Roadrage Insurance Questions
Discussion
I was the victim of a roadrage incident. Police are involved, so full details won't be revealed.
Questions are about insurance.
I am wanting to claim against the third party, but my insurance company tells me that I must claim against my own insurance and then costs will be reclaimed if I am proved not to be liable.
The third party claimed at the time that I drove into the back of him, but there is absolutely no damage to the rear of his vehicle. The impact was side-to-side.
Vehicle is a Range Rover L322 and worth about £6750. I could repair the vehicle for about the cost of my excess using salvage parts, but new parts would push the cost beyond write-off. For example, a salvage mirror is £100, but a new mirror is £1200. Lots of scratches that need a full side respray. Damaged plastic kick strips. Tracking has taking a knock and the steering wheel has moved from about three-minutes-to-twelve to five-past-twelve.
I've tried the third party's insurance company, but they won't talk to me (GDPR, blah, blah, blah). They will only talk to a claims company or an insurance company. Funnily enough I'm about to put £800 their way with a different car, so that may make for an interesting conversation
.
I've tried police 101, but they are not answering and live chat isn't being answered. I'll be trying that again during the wee small hours.
I don't want to pay a bean to get this sorted, but if I do I want to repair it myself.
Questions are about insurance.
I am wanting to claim against the third party, but my insurance company tells me that I must claim against my own insurance and then costs will be reclaimed if I am proved not to be liable.
The third party claimed at the time that I drove into the back of him, but there is absolutely no damage to the rear of his vehicle. The impact was side-to-side.
Vehicle is a Range Rover L322 and worth about £6750. I could repair the vehicle for about the cost of my excess using salvage parts, but new parts would push the cost beyond write-off. For example, a salvage mirror is £100, but a new mirror is £1200. Lots of scratches that need a full side respray. Damaged plastic kick strips. Tracking has taking a knock and the steering wheel has moved from about three-minutes-to-twelve to five-past-twelve.
I've tried the third party's insurance company, but they won't talk to me (GDPR, blah, blah, blah). They will only talk to a claims company or an insurance company. Funnily enough I'm about to put £800 their way with a different car, so that may make for an interesting conversation
.I've tried police 101, but they are not answering and live chat isn't being answered. I'll be trying that again during the wee small hours.
I don't want to pay a bean to get this sorted, but if I do I want to repair it myself.
pingu393 said:
my insurance company tells me that I must claim against my own insurance and then costs will be reclaimed if I am proved not to be liable.
.
Absolutely not true. You are entitled to claim off your own policy, or directly from the tp. .
pingu393 said:
I've tried the third party's insurance company, but they won't talk to me (GDPR, blah, blah, blah). They will only talk to a claims company or an insurance company.
In which case you need to claim directly from the driver who caused the damage. Write to them unemotionally with details of your claim and why you are holding them responsible. Just state the facts as you see them. Be professional. They will then pass it to their insurers who will then have to deal with you. TwigtheWonderkid said:
In which case you need to claim directly from the driver who caused the damage. Write to them unemotionally with details of your claim and why you are holding them responsible. Just state the facts as you see them. Be professional. They will then pass it to their insurers who will then have to deal with you.
That's not completely certain though. They may just bin the letter.TwigtheWonderkid said:
In which case you need to claim directly from the driver who caused the damage. Write to them unemotionally with details of your claim and why you are holding them responsible. Just state the facts as you see them. Be professional. They will then pass it to their insurers who will then have to deal with you.
Absolutely, no way, am I going to communicate with the third party. I only gave my phone number because the police told me that I had to.TwigtheWonderkid said:
pingu393 said:
my insurance company tells me that I must claim against my own insurance and then costs will be reclaimed if I am proved not to be liable.
.
Absolutely not true. You are entitled to claim off your own policy, or directly from the tp. .
pingu393 said:
I've tried the third party's insurance company, but they won't talk to me (GDPR, blah, blah, blah). They will only talk to a claims company or an insurance company.
