RTA Advice

[martybabes]

Speaking as a lawyer (qualified and practising), we're not all ambulance chasers.

 

So there - that's my 2p's worth!

[robinmasters]

As Mr Bronson says, your policy does not cover damage to your car. It sounds like you've paid extra (usually £10-£25 a year) for legal expenses cover-this is what Abass (Albany Assistance?) provide.

 

They will be dealing with this in one of two ways. Either they'll do exactly what you could do yourself, just more slowly-they'll contact the other drivers insurance company and ask them to repair the car/pay you it's write off value, or they'll arrange a 'credit repair', and give you a hire car, also on credit. If they do the latter, there will be a clause which says you'll have to pay anything they can't get the other insurance company to pay for.

 

They will also put you on to a solicitor if you were injured, but there's no real benefit to you in using their solicitors-they'll all be doing it on a no-win no-fee basis anyway. Solicitors will not be interested in taking it on if it's just a wing and a light.

 

If you just want the car fixed, speak to the other drivers insurance company yourself. Much quicker, easier, and no chance of having to pay some of it yourself at some stage.

[warren t claim]

I take it you had four of your mates in the car with you? (Who'll each be bunging you £500).

[Lankytim]

Hey Martybabes, he needs a real lawyer, not someone who's just practicing at it! Arf arf e.t.c.

[Minimad5]

If you just want the car fixed, speak to the other drivers insurance company yourself. Much quicker, easier, and no chance of having to pay some of it yourself at some stage.

Yes that is all i want.

I shall wake up properly and get on the phone to them, i assume all i do is explain the incident and that i would like my car repaired to before incident quality ?

 

Thanks again guys.

(And yes it is that Albany - a quick google shows up some horror stories)

[Mr Lobster]

Also, whilst it might not be relevant to your situation - as someone who owns multiple cars be very, very careful with hire cars supplied under a credit hire arrangement. 

 

Not only will they charge the insurer an exorbitant rate (back when I last did it five years ago we charged around £90 / day for a Micra that was normally £25 for anyone who walked in off the street) but part of the terms of the credit hire is normally that without the credit hire you are stuck unless you have the credit hire car - if you own other cars then thats not the case. I've seen circumstances of insurers requesting peoples bank statements to prove they couldn't afford to hire the car themselves otherwise. 

 

Credit hire can turn nasty if everything isn't very clear cut.

 

If you can deal directly with the third party insurer then that would be a good way to go.

[alf892]

Yes that is all i want.

I shall wake up properly and get on the phone to them, i assume all i do is explain the incident and that i would like my car repaired to before incident quality ?

 

Thanks again guys.

(And yes it is that Albany - a quick google shows up some horror stories)

Good idea......check carefully who you are talking to and make sure it is the actual insurance company. Talking to the actual company these days is not as easy as you might think as they often contract the claim/defence process out to ambulance chasers of their own.

 

When I eventually got to the right person they said they were pleasantly surprised to hear from me.....especially when I said I did not want anything other than my car getting fixed asap

[Bren]

I would report it to the police just to cover your backside.

 

It seems to be damage only, however you dont want the other party feigning injury and informing the cops - it will make you look bad if you don't.

 

People get all sorts of bad advice in these circumstances....

[Minimad5]

FUCK YEAH (sorry for the language)
Gentleman has admitted liability and his insurance company will be sorting repairs.

Just rang AllBunny and cancelled anything they wish to give me / try hassle me over with.
Fingers crossed that the repairs are good.

Thank you very much gentleman, and as a token of my gratitude i shall be donating some ££ to the upkeep of this forum, right after i figure out how.

[dieselnutjob]

It seems to me that as the accident was on a roundabout it should be fairly clear who had priority and who didn't.  You need to state very clearly (with diagrams and photos) that you were approaching from direction A and exiting direction B, with the other party approaching direction C; therefore you had priority and so the accident is their fault because they failed to give way.

 

I don't see any harm in asking directly for what you want.  If you don't get satisfaction you can still escalate to the legal route.  The point is to not say anything that would make things more difficult for a lawyer later on if you do escalate.  The legal route can be a solicitors letter, it doesn't have to be an accident management company.

 

Edit: I see my post is now irrelevent.  Well done.

[fordperv]

I witnessed a similar accident a few years back on an empty roundabout with clear view from all sides, where a matiz was already emerged onto the roundabout and a taxi i was directly following dropped it down a gear well before the entrance to the roundabout, accelerated harshly and drove straight at the matiz crossing lanes and pinballed it up the road, but I don't think he wasn't counting on anyone stopping, he carried on a distance up the road got out and went to the matiz and tried to give it the old "what the fuck did you pull out on me for" i had already told the passenger to ring the police and an ambulance for his mrs who was driving, i looked if there were any passenger's in the taxi, there wasn't and also if I could see any signs of injury in the taxi drivers body language, no signs were obvious, i gave my details to the matiz passenger, i had the police come to mine for a statement and a representative from the insurance came out to take a witness statement from me, after taking my statement the fella told me that the taxi driver claimed to have 4 passenger's in his vehicle and to have severe neck and shoulder injuries and that without a witness the insurance company would've probably just written it off as the matiz drivers fault because of the circumstances.

[mouseflakes]

Bloody crikey! ^ Good going FP. Some right shysters out there by the sound of it.

 

Beyond the attempted fraud, that taxi driver clearly intended to cause an accident. Hope he got the book thrown at him (though he'd probably claim for the resulting paper cut - ooh, stings!).

[vulgalour]

I hope that taxi driver lost his job.  What a wanker.

[Bobthebeard]

I hope that taxi driver lost his job. What a wanker.

A fairly common occurrence in some areas it seems. Not just taxi drivers though. My mum had a similar experience in which a bloke in a car drove into her on a roundabout. Luckily witnesses were available to discredit the lies. He claimed that there was five people in the car and all* claimed for whiplash injuries. Typical cash for crash incident. Four witnesses testified to say he was alone in the car and he was at fault.

My mum gave up driving afterwards though. It frightened her.

[fordperv]

A fairly common occurrence in some areas it seems.

 

 

i dont know what its like in your areas but around here in a lot of the more undesireable places you cant drive down a shopfront main road without there being a claims company on it