Hi all, I recently had the misfortune of a stray dog jumping in front of my car, whilst the car was at 70 miles per hour, with no room or time, whatsoever, to maneuver to avoid it. The dog appeared from the crash barrier guards, literally about 3 meters in front of the car and jumped onto the path of the car. I looked to my left, there was a car, so I couldn't swerve left, to the right was the crash barrier so couldn't swerve right. I instinctively, slammed on the foot brake, but at 70 mph all you get is the ABS preventing wheel lock and you cannot stop within that distance. The inevitable happened, almighty bang, severe vibration as the dog was dragged under for a few seconds until it managed to pass under the car, I eventually came to stop as I was on emergency brake and looked at the rear view mirror and the dog was dead. Where I was stopped I saw cars swerving dangerously to avoid the dead dog and my car so I moved over onto the left lane then onto the hard shoulder where I stopped. I called the police. My car has serious damage, broken left head lamp/indicator unit, damaged bumper, leaking radiator, broken, hence, leaking power steering cooler, damaged aircon condenser(aircon radiator) and bent frame behind the bumper and registration plate damaged. I am without a car now as I managed to drive it home but now all power steering fluid and coolant has leaked and radiator fans won't turn as they are jammed against the radiator. The police managed to trace the dog's owner as the dog was chipped and the police gave me the dog's pet insurance details - direct line pet insurance. The police said I was lucky as it could have been worse and it was good I didn't swerve as that would caused a very bad accident on the motorway. Now, I called direct line pet insurance a few days ago to claim for the damage on my car and they are telling me that I cannot talk to them directly because I am not their customer, should they do that? They are saying that I should either, contact the dog's owner so that the dog's owner contacts them or claim from my insurance so that my insurance claims from them. The dog's owner is liable here as the dog shouldn't have been running astray on the motorway and I don't want to claim from my insurance as it is not my fault and if I do I will have to pay £600 excess. What should I do? Is direct line's pet insurance division trying to be difficult so that they don't pay?

Hi, sorry if this is in the wrong forum but any advice welcomed. Here is the issue, a car with 20k finance goes missing after a company enters administration. The finance company utilises a trace company to locate, which they sucessfully do. They find the car imobile, abandoned in a back street garage after a severe accident. The vehicle is clearly a total loss. Does anyone know what the legal obligations that the finance company has to comply with? i.e. safe disposal transfer of ownership for salvage Assessment of condition Or is it that they can dispose of how they see fit. I thought there where laws about safe disposal of accident damaged vehicles Does anyone know? Thanks

Hello, I am facing a problem with my non fault claim(my Mazda 6 car was smashed while parked) Sequence of incidents: After the accident I went through Mazda Accident Aftercare, because of "call Mazda first" campaign". Their aggressive advertisements always say the customer is better off going through them instead of insurer. Actually they are a claims management company in disguise. They arrange a hire car from enterprise for a price double that of enterprise advertised prices. My car is written off. Mazda Accident Aftercare valued the car approximately 1500 pounds cheaper than their own website advertised prices(My car was also bought from Mazda dealer last year). They did not take my proof into consideration and did not even give me any explanation about how can I buy the car with their offered money. Mazda Accident After care took the hire car back, and told me to process the claim through my insurer. Also they told me as my written off car is in a garage I need to arrange rental from my insurer. Now what are the choices I have? I have legal assistance from my insurer. Can I directly deal with the third party insurer? There is a case of Mazda misleading the customers to claims management company by an aggressive advertising campaign, but that is an issue I will take separately.

My husbandreversed out of a parking bay at an Esso Petrol station after checking it was safe to do so. A car had been stationary when he checked but started to advance towards him while he was reversing. Hefailed to notice that the other car was now coming towards him because he had his head turned. The insuranceis adamant that he has sole liability for the accident because he was reversing. They said the ’onus of care’ is on the reversing driver and therefore he is liable for the accident. He reversedbecause the other car was NOT moving and surely cannot be held responsible foran accident, simply based on the direction the car was moving! Could youplease advise how we can achieve a 50/50 liability or if the other party is infact liable. Is there any point in requesting CCTV footage from the petrol station to show what really happened? Hope someone knows how to proceed. many thanks for your feedback

