Luton Van cut me up this morning, Golf has a damaged passenger side front bumper

DJMK4

DJMK4

DJMK4

Soldato
Joined
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Posts
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S.Wales
I was on a dual carrageway this morning approaching a roundabout, there are 4 exits, the left hand lane feeds the first exit (left) and second exit (straight over) and the right hand land feeds to the 2nd exit (straight over) or 3rd 4th (2 right hand exits) I was in the right hand lane and the big van in the left hand lane, he did not indicate. We both entered the roundabout at the same time, then at the last minute he decides he wants to exit on the 3rd exit (right). To cut a long story short, he cut me up and I ended up doing an emergency stop but it was too late,

The front drivers side corner of my car hit the van, I instantly told him to pull over, assessing the damage, there was no damage to his van, but he has damaged the corner side of the front passenger side bumper on my golf, broken some joints that holds the bumper in place, scratched it all and the corner is hanging off.

Iv got all his details and contacted the company he works for earlier, they asked me to call back at 9:15 when the lady who deals with it will be in.

What I wanted to ask you guys though, is that what will happen next, do I have to put in a claim through MY insurance and effect my no claims discount? will it effect my premium when I go to renew? will I have to pay excess even though it WASNT my fault?

Any help appriciated :)

Thanks all
 
It depends if he admits fault. If he does then...

DJMK4 said:
do I have to put in a claim through MY insurance and effect my no claims discount?
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No, it goes through his insurance and won't affect your NCB

will it effect my premium when I go to renew?
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Yes, insurance companies typically want to know about all claims, even if they weren't your fault. It will probably increase your premium a bit.

edit: I'm not 100% sure on this, perhaps they only want to know if you made a claim on your own policy. Hopefully someone else can confirm.

will I have to pay excess even though it WASNT my fault?
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No.

If he doesn't admit fault things could get more tricky.
 
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DannyDan said:
If he doesn't admit fault things could get more tricky.
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if he doesnt admit fault, or the company refuse to admit it on his behalf, then your into a different world

You will have to claim on your insurance, loose 2 or 3 years ncb and pay your excess while the insurance companies work out who was at fault.

If they decide in your favour, you will get your ncb and excess back. If they find the accident was your fault or 50/50 (ie neither was more to blame than the other as i suspect it will) then you both claim off your own insurance and loose ncb / excess.
 
Well I have spoken with his company who have given me their insurance details and insurance company contact details, im in the process of going through his insurance company, I have already notified my insurance company of the situation and explained that I was not at fault. I didnt go in to the back of the guy, I was cut up, the exit I was taking was blocked as the driver took a risky move and at the last minute whilst he was on a roudabout to turn right and cut off the exit without seeing me.

As he was in the left lane, he was only liable to take the left exit, or the exit straight over the roundabout and none of the right hand exits.
 
your problem comes if he lies and tells a different story and refutes the allegation he was at fault and says you were at fault.

This is when it will go 50/05 unless one of you has an independent witness.
 
MrLOL said:
your problem comes if he lies and tells a different story and refutes the allegation he was at fault and says you were at fault.

This is when it will go 50/05 unless one of you has an independent witness.
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No witnesses but how is it going to be my fault? what did I do wrong? he cut me up and blocked the exit, the only thing I could do was slam on my breaks and get minor damage done to my car) or not slam on my breaks and have more damage done?

If he tries to lie sway the blame on me, how is he going to proove it? If it comes down to the wire and he somehow managed to put the blame on me, then im not going to bother, no way am I paying out an excess and loosing ncb for something that wasnt my fault, he can shove it.
 
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It really annoys me when I hear about people lying about accidents when it was clearly their fault. The outcome will still be the same for the person at fault whether they lie or not, but the innocent driver gets shafted for no reason.
 
PhillyDee said:
But without a witness or evidence to the contrary, its your word against theirs.

Not saying it is right . . .
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exactly

If he tells a different story and says you were in different lanes to what your story says, who is to say who is right ?

In this scenario independent witnesses is about the only thing that will do. Circumstantial evidence of the side of the impact etc... will do nothing to proove who was in what lane.

Because its so difficult to proove, most insuance companies agree to settle 50/50 in such cases where the stories are different.


LiE said:
It really annoys me when I hear about people lying about accidents when it was clearly their fault. The outcome will still be the same for the person at fault whether they lie or not, but the innocent driver gets shafted for no reason.
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he hasnt done it yet. But the guy's job could be on the line. Its understandable human nature if he lies to try to save his job.
 
PhillyDee said:
But without a witness or evidence to the contrary, its your word against theirs.

Not saying it is right . . .
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I have a picture of my car for evidence, but what am I going to do? re-do the whole thing and catch it on video?

There were no witnesses around, not my fault
 
MrLOL said:
exactly

If he tells a different story and says you were in different lanes to what your story says, who is to say who is right ?

In this scenario independent witnesses is about the only thing that will do. Circumstantial evidence of the side of the impact etc... will do nothing to proove who was in what lane.

Because its so difficult to proove, most insuance companies agree to settle 50/50 in such cases where the stories are different.
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If it comes down to 50/50, then no way, im not loosing my 2 years no claim and payingout excess
 
DJMK4 said:
If it comes down to 50/50, then no way, im not loosing my 2 years no claim and payingout excess
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if he lies you wont have much choice fella.

Here's hoping that he's honest and admits he was at fault.

DJMK4 said:
I have a picture of my car for evidence, but what am I going to do? re-do the whole thing and catch it on video?

There were no witnesses around, not my fault
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welcome to the injustice of car insurance claims.

I have a taxi driver friend who was waiting outside somebody's house. Woman across the road pulled out of her house, and ploughed straight into him while he was parked up waiting to pick somebody up. Woman was in tears, apologised, admitted she was at fault, said she didnt have her insurance details because her husband did it. She gave her phone number and address and said she'd get her husband to call him tonight.

When the husband rang, he said he was going to tell the insurance the taxi driver was speeding like a lunatic and had "a witness" (that he fabricated) to verify this. They got a mate to lie for them and the taxi driver lost the claim, despite being stationary when it happened !!!
 
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Well I have been speaking with the lady in the accounts and finance team within his company, she seems quite helpful, so I will be certainly dealing with her if I have any issues.

I wont be letting this off lightly thats for sure.
 
I'm seriously considering one of those in car cameras that record onto an SD card for instances such as this, too many idiots on the road now that you can have an accident that goes 50/50 when it was totally their fault!
 
I just spoke to her again, advised that there was no immediate witnesses on the scene, but advised her that I would like it fully investigated for the fear of the driver of the Van not giving the correct information, again she seemed to re-assure me it would be fully investigated. I have to also mention this to the insurance company but still fear that it will go 50/50.

I really cannot afford to pay out for this at the moment, not with my holiday coming up, plus tax/MOT/insurance all due to be renewed in Sept.


Waiting for a call back now.
 
Just spoken to a few people, they recon that the 50/50 thing isnt compulsary, as if the case cant be settled as to who is to blame, then you both go off to your own insurance companies and its up to you to claim on your own insurance if you wish to do so but you dont have to?

Can anyone confirm this?
 
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Richard_16v said:
I'm seriously considering one of those in car cameras that record onto an SD card for instances such as this, too many idiots on the road now that you can have an accident that goes 50/50 when it was totally their fault!
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I also. My brother had a Disco reverse into him when stationary, the owner got out and offered him £100 or he will claim he ran into the back of him. No witnesses so he took the money. Didn't pay for the damage in full, but there was no way that was going anywhere better than 50:50. Fortunately we know where he lives and works, just waiting for him to get something better than an old Disco.
 
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