Someone Crashed Into Me :(, What Now?

[f0xy]

Well, driving home today doing 30 in a line of traffic, i was about a car space between me and the car in front, some asian bloke pulls out in his F reg skoda trying to get imbetween us from a side road. I slammed on, it didnt skid but i couldnt turn out of the way for some reason ( i tought abs allowed you to steer when braking harshly?), so ended up hitting his back end. He drove up onto the kerb and got out and i stopped in a side road. On approaching him he said 'What is up?', and i could tell he knew little english.

It took me 15 minutes to explain to him i needed his insurance details... eventually got them, plus his name, reg and phone number etc.

Overall my clio came out of it with a smashed headlight, scratches down the side upto about level with the drivers side mirror, the bottom bumper out of place and the drivers side front wing out of place

What is likely to happen now if i try and sort this via the insurance? Ive been told that these sort of people deny it when it comes to insurance and things can go on for months and months? Its the first bump/crash ive been in and was wondering if i should get an estimate and ask him does he want to pay it without going through the insurance? or what would you do?

Thanks.

 

[Alex_225]

Only thing you can do is to tell your insurers and ideally 'find' a witness!!

A witness who saw everything from outside the car exactly how it happened. If you know what I mean, wink wink, nudge nudge. Obviously they have to be totally independant!!

 

[Kinsella]

Im with tesco

if you are 100% it is not your fault then you will get all the work done free off of his insurence - the case will take a long time and you will probably go to court etc etc and it will drag, but if it was NOT your fault then you should be fine.


worst case is you will have to pay for all the work, the case will go on to court etc, you will come out ontop and get all your money back.

a bus side swiped me once and it took him ages to admit, i was on the phone to tesco saying it was not me etc etc and they told me they have a department who deals with the person not admiting - im sure it will work out ok mate

 

[Kinsella]

being british you have morality on yourside compared to a F reg skoda

 

[f0xy]

it definately was not my fault. there was a guy in a blue van (im sure i can find him round the area somewhere) who came upto me after the other guy had drove off an said 'did you get his details'? and i was talking to him for a few mins... although dont know him.

Im with tesco too... but say he admits it straight off will i get the work for free off his insurance without all the messing around?

 

[MRBILLYUK]

Only thing you can do is to tell your insurers and ideally 'find' a witness!!

A witness who saw everything from outside the car exactly how it happened. If you know what I mean, wink wink, nudge nudge. Obviously they have to be totally independant!!

You can actually have a witness who is " inside " your car and their account of what happened will count .

If i was him i would have taken photos of the accident . And without wanting to get into any racist debate here , i know of a couple of people who have had accidents involving asians and they always find a witness , and coming from a part of Lancashire where there is a large asian community more often than not when there is an accident involving an asian driver a couple of cars will pull up and say they saw it all and implicate the driver who was not at fault .

From what you say its obvious the asian guy was at fault for not paying attention and pullling out on you .

Also there are alot of scams going on with asian drivers were they pull out or brake so you rear end them and they can then claim for whiplash . My ex's sister works for an insurance fraud investigation company and its rife in Lancashire , she was investigating 6 claims from one house alone .

 

[Kinsella]

thing with tesco is the company is that large you can ring up and think that things are going well then you ring back a week later and you get someone else who does not want to know...

what will happen is you ring tesco and say what happend, tesco will then write to that persons insurance company (they dont phone !! thats why it drags on) and then that insurence company contacts the guy (he is on no rush obviously) if the guy says yes it was all my fault then his insurence company contact tesco and say yes or client was rsponsible go ahead with the work and invoice us

now if he says no it was not my fault then its him against you,,, but he as the ods against him, we all know what they drive like !!

keep on at tesco tho because they are so lax !! pressure them to fight for you

 

[Steve]

If it's not your fault, best bet is to call the police out.

As they will check there & then if both of you are legal or not.

Also case no' works well on insurance claims.

 

[f0xy]

well im actually in lancashire, Leigh to be exact. although there was no one in the car with me, and only the guy in the blue van around, because he was also waiting to come out of the side road behind the guy... The cars behind me drove off pretty sharpish ( other side of the road to get round ). There were some pedestrians but they seemed to dissapear when it happened. So if he tries to deny it, its worth gettin the blue van man involved (thats if i can find him)?

 

[Kinsella]

leigh - im only in Hindley green, small world

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

Pedestrians disappeared ??

Perhaps you remember a passenger Appearing ??

Again, I would definately have called the cops, that or tell him he'll be executed if it goes to court, but you'll accept a hell of a lot of cash as a bribe :star:

 

[MRBILLYUK]

well im actually in lancashire, Leigh to be exact. although there was no one in the car with me, and only the guy in the blue van around, because he was also waiting to come out of the side road behind the guy... The cars behind me drove off pretty sharpish ( other side of the road to get round ). There were some pedestrians but they seemed to dissapear when it happened. So if he tries to deny it, its worth gettin the blue van man involved (thats if i can find him)?