Hello I recently had the misfortune of having a car accident early one Sunday morning. I was on my way to Leicester on the A46 and joined a round about at a reasonable low speed (traffic lighted) my car spun out from underneath me as the back wheels lost themselves, I managed to keep the car on the road for a couple hundred meters before hitting the curb side on and flipping the car across the grass and down a ditch. I was suspended upside down for 1 hour before emergency services could cut me but but thankfully I could walk away to the ambulance. My insurance on this new car was third party only (no one else was involved in the accident) Witnesses confirmed I was not speeding and as I didn't not travel far from hitting the curb, this also showed I was not speeding either. The police confirmed this and also commented another 2 accidents in the same week on the same spot had happened, plus a phone call last weekend confirmed 3 more accidents on the same spot, same circumstances has arisen and they are reporting on the road conditions (possible adverse camber) I was quite shaken up after the accident and mildly concussed, so I was collected and taken home (ambulance did not take me to hospital) The police arranged for the car to be moved and took my details. I was then presented with a £250 bill for the pick up of my car, plus £25 a day charged for the week inbetween. The garage will not budge on charges, or take my car in scrap value. I did not agree to charges and I was not instructed in this possible cost? Does anyone have any advice for me, I have no money at the moment, due to moving house the day before the accident and I have been advised by others to just post off my log book in payment?

Did anyone have this ?

Hi, I'm a new user to this forum, in fact I have never posted anything before, so please be patient, and any help would be greatly appreciated. Here goes..... I was driving home from my local supermarket which is approx 10 minutes from where I live. I live on a main road, next to a junction. As I was approaching my home I could see a young boy and gentleman walking pass my drive way, so as I always do I indicated left and was stationary outside my home, waiting for them to pass, when I was suddenly hit from behind with force. My family heard the impact so they all came out. The TP driver became very abusive and shouted at me saying that I didn't have my indicator on, even though it was flashing away. Anyway to cut a long story.....we exchanged insurance details, called the police, called the insurance, etc: everything ok.......or so we thought. I forgot to add that the accident had caused a bit of a traffic hold up. When we moved our cars, the traffic started to flow. I didn't think to approach a vehicle and ask them to be a witness, but my son took photo's. We have already received an interim payment, but now 3 months later, the insurance company rang me, and told me that the TP driver has stated that I was reversing out of my drive!!!!!! I can tell you I was not happy.....anyway I was also told that because there were no witnesses, and it's his word against mine and that the claim would be 50/50 liability. I really do not want to accept this......is there anything I can do, as the TP driver is blatantly lying..... I would like to thank you in advance for any help and advice given.

Hi I was involved in a motorcycle accident this afternoon which has left me with my beloved Vespa written off! Unbelievably have ended up with only minor injuries and was incredibly lucky to come out of it unscathed. It was the drivers fault and im confident they will hold there hands up howeverrrr my MOT had expired in july! And you've probably heard it all before but i was en route to the MOT centre when the crash occurred!! Will this effect putting in a claim? My insurance is Third party fire and theft. I'm taxed and insured but my mum and dad are panicking over the MOT saying this will invlidate your insurance and you could end up paying for the drivers car damage?!?! Is this true??? If someone can enlighten me this would be hugely appreciated Regards

Could someone help me with this, my daughter had an accident in a major department store. Staff where told, and acknowledged by the physical evdience of that happened. I was in shock and had a very very upset child, when i have spoke with various people re the accident i was told due to Health and Safety law this should have been recorded. I contacted the said store, and got a responce that i refused medical care thus this means it would not go in the book. A- I never refused medical care B- I have been told even though we never had medical care their that its their responsibility and they had to record the accident for their own legalalities to cover themselves from being sued. Can someone please confirm what ACT it is in law that they have to follow on recording this

