth.
What to do from here? Should I tell my insurance company that he didn't wait. That the collision was so slow that whip lash is near impossible. Anything else I should do
Guidance would be very gracefully received
whiplash can take a few days and I would think that if they were happily drinking in the car that you could get done for this by them (sorry to say)....
If the police do get hold of him they can calculate and back date the alcohol he has take if he carries on drinking at home to cover it up.
not a lot you can do as its his word against yours but it might go in your favour that he left the scene of the accident when the police were called and didn't stay.
The fact you reported it asap does hold in favour to you if something else pops up, but at the moment its a case of pay up when they call it in.
If the police do get hold of him they can calculate and back date the alcohol he has take if he carries on drinking at home to cover it up.
not a lot you can do as its his word against yours but it might go in your favour that he left the scene of the accident when the police were called and didn't stay.
The fact you reported it asap does hold in favour to you if something else pops up, but at the moment its a case of pay up when they call it in.
Even if he was drunk and over the limit you still crashed into him, so don't try to get out of it by saying it was his fault for being drunk, you were obviously driving too close for the conditions no matter if he was drunk or not, I may be wrong but this really sounds like you are trying to get out of the responsibility.
I know I went into him and hold my hands up to that. I kept at least ten metres from him going 5-7mph but the car skidded and seemed to speed up somewhat. Maybe it merely felt like it was speeding up as it skidded. I'm not sure.
I'm definitely not trying to get out of responsibility. Insurance is there to cover these things. I just don't want to get fleeced.
I'm not a new driver, however, I've never been in an accident (thankfully) so just trying to get an idea of what to do next and what to expect. Worse case scenarios would be good to hear so that I know what might be coming up.
For the record, my tyres are all legal etc etc. My car is fully and regularly maintained.
I'm definitely not trying to get out of responsibility. Insurance is there to cover these things. I just don't want to get fleeced.
I'm not a new driver, however, I've never been in an accident (thankfully) so just trying to get an idea of what to do next and what to expect. Worse case scenarios would be good to hear so that I know what might be coming up.
For the record, my tyres are all legal etc etc. My car is fully and regularly maintained.
MrJuice said:
I know I went into him and hold my hands up to that. I kept at least ten metres from him going 5-7mph but the car skidded and seemed to speed up somewhat. Maybe it merely felt like it was speeding up as it skidded. I'm not sure.
I'm definitely not trying to get out of responsibility. Insurance is there to cover these things. I just don't want to get fleeced.
I'm not a new driver, however, I've never been in an accident (thankfully) so just trying to get an idea of what to do next and what to expect. Worse case scenarios would be good to hear so that I know what might be coming up.
For the record, my tyres are all legal etc etc. My car is fully and regularly maintained.
worst case is 1 case of fixing bumper from his mate which could be £500-1000 and then 4 whiplash claims of £1500-2500.I'm definitely not trying to get out of responsibility. Insurance is there to cover these things. I just don't want to get fleeced.
I'm not a new driver, however, I've never been in an accident (thankfully) so just trying to get an idea of what to do next and what to expect. Worse case scenarios would be good to hear so that I know what might be coming up.
For the record, my tyres are all legal etc etc. My car is fully and regularly maintained.
I would hold hands up to the bumper and make damn sure that the insurance company fights all the way with the whiplash until doctors reports are show that they do (even fraudulently have it) and then you will have to suck it up as an experience.
Nothing you can do about it and just sit back and tell the truth and not let your insurance roll over and just pay it bar the actual damage.
Insurance company advised that there is government guidance that says one can sustain whiplash at 3-4 mph. So I have a funny feeling that there will be whiplash claims x 4 coming to my insurers.
If they are genuine claims, best wishes to the claimants and I sincerely hope there's no lasting damage.
The annoying thing is that when I described the damage to a friend who runs a dent removal firm, he said that he could have it fixed for peanuts. And it would look perfect.
Never mind though. An expensive-ish lesson learned. Keep WELL back in snow and black ice even if you leave a massive gap between you and the car in front.
If they are genuine claims, best wishes to the claimants and I sincerely hope there's no lasting damage.
The annoying thing is that when I described the damage to a friend who runs a dent removal firm, he said that he could have it fixed for peanuts. And it would look perfect.
Never mind though. An expensive-ish lesson learned. Keep WELL back in snow and black ice even if you leave a massive gap between you and the car in front.
While I'm not suggesting you should do this, you could probably avoid the whole claim all together by saying they reversed into you and then drove off. Completely out of order but it'd be your word against theres and they didn't bother waiting for the police.
2 wrongs don't make a right and all that but, on the other hand, drink drivers deserve to be screwed over.
2 wrongs don't make a right and all that but, on the other hand, drink drivers deserve to be screwed over.
Du1point8 said:
worst case is 1 case of fixing bumper from his mate which could be £500-1000 and then 4 whiplash claims of £1500-2500.