I'd try and find the guy in the blue van asap if i was you mate . I know its easy saying take pics , get witness details after its happened but thats what i would have done . I always have a disposeable camera in the glovebox , plus my cam on my phone , i always have a pen and paper in the glovebox as well just in case .

The police will only attend the scene of the accident if there is somebody injured . There's nothing stopping you putting a claim in for whiplash . But you would need to go to hospital and tell them your necks hurting then its documented .You'd probably be looking at somewhere in the region of £1000 - £1500

 

[f0xy]

lol. yeah they walked off into the pub.

Also, to be honest he didnt seem the type of a regular asian with attitude/gang interest... he had just come from a nursing home where he works ( from reading his name badge )...

 

[f0xy]

lol @ mrbilly, yeah... i might go on a drive to see if hes still around in a bit. he seemed interested in asking had i got it sorted with details etc... and not to let him f**k me over like once apparently happened to him...

 

[MRBILLYUK]

lol @ mrbilly, yeah... i might go on a drive to see if hes still around in a bit. he seemed interested in asking had i got it sorted with details etc... and not to let him f**k me over like once apparently happened to him...

He might have seemed ok at the time . It all depends on how he feels about it later , what sort of advice he gets . Trust nobody imo . Look after numero uno

 

[f0xy]

very true.

 

[kpowell911]

are you sure your mate wasnt walking down the opposite side of the street?

 

[lozw]

Someone crashed into my clio just before bank holiday weekend!, even though it was her fault i still rang tescos insurance, they couldnt have been more helpful.

Before i knew it the next day my clio was picked up by the repair garage, even before she had admitted it was her fault, and the very same day a courtesy car was dropped off!

All went through her insurance and i finally got my car back last week after being in the garage nearly a month, no problems and it even comes with a 3 year guarentee for the work so if i was to find any problems then all i would have to do is take it back to the bodyshop and they would have to sort it.

This was my first experience of an accident and i really couldnt believe how easy it was. Things will be fine and get sorted quickly and you shouldnt have to pay a penny. I didn't!!

 

[Lam7r]

To put this as blunty as i can mate...you did have a witness, your mate was in the car with you, did you hit your head and forget? Oh and dont forget yours mates, mates sister who was walking past as it happened...


...On a more moral note mate, i woud try and find the driver of the blue van. Did you get his reg at all?

I had this happen to me once. The only accident i have ever had. I was stationary at at junction and this old lady swiped the front of my car. She drove off at first. I followed her and we swap details. I was really kind to her as she was shaken up. My ex girlfriend at the time lived a few doors up so i got her to bring out a cup of tea for the old lady, i then sorted out insurance details for us both and even rang up her daughter to come and collect her as she was shaken up.

At the scene the woman said sorry and its her fault as she was not paying attention and vered of course. I went home thinking its a ballache having my car fixed but insurance would be fine.

Week later not only has she said its my fault, but also filed a £5000 personal injury claim!!!

Argued the toss for months and in the end due to lack of witnesses had to go 50/50 blame on the crash so lost 2 years NCB and she stung my insurance company for the £5k for her neck!!

Moral is mate, no matter what this guy said at the scene, when he phones his insurance you can bet it was your fault and if you dont have a witness its not going to be a nice outcome i dont think

 

[f0xy]

Thanks for all the info people... Had a call of tescos today saying hes admitted full responsibility... so car is getting picked up on monday and a courtesy car dropped off all through his insurance. Tesco seemed really quick with processing this, very pleased.

 

[ChrisR]

yay

When a girl with tescos rear ended me a few years ago they were really good. Early the next morning i had a call to say my hire car was ready, they paid for my car (it was written off) all the stuff that was in it (the recovery garage nicked it all) and paid damages as it knackered my back for a while (I was stationary, she was doing 70 coming off a motorway and didn't see the queue of traffic at the lights at the end of the off road, me being the last car i the queue).

But I did have hassle when a guy drove into me on a roundabout. He was in the wrong lane and cut across into my wing, only low speed but still was almost a grands worth of damage to wing/wheel etc. He denied it point blank, a few well constructed letters later ripping his statements to shreds (with help from the father in law who did this kind of thing for the mod on a daily basis ) and one day out of the blue a cheaque fo ra grand landed on the doorstep with them admitting full liability. His argument was laughable though, the best line was "as his passenger saw me split seconds before we collided surely the driver must not have been paying attention else he would have seen me and reacted". Our reply was well if our passenger had a good view of you, seeing as your car is rhd you would have had an even better view of us and still proceeded to drive into us

 

[MRBILLYUK]

Thanks for all the info people... Had a call of tescos today saying hes admitted full responsibility... so car is getting picked up on monday and a courtesy car dropped off all through his insurance. Tesco seemed really quick with processing this, very pleased.

Nice one mate . Glad its getting sorted

 

[jonesyx]

2 more suggestions to claim for whiplash even if you havent got it

 

[f0xy]

lol.