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

Soldato
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You have to understand how insurance works it's not that are doing your both at fault so much as it's not financially viable to argue otherwise so the two agree to pay half.
They don't really care what the knock on effect to the customer is.
You do have the right to disagree and stick by your not at fault but you could end up in court putting your case forward.

Personally I'd just go 50/50 and be done with it.
 
Soldato
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You have to understand how insurance works it's not that are doing your both at fault so much as it's not financially viable to argue otherwise so the two agree to pay half.
They don't really care what the knock on effect to the customer is.
You do have the right to disagree and stick by your not at fault but you could end up in court putting your case forward.

Personally I'd just go 50/50 and be done with it.

And this is why people get away with lying about accidents.

If you're not at fault, stick to your guns and take it as far as it needs to go, otherwise people will keep trying this sort of stuff on.
 
Associate
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as someone who deals with this as their job its likely that without witnesses your insurers will simply deal with this matter on a 50/50 basis as at the moment its your word against his and the damage itself is not conclusive evidence of who is at fault. . Its very frustrating especially where someone is injured as well as the deal behind the scenes between the insurers will often then apply to the injury as well. your insurers are also unlikely to to engage an accident expert as again its cheaper for them to simply deal with the matter on a 50/50 basis. Insurers are not there to act in your best interests. They are there to make money for their shareholders.
 
Associate
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And this is why people get away with lying about accidents.

If you're not at fault, stick to your guns and take it as far as it needs to go, otherwise people will keep trying this sort of stuff on.

and how exactly is he going to take this as far as it needs to go. As its purely damage to a vehicle its going to be a small claims matter and he is not going to be able to get legal assistance on that. (even if you have before the event legal assistance thats not going to be of help as they will be guided by the insurers decision in any event)
 
Associate
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It’s not normally the thing to do but with these circumstances I wouldn’t hesitate. All your doing is ensuring that the right/correct outcome happens.

All you need is an “independent” person to corroborate your story, that’ll be perfectly acceptable for your insurance company and I highly doubt it will require further investigation.


do not take on that advice - thats asking for trouble
 
Soldato
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and how exactly is he going to take this as far as it needs to go. As its purely damage to a vehicle its going to be a small claims matter and he is not going to be able to get legal assistance on that. (even if you have before the event legal assistance thats not going to be of help as they will be guided by the insurers decision in any event)

Reject any notion of accepting 50/50 liability. The insurers will do the rest.
 
Soldato
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as someone who deals with this as their job .... your insurers are also unlikely to to engage an accident expert
don't you have a right to expect they will give their written interpretation of what pictures/evidence shows nonetheless - with some indication of the credentials of the person making the analysis. ... or, alternatively, get the evidence assessed by an independant engineer. ?
 
Soldato
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And this is why people get away with lying about accidents.

If you're not at fault, stick to your guns and take it as far as it needs to go, otherwise people will keep trying this sort of stuff on.
Do you speak from experience? Just curious, I found the whole process extremely stressful and just didn't have the time to dedicate to it.
I think in the end I actually instructed my insurance to just do what ever is fastest.
 

Jez

Jez

Caporegime
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Do you speak from experience? Just curious, I found the whole process extremely stressful and just didn't have the time to dedicate to it.
I think in the end I actually instructed my insurance to just do what ever is fastest.
I am with you, personally i think life too short to be messing around disputing inconsequential things such as car accident liability. It is why i have no interest in a dash cam or anything of that ilk and dont really understand people who do.

I know hindsight isnt much use here, but i'd have just done this outside of insurance and had the car patched up locally, cash sort of job. You never know, he might even have paid some of, or all of the invoice if it were reasonable, given that he initially agreed to no insurance and he'd have felt as though you were doing him a favour.

Unfortunately now that the insurer knows about this, it might be worth just paying the excess and having them fix it, with the bonus that the repair will be absolutely perfect and like new as it will be an over the top insurance job. Let them go 50/50 or whatever they want to do their end, i wouldnt think it worth getting heavily involved, or dwelling on this any further.
 
Permabanned
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do not take on that advice - thats asking for trouble
Arguably no one would have to do such a thing if the insurance industry was to do their due diligence. I’m happy for people to ignore what I said it’s a shame the only way to get s satisfactory result is to bend the rules.

Anyway as op said it’s too late for that now unfortunately he’s got little choice but to be put of pocket.
 
Caporegime
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I am with you, personally i think life too short to be messing around disputing inconsequential things such as car accident liability. It is why i have no interest in a dash cam or anything of that ilk and dont really understand people who do.

I know hindsight isnt much use here, but i'd have just done this outside of insurance and had the car patched up locally, cash sort of job. You never know, he might even have paid some of, or all of the invoice if it were reasonable, given that he initially agreed to no insurance and he'd have felt as though you were doing him a favour.

Unfortunately now that the insurer knows about this, it might be worth just paying the excess and having them fix it, with the bonus that the repair will be absolutely perfect and like new as it will be an over the top insurance job. Let them go 50/50 or whatever they want to do their end, i wouldnt think it worth getting heavily involved, or dwelling on this any further.
Compare the cost of a decent dash cam (£100) and compare it to a potential insurance increase of a fault claim that wasn’t your fault at all but you can’t prove it of potentially £2-400 per year and it pays for itself.
 

Jez

Jez

Caporegime
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Compare the cost of a decent dash cam (£100) and compare it to a potential insurance increase of a fault claim that wasn’t your fault at all but you can’t prove it of potentially £2-400 per year and it pays for itself.

Disagree...these events are rare enough that it is not worth the bother at all, in my opinion and experience of 15-16 years of high mileage driving. I am yet to check as insurance costs are so low in the UK that i dont consider the "what ifs", but i would also be amazed if a fault claim were to add 150%+ onto a likely car premium for my demographic.
 
Soldato
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19 Jan 2006
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15,940
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
 
Caporegime
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Compare the cost of a decent dash cam (£100) and compare it to a potential insurance increase of a fault claim that wasn’t your fault at all but you can’t prove it of potentially £2-400 per year and it pays for itself.

Whipping out your phone at the point of incident is equally as good and costs nothing at all. Easy to see guilt with that one.

At the OP I would try and forward your text messages over and pictures none the less.

Also yet to come but check your car all over once repaired. I rejected a car 3 times due to poor repair from an authorised repairer from my insurance.

I would also try the local Facebook groups. Chances are someone local was driving at the time and saw everything. Especially if it was a bust roundabout. Keep all transcripts for the insurance company as well.
 
Soldato
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13,452
Compare the cost of a decent dash cam (£100) and compare it to a potential insurance increase of a fault claim that wasn’t your fault at all but you can’t prove it of potentially £2-400 per year and it pays for itself.

What are you just makeing that up.
At one point I had 2 fault claims on mine it made £20 a year difference for a few years.
 
Man of Honour
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13 Oct 2006
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90,806
What are you just makeing that up.
At one point I had 2 fault claims on mine it made £20 a year difference for a few years.

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.

Whipping out your phone at the point of incident is equally as good and costs nothing at all. Easy to see guilt with that one.

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