scootz
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| posted on 17/10/12 at 08:48 PM |
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Insurance Claim Advice...
Evenin all. Looking for some advice from the LCB massive!!
My brother had a prang last week. Basic details are that he was driving along a stretch of road when another car failed to comply with the give-way
markings at an intersecting crossroads and smacked into the side of him.
There were no independent witnesses, but the other driver must have admitted her guilt to the police as she has been charged with careless driving.
His car is being written-off and his insurance company are offering him bottom dollar (which coincidentally is almost exactly the same as what's
outstanding on his finance agreement).
They also say that the other party is contesting his claim and alleging that it was my brother who had not given-way at the junction (basically saying
that she was going the way he was and vice-versa!!!).
His insurance company appear not to be interested in the criminal charge and have told him that the criminal side is irrelevant to the civil insurance
side. I find this bizzarre as the burden of proof is much stricter in a criminal matter than it is in a civil matter.
As an aside, I know how the PF (crown) office in the area operates - they will be unlikely to take a damage only crash like this to trial. :-(
He wants about a grand more than they are offering, for his excess not to be deducted, and for his no-claims to remain intact.
He's banging his head against a brick wall with them and is looking for ways to speed things up.
Can anyone with a civil law (or insurance company) background give any advice on what he should do? He has legal cover on his policy.
It's Evolution Baby!
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austin man
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| posted on 17/10/12 at 09:01 PM |
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surely if she claims she was the one in the right the damage to his car would be on the opposite side if he was sideswiped and did not give way unless
he was on the wrong side of the road reversing
Life is like a bowl of fruit, funny how all the weird looking ones are left alone
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Ninehigh
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| posted on 17/10/12 at 09:07 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by austin man
surely if she claims she was the one in the right the damage to his car would be on the opposite side if he was sideswiped and did not give way unless
he was on the wrong side of the road reversing
True if she t-boned him then the damage is all the proof. I'd get his insurance people to take some photos (or do it himself if the car's
still about)
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mookaloid
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| posted on 17/10/12 at 09:10 PM |
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I am trying to sort out a similar problem with a collision Mrs Mooky had and the other driver (the bloke was 100% in the wrong) says it was all her
fault. There were no witnesses and it's been going on for months now with no resolution in sight. We have eventually been able to persuade our
legal cover insurers to appoint a solicitor who says this could go on for another 6 months or more.
It's like wading through treacle 
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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ross05
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| posted on 17/10/12 at 09:19 PM |
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damage
As Austin man says damage would be on the other side of his vehicle,send a photo of the vehicle damage and a couple of photos of the junction,Together
with a letter stating she is being prosecuted and not him.
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JoelP
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| posted on 17/10/12 at 09:21 PM |
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I once had to settle 50/50 after the other driver lied after ramming me off a roundabout. I will never forget the bastard if i see him...
On the flip side, my friend had a similar story to yours scott and the insurance was only resolved after the other party was convicted of dangerous
driving.
Beware! Bourettes is binfectious.
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swanny
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| posted on 17/10/12 at 09:53 PM |
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in my limited experience the muppets in the claim dept at the insurance form were lazy and thick.
like you a case where the laws of physics were being challenged by someone trying to get out of a silly mistake, when all the evidence to both cars
screamed otherwise.
in the end we drew them pictures and faxed/emailed them (it was then that the penny dropped) explaining what had happened and how what the other
person suggested couldnt not have happened and it seemed to resolve quite quickly.
the diffuclty seemed to me to be that you had two essentially half arsed insurance company wonks at either end of a disagreement that they didnt
really cxare about not really engaging brain and palming their 'customers' off because someone had been smart enough to try it on and
challenge the truth.
i suspect a lot of people make a lot of money that way. try it on and see what happens.
my dad rear ended someone in a fiesta who once the claim came in happened to have four mates in the car with him. fortunately the witness statement
suggested that was rubbish and a quick " oh yes he must have made a mistake" came back.
makes you wonder why anyone bothers with insurance. roll on a Levison enquiry for that industry
Paul
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loggyboy
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| posted on 17/10/12 at 09:56 PM |
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Its pretty much standard for an insurace co to try the run around and dispute liabilty. Just keep arguing the corner, ignore the police case (even if
it goes to trial etc), but try to get the police statements to coroberate(sp) your side of the events.
