Road accident in Germany, any international lawyers around?

[humpbackmaniac]

Hi All, I have just returned from an uneventful trip to Germany where I was used as a braking system by a local chap. Sitting at the back of a que on an Autobahn I was piled into from teh rear, wrote both cars off, caused a huge cafuffle.

Now I am not one to whinge but I do have a head ache and stiff neck, did pay out Euro2000 in excess and the delay caused me to miss the appointment for which I was there in the first place so I am out of pocket.

Can anyone advise on my steps for compensation? I have the other chaps details, the police reports etc, shall I just write to his insurance co myself or will that get me nowhere?

[Piglet]

Were you driving your own car? Had you notified your insurers that you were travelling outside of the UK? Do you have comprehensive cover? Assuming that the answer to all of these questions is "yes" then contact your own insurers and ask them to deal with the damage to your car.

Then contact your legal expenses insurers to deal with your out of pocket expenses. If you think you have an injury get yourself to your GP ASAP.

If you don't have comp cover/didn't tell them you were travelling abroad then your legal expenses insurers will need to recover all of the costs.

If you don't have legal expenses insurance then you'll need to instruct a claims management company (try Anniesdad on here).

[FarleyRusk]

We got rear-ended in a similar incident near Karlsruhe a decade ago. Person who caused it was an American in a hire car, who piled into the German behind us who was also in a hire car and he then hit us (Brit and Dutch citizens in a Swiss-registered car). I used to play squash twice a week before the incident but haven't done so ever since owing to back trouble

Compo: I got DM2,000 and the missus a was paid a life-changing DM4,000 and that was after 18 months of legal proceedings. Maybe things have changed in krautland, but I wouldn't be expecting too much if I were you.


Edited to add : our insurance company nominated a German lawyer to handle our case against the Yank's hire car insurance company.

Edited by FarleyRusk on Monday 22 December 10:40

[humpbackmaniac]

Thanks Guys, so it looks a bit bleek, all those fugging lawyer adverts on Sky are even MORE annoying now!

It was a hire car, Hertz who were great, and all insured etc as it was work, but I dont want to get work involved to be honest. I will just bite the bullet then.
Kraut bastid.

[mybrainhurts]

Whatever you do...

Don't mention the war...

[Piglet]

humpbackmaniac said:

Thanks Guys, so it looks a bit bleek, all those fugging lawyer adverts on Sky are even MORE annoying now!

It was a hire car, Hertz who were great, and all insured etc as it was work, but I dont want to get work involved to be honest. I will just bite the bullet then.
Kraut bastid.

Have you spoken to Hertz about whether they have insurance cover to pursue the uninsured losses? Your work probably have some cover for this type of thing, not sure why you wouldn't want to involve them, they presumably stump up for cover for this type of situation.

[Berlin Mike]

You must get back into contact with Hertz. In Germany if someone runs into the back of you when you're already stationary in a queue, it is their fault, 100% and no arguing. It should be cut and dried as it sounds like this was the case.

[humpbackmaniac]

Thanks all, it certainly was agreed by the Rozzers that it was Herr ToyotaBasher's fault so should be OK its just a ball ache.

[Myobb]

I was rear-ended by an 18 year old youth with 2 months driving experiance in October 2007 in Frankfurt, Germany. After being yelled at by the brats father I contacted an English speaking lawyer who dealt with the whole thing. After 3 months I received €1,700 in compensation & the lawyer charged €300 (paid out by the brats insurance company). The lawywes name & address is as follows:

Helmut Newrzella
Homburger Landstr 223
60435 Frankfurt/Main

Tel: [phone]
EMail:[e-mail]
WWW.newzella-online.de

And good luck!

[Myobb]

The web site should read:

www.newrzella-online.de

[V8mate]

Hopefully your insurance doesn't drop to Third Party Only when abroad. Else the time spent reclaiming and chasing will all be down to you.