Mum had a crash...

[MisChief]

Hi everyone

Someone crashed into the back of my mum's car this afternoon whilst she was stuck in traffic, and now I need some advice as to what I should do because we've never been in situations like this before..

I only arrived at the scene after the crash, but this is what she told me - the woman behind her approached quite fast and smashed into the back of my mum so hard that my mum hit the car in front..

The damage on my mum's car: whole of the rear bumper dented badly with one side pushed in against the rear wheel and plastic light cover thingys smashed, the front bumper has fallen off a bit with the bonnet raised slightly..

We've swapped insurance details etc with both the cars in front and behind. The car in front didn't receive much damage so she drove away, but my mum's car and the woman behind had to get our cars towed away. I forgot to take some photo's of the damage but the guy who towed it away said it probably can't be repaired

As my mum is the named driver on the insurance and my dad (main policy holder) is currently out of this country until Sunday, what should we do? Does the main policy holder have to call up? Or should my mum call up and let them know what happened first? Should the accident be reported within a certain amount of time like 24/48hrs?

My mum was pretty shocked when she got hit and was shaking a bit. Since then, she is now feeling mild pains/aches on the back of her neck.. Can she do anything about this?

The woman who crashed into her admitted that she was in the wrong.. However, she said 'the sun was really bright and I couldn't see your brake lights', when really, she was approaching the traffic too fast..

How does the claim process work? Does the woman in front claim from us, then we claim from the woman behind? and does this affect my dad's no claims bonuses as the main policy holder?

I'm so clueless as to what we should do now.. We couldn't call up to report the accident earlier on because the lines were closed. Now I need some advice from you guys so I can make some calls first thing tomorrow morning.

Thanks in advance,
Tina

 

[MisChief]

Yes, wait a couple of days and it'll go away, like it does when you trip over or something. Or do you have flashing pound signs in your head...

My mum is 60yrs old and has heart problems.. I'm surprised that this accident didn't give her a heart attack or something and I'm just hoping that it wouldn't cause long-term damage to her back/neck.

 

[MisChief]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

I went with my mum to the brokers where she got her insurance from and the guy helped us fill out a claim form. He said the information will be passed on to another company which they use to deal with claims and that someone will call me back soon to arrange a hire car.

As to the neckaches she had yesterday, she said thats gone but is now experiencing slight chest pains.. We'll leave it for now but if she experiences any more pains later on, i'll take her to see a doctor.

On average, how long does it usually take to successfully make a claim and get everything sorted?

 

[MisChief]

4 months later...

Insurance company pays out £1200 for my mums M reg Civic, mum is still having regular physio therapy sessions and i'm still helping her deal with the personal injury claim...

....and then last week, we receive a letter from our insurance company telling us that the car in front felt two impacts. Both parties in front and behind are now turning things around and trying to say that my mum crashed into the car in front *first* before the car behind even hit my mum which pushed my mum into the car in front 'again'...

1) my mum was stationary when the woman behind crashed into her and was within a reasonable distance to the car in front
2) the woman behind said the sun was too low so she couldnt see my mums car to stop in time, so how could she be so sure that she saw my mum crash into the car in front first??

At the time of the accident, both cars in front and behind didn't mention a word about my mum crashing into the car in front first when they got out to swap insurance details.. What are they trying to do now??

I've written a letter to the insurance company explaining everything, but haven't sent it yet as i'd like to know what you guys think about the situation first.. whats the best way to go about it?

 

[MisChief]

Letter from my mums insurance company says:

"Please note both parties involved indicate that your had already hit the vehicle infront (I assume they mean 'your vehicle'), please advise if this is the case as they are refusing to reimburse the full outlay."

Then they attached a copy of the letter sent from the insurers of the car in front saying:

"We have written confirmation from our insured that two impacts were felt. The other parties insurers, Tesco, have confirmed that your client hit our insured first and then their client hit your client. We trust you will now concede liability."

Do you know what would happen if the insurance company doesn't believe us? I'm guessing both the women in front and behind doesn't know each other... but we reckon they must've spoken to each other after the accident and decided to make up this story that my mum hit the car in front first...

As to Chiropractic.. never really knew what it was.. its just that physio was what the doctor recommended at first.

*BTW* its 'her mother/mum', not 'his' -- i'm female!!

 

[MisChief]

The accident happened on a busy road during rush hour, so i'm sure a few people can witness the accident but they just couldn't be bothered to stop and get involved...

My mum said the car in front only had a small dent on one side of the bumper, so the woman just gave insurance details and left within 10 mins or so. No pics were taken at the time of the accident and by the time the police arrived everyone had left apart from my mum, so the police just asked 'is everything ok?' and drove off without taken any reports.

Mum's car had been written off, and insurance company have already paid out to her. I thought everything had been sorted already, but I guess the woman in front is still waiting to claim from my mums insurance..