Accident advice

[BYTEr]

Hi all,

So, yesterday morning I was involved in an accident, I was driving down a road and up ahead a car was waiting at a junction and for some strange reason decided to pull out just as I was passing and hit me side on, driver said he was looking at the car behind me :S.

I have pictures and dash-cam footage as well as the other party’s details which I’ve verified and I’ve informed my insurance company for information purposes only. I’ve also contacted the 3rd party’s insurance company, sent them the pictures and dash-cam footage, they’ve said themselves it looks pretty clear cut their customer is at 100% fault, however, they won’t act until they can contact him and haven’t been able to for the last two days.

I don’t want to go through my insurance company if I can avoid it, I want to go through the 3rd party’s insurance as I’m hoping they will want to do this so they have some control of the costs, however, I’m not prepared to wait any longer just because their customer hasn’t got in contact, which leaves me with accident management companies.

I know some will say they drive up people’s premiums but I know of a few people who have used them and they’ve said things get sorted quickly.

What’s the general recommended advice in this instance? Should I just go through my insurance company? Should I give the other side more time? Should I contact an accident management company?

I think there will be a good chance my car will be written off which will be annoying, does this change things at all?

Any advice would be appreciated,

Thanks in advance.

 

[koooowweeee]

It doesn't make much odds. Your still claiming and will be logged on whatever database.

Just ring yours if you want it sorting quicker

 

[OldKitMan]

Why would you not want to use your own insurance company in this situation?

 

[MissChief]

Use your insurance company, it’s what they’re there for. It’ll be recorded anyway but as a no fault claim.

 

[Kenai]

Why would you not want to use your own insurance company in this situation?

Because until such time as they can recover the costs, he may have to pay his excess and may have to deal with a renewal with an unresolved claim (which they'll probably be treating as 'fault' up until they've recovered their money).

Wherever a third party is at fault, it's generally preferable to use their insurance to sort it out to minimise any potential for grief or complication with your own policy should things turn into a dispute, get drawn out etc.

 

[Uther]

Just hope it doesn't turn into a '50/50' blame game...

 

[Rids]

Put in another call to the third parties insurance and let them know that they have until this evening to progress the claim and begin to sort things like repair, hire car, etc, or you'll be forced to engage the services of an accident management company.

Claim capture is an absolutely key metric for motor insurers, as an insurer if you own the claim you have far better control over the costs. If the insurer is remotely switched on then they'll be all over this.

 

[Munchies]

I had a similar situation a few years ago, got reversed into. I didn't have any dashcam or anything to prove who was liable, but the third party refused to return any attempt the insurer made to contact him, and after inspecting my motorcycle decided the damage tied up with my version of events, and paid out.

I, like you tried to just go through the third party's insurer, but they have to give their driver a reasonable time to return their calls, and they have to try and contact their driver using multiple platforms. So I involved my insurer to keep pestering the third party insurer on my behalf. Once they have exhausted all options and still cannot get in contact with their driver, they'll move the claim on, and it should be far easier for you, having video of the accident.

I didn't have to part with my excess. If I wanted a hire vehicle, I would have had to get that through my insurer until the third party decided to pay, and then my insurer would have claimed costs back. That's the only part that would have involved my insurer covering costs.

So before involving a claims management company, speak to your own insurer. If you need a hire vehicle, you insurer can sort that for you, and recover costs from the third party.

 

[BYTEr]

Well I rang the 3rd party's insurance again during my lunch break, still haven't been able to contact their customer and they said it would potentially be weeks before they went ahead without contact as they'll send him letters giving him reasonable time to get in contact etc.

So I've just contacted my insurance, they've put it all down as non-fault, no excess etc and apparently I'll hear from an accident repair company and a hire car company at some point today to get things rolling.

 

[Rids]

Name and shame the 3rd party insurer, thats poor form from them.

They're now completely out of control of costs, and your insurer will most likely take them to the cleaners.

 

[BYTEr]

3rd party insurance was Aviva, they didn't really seem that interested to be honest and actually seemed a little miffed that I was ringing them, just said they won't do anything until they've spoken to their customer even if that took weeks.

Didn't hear anything this afternoon from either the accident repair company or hire car company which is a little frustrating since Churchill said I'd hear from them this afternoon.

 

[Haggisman]

Get the other driver's details from the DVLA and send them a "letter before action" with a view to starting small claims proceedings. If they don't want to go through their insurance then they can stump up the money themselves.

 

[Hades]

Get the other driver's details from the DVLA and send them a "letter before action" with a view to starting small claims proceedings. If they don't want to go through their insurance then they can stump up the money themselves.

I might be wrong but I thought the general public could only get the persons insurance company name, not their actual details. At least that was all I could get a few years ago when I did it.

 

[Munchies]

It may seem unfair that the 3rd party's insurer appears to be dragging their feet, however there is a reason they have to exhaust all means to contact their driver before just paying out.

The car could have been on cloned plates or stolen, and the insured could be on holiday (less likely in the current climate) or in hospital, or otherwise unable to respond to / unaware of the claim against them.

It sucks that you have to wait 14 days after them sending a letter IIRC, but if you have a courtesy car, which ultimately the third party's insurer will be paying for, if everything is as you described, so they won't want to drag their feet.

I was asked to describe the drivers appearance, gave them the name he gave me, and also had his mobile number, which presumably matched their records. Things like that can help show that a claim is less likely to be fraudulant / a blatant lie.

 

[BYTEr]

Get the other driver's details from the DVLA and send them a "letter before action" with a view to starting small claims proceedings. If they don't want to go through their insurance then they can stump up the money themselves.

I've got the drivers details, he actually is the MD of a wealth management company in my town with the company name being his surname, when I type his name into google his face pops up etc and I have photo's of him at the scene, verified his home address etc.

I'm going through my insurance now, so it's over to them now.