Crashed my car tonight....damn Ice!

Savage Tyrant

I crashed my car tonight. I was coming down a steep hill and when I pressed the brakes the car just kept on going....straight on out onto the main road into the main line of traffic......and BANG an old man driving along has (unavoidably) smacked into my back wheel area.

Couple of questions that some of you may be able to help me with.
The is no doubt that although the icy road was the major factor in the accident that I will be held liable as I didn't have control of my car. But I was wondering if somoene might tell me how badly this my affect my insurance renewal next year.
I have 3rd party F&T on my car. 02 about 2500 value. That I'm sure is a write off due to the damage of the back wheel and panel (and assuming also the axel)
The other car involved was a 97 skoda, damaged front bumper and lights ... Was drivin away afterwards but I imagine it will also be declared a write of due to the low value (I assume) of the car.
I am 28, in my first year of holding my full licence and also my first year of my own insurance policy.
How do you folks think this will affect my next insurance quote (I assume it maybe depends on if the couple in the other vehicle claim for personal injury)
Any thoughts??? Other than I'm an eejit?

cloneslad

Sorry about the car mate, my brother hit his yesterday while driving oon a straight flat road at 20mph ...road was covered in ice. Can happen to anyone. I wouldn't get too cut up about it, sure your car maybe a right off but it could have had much more serious consequences and at least both parties were uninjured.

Can't answer your questions because I don't work in insurance, but good luck with the renewal.

Top Dog

I'm afraid that if you only have TPF&T then your insurance company probably won't give you a cent towards your own car.

As for the Skoda and how much of a claim that will be - best have a look at autotrader, carzone, adverts etc to get an idea of how much it was worth. If the driver isn't going to claim for personal injuries then the easiest course of action might simply be for you to buy him another '97 Skoda and take the loss in your pocket. This would leave your insurance unaffected, and you just out of pocket to a known value (cost of replacing your car + cost of replacement of '97 Skoda).

Savage Tyrant

Top Dog wrote: »

I'm afraid that if you only have TPF&T then your insurance company probably won't give you a cent towards your own car.

As for the Skoda and how much of a claim that will be - best have a look at autotrader, carzone, adverts etc to get an idea of how much it was worth. If the driver isn't going to claim for personal injuries then the easiest course of action might simply be for you to buy him another '97 Skoda and take the loss in your pocket. This would leave your insurance unaffected, and you just out of pocket to a known value (cost of replacing your car + cost of replacement of '97 Skoda).

Thanks Cloneslad, hope your brother doesn't get hit too hard either.

Top Dog -Yeah thanks for the advice, that was an option I discussed with my brother earlier but I don't think I'd have the cash anytome on the next month or so.

I was told by another friend though (not sure of the accuracy of this) that should by insurance pay out "x"amount in replacing the other drivers vehicle, that up until the end of my current insurance year I can go back to the insurance company with the cash to the value that they paid out and it should then in theory be no loss to them and therefore not affect my renewal premium.
Anyone know if there is any truth to that??

Top Dog

Savage Tyrant wrote: »

I was told by another friend though (not sure of the accuracy of this) that should by insurance pay out "x"amount in replacing the other drivers vehicle, that up until the end of my current insurance year I can go back to the insurance company with the cash to the value that they paid out and it should then in theory be no loss to them and therefore not affect my renewal premium.
Anyone know if there is any truth to that??

Never heard that before - but if its true then it'd be fantastic! Only question is, would it be the amount paid out, or would they slap some administration fees on top to cover paperwork and assessor etc?

celticutd87

Im 22 and am with quinn. Had an accident on holy thursday this year. Was heading home and just as I was nearly home hit a lot of water flowing out of a new golf course in the bad weather and skidded and hit an ESB pole. Not my fault caus wasnt speeding and gardai confirmed but had to claim as my car was a write off. My insurance last ear was €900. Just got the quote for 2010 and it is around €1400. Highly unfair I think but cant really complain if I want to drive ya know. Have a look around and you might find better deals. Tesco car insurance looks good.

corktina

Top Dog wrote: »

I'm afraid that if you only have TPF&T then your insurance company probably won't give you a cent towards your own car.

As for the Skoda and how much of a claim that will be - best have a look at autotrader, carzone, adverts etc to get an idea of how much it was worth. If the driver isn't going to claim for personal injuries then the easiest course of action might simply be for you to buy him another '97 Skoda and take the loss in your pocket. This would leave your insurance unaffected, and you just out of pocket to a known value (cost of replacing your car + cost of replacement of '97 Skoda).

i think Id go that way myself....it would take you probably 5 years to regain all your no claims bonus no doubt costing more that way in the long run...97 skoda cant be worth much

Dont feel bad about having a tip in this weather, its a steep learning curve and ice can catch out the most experianced of drivers...as said, thankfully noone got hurt.

mcaul

We all have insurance for exactly what has just happened. Why not claim off it?