Hi all, New to the forum but really need some guidance if possible so thanks in advance. I had a car accident in May this year. I was travelling down a dual carriageway on my way to the station on my normal daily route one morning. As I drove through a set of green traffic lights ahead there was a private recyling truck making an illegal left turn. In order to make the turn he had to swerve out into the overtaking lane and back across lane 1 in order to make the tight turn, effectively blocking off both lanes of the dual carriageway ahead leaving me nowhere to go. I slammed on the brakes and swerved to avoid the truck mounting the curb and hitting a road sign on a little traffic island just ahead of the turning the truck went down. The driver did not stop but carried on with his journey. I got out to inspect the damage (smashed nearside bumper, headlight and front wing) and simultaneously the truck re-appeared at the same time as a police car coming from different directions. The only route for the truck driver to carry on with his journey was back past the scene of the accident which was co-incidentally right near my local police station. I flagged down the traffic police car and advised him that the truck had caused the accident. He pulled him over further down the road and then came back and collected me. I was present when he asked the driver what happened and he admitted to the turn but advised he was not aware it was illegal to turn there and the police officer informed him that it is not a legal turn there and that as such I would be claiming off of his insurance. He was reluctant to give his personal details but the officer reminded of his obligations. We exchanged details and shook hands. Subseuqent to all of this I have had to pay my £410 excess, take a day and half annual leave to sort everything out, a taxi or 2 but no major expenses beyond this. The third party insurer supplied a copy of the 1 page drivers report which is missing loads of information and just accuses me of speeding. I subsequently submitted a 10 page account of the events including photos of the scene including the "no left turn" sign etc. The third party insurer has not denied liability as such but they are simply not giving any response on things and just using delay tactics etc. It's now reached the point where my insurer is referring to their solicitors (under my legal expenses cover) but advises me they suspect they will advise there is no case to take to court because I did not hit the third party. Assuming this is the outcome, what are my rights? Surely me avoiding hitting the third party truck to avoid more extensive damage and risk of serious injury to myself should not be a good reason for them to get away with incurring the liability for causing this accident. Unfortunately there are no witnesses and the only other person who could give any account would be the police officer who no doubt would have no decent recollection of what was said at the time anyway. I could explore the CCTV avenue as I guess ultimately you're almost always on CCTV somewhere especially in a busy town centre. I'm at a bit of an impass though. If the solicitor says there is no case, what can I do beyond raising a formal complaint with my insurer and escalating to the Financial Ombudsman Service? Surely I shouldn't need to take my own legal action through the small claims court if I have legal expenses cover. Any advice you can offer is much appreciated. Thanks Pete

Hi, I'm new to these forums and wonder if anyone has a little advice regarding an injury my OH had a few days ago. My apologies if it's a bit of a long post.. My OH is a line supervisor/machine maintenance engineer in a factory with roughly 300 employees. On Monday he was assembling some machinery and was fixing on a big awkward part when he felt his back spasm. He thought little of it initially as it's not uncommon with the heavy stuff he has to pick up every day to feel a twinge now and then. Over the last couple of hours of his shift he was in some pain but carried on working thinking he'd just shake it off. He discussed it and how it happened with several other workmates including the shift manager. They saw that he was in obvious pain and said so. My OH didn't put it in the accident book at the time thinking that it was a minor twinge that a good nights sleep would fix, it didn't. He woke op on Tuesday with a lot more pain and felt he couldn't do the heavy lifting his job requires so he phoned in sick, telling them it was because of the incident the day before. It was no better on Wednesday and he phoned again, this time asking if he was going to get paid bacause his firm usually do pay for any days off resulting from a workplace injury. The HR bloke said that it had not been put in the accident book and my OH hadn't told anyone about it (despite the fact that my OH actually did tell others). He then refused to pay for any days off caused by it because there was no proof it happened at work. In 14 years at this place my OH has earned a massive amount of respect for his work from his workmates and management alike but all of a sudden because he omitted to stick it in the accident book the very moment he felt a twinge, he's practically accused of being a liar. So I guess my first question is, does an accident have to go into the accident book immediately an incident occurs even if you are not sure at the time if it should be classed as an accident. My second question is, can my OH do anything to rectify the situation or is it now to late to put it in the accident book. His place don't exactly pay well and that's the rent money gone if he can't do anything. My OH is beating himself up about not putting in the accident book.

Hi Just looking for some thoughts My wife was parked in a local shopping centre carpark, they use a one way system. She was coming out of a space as a car drove past, she shopped to let him go by until he was about 4 or 5 spaces along. She then continued to reverse out of the space looking in the direction of the normal traffic flow. Unfortunately the car that passed decided to reverse back down the one way system (approx 20M or so) and ran into her. As they were moving fairly slowly there was no huge damage, but enough to warrant an insurance claim. My question is who would be to blame for this? My wife as she was going into the road, or the other party for reversing down a one way street? Thanks

