Been involved in a car accident and the situation is a mess

[Raggs]

some people turn into lying scum when there no claims are on the line I've had 3 incidents in six years taxi driver was the best one crashed into my parked car claimed not too be anywhere near Sheffield on the day let alone on my street, yet the company had records of being there he lost in court fat fine and six penalty points for lying too the police.

and the last one car wrote off earlier this year some bloke not paying attention drifting onto my side of the road i'd be screwed it wasn't for my dash cam footage even with that solicitors had too get involved and finally they have caved after 6 months.

but i got my 250 excess back immediately after the claim handlers saw my footage.

i keep telling friends and family too get a dash cam it's the best 40 quid i ever spent on car related product.

 

[adam cool dude]

It can vary hugely - my dad's previous insurer, for non-fault claims and all, wanted more like £300 extra (after talking them down) while he went elsewhere and paid £70 extra or something about that while it cost an extra £12 to put him as a named driver on the insurance for my vehicles versus without the claim details.



Photos after the fact aren't as useful as potentially a video can be.

That's why you take a video with your phone. As soon as the accident has happened.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

That's why you take a video with your phone. As soon as the accident has happened.

It works if its down a side street or something where you can take the time to take a photo/video. It doesn't work if its in the middle of a major A road / motorway or on the exit of a major A road / motorway or something, you cant simply wander around taking a video, your likely to be killed and the police and emergency services are going to take very unkindly to that scenario.

 

[jpaul]

i'd be screwed it wasn't for my dash cam footage even with that solicitors had too get involved and finally they have caved after 6 months. ....but i got my 250 excess back immediately after the claim handlers saw my footage.

why did the camera footage not quickly exonerate you ?

 

[adam cool dude]

It works if its down a side street or something where you can take the time to take a photo/video. It doesn't work if its in the middle of a major A road / motorway or on the exit of a major A road / motorway or something, you cant simply wander around taking a video, your likely to be killed and the police and emergency services are going to take very unkindly to that scenario.

Of-course not but when exchanging details etc. 99% of people are chickens in such situations and will not lie when they are clearly in the wrong. Also if you are having an accident on a major A road/Motorway their will be plenty of witnesses and police presence anyway which makes the video irrelevant.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Of-course not but when exchanging details etc. 99% of people are chickens in such situations and will not lie when they are clearly in the wrong. Also if you are having an accident on a major A road/Motorway their will be plenty of witnesses and police presence anyway which makes the video irrelevant.

Nope.
MY other half had had two accidents in recent years both of which were significant enough to cause damage, much like the one the OP had.
In neither case did she manage to get anywhere, she got registrations and her company tried but in both cases the other parties denied any liability. One was a lorry the other was a transit towing a digger.
Both times they strayed lanes by enough to hit her, recent one in the A14 roadworks. Other was M6 iirc.

There is no way a video afterwards gives the same impression as a cam.
She now has one and a few times has got evidence of events on it (others having incidents), but never actually seen any request or anything for data she could supply

Most of the time witnesses just drive off. Its only really major ones where people tend to stop not things like the OP has there

 

[adam cool dude]

Nope.
MY other half had had two accidents in recent years both of which were significant enough to cause damage, much like the one the OP had.
In neither case did she manage to get anywhere, she got registrations and her company tried but in both cases the other parties denied any liability. One was a lorry the other was a transit towing a digger.
Both times they strayed lanes by enough to hit her, recent one in the A14 roadworks. Other was M6 iirc.

There is no way a video afterwards gives the same impression as a cam.
She now has one and a few times has got evidence of events on it (others having incidents), but never actually seen any request or anything for data she could supply

Most of the time witnesses just drive off. Its only really major ones where people tend to stop not things like the OP has there

Being in a accident in the A14 roadworks is going to give you multiple witnesses so really it is her own fault she didn't get any.

 

[jpaul]

Being in a accident in the A14 roadworks is going to give you multiple witnesses so really it is her own fault she didn't get any.

it wasn't 100% clear if the other/colliding vehicle stopped, but if no witnesses did ? or if they did tempoarily, and your first instinct was not to get their names ?
maybe you should get any witnesses identities first.

Other than the vague facebook group appeal suggested earlier .. there is no 'did anyone witness this' app ... sounds like a market gap.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

it wasn't 100% clear if the other/colliding vehicle stopped, but if no witnesses did ? or if they did tempoarily, and your first instinct was not to get their names ?
maybe you should get any witnesses identities first.

Other than the vague facebook group appeal suggested earlier .. there is no 'did anyone witness this' app ... sounds like a market gap.

People don't always stop, and if they do the dont tend to jump on the brakes and stop in the middle of fast roads. sure if its a big smash, but not for side to side dings etc

For most traffic incidents there will be a few at most actual witnesses, and the vast majority of the time they will drive off.
If its a minor accident the reality is there will be zero other witnesses to the actual incident as nothing significant will be visible, it tends to be bigger ones that people will see, often not even the start, but once its starting to unfold.

When i worked in insurance most of the witnesses classed as reliable were actually pedestrians and cyclists, other car drivers often as I point out above would comment on the events after the actual collision as opposed to the collision itself, their attention being attracted by the noise generally. And the fact it was pedestrians and cyclists tells you what you need to know about the types of claims that had good witnesses available.

