Car Hit by Drunk Driver

[Bear]

Last night whilst watching TV the wife and I heard a big bang outside the house and car alarms going off, so we ran outside to see a car spun round in the road with the near side suspension completely ripped off. My car was spun round with the rear end pointing in the road along with two other cars damaged.

Looking around my car, it looks like mine took the brunt of the impact. Oddly enough no panels were dented by the front axel is cooked. Both front alloy wheels must have taken the impact as the drivers side was hit and pushed the car against the kerb as the passenger alloy rim has snapped. The drivers side suspension has collapsed (air bag probably damaged), the steering doesn’t work at all on both sides and the driver side door and front quarter has been scraped

Neighbours were keeping an eye on a woman who was the driver of the car as she looked like she was about to do a runner. The police were called and breathalysed her and she failed (she was well gone) so she was taken way to the station. Had to get my car recovered by Mercedes as it was poking out into the road and I couldn’t drive it to straighten it out as the steering was bust (both front wheels pointing in different directions)







Her car

 

[Bear]

Question now is, would it be better to get my insurance to get things underway and recover costs from her insurance or go through her insurance?

 

[Bear]

At least she probably has insurance, that Rover was only MOT'd earlier this month!
Bad luck OP, is that enough damage to write yours off?

No idea, the fact that she hit the drivers side wheel and shunted the car hard enough against the kerb to smash the passenger side wheel, I would guess it would have bent something pretty badly. I had to get the car recovered as it was in a dodgy position and I couldn’t move it so didn’t get a chance to pop the bonnet to see if the suspension mounting points were bent up or not. It’s a 2017 E43 so it’s not even 3 years old yet so who knows, guess it will have to be assessed to find out.

 

[Bear]

Spoke to my insurers and as they said the car was hit by a drunk driver and it was no fault, they waive the excess and I don’t lose my NCD so I’ve just gone through them, they’ve checked and she is insured, I verified that last night so it’s all getting actioned pretty quickly. They are going to recover my car today and I will get a courtesy car later this afternoon.

Thanks all

 

[Bear]

Sorry to see this. But it is a bit much to wish death on someone for drink driving and hitting a parked car...

Yeah, I’m glad no one was hurt. She wasn’t hurt at all luckily.

 

[Bear]

Also, and completely irrelevant but more out of curiosity, when last did you drive that car? The rust on the discs says months at least

The car hasn’t been driven since the 23rd as I’ve been on holiday off work since the 19th

 

[Bear]

They never are... it's the family of four they head on who usually end up in the fridge at the mortuary...

Did they say what she blew?

Ah well, hopefully the insurance write your car off then come after the drink driver with civil proceedings for the £15,000 or so it’s cost them.

No, the roadside ones only give a pass or fail. They then get taken to the station to get a proper one done, so don’t know after that.

If they wrote my car off I hope they give me more than £15k for an E43 that’s less than 3 years old, never mind the 2 other cars she’s hit also.

 

[Bear]

Yes if the insurer can prove they intentionally drove while drunk, they don't have to cover them. It's the loophole and insurers love not paying.

That is not true, an insurer is obliged to pay out to the third party. What they aren’t obliged to do is to pay for her repairs if she was fully comp and that the insurance company can reclaim the costs from her because she was drunk.

 

[Bear]

Unlucky with the car Bear. Must be horrible to walk out and see it’s your car

Thanks Simon, it’s certainly annoying and a hassle. Hopefully the outcome whatever it is will be ok

 

[Bear]

What a crappy thing to happen just before the new year, hopefully she'll get the book thrown at her.

Think we're all interested to know what courtesy car they gave you.

They gave me a VW Toerag for a courtesy car as it was done through the insurance co.

 

[Bear]

The question on the lips of the entire forum appears to have been missed - bumping for OP to comment !

(Hope all is well Bear, sorry to see the damage, some incredible force on those wheels there ! I imagine the suspension is a bit fubar'd also? )

Haha, no some old man drove into that whilst parked up as well and wrote it off ages ago, and thanks. The garage picked it up yesterday so I will find out soon what the damage is.

 

[Bear]

Had you done any modifications on the car ... moreover if it were PCP'd is that additional hassle.

No the car was standard, and was a cash purchase so I own it.

Thanks for all the kind words all.

 

[Bear]

Well just got a call from the garage after the assessor did their thing. Looks like they are pretty much replacing the front axle, suspension and alloy wheels, the drivers side wing mirror and paint the drivers side door and front quarter at a cost of over £14k and take a month to complete.

 

[Bear]

How much is it worth?

Not sure what the book price is but would hazard a guess of about £28k to £30k maybe?

 

[Bear]

how much to buy another (Auto Trader) ?

Just had a look, £33k to £35k for a 2017 car with similar mileage

 

[Bear]

push for 35K

The car isn’t written off, it’s being fixed

 

[Bear]

sorry, jumped the gun

Haha, I think acemastr asked how much it was worth as the cost to fix it came to over £14k

 

[Bear]

Its not just the value of the car to take into account though is it, it is the total cost of the claim, they must be paying out £500 a week just for the hire car.

When I was signing the paperwork for the Toureg the price for the week they initially signed up for was £1285 pending info from the garage. No doubt now the hire will be for 5 weeks the price will come down a bit or perhaps because it’s being paid for by her insurance company they will charge as much as they can.

 

[Bear]

Thought I would update the post as I finally got my car back last week. Took 11 weeks at a cost of £16360. On top of that I had the VW Toerag for the 11 weeks, baring in mind the first week charge was £1285 (they didn't know how long I would have it for so only wrote up agreement for a week initially) the total cost to her insurance is pretty sizeable (depending on any discount for having the rental car for 11 weeks).

The car is great, it drives straight and the garage has done a really good job. I'm glad to have it back as I pretty much hated everything about the Toerag.

 

[Bear]

nice to see a happy ending. she looks well.

don't imagine the other driver will need to be worrying about car insurance for quite some time. any word on charges or the like against her (apologies if it's already been mentioned in the thread)

I have no idea to be honest as the police won’t tell me anything. I wanted to get her name and address to give to my insurance company but as I was a victim of a crime they said they wouldn’t give me any information and my insurance would have to get the report off them.

I know she was a Ukrainian as we were talking to her after the accident, and after speaking to my insurance company recently about whether they would have any issues recovering the full cost, they said her insurance have had trouble getting in contact with her via mail and phone. I suspect she is either ignoring all contact or she has legged it home.