In which case you need to claim directly from the driver who caused the damage. Write to them unemotionally with details of your claim and why you are holding them responsible. Just state the facts as you see them. Be professional. They will then pass it to their insurers who will then have to deal with you. It is what they are paid for and i never understand why some insist on suggesting dragging things out by dealing with the third party insurers.
GranpaB said:
What a faff. The OP's insurance company should be dealing with this 100%.
It is what they are paid for and i never understand why some insist on suggesting dragging things out by dealing with the third party insurers.
They would deal with it - but only if I make a claim on my own insurance.It is what they are paid for and i never understand why some insist on suggesting dragging things out by dealing with the third party insurers.
If it turns out that I am in any way responsible, even 1%, then I will be liable for costs. I don't want to even pay for a stamp.
pingu393 said:
KungFuPanda said:
What were the accident circumstances?
Two vehicles came into contact.It's hard for people to advise without details, but doubly so if you refuse all the normal recommendations because it would involve the slightest out of pocket cost.
The only solution that is sure not to cost you anything is to continue driving your car in its current state.
If you want it fixed, you are, at some point, going to have to do something that involves expenditure or the risk of such.
The only solution that is sure not to cost you anything is to continue driving your car in its current state.
If you want it fixed, you are, at some point, going to have to do something that involves expenditure or the risk of such.
vonhosen said:
All accidents end up costing you in some way, only way to avoid that is by not having them (fault or non fault).
True, but I want to minimise this as much as possible. Cashflow is not a problem. I can pay up front, but only if I know that I will be getting it back. The problem is not knowing whether he will claim off me. It would please me greatly if he did, as I have plenty of evidence that proves to me that he is lying. My problem is that I need to prove it to the insurance companies.If he does claim off me, I will claim off him. It will be 50/50 at worst, but more likely 100% his fault. My concern would be if it were 1% my fault. This would mean I lose my excess and one of my NCB strikes, along with an increased premium.
If he hasn't claimed off me by next Monday, I'll be claiming off him. The delay would give me more confidence that he has admitted to himself he was an idiot. My vehicle shows battle scars and a broken mirror, but his is trashed. If I could claim directly off him, I would be doing it now.
KungFuPanda said:
pingu393 said:
KungFuPanda said:
What were the accident circumstances?
Two vehicles came into contact.Specifically, what sort of info do you want?
InitialDave said:
It's hard for people to advise without details, but doubly so if you refuse all the normal recommendations because it would involve the slightest out of pocket cost.
The only solution that is sure not to cost you anything is to continue driving your car in its current state.
If you want it fixed, you are, at some point, going to have to do something that involves expenditure or the risk of such.
You're right. As I said to my insurer - if I had put it in a ditch, I would just get on eBay, spend a few quid and I would be back on the road by Wednesday. Unfortunately, if I go down this route, I would have a £2000 RR and not a £6000 RR.The only solution that is sure not to cost you anything is to continue driving your car in its current state.
If you want it fixed, you are, at some point, going to have to do something that involves expenditure or the risk of such.
It's the risk of expenditure that I'm not happy with. I'm not happy losing £500 excess when I could spend that £500 fixing the damage.
The third party insurance company are not obliged to deal with you, although I'm surprised they won't. That leaves you with either trying to claim directly off the third party, which will likely cost you, or tossing it to your insurers and hoping the claim goes your way.
I suppose if you have legal cover on your insurance you could try giving them a call, although I suspect they'll just tell you to hand it to your insurer.
Not particularly aimed at you, but I've never really understood why people take out insurance with an excess they aren't prepared to pay (unless they have little choice of course). Sure, it costs more to have a lower excess, but the point of insurance is so that you can just dump it all on the insurance company when s
t happens, rather than trying to find ways of avoiding using what you've paid for.
I suppose if you have legal cover on your insurance you could try giving them a call, although I suspect they'll just tell you to hand it to your insurer.