 

[Raggs]

why did the camera footage not quickly exonerate you ?

It did has far as my insurance company was concerned regarding my excess it was returned within in a week, but the other side were dragging there feet basically ignoring requests for reimbursements to my insurance comp and officially admitting liability in the face of irrefutable proof that the other driver was at fault.

they can ignore insurance company letters all day i guess and that's what they were doing, but once solicitors are involved and legal action is being threatened it's a different story.

my insurance went up too because the claim is not down as settled even though it's not my fault , i'll upload the footage in the dash cam thread once everything is officially sorted air bags exploding ect..it was scary ****.

 

[booyaka]

Cutting a long story short...Car insurance is one big mess/scam.

I was recently involved in a bump in a petrol station forecourt with a Berlingo van (under 10 mph) ....Woman driver was on the phone at the time of the incident, admitted she was distracted and agreed it was her fault. 3 minutes later husband turns up, tells her to sit in the car he's driving and say nothing. He then proceeds to rant at me about looking where I was going etc, tell me it's my fault - despite being nowhere near the incident at the time. We exchange details, I was on route to Edinburgh and car was fine to drive, mainly cosmetic damage.

Fast forward to later in the day on the way home from Edinburgh - Husband calls me claiming 3 witness saw me hit her van, he has CCTV from the garage and it's all my fault.

Anyway - I get home call my insurance and leave it with them to deal with.

2 days later - my insurance company call me, they've had zero contact from other party, or their insurance, so unless I can prove anything it will go 50/50 to start with. I tried to get CCTV from BP but it was going to take months of forms/data protection issues etc to get it and my insurance said to me not to bother.

Fast forward another week, suddenly my insurance call me again and say from the description I've given and the drawings I sent to them of the incident, it's my fault 100%.....I query how they get to this and they say that since the front of my car is damage and the side of hers is, I must have hit her....despite the fact she cut across me (similar to your incident OP)

So now I'm 100% liable for an incident, body-shop it was sent to was insurance companies preferred one, they have the car for 4 weeks!!!! and the final bill is £3000 for a new bumper, new headlight unit and some small other scraps......

Total joke....Body shop are claiming it was 35 hours of labour and £1800 in parts!!!! Utterly ridiculous - but since it's an "insurance" job we can charge what we like......

This is why insurance costs go up each year as repair companies take the pure mickey with their pricing

Just to add to this

Received a letter from my insurance company this morning - Third party is now making injury claim.

Laughable - totally laughable. My 12 year old son who was in the car with me at the time of the incident summed it up well this morning...

" how can someone lie like that - she was totally fine and the bump was like 5mph as you pull away from the petrol pump in a forecourt" - that's his take on it.

Pathetic that this incident will end up being around £5-6k claim now with what went on above plus injury claim.

 

[adam cool dude]

Just to add to this

Received a letter from my insurance company this morning - Third party is now making injury claim.

Laughable - totally laughable. My 12 year old son who was in the car with me at the time of the incident summed it up well this morning...

" how can someone lie like that - she was totally fine and the bump was like 5mph as you pull away from the petrol pump in a forecourt" - that's his take on it.

Pathetic that this incident will end up being around £5-6k claim now with what went on above plus injury claim.

Name and shame on Facebook and find out where they live.

 

[MissChief]

Just to add to this

Received a letter from my insurance company this morning - Third party is now making injury claim.

Laughable - totally laughable. My 12 year old son who was in the car with me at the time of the incident summed it up well this morning...

" how can someone lie like that - she was totally fine and the bump was like 5mph as you pull away from the petrol pump in a forecourt" - that's his take on it.

Pathetic that this incident will end up being around £5-6k claim now with what went on above plus injury claim.

I’d be asking the insurance company to fight this if you’ve opted for legal cover and also ask them to persue a claim for insurance fraud. Try and find out where she lives or find her Facebook or Instagram and show pictures of her out and about or doing things she shouldn’t be able to do if injured.

 

[booyaka]

Name and shame on Facebook and find out where they live.

I’d be asking the insurance company to fight this if you’ve opted for legal cover and also ask them to persue a claim for insurance fraud. Try and find out where she lives or find her Facebook or Instagram and show pictures of her out and about or doing things she shouldn’t be able to do if injured.

Not trying to trash OP's thread but I'll call me insurance company on Monday and see what they say (claim handler not in today).

I have their details and information from the original incident so I'll find out what they are claiming for on Monday and I'll see. Police officer friends said don't even bother fighting it - if my insurance has already decided it was my fault (which I still dispute) - then don't waste my time on it. Taken 6 weeks to stick a claim in so someone's had a word in her ear and told her there's free money to be had!

 

[bloodiedathame]

And that fraud drives up prices for everyone else.

 

[Marff]

Cutting a long story short.....
2 days later - my insurance company call me, they've had zero contact from other party, or their insurance, so unless I can prove anything it will go 50/50 to start with. I tried to get CCTV from BP but it was going to take months of forms/data protection issues etc to get it and my insurance said to me not to bother.

Looks like it’s going to be a long claim, so you might as well start the process to get the CCTV. You might get lucky and get the footage quicker and put an end to all of this.