Hi everyone,

after 40 years of combined driving between me and my wife without having any accident,

Friday a scooter drove into my door and yesterday some sleepy guy drove his car into the rear nearside door while my wife was at the wheels.

My accident is all above board, both parties notified the insurance and all good, fortunately nobody was hurt.

But my wife's accident is more complicated and I will try to be brief.

She's driving down a two way residential street with my 20 month old boy in the back nearside seat and my mum in the front passenger seat.

A car comes out of a private driveway and my wife moved as much as she could to the right but the guy hits the rear passenger door.

If my wife had accelerated instead of braking this all mess could have been a near miss, but hey...

My wife (pregnant) gets out of the car shaking like a leaf and attends my son who's crying having being the closest to the impact.

The other guy reversed slightly to allow my wife to open the door and take my son.

He's all right btw, happy as usual, but at the time he was crying.

My wife felt her legs like jelly and sat down to call me.

In the mean time my mum takes some pictures.

The other driver refused to give details, in his opinion his plate number is enough, so my wife calls me.

I get there and the guy is adamant that he doesn't have to disclose any details.

I call the police, they speak to him and told him to give details.

Eventually he provides his driving license.

I told him to report the accident to his insurance and he said: "what accident?"

I said: "ok, I'll report it for you"

Then I moved my car close to his to take a picture of both damages together so it can be no mistake

(he had reversed back into the driveway to let other cars through).

Today I called his insurance and I am informed that he declared of never having touched my car, just getting very close.

I explained everything as above and they asked me to send pictures which I did.

What's going to happen now?

Are they going to claim that my wife is trying to [problem] them?

In the mean time my wife spent all of yesterday in bed on a&e advice and her gp today told her to rest.

She feels like she's run 3 marathons, pain in the legs, back and arms, not from the impact, but from getting scared.

What should I do?

You have the pictures to back up plus a couple of witnesses so I can't see you having a problem. Let your insurance company know all that has happened and about his denial plus a copy of the pic and leave it to them.

Yes, I don't see any problems with this, his insurance company will hopefully pay out.

My insurance company wants me to claim through them and if they recover the money from the other party insurance then they will reimburse my excess and give back my NCD.

That's why I wanted to deal directly with the other insurance; there's no guarantee they will chase this.

I looked closely at all the pictures and it's undeniable that the damage on both cars matches perfectly.

It would be impossible for someone to make judgement in a split second that there's damage on another car , stop exactly in the correct position and claim of having been hit.

This guy is a joke!

You are under no obligation to use your own insurance. If you don't want to then you can just get the repairs done yourself, taking due care (suggest 3 quotes to be on safe side) and keeping all receipts. Send them (copies) to the TPI (Third party insurers) with a brief but specific explanation from your wife, along with the images. Give them a couple of warnings then litigate if you haven't had a useful response in say, 2 months at the most.

Have you checked the driver is definitely the insured party?

You are under no obligation to use your own insurance. If you don't want to then you can just get the repairs done yourself, taking due care (suggest 3 quotes to be on safe side) and keeping all receipts. Send them (copies) to the TPI (Third party insurers) with a brief but specific explanation from your wife, along with the images. Give them a couple of warnings then litigate if you haven't had a useful response in say, 2 months at the most.

 

 

Have you checked the driver is definitely the insured party?

Hi, yes the driver is the insured party.

I understand that I don't have to get my insurance involved, but if the other party insurance sides with this guy and says that there was no accident, what should I do?

Issue a small claim?

If so, against the insurance or the driver?

After all they're acting based on his statement that he didn't have any accident.

This jerk saw two women with a child and thought it could get away with some lies.

If someone stopped me and said that I had hit them when i didn't, I would call the police.

I had to call the police when I got there and over the phone they told him to give details, why didn't he tell them that we were s camming him?

I wish I had insisted on police attendance.

What an insect!

Surely the police will be able to support your claim. i would have thought that their conversation with him was recorded (or noted in the log).

Hey, thanks.

I didn't think about the police conversation.

Do I have to sar the police for a recording or is there a different procedure?

I seriously doubt the police will be able or willing to assist, they will not typically attend accidents unless the road is blocked or someone need an ambulance.

A small claim is one of the options on the table, the others being giving up or going with one of the insurers. You'll issue against the other driver and then his insurers will either settle before the trial or arrange for him to be represented.

Before that though you want to be sure to give his insurers the chance to deal. They'll be reluctant at first no doubt and every firm is different, but if he simply ignores them, which sounds likely here, they'll eventually consider settling based on your version of events, especially if the damage is clear - you said you had a photo of his car, if it shows damage that's likely to be the point that most insurers lose faith in their clients version of events.

