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[RichardH]

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice or just confirmation that I am handling things correctly with an accident that just happened with me.

I was driving along a backroad out in the country where there was no real soft margin on the sides, only a hard earth bank with stones in it and trees growing on top of the bank. As I was driving a long I was coming upon a stone entrance and I saw the nose of a car peek out (a Megane). There was a stone pier obstructing the other cars view so he should have edged out slowly. When I first spotted the nose of his car I was almost upon the entrance so there was no time for me to slow down and anticipate his next move. Then he suddenly shot out, coming against me, and the nose of his car swung over to my side of the road, across the white line, causing me to swerve left to avoid a collision and I ended up side-swiping the earth bank, travelled about 20 yards and came to a stop.

I looked back and the other car had kept going and not stopped, so either he did not realise what he had done or just did a runner. Fortunately a car travelling behind me witnessed what happened and I have his contact information, however neither of us got the reg of the car involved.

The left hand side suspension of my car is screwed as both front wheels now point in opposite directions, the left is pushed back into the arch, and the rear wheel camber is now way out of shape. God knows what else is wrong as it was getting dark and I cannot see a lot right now. There does not seem to be much bodywork damage, although the wing mirror is now hanging off.

The stone entrance was into a business and it was obviously closing time as other cars kept coming out. I stopped a few and asked if they knew someone who owned a green Megane and a few confirmed they knew it belonged to a Polish worker in the factory. I then stopped the factory boss and got a name and number of the Polish guy. I called the Police and handed all this info over to them. They are following up in the morning at the factory as this guy is due back to work then. Apparently they know him and have stopped him a few times to check tax and insurance so he is insured thankfully.

I don't have any insurance info from him at the moment and have asked the Police to ring me with this in the morning so that I can go about claiming on it. I wanted to ring my own insurance company just to inform them of the accident but they are closed for the weekend.

My car is now off the road and I have a 40 mile commute to work on Monday so I need one badly. I would like to hire a car and charge the costs to the other guy but I want to get his insurance info first. However I would not do this if I thought I my claim against him was bound to fail as it would cost a fortune. Do you guys reckon I have a good chance of a succesful claim?

Sorry for the long post but I am raging here and I would love some advice.

By the way, I am assuming insurance works the same way in the UK as I am based in Ireland!

Regards,
Richard

[Jay w]

getting the police involved in something like that was the right thing to do, they have more 'clout' than you on your own.

Speak to your insurance co. and tell them what happened,  they may be able to provide you with a hire car anyway and then charge it back to the other persons insurers (worse car you have to claim it as an uninsured loss)

hope this gets sorted out and the guys gives you the details  

[The Elite]

Hmm, hard to prove this one, you need to let the police handle this, DO NOT supply the details you have to your insurance company untill you have spoken to the police as you could end up be accused of making a fraudulant claim if they can't prove this vehicle was involved.

[Gaffers]

it is now considered a hit and run if you cause or have an accident without stopping and reporting it.

If you can get the ignoramous to admit he was the one driving and he will have more to worry about than losing his no claims bonus!  

While you're at it tell him if he doesn't want to play by British Law to go back and let someone else have the much needed job.  

[Elite Pete]

The only problem I can see is you and your witness didnt get the Reg No so if he says it wasnt him, theres no way of proving it was

[Doodley]

mot sure if i misunderstood this? has he actually hit your car? I read it as if you have swerved out of the way and hit the bank?

If he hasnt made any contact with your car, as annoying as it will be for you, if he hasnt made contact there can be no claim.

If he did actually hit you its a different story, he is liable.

[albitz]

i assume from the post that you are in the repuplic of ireland so the legal situation may not be the same as it would be in the u.k.  :question

[Gaffers]

mot sure if i misunderstood this? has he actually hit your car? I read it as if you have swerved out of the way and hit the bank?

If he hasnt made any contact with your car, as annoying as it will be for you, if he hasnt made contact there can be no claim.

If he did actually hit you its a different story, he is liable.

If you cause an accident by not abiding to the highway code there does not need to be a collision for you to be liable

[Doodley]

yeah but try prooving that he pulled out, i cant see that there going to go on what the driver behind says.

Theres nothing to tell the insurance company or court that the driver behind isnt a friend or something.

Sorry but I dont think it will stand!

[Jo_Kent]

Sorry to hear what happened, very frustrating. Maybe have a look at the Motor Insurers' Bureau website, they deal with untraced and uninsured drivers but not sure if it extends to Ireland. www.mib.org.uk

Just a word of caution regarding a hire car - if you do hire one make sure it is a rough equivalent to your own, I've seen claims where Fiesta owners hire a top of the range BMW thinking the insurance will pay, then end up with a bill for the difference when the third party insurers will only pay for a Fiesta equivalent.

Good luck.

[The Cambelt Kid]

Hmm, hard to prove this one, you need to let the police handle this, DO NOT supply the details you have to your insurance company untill you have spoken to the police as you could end up be accused of making a fraudulant claim if they can't prove this vehicle was involved.

Fraud??

Some pr**k tried to claim against me by saying that i crashed into the back of him!  He tried so hard to claim against my insurance but i kept to my guns and documented all that i could and had insurance investigators out to check both cars.  His insurance even hired a car and had the cheek to include this in the bill too!  

Finally got it covered as the guy was never availabe for the investigators to check his car and there was no hard evidence.  Since overturning the claim my insurance company wasn't interested in screwing him for fraud at all.  They said it wasn't worth it and wasn't my call.

Bottom line is that unless the false claim is for a very large figure or someone has been injured or worse still a fatality, my insurance company wansn't interested in the slightest.

Don't expect a quick turn around if the other guy denies it happened, my case took 2 years!

Hope it all works out...

[The Cambelt Kid]

Sorry to hear what happened, very frustrating. Maybe have a look at the Motor Insurers' Bureau website, they deal with untraced and uninsured drivers but not sure if it extends to Ireland. www.mib.org.uk

Just a word of caution regarding a hire car - if you do hire one make sure it is a rough equivalent to your own, I've seen claims where Fiesta owners hire a top of the range BMW thinking the insurance will pay, then end up with a bill for the difference when the third party insurers will only pay for a Fiesta equivalent.

Good luck.

LOL - the director of a local company near me had a Scoda hire car in place of a Ferrari...  

ha ha ha

[Pitchfork]

it is now considered a hit and run if you cause or have an accident without stopping and reporting it.

If you can get the ignoramous to admit he was the one driving and he will have more to worry about than losing his no claims bonus!  

While you're at it tell him if he doesn't want to play by British Law to go back and let someone else have the much needed job.  

I think you'll find that there's no such thing as British Law
It's either the laws of England & Wales or those of Scotland

[Crazydad]

Sorry to hear about this, the only problem i see at the moment, is the fact that either you or your witness actually managed to get the Registration number.
I am not sure how the courts would deal with this, even if the green Megane, was the only one in the entire Factory, if the owner said it wasnt him hmmm tricky one.
I still hope that it works out in your favour as it sounds as if the repair will be a costly one.
Please keep us updated as i would love to hear about the outcome of this.

[Golfbuddy]

it is now considered a hit and run if you cause or have an accident without stopping and reporting it.

If you can get the ignoramous to admit he was the one driving and he will have more to worry about than losing his no claims bonus!  

While you're at it tell him if he doesn't want to play by British Law to go back and let someone else have the much needed job.  

I think you'll find that there's no such thing as British Law
It's either the laws of England & Wales or those of Scotland

That's absolutely right and is what makes me laugh about the current hysteria about the Archbishop of Canterbury's speech. We already operate two systems of law within Great Britain.