Well that's the end of that!
Discussion
Nearly at work this morning, when I got a call from my wife saying to come home as someone has ploughed into our astra outside the house.
Bit narked I arrived home to find it all going on; Woman had been driving along the road towards the rear of our parked car, when another woman on the opposite side of the road pulled out on her in the same direction of travel. Woman 1 swerved into the back of my car and somehow woman 2 clipped the back of her.
Woman 1 has injured her wrist, she is very upset and crying, as is her son who was a front seat passenger and now has seatbelt related injuries.
All in a 20 zone!
Thankfully everyone is generally ok (apart from a suspected broken wrist), but I now have a pile of scrap outside my house (you could argue I did beforehand though!) which although not very PH was a very decent and reliable little motor.
I anticipate all kinds of hassle getting it sorted now
Will call the lady involved later though to check her and the lad are ok.
So what is my best course of action? Start with my insurance company? Or call one of these 'call us first' out fits?
To clarify there are obviously no injuries on our side and we don't need a courtesy car as we have two others, just want my car fixed (unlikely) or a fair pay out to replace.
To add to it the Mrs had just filled the tank with diesel too
Bit narked I arrived home to find it all going on; Woman had been driving along the road towards the rear of our parked car, when another woman on the opposite side of the road pulled out on her in the same direction of travel. Woman 1 swerved into the back of my car and somehow woman 2 clipped the back of her.
Woman 1 has injured her wrist, she is very upset and crying, as is her son who was a front seat passenger and now has seatbelt related injuries.
All in a 20 zone!
Thankfully everyone is generally ok (apart from a suspected broken wrist), but I now have a pile of scrap outside my house (you could argue I did beforehand though!) which although not very PH was a very decent and reliable little motor.
I anticipate all kinds of hassle getting it sorted now
Will call the lady involved later though to check her and the lad are ok.
So what is my best course of action? Start with my insurance company? Or call one of these 'call us first' out fits?
To clarify there are obviously no injuries on our side and we don't need a courtesy car as we have two others, just want my car fixed (unlikely) or a fair pay out to replace.
To add to it the Mrs had just filled the tank with diesel too
Police attended as there was an injury so they made sure I had all details.
I will syphon the diesel, just sods law she just filled it up!
It's done 155k the car and is cosmetically a bit tatty, but I've known the car since 2006 when I had it as a company car, my brother then bought it and I bought it back from him. Full Vauxhall history upto about 120k and then local garage services from then. It's one of those cars thats had everything it's needed done pretty much straight away; not run around with umpteen niggly faults like some older vehicles. Last 12 months alone it's been serviced, had drop rods, rear springs, new rubber etc... and I'll probably end up with less than a bag o'sand for it
Also, I've just renewed the insurance earlier this month, will I lose out on what I've paid for the rest of the year now? ie I've paid £400, probably had less than £40 worth of cover (less than a month) will I get the difference back?
I will syphon the diesel, just sods law she just filled it up!
It's done 155k the car and is cosmetically a bit tatty, but I've known the car since 2006 when I had it as a company car, my brother then bought it and I bought it back from him. Full Vauxhall history upto about 120k and then local garage services from then. It's one of those cars thats had everything it's needed done pretty much straight away; not run around with umpteen niggly faults like some older vehicles. Last 12 months alone it's been serviced, had drop rods, rear springs, new rubber etc... and I'll probably end up with less than a bag o'sand for it
Also, I've just renewed the insurance earlier this month, will I lose out on what I've paid for the rest of the year now? ie I've paid £400, probably had less than £40 worth of cover (less than a month) will I get the difference back?
Risotto said:
Just call your insurance company, pass on the details of what happened and leave the rest to them.
a) I don't want to have to fork out then reclaim my excess (obviously not my fault so why should I be £300 out of pocket for x months while the other two partys fight it out).
b) I don't want my future premiums to increase for something that is not my fault.
For the record we will now be down to 2 cars, one on the drive, one in the garage, so there's not really the risk of the same thing happening again.
badlands1 said:
Have a drink tonight and let the insurance company sort it out.
+1.As for the payout on your car, I presume you're armed with sheathes of receipts and history dating back quite some time. So get into the classifieds, collate a few ads for cars of similar age, mileage, spec and condition, and get their prices. Your insurers will usually have to accept this as "the market value" of the car, since they're supposed to pay out what it would cost you to replace the car as like for like as possible. So when they fire a ridiculous offer your way, you're armed to respond to get a reasonable figure
badlands1 said:
Have a drink tonight and let the insurance company sort it out.
Off alcohol until the 1st feb unfortunately, will have a curry though 
So my own insurance company the best way to go then?
When this happened to me before (car rolled into mine in a car park) their insurance company were intouch with me before I had chance to do anything, just told my insurance company what was happening and they were fine with that. Was simpler though as just the one third party was involved on that occassion.
