Guidance needed after accident
Discussion
Hi all,
my daughter was hit by a small truck last Thursday. She was in the right-hand lane turning right at a roundabout (A130/A12 - Howe Green). The truck was in the middle lane and without indicating drifted into the right hand land and hit my daughter. She managed to get the other driver to stop - he didn't speak English but she got a copy of his D/L and reg and ended up speaking to his cousin on the phone at the scene. He spoke English and wanted to sort it out without insurance being involved.
I then got involved and told him we would be going through our insurance. This was on the guidance of a local bodywork place we'd used before and they suggested also we speak to Innocent Driver, who are a claims company. They have spoken to the other drivers insurance and quelle surprise, they have contested the claim and saying that it was my daughter who changed lane and hit him. We have no witnesses or dashcam so ultimately this sounds like it will come down to our word against theirs. Innocent Driver have said that it's unlikely they will take this forward on our behalf and we would need to raise via our insurer - but warned us that most accidents on a roundabout default to a 50/50 claim basis. By the way, we did write to Admiral (my daughters insurer) last Saturday to say that she had been hit by another car but the message was for "info only" at this stage due to the involvement of Innocent Driver.
I can't imagine the cost of repairs will be more than £600-700 and as my daughter's excess is c. £500, I suspect paying for the repairs ourselves is going to be more the more cost effective option, even if the thought of this makes my blood boil. My daughter has got protected NCD but on the basis this will end up as an "at fault" claim, I want to avoid this.
Any other thoughts on this? Am assuming if we pay for the repairs ourselves that we should write to Admiral again - not sure what level of detail I should go into. Do I say the other insurer has contested who was at fault? Or do I just say that my daughter's vehicle has been repaired and not go into any detail as to who paid for it.
All in all, I feel out of my depth here and would welcome any thoughts or comments. Sorry for such a long email.
my daughter was hit by a small truck last Thursday. She was in the right-hand lane turning right at a roundabout (A130/A12 - Howe Green). The truck was in the middle lane and without indicating drifted into the right hand land and hit my daughter. She managed to get the other driver to stop - he didn't speak English but she got a copy of his D/L and reg and ended up speaking to his cousin on the phone at the scene. He spoke English and wanted to sort it out without insurance being involved.
I then got involved and told him we would be going through our insurance. This was on the guidance of a local bodywork place we'd used before and they suggested also we speak to Innocent Driver, who are a claims company. They have spoken to the other drivers insurance and quelle surprise, they have contested the claim and saying that it was my daughter who changed lane and hit him. We have no witnesses or dashcam so ultimately this sounds like it will come down to our word against theirs. Innocent Driver have said that it's unlikely they will take this forward on our behalf and we would need to raise via our insurer - but warned us that most accidents on a roundabout default to a 50/50 claim basis. By the way, we did write to Admiral (my daughters insurer) last Saturday to say that she had been hit by another car but the message was for "info only" at this stage due to the involvement of Innocent Driver.
I can't imagine the cost of repairs will be more than £600-700 and as my daughter's excess is c. £500, I suspect paying for the repairs ourselves is going to be more the more cost effective option, even if the thought of this makes my blood boil. My daughter has got protected NCD but on the basis this will end up as an "at fault" claim, I want to avoid this.
Any other thoughts on this? Am assuming if we pay for the repairs ourselves that we should write to Admiral again - not sure what level of detail I should go into. Do I say the other insurer has contested who was at fault? Or do I just say that my daughter's vehicle has been repaired and not go into any detail as to who paid for it.
All in all, I feel out of my depth here and would welcome any thoughts or comments. Sorry for such a long email.
Thanks @sixor8. There wasn't any damage to the other vehicle - unlikely they would have raised via the insurance and/or will need to make a claim for any repairs to theirs. Even with that info, I take it your view is that now it's in the "system" as a potential claim, we should probably just stick to that route?
Regardless of how it pans out, invest in a good quality dashcam, preferably a dual front/rear setup.
They're worth their weight in gold, especially if you need to prove the other driver was at fault and you haven't got any witnesses.
We have them in all our cars, not for snapping bad drivers but for our own backs in the case of an accident or incident. Came in handy a year ago when a guy drove into the back of us on the motorway; his insurance contested it until they saw the footage of their man driving into us at the back of a queue of traffic. End result, 100% his fault will footage to back it up.
They're worth their weight in gold, especially if you need to prove the other driver was at fault and you haven't got any witnesses.
We have them in all our cars, not for snapping bad drivers but for our own backs in the case of an accident or incident. Came in handy a year ago when a guy drove into the back of us on the motorway; his insurance contested it until they saw the footage of their man driving into us at the back of a queue of traffic. End result, 100% his fault will footage to back it up.
1) It will almost 100% be guaranteed to be logged internally and on CUE now. Whether the other driver denies it or whatever, your daughter will need to disclose it on future applications for 3 or 5 years (and frankly it would have to be disclosed even if not involving insurers, as the question does not reference claims, but any accidents or incidents within the specified time, whether a claim was made or not).
2) Get it sorted properly, as for the other driver it may end up 50/50 frustratingly.
3) Get your daughter a dash cam, which can be your impartial witness as to what went on and hopefully avoid issues moving forward.
2) Get it sorted properly, as for the other driver it may end up 50/50 frustratingly.
3) Get your daughter a dash cam, which can be your impartial witness as to what went on and hopefully avoid issues moving forward.
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