They will push for split liability untill your insurers threaten court, if its as clear cut as it seems, then thats when they will give in and leave
it.
Mistral Motorsport
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pjay
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| posted on 17/10/12 at 10:04 PM |
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If your brothers a member of the AA, RAC or similar they can sometimes help with legal stuff like this.
Years back I had a guy drive into the side of my car and then he claimed he couldn't pay and the insurance company were no good. I used the AA
legal services and they took him to court and got me the repair money - did take a while though.
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scootz
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| posted on 18/10/12 at 05:55 AM |
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Cheers guys.
It just strikes me as absurd that his own insurers are offering him an (inadequate) settlement when it clearly wasn't his fault!
No bloody wonder we are all paying through the nose for insurance these days!
It's Evolution Baby!
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britishtrident
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| posted on 18/10/12 at 06:29 AM |
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Something we can all learn from this is to take photos at the time of the accident.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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rf900rush
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| posted on 18/10/12 at 06:57 AM |
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A few years back I had a Tesco van drive in the back of my bike.
I took ages to sort out.
But one thing that may be of use, is the fact that my claims solicitor got a copy of the police statement.
Bad bit was, they wanted something like £125 for it.
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scootz
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| posted on 18/10/12 at 07:02 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
Something we can all learn from this is to take photos at the time of the accident.
He has done BT... and they confirm things as described.
It just seems his insurance co are putting their head on the sand and screaming LA-LA-LA-LA.
He's indicated he will take a quick settlement of a grand more than they are offering him and an assurance that his no-claims will remain intact
going forward. I can't understand why they (well, the other insurance company) are not biting his hand off as the hire car they are providing
is costing £70 a day and I assume they'll be paying in the region of £20 a day for the storage of his damaged car!!!
It's Evolution Baby!
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watsonpj
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| posted on 18/10/12 at 07:39 AM |
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He is just going to have to stick with it I'm afraid. I have just had one go through which as taken 3 years to settle fully (sort out the NCB)
as the other party was mucking about and finally settled out of court (last month).
I had someone contest on a previous claim also saying it was my fault not theirs and the insurance company wanted to go Knock for knock but i then got
the other parties statement and it was this that swung it around. The claims they had made along with the pictures showed big issues on their side
(damage didn't match the road positions/layout) so it got settled in my favour (about 18 months in total).
On the payout for the Car they will always offer bottom dollar its just a case of looking for similar cars from a year/condition and sending them as
evidence.
Pete
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mcerd1
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| posted on 18/10/12 at 08:05 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by swannyin the end we drew them pictures and faxed/emailed them (it was then that the penny dropped) explaining what
had happened and how what the other person suggested couldnt not have happened and it seemed to resolve quite quickly.
a mate of mine had a similar problem when someone t-boned him in edinburgh
in the end he resorted to drawing out step by step picture version of the events (plan views) aswell as the with photo's of the damage
put it all together in a polite letter explaining how the damage could only have be caused this way and not the way the other party claimed, finished
off with a suggestion that he'd take it to court if it wasn't sorted
it only took a few weeks to get sorted after that 
however another mate of mine got reversed into - he was traveling down a main road in town (Direlton ave. in NB) when some woman reversed out of there
driveway and strait into him
she then called the police and claimed she'd been driving forawrds into her driveway and had him done for careless driving
his insurance did try to fight it on his behalf (took 6month in and out of court) but the damage to the cars could have happened either way and
without witnesses the gave up in the end 
at which point I beleve she tried to claim for whiplash (about a 10mph impact) - funny she'd never mentioned that before....
