Who should be helping me after a car accident?

[Over Clocker]

Hi guys,

After a bit of help really so I can go down the right route.

We were on our way to Devon yesterday for a half term holiday when we were smashed into from behind. Turns out the woman who drove into us was drunk, and she was arrested at the scene. We have her insurance details from the police.

As it was a long drive my friend was driving at the time. He's got drive other cars on his own insurance but is not named on my policy.

My insurance have told me to speak to the drunk driver's insurance directly. They've said they can't help me until Tuesday due to the bank holiday. I need to hire a car as mine is not driveable. I can't till Tuesday for them to sort this out.

3 of the 5 of us are also suffering sore necks and backs.

None of us really know what to do with this.

Do I use one of these accident help companies or just try and sort this all out ourselves and hope her insurance will reimburse us as part of the overall insurance of the car?

Any help would be appreciated as no one needs to be helping.

Thanks,
Mal

 

[singularity]

As he's probably third part only when driving another vehicle, you're a bit stuffed.

How desperately do you need a car? Are you at your holiday destination?

Mind you if she does have valid insurance then it will all be ok.

Probably good idea to get one of those claims firms involved. May be get medically checked etc.

As I said, if she was drunk and insured then it could be a bit of a payday

 

[[TW]Fox]

Contact the third party insurer and see how you get on. They are typically very please to help as it puts them in control of costs.

 

[fastwunz]

You and your three friends will be sipping bubbly by the pool in Spain by the time the accident claim for neck and back injuries has gone through lol

 

[iamdjdz]

Who's your car with? If you have access to something like Arnold Clark Accist or Sytnerdrive then you could go down that route, although not sure how your friends driving would affect it. That claims just on the other drivers policy and provides courtesy car. Done it twice once on each one and had no hassle.

 

[Jez]

Contact the third party insurer and see how you get on. They are typically very please to help as it puts them in control of costs.

This is the correct answer, simplest and they are likely to get straight onto it. The fact that you have police involvement should make this quite straightforward.

 

[Firestar_3x]

As above.

Clear cut fault of the other party and with her being drunk... Driver of you car being 3rd party is irrelevant.

 

[Howard]

Indeed. She’s screwed, but her insurance company should ensure that you aren’t.

 

[BUDFORCE]

That's crap. I'd try and get yourself booked into a doctor or drop in centre ASAP so it'll all get recorded about any injuries etc you might have.

 

[StevieP]

Very risky letting your friend drive without him being on your policy - even if he has the driving of other cars extension (and not everyone has - it's a common misconception that if you are "fully comp" then you can drive anyone else's car - this is NOT the case!)

Obviously own damage is not covered in this instance but as mentioned above, a swift call to the third party's insurer should get things sorted, assuming she has reported it and admitted fault!

If not then your only recourse is to either contact a solicitor yourself or rely on any legal cover you (or your friend has) to sort it for you!

Best of luck!

 

[peterwalkley]

Was this on the M5 ? We saw warnings of delays while we were driving down the M6 yesterday.

It's pretty poor they can"t help you until Tuesday especially when their customer is clearly at fault. Did you go back home or continue to Devon as your holiday is presumably stuffed either way without a car.

 

[Over Clocker]

Thanks a lot for the advice guys.

I'm going to phone her insurance again yes, I was a bit shaken up yesterday to be honest.

We're in Devon now. It was on the A358.

Thanks a lot,
Mal

 

[Vexr]

Should be straight forward, though can take a long time to sort out. I was crashed in to by someone on the run from the police. Turns out it was a cloned vehicle or something, as it was initially shown to be insured but the policy owner successfully denied all knowledge of it. The driver and passenger got out of the car and legged it, getting away and were never caught. They left their injured mate in the rear, but this being the UK he never gave up his mates identities and this was perfectly okay.

Your insurer, even if you don't have legal cover, can refer you to solicitors. The solictors should arrange a medical on your behalf, and any other uninsured losses / expenses can be stacked up in your claim (like getting a hire car).

Even if the other driver turns out to be uninsured, it'll all go through to the MIB (Motor Insurers Bureau). They take ages to settle and aren't as generous injury-wise as regular insurers, but nevertheless they're there to act as if they're the insurance company of the other driver.

I wouldn't fret about your coverage not being as full/accurate as you might like with your friend driving. With obvious non-fault accidents they tend to overlook any discrepancies on your policy (like with mine, I'd just started a new job and hadn't updated my insurance company on that change of occupation - yet they never brought it up).

Even if you're not insured fully comp and only third party, should also make 0 difference in these true non-fault accidents even if the other party is uninsured, thanks to the existence of the MIB.

 

[StevieP]

Whilst it hopefully won't make any difference, did you check to see whether your pal had the driving of other cars extension on his policy before letting him drive?

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Surely if she hit you, your or your friends policy is irrelevant at this stage.
Provided he was driving with cover (whatever level) any claim is coming from the driver who caused the accident. Yours or your mate's policy is irrelevant?!
I would just phone the third party insurer as mentioned above and register the claim, let them deal with it. If you get any grief, say you are being advised to go through an accident management company and I think they will likely want to keep you in the loop and handle it themselves to reduce costs.

 

[StevieP]

The only problem is that if the third party have not reported the incident yet (which is possible because if she was tanked up then she's probably got bigger problems right now!) they aren't necessarily just going to take your word for what happened!

But yes, threaten an accident management company getting involved and the fact that you quite like the idea of a courtesy Bentley for a few weeks and they will probably speed things up!

 

[Over Clocker]

Thanks for all your help again guys. I guess I'll have to wait until Tuesday to get on the phone again properly to them? I did call them yesterday register it all and I've got a reference number from them?

Quick question, assuming my car is written off, how long do they need to provide me with a courtesy vehicle for, and can I request one big enough for my needs (family of 4 plus large dog!).

Thanks,
Mal

 

[Kaeo]

Usually for a 'reasonable period of time' until you have another vehicle, which means they pay out and instantly want the car back. lol.

 

[Havana_UK]

My wife had a sort of similar problem last year (also on the way to Devon!) where she was hit from behind, but not by a drunk driver, and she was driving fully insured.

We spoke to the third party's insurance who told us they couldn't do anything as their driver had not reported the accident to them, so we ended up going through Accident Exchange who had a replacement car (a nearly identical RR Evoque) with us the next morning and they took care of everything. Normally I wouldn't advocate going down this route as it effectively makes everyone pay more for their insurance, but since we didn't want to start forking out of our own pocket for such a non-fault situation we were left with no other alternative.

 

[Vexr]

Thanks for all your help again guys. I guess I'll have to wait until Tuesday to get on the phone again properly to them? I did call them yesterday register it all and I've got a reference number from them?

Quick question, assuming my car is written off, how long do they need to provide me with a courtesy vehicle for, and can I request one big enough for my needs (family of 4 plus large dog!).

Thanks,
Mal

I don't know about your insurer, but mine were quick to mention there'd be no courtesy car because mine was considered as likely written off. Seems they only entertain the idea of a courtesy car when there's a hope of it being repaired.

Even the police on the scene I spoke to suggested doing everything I could to describe the vehicle as not being too badly off, because then I'd be entitled to a courtesy car. Seems I failed at this by accurately reporting the air bags had exploded and one wheel and the axel was bent 45 degrees, and was just generally smashed up, to the point my car recognised it wouldn't start and was flinging up error message instead of even trying to ignite the engine.

Best if you don't have legal cover to chase up the solicitors. Most work on a no-win no fee basis, and take 25% of whatever is awarded.