Another Drunk Driver Crashes into my Car

d_brennen said:
Someone who's stupid/selfish/wreckless enough to drink drive will just continue to drive uninsured. Everyday folk get hammered by huge premiums
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And to top that all off, if you visit the drivingUK subreddit, there's daily videos posted of people capturing drivers running red lights and asking whether they should submit to operation snap, and there seems to be a cohort of people who belittle them / call them a grass. Yet you can bet they're the first to complain about their insurance premiums going up, it absolutely baffles me.

Driving standards in the UK have gotten so bad, I feel at this point the severity of the punishment should be increased. If you get caught driving without insurance for a second time then your vehicle gets crushed - unless TWOC which obviously adds further charges. If you're caught driving without a license (no license held, or banned from driving) then 12 months in prison, second time you're caught it doubles and so on.

It's unfair that normal everyday people have to bear the brunt of all this because we're too soft as a country to punish those who continue to break the law.
 
Semple said:
And to top that all off, if you visit the drivingUK subreddit, there's daily videos posted of people capturing drivers running red lights and asking whether they should submit to operation snap, and there seems to be a cohort of people who belittle them / call them a grass. Yet you can bet they're the first to complain about their insurance premiums going up, it absolutely baffles me.

Driving standards in the UK have gotten so bad, I feel at this point the severity of the punishment should be increased. If you get caught driving without insurance for a second time then your vehicle gets crushed - unless TWOC which obviously adds further charges. If you're caught driving without a license (no license held, or banned from driving) then 12 months in prison, second time you're caught it doubles and so on.

It's unfair that normal everyday people have to bear the brunt of all this because we're too soft as a country to punish those who continue to break the law.
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i agree with the sentiment.... however whilst it would make a statement, the part of me which hates waste could never support that - unless its an old banger which needs to come off the road.

That said, in principle, confiscating the car, selling it and the money going into some victims of uninsured / drunk driver fund i would be fine with. (on top of any other punishment not instead of)

The problem with prison time i think is a logistical one. it costs loads to keep someone in prison, ours our bursting at the seams and criminals are already being let out after serving 40% of their sentence.
 
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Bear said:
I heard him say to one of my neighbours who is a nurse looking after him that his wife was going to kill him so probably a family man.

He was staggering about when he got out of the car but I couldn’t tell if it was because he was drunk or stunned from being in an accident. He stunk of booze though.

It’s going to cost his insurance company a fortune paying out for 4 cars.
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In a way you're very lucky that he crashed enough to immobilise his car. My brother in law wasn't as fortunate, him and his wife have to park out on the road with the neighbours too, and one night last autumn someone (presumably drunk) came round the corner and crashed into his car with so much force it shunted back into his wife's car who's car then shunted back into the neighbours car. Obviously driver left the scene and was never found, so him and his wife both had to make claims on their insurance.
 
bigmike20vt said:
i agree with the sentiment.... however whilst it would make a statement, the part of me which hates waste could never support that - unless its an old banger which needs to come off the road.

That said, in principle, confiscating the car, selling it and the money going into some victims of uninsured / drunk driver fund i would be fine with. (on top of any other punishment not instead of)
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Yes you make a good point. Watching enough of traffic cops/police interceptors they typically tend to be cheaper run-arounds, but it's not too rare that someone will be in a newer mid-five-figure car. Certainly a confiscation with the proceeds going towards some victim fund would still have the desired impact of a severe punishment.
 
Semple said:
In a way you're very lucky that he crashed enough to immobilise his car. My brother in law wasn't as fortunate, him and his wife have to park out on the road with the neighbours too, and one night last autumn someone (presumably drunk) came round the corner and crashed into his car with so much force it shunted back into his wife's car who's car then shunted back into the neighbours car. Obviously driver left the scene and was never found, so him and his wife both had to make claims on their insurance.
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I called my line manager to tell him the situation and to say I wont be on site for a few days while Im sorting things out and will be working from home. He told me of the time a driver smashed onto his car and tried to drive off while it was leaking fluids everywhere. He said he chased him on foot, running after him but he wasnt fast enough and the car limped off into the distance and his bumper fell off. He called the cops and reported the hit and run and the cops asked him if he managed to get the registration, he said no but Ive got his bumper with the reg on, he was on his way to get it :cry: Even then they still didnt manage to get the person apparently
 
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Bear said:
I called my line manager to tell him the situation and to say I wont be on site for a few days while Im sorting things out and will be working from home. He told me of the time a driver smashed onto his car and tried to drive off while it was leaking fluids everywhere. He said he chased him on foot, running after him but he wasnt fast enough and the car limped off into the distance and his bumper fell off. He called the cops and reported the hit and run and the cops asked him if he managed to get the registration, he said no but Ive got his bumper with the reg on, he was on his way to get it :cry: Even then they still didnt manage to get the person apparently
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Unless the car was stolen or using a made up reg, how can the police not figure out who it was :/

DVLA won't give you their address because of "data protection", but they'll hand it out to any dodgy parking companies who ask for it.
 
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Nasher said:
Unless the car was stolen or using a made up reg, how can the police not figure out who it was :/
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That's what the owner will claim. Unless they catch them red handed, or there's video evidence of the person driving the car then these cases don't go anywhere.
 