Hi there I'm new to this, would really appreciate advice. I was in a minor accident yesterday, never been in one before. I rang my insurance company and reported it, they said due to circumstances it was likely the other party would accept liability and tried to refer me to a non fault accident specialist to arrange to pick up my car and supply me with an equivalent hire car. I wasn't sure what to do so said no at that point. An hour later I had a call from the other insurance company saying their party admitted liability and they then got really pushy asking me details about the accident and also trying to get me to book my car in with their repairers. I felt I was being bullied into something so asked them to phone the next day. I rang my insurers and told them I had had contact from the other party's insurers. They said they did not know the other party had admitted liability and said it was just up to me to choose what I did next. I'm really not sure if I should get this sorted through my own insurance and that means going through this non fault accident specialist (who I've heard terrible things about) or through the at fault party's insurer. I'm worried the at fault party insurer will just do a really bad job. I'm also worried if I go with my insurer I'll get stung for extra fees related to car hire and the process will get dragged out which seems to have happened to lots of people who have had to deal through this particular non fault accident specialist. Please help. I'm an intelligent person but seem to get brain freeze when confronted with car related issues! Thanks

I am just inquiring whether an employer can refuse to put minor injuries in the accident book? My son works at a major UK car manufacturing plant and has had difficulty for some time now because of the repetitive nature of the process he undertakes,it is a renowned process within the company as one of the more challenging tasks with a high worker attrition rate. He has had to have rest periods where he changes to more menial tasks to help him recover, but every time he asks to put the injury in the accident book they refuse citing his injury must have happened outside of work. He recently made a doctors appointment where the GP agreed that the injury was RSI. He feels it is being made difficult for him to report his injuries and the hope that the process can be made easier by an investigation into modifying it in some way are compounded as he is only on a 12 month contract and really wants to keep his job! Firstly does the employer have the right to refuse an entry in the accident book & are they allowed to suggest that an injury could have been caused by means other than work when my son is addament it is his process that is the cause? Secondly if he was to lose his job and no accident/injury is reported can he still bring his case to tribunal?

bit of a strange one this, had a non fault accident in 2009, claimed on insurance, recovered all costs claim closed. re insured with a new insurer the following year , no problems. insured with the rac this year, notified them about the non fault claim and took out insurance. a week later and i received a letter stating they have got more info on the 2009 claim and they are increasing the premium as the accident was my fault! luckily i still had a letter from my insurer in 2009 stating they recovered all costs so i have written to the rac and included a copy of the letter and am still awaiting a reply. i am a little concerned as to where the rac got their wrong information from, and also if they don't alter stance on the accident being my fault what can i do?

Hi Everyone, Friend has been issued Claim from solicitors via MCOL for an accident he caused (shunt from rear). Fully comp. Issue date 13/6/12. AOS ??? Was being dealt with via insurance. I will see POC in the AM. No reference to preaction protocol mentioned. Was read out - claim is less than 1k - damage only not PI claim. Will send all docs to his insurance company BUT in the meantime holding defense should the insurance take too long ?? Does not want CCJ by default as will affect life. Any nicely worded doc to send to claimant ? Failure to comply with PAP ? Possibility of application for strike out ? Any help please (would like to put to bed tommorrow !) Numbers

Hello Guys, I was involved in a minor accident on the Friday. The problem was that this Van was packing on a double yellow line right at the junction. I was coming from one of the road which is Lewin terrace to join the road he was packing at. The van was obscuring my view, but I can still see both side of the road. As I was driving round the Van adn I was on the road where he packing, he was reversing back his car at the same time to go and pick up some school children. So, at this time he hit my car with a minor scratch on both our cars. He took the picture of me car, and I took his at as well. This guy did not wait for the Police to arrived and he drove off. The police came and I explained what happened. I am waiting to hear from them. I contacted my insurance, and I was told that he was already established himself on that Road, so it is going to be my fault. I told them that I was already on that road too before he started revising his car. the lady spoke to his manager, and told me that it is going to be 50/50 thing. He also told me that it is not going to count whether the Van was on a double yellow line or not. That they are only looking for duty of care. I have got a third party insurance. I am not looking to claim anything, but I am wondering if my insurance premium will go up if he claims something. Is true that this Van will get away even he was packing on a double yellow line waiting there ? I have got a witness that he was packing on a double yellow line as he even insulted this woman. Can someone advise me on what to do next? My insurance policy will runs out in August. Thanks.