Not particularly aimed at you, but I've never really understood why people take out insurance with an excess they aren't prepared to pay (unless they have little choice of course). Sure, it costs more to have a lower excess, but the point of insurance is so that you can just dump it all on the insurance company when s
t happens, rather than trying to find ways of avoiding using what you've paid for.The other driver's insurer is not obliged to deal with you directly- they work for him, not for you, after all. Their only obligation to you is that if you successfully take the other driver to court, they have to pay any judgement you obtain on his behalf. In practice of you do make a claim against him they will get involved sooner than that, but you can't dictate exactly how or when.
So if they won't talk to you, that leaves you with basically three options
(1) Claim off your own policy
(2) Start the process too take the other driver to court, with or without the aid of a solicitor
(3) Engage the services of an accident management company, though if liability is in dispute an AMC might not want the business
If you aren't willing to do any of those things then your left with paying for the repairs yourself. There is no other way to get someone else to pay for them
So if they won't talk to you, that leaves you with basically three options
(1) Claim off your own policy
(2) Start the process too take the other driver to court, with or without the aid of a solicitor
(3) Engage the services of an accident management company, though if liability is in dispute an AMC might not want the business
If you aren't willing to do any of those things then your left with paying for the repairs yourself. There is no other way to get someone else to pay for them
Aretnap said:
The other driver's insurer is not obliged to deal with you directly- they work for him, not for you, after all. Their only obligation to you is that if you successfully take the other driver to court, they have to pay any judgement you obtain on his behalf. In practice of you do make a claim against him they will get involved sooner than that, but you can't dictate exactly how or when.
So if they won't talk to you, that leaves you with basically three options
(1) Claim off your own policy
(2) Start the process too take the other driver to court, with or without the aid of a solicitor
(3) Engage the services of an accident management company, though if liability is in dispute an AMC might not want the business
If you aren't willing to do any of those things then your left with paying for the repairs yourself. There is no other way to get someone else to pay for them
I think it comes down to "principles cost". The cheapest, in every way, is to fix it myself. At the moment, I'm pulled in the direction of "I've got to make this tSo if they won't talk to you, that leaves you with basically three options
(1) Claim off your own policy
(2) Start the process too take the other driver to court, with or without the aid of a solicitor
(3) Engage the services of an accident management company, though if liability is in dispute an AMC might not want the business
If you aren't willing to do any of those things then your left with paying for the repairs yourself. There is no other way to get someone else to pay for them
t suffer to the max", but I know that means that I'll have to dig two graves.I expect that my premiums will increase even if I don't make a claim, as my insurance company know about the incident. Does anyone know if his will? If so, I'll probably settle for that.
I need to be less "Russian", and more Ukrainian. I need to think more about making my life better, than making his worse. His life is already bad enough.
QJumper said:
The third party insurance company are not obliged to deal with you, although I'm surprised they won't. That leaves you with either trying to claim directly off the third party, which will likely cost you, or tossing it to your insurers and hoping the claim goes your way.
I suppose if you have legal cover on your insurance you could try giving them a call, although I suspect they'll just tell you to hand it to your insurer.
Not particularly aimed at you, but I've never really understood why people take out insurance with an excess they aren't prepared to pay (unless they have little choice of course). Sure, it costs more to have a lower excess, but the point of insurance is so that you can just dump it all on the insurance company when st happens, rather than trying to find ways of avoiding using what you've paid for.
I'd happily pay the excess if it were my fault. My fear is that it only needs to be partially my fault (another way of saying the insurance companies can't be bothered to investigate).I suppose if you have legal cover on your insurance you could try giving them a call, although I suspect they'll just tell you to hand it to your insurer.
Not particularly aimed at you, but I've never really understood why people take out insurance with an excess they aren't prepared to pay (unless they have little choice of course). Sure, it costs more to have a lower excess, but the point of insurance is so that you can just dump it all on the insurance company when s
t happens, rather than trying to find ways of avoiding using what you've paid for.My fault, I pay. Your fault, you pay.
If you knew the circumstances, I can't see how anyone could think it's my fault, but I'm not the one who decides. The problem for me is that my course of action is 180 degrees apart depending on who pays.
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