Your max loss will be one years no claims bonus + cost of repair / replacing your own car. (with car prices down, you could replace both cars for about €1500 each)

It will also be seen as a no fault claim and quinn may take that into account.

and finally unless the other driver has injuries, the claim will be under €3000, so many insurance companies will not consider it a real claim.

Mr Benevolent

mcaul wrote: »

We all have insurance for exactly what has just happened. Why not claim off it?

Your max loss will be one years no claims bonus + cost of repair / replacing your own car. (with car prices down, you could replace both cars for about €1500 each)

It will also be seen as a no fault claim and quinn may take that into account.

and finally unless the other driver has injuries, the claim will be under €3000, so many insurance companies will not consider it a real claim.

You can't claim for damage to the car if you only have TPFT. False economy imo.

Berty

cloneslad wrote: »

Sorry about the car mate, my brother hit his yesterday while driving oon a straight flat road at 20mph ...

I think the Insurance company should be asking how exactly he managed to crash into himself. LOL

PLIIM

mcaul wrote: »

We all have insurance for exactly what has just happened. Why not claim off it?

Your max loss will be one years no claims bonus + cost of repair / replacing your own car. (with car prices down, you could replace both cars for about €1500 each)

It will also be seen as a no fault claim and quinn may take that into account.

and finally unless the other driver has injuries, the claim will be under €3000, so many insurance companies will not consider it a real claim.

As anyone who ever had to claim from Quinn Insurance will tell you. They will ride you to death.
Quinn are great when you dont need to claim. But claim and you'll be sorry you ever insured with them.

ccsolar

I was told by another friend though (not sure of the accuracy of this) that should by insurance pay out "x"amount in replacing the other drivers vehicle, that up until the end of my current insurance year I can go back to the insurance company with the cash to the value that they paid out and it should then in theory be no loss to them and therefore not affect my renewal premium.
Anyone know if there is any truth to that??[/quote]

I have heard of this also, you must clear the loss with the insurance company before your policy expires.
NOTE; if you claim off your insurance, you might be tied with that insurance company for the next few years,it depends on the amount of the claim.
I would go to creadit union and buy the parts for the skoda up north in the scrap yard.
They will deliver them.

CC

Noelisgod

I work in Insurance myself and can tell you your insurance company wont pay anything towards your car as your cover was only TPFT.

The fact that ice caused the accident wont matter as all the insurance company is concerned with is that they have to pay out X amount to the get the other drivers car fixed or replaced. Regarding this if the damage amount is greater than 60% of the value then that will equal a write off.

Considering your circumstances ie first policy and only have your full licence a year ie would highly recommend compensating the other driver directly and avoid going through your insurance company. I assume you dont have 'no cliams protection' on your insurance or a 'step back clause' as your in such an early driving stage of your life.

As I tell my friends at all costs dont claim unless you absolutely have to or else your insurance premium will shoot up next year - especially after whats after happening with the floods in the west of ireland.

oldyouth

Savage Tyrant wrote: »

I was told by another friend though (not sure of the accuracy of this) that should by insurance pay out "x"amount in replacing the other drivers vehicle, that up until the end of my current insurance year I can go back to the insurance company with the cash to the value that they paid out and it should then in theory be no loss to them and therefore not affect my renewal premium.
Anyone know if there is any truth to that??

That is correct, once you repay the Insurers outlay, they will treat it as no claim and reinstate any bonus. You have to include any outside costs, such as assessors, but not their own admin costs

3DataModem

Savage Tyrant wrote: »

I was told by another friend though (not sure of the accuracy of this) that should by insurance pay out "x"amount in replacing the other drivers vehicle, that up until the end of my current insurance year I can go back to the insurance company with the cash to the value that they paid out and it should then in theory be no loss to them and therefore not affect my renewal premium.
Anyone know if there is any truth to that??

yes this is true. I've done it.

Your insurance co will hopefully ensure that the other party does not make a fraudulent or inflated claim.

I recommend you give your insurance co a call and discuss with them, and ensure there is no assessors fee to pay.

oldyouth

mcaul wrote: »

It will also be seen as a no fault claim and quinn may take that into account.

and finally unless the other driver has injuries, the claim will be under €3000, so many insurance companies will not consider it a real claim.

That's incorrect. It IS a fault calim, otherwise your insurers would not be obliged to settle to the other party. I agree that skidding on ice can happen to any of us, but as the OP stated, he didn't have control of the car

Secondly, all insurers will treat this as a 'real' claim when it comes to renewal, it is just that some may choose to accept it as a single incident within a long established clean driving history, which the OP doesn't have.

My advice is to let your insurers use their expertise and resources to settle the claim and then ask them what was the total outlay, to see if you can afford to repay them

celticutd87

PLIIM wrote: »

As anyone who ever had to claim from Quinn Insurance will tell you. They will ride you to death.
Quinn are great when you dont need to claim. But claim and you'll be sorry you ever insured with them.