I didn't know what you meant by mate here until I spoke with insurance company and driver. Insurance said you can use anyone you like to fix your car. They require two quotes and will process the cheaper option. When I asked the driver if he would
Consider allowing my professional friend to do the work he said, 'nah mate. I'm getting my people to do the work'.
Good thing is that I'll save myself part of the excess payment I think by getting my damage work done privately.
MrJuice said:
I went into the back of someone....
I told police who said they will put an alert on his number plate out. I guess it's unlikely they will find and breathalyse him.
Where does that leave me claim wise?
Which bit of "I drove into the back of him" are you trying to blame him for? I told police who said they will put an alert on his number plate out. I guess it's unlikely they will find and breathalyse him.
Where does that leave me claim wise?
CampDavid said:
While I'm not suggesting you should do this, you could probably avoid the whole claim all together by saying they reversed into you and then drove off. Completely out of order but it'd be your word against theres and they didn't bother waiting for the police.
2 wrongs don't make a right and all that but, on the other hand, drink drivers deserve to be screwed over.
We actually had one of these by a drunk driver that actually drove into a friend of mine... then accused my friend of drinking and tried to drive off when the police arrived.2 wrongs don't make a right and all that but, on the other hand, drink drivers deserve to be screwed over.
Shame the tool lost everything when you could see a dent on another car he hit when reversing and got dragged away for drinking... Oh and he tried to blame my friend for drinking, however due to religious reasons my friend doesn't drink, last I heard the driver lost his licence for 3 years and got a massive fine.
Du1point8 said:
If the police do get hold of him they can calculate and back date the alcohol he has take if he carries on drinking at home to cover it up.
How would they do that exactly? If they found him at home with a whisky in hand he could just say it was his third since he got back ten mins ago - not sure they have any way of telling how long the alcohol has been in your blood. LukeSi said:
Even if he was drunk and over the limit you still crashed into him, so don't try to get out of it by saying it was his fault for being drunk, you were obviously driving too close for the conditions no matter if he was drunk or not, I may be wrong but this really sounds like you are trying to get out of the responsibility.
You are either reading a different post to me, or you are wrong.I always thought, and perhaps I'm wrong here, that if you're illegally operating a car, i.e. over the drink drive limit, car or driver is unlicensed, etc, that you are responsible for any collision you are involved in, regardless of what happened, because you should not have been at the scene in the first place?
Or is that just something someone made up to deter people from driving illegally?
Or is that just something someone made up to deter people from driving illegally?
soooo, after a long while, insurance company tells me the claim is settled. Total cliam value is £18425.04. I had spoken to them several times in between and they had let slip that the chap was claiming for a courtesy car, repair and 4x whiplash. The whiplash claims took a long time to be settled. I say let slip cos when I asked insurance company for a breakdown of the claim, they said they cannot tell me cos of data protection.
Interestingly, my next insurance premium was less than the one prior to accident. WIth same insurer (Admiral).
Interestingly, my next insurance premium was less than the one prior to accident. WIth same insurer (Admiral).
I would imagine that having challenged them on drink driving, then called the police on them that you've probably provided the necessary motivation to claim against you for whiplash, if they weren't already intending to.
I do not condone drink driving, but having rammed him, it may have been best to either mind your own business completely or shaken his hand, apologised then rang the police afterwards and anonymously - although tbh they'd probably still figure out it was you who dobbed them in which would give the same result as my first paragraph.
It's a noble position to take to screw your own insurance claims history in what's likely to be a vein attempt to screw a suspected drink driver.
Personally I don't think it's unreasonable to refuse to let your friend look at the car either, and infact that would be my response. Circumstances may or may not be the same but I don't like poor quality work and I like arguments and rework even less so when people bump my car then it always goes to someone I already know and trust to ensure that my inconvenience is minimised and I am happy with my car after someone else crashed in to it. It's nothing personal, but there's no way I'd trust someone known to the person who hit me, who's primary motivation is to fob me off for as little money as possible.
I do not condone drink driving, but having rammed him, it may have been best to either mind your own business completely or shaken his hand, apologised then rang the police afterwards and anonymously - although tbh they'd probably still figure out it was you who dobbed them in which would give the same result as my first paragraph.
It's a noble position to take to screw your own insurance claims history in what's likely to be a vein attempt to screw a suspected drink driver.
Personally I don't think it's unreasonable to refuse to let your friend look at the car either, and infact that would be my response. Circumstances may or may not be the same but I don't like poor quality work and I like arguments and rework even less so when people bump my car then it always goes to someone I already know and trust to ensure that my inconvenience is minimised and I am happy with my car after someone else crashed in to it. It's nothing personal, but there's no way I'd trust someone known to the person who hit me, who's primary motivation is to fob me off for as little money as possible.
Edited by jamieduff1981 on Thursday 9th January 13:18
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