You only have to pay the excess if it's your fault or you're making a claim yourself. If your insurance company decide to pay out before the other side has admitted liability then as the car is probably a write off you'll receive a cheque for the market value minus the £300 excess. Then once your insurance company claim the costs back off the other side you'll receive your excess back with another cheque.
Edited by DanielC4GP on Friday 27th January 13:57
Never take the Insurance company's first offer, as you are not in need of a replacement to stay mobile its worth fighting for a good deal. Usually the first offer is "what is the least we can get away with? Then if you can quote a few similar car prices they should come back with a better offer. Best to leave any blame arguments to them and the other peoples insurances, you are safely above any blame, particularly in a 20 zone!
B'stard Child said:
Expect the driver and passenger to make whiplash claims against you shortly.....
After all if your car hadn't been there in the road the accident would have never happened
Hehe.. probably.After all if your car hadn't been there in the road the accident would have never happened
Thanks for the sound advice everyone.
How much can I dig my heels in over the value though? Can I say for example I want my car fixed or I want £x for it?
I'd like £1500 for it. I doubt I could sell it for that, but as said it was a reliable car I could trust and looking on autotrader the cheapest 1.7CDTi is £1250 (but looks a bit of a shed), after that they're all around £1500.
Sound reasonable?
Great Pretender said:
Defcon5 said:
Syphon the diesel out before it gats towed away for a start.
Eh? Are people really this tight?Next time you have an accident, just take a few £20s and throw them in the bin.
Great Pretender said:
Eh? Are people really this tight?
Er... yes!Mrs put over £60 in the tank on Tuesday night and has done about 40miles since.
Either I syphon it or the scrap man will.
Mate is coming round at the weekend to claim it as the wifes car is petrol and my other car is a company car with fuel card
D1bram said:
Hehe.. probably.
Thanks for the sound advice everyone.
How much can I dig my heels in over the value though? Can I say for example I want my car fixed or I want £x for it?
I'd like £1500 for it. I doubt I could sell it for that, but as said it was a reliable car I could trust and looking on autotrader the cheapest 1.7CDTi is £1250 (but looks a bit of a shed), after that they're all around £1500.
Sound reasonable?
Yes, it does. Like I said above, if you can show the insurance company that that's what a replacement will cost, that's what they're going to have to pay you Thanks for the sound advice everyone.
How much can I dig my heels in over the value though? Can I say for example I want my car fixed or I want £x for it?
I'd like £1500 for it. I doubt I could sell it for that, but as said it was a reliable car I could trust and looking on autotrader the cheapest 1.7CDTi is £1250 (but looks a bit of a shed), after that they're all around £1500.
Sound reasonable?
being cheeky and trying to get more than it's worth won't get you far, but if you just want to get a fair value to buy a replacement, then that will go well.
D1bram said:
Hehe.. probably.
Thanks for the sound advice everyone.
How much can I dig my heels in over the value though? Can I say for example I want my car fixed or I want £x for it?
I'd like £1500 for it. I doubt I could sell it for that, but as said it was a reliable car I could trust and looking on autotrader the cheapest 1.7CDTi is £1250 (but looks a bit of a shed), after that they're all around £1500.
Sound reasonable?
You can insist that the car is returned to its pre-accident state - you will need to tell the other parties insurance assesor this and they should get on with it.Thanks for the sound advice everyone.
How much can I dig my heels in over the value though? Can I say for example I want my car fixed or I want £x for it?
I'd like £1500 for it. I doubt I could sell it for that, but as said it was a reliable car I could trust and looking on autotrader the cheapest 1.7CDTi is £1250 (but looks a bit of a shed), after that they're all around £1500.
Sound reasonable?
They may offer you a fixed repair fee and you keep the car, which if you happen to know anyone in the crash repair business can work out fine as well.
Alternatively they may suprise you and repair it.
Alternatively they may offer you a fixed sum of money to write it off.
Thats really your options, keep all taxi/bus/hire car receipts- and rememebr to keep it reasonable as you wont get your out of pocket expenses back if you cant prove that the cost was reasonable.
If you go with a claims management company be aware that you are still responsible for all hire car charges so if they cant get the monies from the other party then you will have to pay the difference.
Does your neck hurt?? - joke.
Don't be silly my neck is fine.
I just can't sleep from reliving the horror of it all
In all seriousness I'm not after any costs other than what the car is worth. Would like it fixed tbh, but as the shell is bent that seems unlikely on a car of this value.
Wife and I both have other cars so no need for any other costs there.
Only other thing I'd like is the remainder of my insurance premium back.
I just can't sleep from reliving the horror of it all
In all seriousness I'm not after any costs other than what the car is worth. Would like it fixed tbh, but as the shell is bent that seems unlikely on a car of this value.
Wife and I both have other cars so no need for any other costs there.
Only other thing I'd like is the remainder of my insurance premium back.
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