At a rough guess, send an initial letter with your story, details of what you're claiming and ask for a response within 14 days. Chase 14 days later, then send a legal threat 14 days after that - if they still don't co-operate 14 days after the legal threat then you'll need to consider your options. Send copies of photo's/receipts, keep the originals and keep a copy of every letter you send.

I'll do that, thanks.

With regards to the police recording, I was referring to the call I made to 999 because he wanted to leave without leaving any details and they wanted to speak to him.

I passed the phone and they must have told him to give details because he did

But if he thought that we were s camming him, he would have said so to the police.

How can i get a transcript or a copy of this call?

SAR to get transcript

Send all letters recorded delivery as well. All communication in writing.

Only threaten legal action IF you are willing to issue a small claims.

Damn right I'll issue a small claim.

I won't let this slip, I seriously hate bad drivers and uncivilised humans.

Tell him to co-operate or else.

Repair to damage to your car.

Trauma for wife, your mother and the child

Whiplash for all three (should be good for £1500 a piece).

Loss of use

Loss of earnings

Anything eles you can think of.

H

Trauma yes, my wife was a wreck all of Sunday and didn't sleep at all.

Didn't go to work Monday and today.

Gp told her to take it easy for a week or so.

She wasn't hurt by the impact because it was relatively at slow speed and it was a Kia against our VW.

Mum and son are ok, my son at the impact went crazy, but wasn't injured fortunately.

Her pain in legs, back and waist is due to the scare of having the accident and being shouted at.

Strange enough they all behaved perfectly calm when i arrived (6 foot, 220 pounds)

Loss of use... I say no, because the damage is cosmetic.

I will probably claim it when I send it in for repairs.

The insurance called me today and asked for more pictures.

They're adamant that we're a gang of insurance fraudsters.

Strange enough I had an accident a couple of days before my wife and I'm not claiming because it's a 50/50 liability.

Maybe I'm not to good as a fraudster.

They asked for more pictures, so I sent them.

Waiting game now.

Next Monday I will send them and their customer the first official letter.

What I'm thinking is that the guy can't go to his insurance now and say that he lied.

He started the lie and he will have to carry on otherwise they'll probably put him in a black list never to be insured again.

Or maybe I am assuming too much

No reason to keep everything in writing, his insurers aren't bond villains. If they want to co-operate (and get a feel for the claimant) then great.

Naturally from the beginning they'll be more inclined to believe their own client, but a detailed, genuine account and the photographs are likely to sway them. That having been said there are a couple of firms who will just ignore anything short of a summons in the hopes it just goes away without them spending any time or money on it.

The TP is unlikely to admit he lied (although it does happen) but it is quite likely he'll just cease communicating with his insurers, they'll get fed up and settle the claim.

Who demanded more pics? Which Ins coy? Yours or his?

Have they stated that they think you're attempting to con their driver?

why dont you just use your own insurance company. they have there own legal teams and from the sound of it will find it in your favour. even if you dont use your insurance company. you will have to declare the accident at renewal regardless of whos fault it was

Who demanded more pics? Which Ins coy? Yours or his?

 

Have they stated that they think you're attempting to con their driver?

The third party insurance company.

They didn't clearly spelled out that we're conning them but they're implying it

why dont you just use your own insurance company. they have there own legal teams and from the sound of it will find it in your favour. even if you dont use your insurance company. you will have to declare the accident at renewal regardless of whos fault it was

I have already notified my insurance and they offered to take the claim on, but they also told me that if i accept i will lose my NCD.

The third party insurance company.

They didn't clearly spelled out that we're conning them but they're implying it

Then they need to be very careful!

I have already notified my insurance and they offered to take the claim on, but they also told me that if i accept i will lose my NCD.

Yeah I wouldn't do this, I had to do it years ago, and it took two years of fighting the MIB to get my NCD and reinstated, plus the excess refunded.

Yeah I wouldn't do this, I had to do it years ago, and it took two years of fighting the MIB to get my NCD and reinstated, plus the excess refunded.

Exactly, my colleague told me a very similar story, so I won't go down that route

I forgot to mention that immediately after the impact, the other driver reversed by about a foot, came out of his car with wet wipes and wiped both damaged part without saying a word.

Strange behaviour from someone who didn't hit the other car, don't you think?

One thing I'm not clear, if worse comes to worse, do I issue the court claim against the insurance or the driver?

And I suppose that to quantify the claim I will have to appoint a solicitor, correct?

One thing I'm not clear, if worse comes to worse, do I issue the court claim against the insurance or the driver?

And I suppose that to quantify the claim I will have to appoint a solicitor, correct?

You can sue either party, but usually the driver.

Why appoint a solicitor? Their legal fees are likely to well exceed what you are claiming for so it's pointless. You'll have to go solo unless you use your own insurer.