Ah stop they will ride ya to death. Took me months to get my claim processed. The amount of forms and I even had to draw a picture of what happened, this was on the claim form a bloody picture of how it happened. Annoying out.

boomer_ie

PLIIM wrote: »

As anyone who ever had to claim from Quinn Insurance will tell you. They will ride you to death.
Quinn are great when you dont need to claim. But claim and you'll be sorry you ever insured with them.

+1

I am going to Insurance Ombudsman over this shower of fools

Anan1

celticutd87 wrote: »

Took me months to get my claim processed. The amount of forms and I even had to draw a picture of what happened, this was on the claim form a bloody picture of how it happened. Annoying out.

That's standard procedure, they need to know exactly what happened.

celticutd87

Anan1 wrote: »

That's standard procedure, they need to know exactly what happened.

Ah right. I just thought it was kinda verging on ridiculous as I provided every document as instructed such as police reports, statements, quotes for how much the car was worth and every other aspect of the many forms I got. To then have to draw a picture was weird as im not very good at drawing and just thought what was the point.

Anan1

celticutd87 wrote: »

Ah right. I just thought it was kinda verging on ridiculous as I provided every document as instructed such as police reports, statements, quotes for how much the car was worth and every other aspect of the many forms I got. To then have to draw a picture was weird as im not very good at drawing and just thought what was the point.

It's so that they can see exactly where each car was in relation to its surroundings. The easiest way is just to draw the road and then draw rectangles for each car with arrows showing which way they were going. Don't worry, there are no extra points for artistic talent! If you think about it, it's a lot easier than trying to explain the whole thing in writing. You're right though, the paperwork is no fun, but sure if it helps to support your case..

johndaman66

Savage Tyrant wrote: »

I was told by another friend though (not sure of the accuracy of this) that should by insurance pay out "x"amount in replacing the other drivers vehicle, that up until the end of my current insurance year I can go back to the insurance company with the cash to the value that they paid out and it should then in theory be no loss to them and therefore not affect my renewal premium.
Anyone know if there is any truth to that??

My brother ran into the back of a Bmw X3 a few years back while insured with Quinn Direct. He had fully comprehensive insurance cover. He was advised by the Quinn Direct accessor to allow claim for damage to the X3 through the insuance and to fix up his own car himself and that way they would be much easier on him come renewal time. I told him to take whatever they said with a joint pinch of salt as they are not necessairly on his side and their job is to ultimately save Quinn Direct as much money as possible. I was of the opinion he was going to loose any no claims bonus he had anyway and he would be better of letting both claims through. But then again not much point in me talking at times as people don't seem to listen. As far as I recall the claim was over 2k for the repair of the BMW X3 (seemed kind of saucy as only back bumper was damaged as I recall). He sorted his own Toyota Corolla G6 out himself which looked to be practically a write off. He got it done in the cheap and boy heck would you know it was a budget job. His insurance went up a fair whack the following renewal all the same.

Savage Tyrant I'm not sure am I completely bought on the accuracy of your comment. Would you still be on record as having a fault accident which ain't good either regardless of claims?

Also another poster mentions that not going for comprehensive cover is a false economy. I would somewhat disagree with this. From when I started driving there was an enormous difference between TPF&T and comprehensive cover. It wouldn't have being hard to justify going down the comprehensie cover route given the value of the car I was insuring. On the other hand if you have a newish car you would certainly be mad not to take out comprehensive cover.

OP try not to beat yourself up too much. Accidents happen all the time and even the very experienced of drivers will have accidents in icy roads.

Fizman

Last Sunday night I dropped in to the family home. The driveway is tarmac and slightly sloped.

About 30 mins after I had landed in, my dad was leaving. He opened the front door and asked "John, did you put on your handbrake?"

"Ah, yes".

The car had gradually skidded down the drive, the handbrake was fully engaged too. Thankfully I had parked it at a bit of an angle, so it rested against the gate pillar. We have no gates, so if I had parked any straighter, the car would have gone straight out on to the road. It's also a black car, so it would have been disastrous!

No idea how insurance would have panned out if someone had crashed into it!

The-Game

Fizman wrote: »

Last Sunday night I dropped in to the family home. The driveway is tarmac and slightly sloped.

About 30 mins after I had landed in, my dad was leaving. He opened the front door and asked "John, did you put on your handbrake?"

"Ah, yes".

The car had gradually skidded down the drive, the handbrake was fully engaged too. Thankfully I had parked it at a bit of an angle, so it rested against the gate pillar. We have no gates, so if I had parked any straighter, the car would have gone straight out on to the road. It's also a black car, so it would have been disastrous!

No idea how insurance would have panned out if someone had crashed into it!

A lucky escape on that one!! Im sure it would have been a disaster to sort out insurance wise.