As my previous thread, I had a fairly minor accident a few weeks back. I was on a roundabout, another car joined the roundabout. He failed to give way to the right, I braked but because the road was slippery & wet I crashed into the side of him. His insurers are claiming I changed lanes, I do not dispute this, I had to change lanes as I was leaving the roundabout. However if the other driver had obeyed the give way road markings and given way to vehicles on the roundabout this would not have been an issue. My insurers are saying its the other party at fault the other party are blaming me. I have now been in a hire car for a number of weeks and am getting seriously annoyed at the length of time this is taking. Can I do anything to speed things up? Twice weekly phone calls do not seem to do anything

Hi about 12 months ago I had "nudged" another car at a roundabout, there was no damage to either vehicle, the other party was clearly not [causing problems]- there has been no claim made. I did however have to inform our company insurance- it policy that even the most minor thing is declared! I renewed my personal policy about 1 month later, and was asked about claims etc, to which I answered non, as I did not really think this warranted a mention. I have now had to claim on my policy and am scared that my insurers find out about this and try to void my insurance or similar. Has anyone got any advice what to do? Do I leave it or do I fess up before it gets any worse? Many thanks

Apologies in advance, this is a bit complicated! Daughter took out insurance on a car she believed her (now ex) partner owned. He was a named driver on the insurance policy. They separated a short while ago and as he is going abroad for a few months they agreed that she would keep the insurance going until he went away. Insurance cancelled from Sunday when he goes away, but unfortunately he had accident on Saturday (car shunts him from behind, pushing him into car in front). Daughter has no other details than this. Their separation was not very amicable and communication between them is nil. My quesion is, who should be dealing with the insurance company, other drivers and their insurers etc? My daughter or her ex-partner? To confuse matters further, my daughter now suspects that her ex never actually got round to changing the owner details of the vehicle registration certificate for this car which he bought around 10 months ago. As communication is non-existent between them and he is quite possibly already out of the country, does my daughter have to deal with this, even though she has no details about the accident?

I book on line with Rentals.co.uk a car. This was through Atlas Choice. They send me 72 hours later a voucher and I could pick up the car at Green Motion at Gatwick. I also took an extra insurance with White Horse Insurance Reimbursement up to 2000 pound. In the contract with Atlas Choice I was insured for car theft and CDW. I asked if I was insured and Green Motion said yes. This was the 26th of May. Hired an automatic as coming from the continent and having to drive on the left side and using my left hand to change gears would distract my attention to the traffic and road signs. I drove onto the M23 and later onto the M25. I didn't drive faster then 60 miles an hour as I notice that the car was pulling towards the left. Also there was a ticking noise in the left back wheel. This stopped when I got off the motorway and onto the country road in Surrey. Near Woking there was a very dark long tunnel under a railway. I stopped as a car was coming through the tunnel. On the left side in the tunnel was a railing on a pedestrian pavement. I pulled up from a bright sunny day into the dark tunnel and my left front tire hit the curb outside the railing. Suddenly the car toppled over very slowly and fell on its right side. Some one behind me stopped and got me out of the car. Phoned the police and I waited. Had no injuries, my glasses were still on my nose, my Tom Tom was not damaged and the airbag didn't deploy. The police took my statement as there were no witnesses and took photo's. He phoned the hire company and the recovery company. The recovery car damaged my hired car more as the car was flipped over and fell against the railing. Causing a dent in the passengers door. On the right side the small front window broke because the mirror was there. None of the other windows broke. And there were scratches along the right hand-side. On the 27th of May, I returned to Gatwick and to Green Motion to fill out the accident form. They took off my credit card £750 which was my own risk. Returning home, I discovered that they took of an other £ 3909 off my credit account. (total was 5986 Euros) Suddenly I am not insured because reckless driving... Or the damage was not included in the CDW. (Green Motion) but I hired it through Atlas Choice. Or CDW didn't count because there was no other car involved. They change their story all the time. As I hired through Atlas Choice and not through Green Motion, I guess that I have to keep them responsible! I did fill in the AXA forms for my reimbursement insurance. Is this legal! Taking the money off my credit card while I paid for my own risk? Surely I am not responsible for the total repair bill! What can I do!