[Edited on 18/10/2012 by mcerd1]
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ed1max
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| posted on 18/10/12 at 08:18 AM |
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I was in a similar situation a few years back what I did was to get a pal in Scotland to say he was was down in Coventry on holiday and was an
independent witness to the accident and in his opinion the other party was at fault.He sent me a letter to that effect which I forwarded to my
insurance they paid me out in a week.
quote:
Originally posted by scootz
Evenin all. Looking for some advice from the LCB massive!!
My brother had a prang last week. Basic details are that he was driving along a stretch of road when another car failed to comply with the give-way
markings at an intersecting crossroads and smacked into the side of him.
There were no independent witnesses, but the other driver must have admitted her guilt to the police as she has been charged with careless driving.
His car is being written-off and his insurance company are offering him bottom dollar (which coincidentally is almost exactly the same as what's
outstanding on his finance agreement).
They also say that the other party is contesting his claim and alleging that it was my brother who had not given-way at the junction (basically saying
that she was going the way he was and vice-versa!!!).
His insurance company appear not to be interested in the criminal charge and have told him that the criminal side is irrelevant to the civil insurance
side. I find this bizzarre as the burden of proof is much stricter in a criminal matter than it is in a civil matter.
As an aside, I know how the PF (crown) office in the area operates - they will be unlikely to take a damage only crash like this to trial. :-(
He wants about a grand more than they are offering, for his excess not to be deducted, and for his no-claims to remain intact.
He's banging his head against a brick wall with them and is looking for ways to speed things up.
Can anyone with a civil law (or insurance company) background give any advice on what he should do? He has legal cover on his policy.
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ed1max
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| posted on 18/10/12 at 08:20 AM |
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I was in a similar situation a few years back what I did was to get a pal in Scotland to say he was was down in Coventry on holiday and was an
independent witness to the accident and in his opinion the other party was at fault.He sent me a letter to that effect which I forwarded to my
insurance they paid me out in a week.
quote:
Originally posted by scootz
Evenin all. Looking for some advice from the LCB massive!!
My brother had a prang last week. Basic details are that he was driving along a stretch of road when another car failed to comply with the give-way
markings at an intersecting crossroads and smacked into the side of him.
There were no independent witnesses, but the other driver must have admitted her guilt to the police as she has been charged with careless driving.
His car is being written-off and his insurance company are offering him bottom dollar (which coincidentally is almost exactly the same as what's
outstanding on his finance agreement).
They also say that the other party is contesting his claim and alleging that it was my brother who had not given-way at the junction (basically saying
that she was going the way he was and vice-versa!!!).
His insurance company appear not to be interested in the criminal charge and have told him that the criminal side is irrelevant to the civil insurance
side. I find this bizzarre as the burden of proof is much stricter in a criminal matter than it is in a civil matter.
As an aside, I know how the PF (crown) office in the area operates - they will be unlikely to take a damage only crash like this to trial. :-(
He wants about a grand more than they are offering, for his excess not to be deducted, and for his no-claims to remain intact.
He's banging his head against a brick wall with them and is looking for ways to speed things up.
Can anyone with a civil law (or insurance company) background give any advice on what he should do? He has legal cover on his policy.
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johnemms
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| posted on 18/10/12 at 08:31 AM |
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Bite the bullet - negociate the best settlement you can - go get drunk...
Insurance is a pain - this year -
I had my van stolen January - 1 non fault 'claim' against me
replaced van - had idiot drive into me June - wrote van off - 1 more 'claim'
very careful out there at the moment...
Own chassis & Build - First time pass!!
"7's" aren't really "cars", they are 'experiences"
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Dusty
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| posted on 18/10/12 at 10:00 AM |
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My daughter was woken by a huge crash on Cowley road in Oxford at 2 in the morning. Hers was one of four cars written off by a drunk driver who ran
off. Three were parked and one was the drunks. Owner of the crashed car claims he sold it the day before but can't remember who to. After 9
months she has still lost her NCB not had any cash and is paying top dollar plus excess as insurance company figures 'show people who make a
claim, even a no fault claim, are more likely to make another' Go figure!
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