Semple said:
That's what the owner will claim. Unless they catch them red handed, or there's video evidence of the person driving the car then these cases don't go anywhere.
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Could always take a walk around the local area to find the car, then launch the bumper through their front window :P
 
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Had a call from the bodyshop after the assessor has had a look at it saying they werent sure and would have to strip some of it down to see if there is any further hidden damage but as it currently stands its fixable and the damage stands at about 20% of the cars value. They will give me a call once its stripped down to give me a proper figure.

If they do fix it and it seems like they will, has anybody had much success in claiming for "dimished value", as Im legally bound to tell the prospective buyer that its been in a reasonable accident and that would lower the resale value?
 
i am not suggesting you should not tell the buyer (If its a private sale i am honest to a fault) but legally i thought you only had to tell the buyer if it had been written off and put back on the road?
 
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bigmike20vt said:
i am not suggesting you should not tell the buyer (If its a private sale i am honest to a fault) but legally i thought you only had to tell the buyer if it had been written off and put back on the road?
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From what Ive read, you are obliged to tell the buyer unless the damage was deemed to be minor, what is defined as minor is anyones guess but Im presuming 20%+ of the cars value isnt minor. When I decide to sell it would be traded in at a main dealer unless I could get a better deal from the likes of WBAC, Motorway etc.
 
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Bear said:
Had a call from the bodyshop after the assessor has had a look at it saying they werent sure and would have to strip some of it down to see if there is any further hidden damage but as it currently stands its fixable and the damage stands at about 20% of the cars value. They will give me a call once its stripped down to give me a proper figure.

If they do fix it and it seems like they will, has anybody had much success in claiming for "dimished value", as Im legally bound to tell the prospective buyer that its been in a reasonable accident and that would lower the resale value?
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You are NOT legally bound to tell any future prospective buyer about any accidents or damage...

You would potentially end up in legal trouble if you lied or misled the buyer about the car’s condition if asked specifically about damage or repairs.

It is the buyers responsibility to satisfy themselves before buying if selling privately.

Morally - that's up to you
 
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Bear said:
From what Ive read, you are obliged to tell the buyer unless the damage was deemed to be minor, what is defined as minor is anyones guess but Im presuming 20%+ of the cars value isnt minor. When I decide to sell it would be traded in at a main dealer unless I could get a better deal from the likes of WBAC, Motorway etc.
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It's a non starter unfortunately because without a category write off there is no impact on the value of the vehicle. Whether it makes it less desirable to a potential buyer if you decide to tell them is a separate issue unfortunately.

It sucks because you are completely innocent in the whole situation.

The fact it isn't being written off would settle my own personal definition of 'minor'.
 
booyaka said:
You are NOT legally bound to tell any future prospective buyer about any accidents or damage...

You would potentially end up in legal trouble if you lied or misled the buyer about the car’s condition if asked specifically about damage or repairs.

It is the buyers responsibility to satisfy themselves before buying if selling privately.

Morally - that's up to you
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Thanks, I Googled it and Google says its a legal obligation but then some other pages say you are not obligated to tell the buyer unless they ask and then you are not allowed to lie about it as you say.
 
Bear said:
Had a call from the bodyshop after the assessor has had a look at it saying they werent sure and would have to strip some of it down to see if there is any further hidden damage but as it currently stands its fixable and the damage stands at about 20% of the cars value. They will give me a call once its stripped down to give me a proper figure.
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20% seems extremely cheap to me - that's what £11-12k based on your replacement figure of £55k earlier? Seems optimistic for a car with multiple panels damaged, a bust wheel, some level of visibly crumpled metal behind the sill panel, suspension damage, drivetrain damage, all sorts of paint and probably more that isn't immediately obvious from your photos.

Can't see how they're doing that without putting cheap pattern parts on and bashing stuff straight with a lump hammer :p
 
Kenai said:
20% seems extremely cheap to me - that's what £11-12k based on your replacement figure of £55k earlier? Seems optimistic for a car with multiple panels damaged, a bust wheel, some level of visibly crumpled metal behind the sill panel, suspension damage, drivetrain damage, all sorts of paint and probably more that isn't immediately obvious from your photos.

Can't see how they're doing that without putting cheap pattern parts on and bashing stuff straight with a lump hammer :p
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Yeah thats what my initial feeling was that it was rather cheap. They did say they got the car moving, so the drivetrain isnt broken apparently (sometimes a smashed BMW locks everything up so it doesnt move or so they say, no idea how true it is) plus the fact the wheel was rammed forwards may have just jammed the whole thing up. I guess we will know better after they strip it down
 
Had you said whether the car was AUC or warrantied ? if so, aren't they obligated to repair it to a standard where BMW inspection would maintain that (along with bodywork corrosion warranties etc)
 
jpaul said:
Had you said whether the car was AUC or warrantied ? if so, aren't they obligated to repair it to a standard where BMW inspection would maintain that (along with bodywork corrosion warranties etc)
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It was an AUC. Its being repaired at Motofix Prestige which is supposed to be BMW approved and is a bodyshop which specialises in prestige vehicles else it would normally sent to a standard Motofix centre https://motofixprestige.co.uk/
 
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