On the 5th of July 2011 my husband and I were involved in a car accident. I was 16 weeks pregnant and our car was stationary on a roundabout when a pile up involving three cars occurred. We were the last car to be hit and the driver in the middle car behind us was badly injured and had a hospital stay. We went to A & E and I also had an ultrasound. I was diagnosed with whiplash and a back injury and my husband an upper back injury. After the accident I developed problems with my hips that started in the left and then right so both were affected. This led to me having 16 weeks off work until my maternity leave begun in November 2011. I was repeadly signed off but the doctors notes had to say that it was pregnancy related in order for me not to occur a disciplinary due to long term sickness. I begun physiotherapy organized by Tescos insurance (The Treatment Network) in August 2011 along with my husband. I had to stop exercising because of the pain and found even after giving birth on the 22nd of Dec 2011 that I still suffered problem with my right hip. Both myself and my husband went back for physio for 4 weeks and I improved. My lack of activity affected me greatly as I was very active prior to this accident and I developed postnatal depression as I had occurred more weight gain and less exercise relief than before. We have been discharged from the physio even though I am still suffering some pain. I have been calculating my loss of earnings as I am sales based and have lost out on a bonus I was 80% away from hitting £2000 (would be taxed and I have back up from my work that they will confirm this to the insurers) and my commission of £53.09 per week (calculated through pay slips during August 2010 to August 2011) for a total of 16.02 weeks is £860.06. The holiday I had to take were 16 days which I worked out to be at a value of £151.40 per day (calc from my last p60 taking off any bank holiday and weekends and dividing by number of days worked) which is a total of £2422.35 which also would be taxed. This is a total of £4882.42 which does not include pain or suffering etc. My question is will they squirm out of paying this. Before I gave birth they wanted to settle at about £2000 not including any loss of earnings. They also will need to pay my travel to and from treatments. This is the only accident I've had in my life and I'm not sure of how this works?

Almost 2 weeks ago, i bumped into the car in front of me because the car in front of him stalled and he had to stop suddenly and other party actually just drove away. Afraid of spiralling insurance premium i reckon it was cheaper to fix his car instead of dragging things out through the insurance companies and having to pay massively on premiums during the process. I arranged for his car to be fixed which was done and the day after he collected his car he sent me a text saying it was not properly fixed and how the painting was slightly different. (i was not there when he took the car to the garage or when he went to collect it). He also said that because of the accident he was short on his mortgage and he demanded that i give him £90 pounds. I promptly asked him to take the car back for fixing because i had paid for it and i asked why he took the car when it was not okay and i let him know that i could not pay for his mortgage. he replied saying he just wanted his car back and that was why he picked it up even though he was not satisfied with the work done and that now he is going to claim for whiplash. what can i do? please advise

Hi, i recently purchased a used car from a private garage in London (Shahid Motors) for £2,900. I still have not received a receipt for the car, even though its been 2 months since I purchased it. There was a delay with payment (due to merchants fault) and I was promised a receipt after payment was cleared. I paid using my debit card so have proof of purchase though. A few days ago, it started to rain and the boot of the car was completely flooded! I took it to the garage, assuming there was a small hole somewhere but was horrified to discover that the car was involved in a accident. If you remove the carpet in the boot, all the parts are loose and clearly damaged. Only the exterior of the car was fixed after the accident.The garage estimated £600 to get it fixed. Before purchasing the car, I was not informed of any accidents or damage to the car. Now that I've informed the Shahid Motors garage owner, he denies not telling me about the accident (he is lying) and said that all his cars have been involved in accidents and it is clearly stated in the receipt. The only problem is that I have not been given a receipt and I was not told beforehand about the accident. Instead I was assured that the car is fine. I have also checked his website, and there is no mention of his cars being involved in accidents. He is refusing to refund me the car or pay for the cost of fixing the boot. The car boot now floods every time that it rains. I literally have to scoop the water out using a bucket. Where do i legally stand? Can I make him legally pay for the damage. If I had known about the accident, I would have never brought this car :[

Hello there, I am hoping someone can help me with my question as I cannot even begin to think where to research/google my query. We had an accident while driving our car abroad (EU), we skidded and hit the side road barrier. My husband had a wrong breakdown cover and when we found out about it we didn't know what to do as the car was not "drivable"; so we rang the insurance company thinking they would suggest something helpful. However they didn't and we had to find a local mechanic to carry out the repairs. We thought nothing of it on our return but now our car insurance is due for renewal and to our surprise our insurance premium went through the roof due to our accident. We didn't claim a penny from the insurance, paid for all repairs, hotel etc, there was no one else involved in the accident and there was no damage to the road or a side barrier so we don't understand why the insurance company penalised us for it. Has anyone had any similar experience and would know if we should be declaring this when renewing the insurance? Would be greatful if anyone could point us in the right direction! Thanks in advance!