NonFault Accident - Foreign driver, how to proceed?

[Pot Bellied Fool]

Evening all.

MrsPBF had an accident today with a Polish HGV. He didn't see her stationary at the lights and has stove in the passenger side.

No Injuries (thankfully - as MrsPBF is 7 weeks pregnant).

Car is driveable but looks a mess.(Scraped & pushed in).

The Polish driver admitted fault (verbally) and we have two witnesses (one was the passenger in the car, the other a passer by).

We have vehicle registration, VIN, Haulage company details (address & phone number) and driver's name. He showed her an insurance certificate and we have the policy number but not the insurance company name (unless it can be deduced from the policy number). Going to have a closer look at her notes in a sec.

We have TPFT insurance.

It's a P reg Mitsubishi Colt, not worth a lot & I suspect, would be written off by this bash on cost basis.

It gets a bit complicated with it being a foreign driver does it not?

Wondering how best to proceed? Would an accident management company be the best route? Presume our insurance company won't be that interested in doing anything as it's not a fully comp policy.

We could've really done without this as we're very low on funds at the moment so any action needs to leave us open to minimal cost exposure - I don't want to be hiring cars for example as we simply can't afford the outlay even if it did eventually get recovered.

How do I best go about sorting this little lot out?

[superviggen]

report to your insurance co, as its the third party at fault you should be entitled to a replacement car with no outlay on your part if your car is unusable(if the doors dont open/close properly etc) other than a deposit on it. your insurance co should persue the third party for the costs etc. Also if your car was in a good pre accident condition i would ask your insurance company to assign an independent engineer to come out and inspect your car. you then should get a fair valuation, rather than someone with no real interest plucking a figure out of the internet for your car.
all in all if your insurance co is any good they should get on with this for you without expense to yourself even though your on tpft as it is the third party's fault.

hope you get it sorted quickly.

Edited by superviggen on Monday 29th June 18:38

[markoc]

I saw an accident today on the M25 where an 09 Fiesta was punted in front of a left hooker artic and ended up down the embankment. Thankfully the occupants were OK (I did the samaritan bit and dialled 999). These accidents have to be becoming more and more frequent.

I got hit about 4 years ago by a Polish artic on the M1. My insurance took an age to pay out (like 2.5 years - seriously) but they went through these guys and got resolution eventually:

http://www.mib.org.uk/Home/en/default.htm

Your insurers should know about them, but if not might be worth a prod in their direction. Good luck getting it settled & sorted.

[Pot Bellied Fool]

Holy thread ressurection

Just to update - that after nearly a year & a half, it's finally sorted and they've paid out.

It wasn't a fortune but it makes all the difference.

Thanks go to Mike at Europa (it's run by a PHer donchya know) for putting up with my frequent requests for info (I was getting earache ) and for prising details out of the MIB.

A good result. The only moral of the story being, don't get sideswiped by a foreign HGV, even one with all their documentation to hand - the insurance industry moves like a geriatric tortoise on beta blockers, how Mike puts up with the hassles of dealing with the MIB & overseas insurance is beyond me. I'd go postal...

[Denis O]

I feel your pain PBF.

I had a prang in Greece where the other driver wanted my side of the road. Clearly his fault. No dispute and he was an off duty BIB.

I was fully comp so got paid out reasonably quickly. It then took the Greek insurance company 9 months before they finally paid. And when they did get round to paying they wanted a letter from me to confirm that I had received the payout from my English insurance company. They wouldn't believe them without my confirmation. I guess that's a by product of a country where corruption is common practise. The other guys insurance company was the Greek equivalent of Lloyds of London i.e. major blue chip.

I thought at the time 9 months was a long time but it doesn't look too bad in light of yours. My company still held my £400 excess and deducted 2 years NCB till the claim was settled.