Car Crashed by 3rd party - What are my rights?

JimmyHendrix

Hi guys,

My car was crashed by another person who had my consent to drive the car. The accident according to a crash scene investigator is an open and shut case and it is not the persons fault who was driving my car.

What i'd like to know is where do I stand in all of this. How long should it take before I'm compensated with either a replacement car or the value of the car. Everything is going through the 2 insurance companies of the parties involved in the crash.

Should I be putting pressure on the insurance companies to resolve the case. It's been over a month now and I've basically heard nothing.

I've never been involved in an accident before and given the circumstances of the crash I'm not sure what the procedure is or what I'm entitled to.

Is one of the insurance companies required to provide me with a rental car and if so, for how long?

Is there anything else I can do to speed this up?

Thanks

biko

Sorry, but I think the only people that can answer that is the insurance company.
Who are you with?

JimmyHendrix

Well I informed my insurance company of the accident but as I was not involved in the crash it's all being handled by the other 2 insurance companies

mickdw

Was the person insured to drive your car? if so, how were they insured - were they named on your policy or simply driving under an extension of their own policy?
If driving via their own policy, this will possibly slow things down even though you say the fault is with the other driver.
If your policy has cover for a hire car, Im sure you should get one in this case. Cantact your own insurer to see what the story is. I think your insurance company have to still be involved.

Anan1

Was this person insured to drive your car? If so, comp or TPF&T?

JimmyHendrix

Hi mick, they were driving via an extension of their own policy so yes they were insured to drive it. My policy expired 2 weeks after the accident so as I had no car to renew it against I had no choice but to let it lapse. It's all a bit of a mess. I think I'll try get the details of the claim and get onto the two insurance companies myself to see if I can get a straight answer out of someone to see what the hold up is

mickdw

I defo still think you should be dealing through your own insurer and no one else.

Mister Dread

They are covered by their own insurer and should go through them so it should not involve you.

alexmcred

You need to ring the company your car was insured with at the time of the accident as the car was insured with them at that time regardless if the policy has now lapsed

Anan1

Mister Dread wrote: »

They are covered by their own insurer and should go through them so it should not involve you.

The driver is insured TP only, so any claim will be against the driver of the other car's insurance. The question here is who should deal with them - as the injured party, i'd imagine it should be the OP.

MugMugs

Hi OP

I only skimmed this thread so I am not 100% sure if you have Comprehensive cover or not

If you do

Then ask your own insurer to deal with this and subrogate from the liable party (recover)

This is your right. Also ask for a courtesy car in the interim or ask the liabile insurer to cover your uninsured loss and give you a hired car for the duration of the claim,

If your not Comp.

Then call the other insurer anyway and ask for them to provide you with a replacment vehicle while they deal with this claim. If they refuse (which would be odd if they are liable) then you can hire one and recover your costs from them at the end of the claim.

Sorry if this is a bit lean on details but I am a bit busy atm

I'll run through it in full later if you're still not sorted.

JimmyHendrix

Thanks guys, I was insured fully comp so I'll get onto my insurance company this evening about getting a rental car and see what they say. I was hesitant to go through them as I don't want to do anything to affect my no claims bonus considering the accident was completely out of my hands

S Line

If your car was ‘innocent’ regardless of who was driving it then you should be claiming from one of the other insurance companies. It sounds weird though when you say the other 2 insurance companies, surely one person caused the crash so shouldn’t the other two cars be covered by that persons policy ?

As far I’m aware if you are the innocent third party and you are in a crash your car must be either repaired or if written off and you be given the pre accident value even if there are questions marks over your car or policy.

That is to say if I crash into say an uninsured driver, illegally modified car, car with no NCT etc and it’s MY fault, that doesn’t relieve me or my insurance company for their duty to look after the other party even thought they are not 100% legal when it comes to their car or insurance. It’s a separate issue

Therefore your car has to be either repaired or you be provided with the pre accident value. That said if your mate is going to be putting in for personal injuries compo etc than you are entering a legal situation that as a bordie keyboard jockey I have no clue about !!!!

MugMugs

JimmyHendrix wrote: »

Thanks guys, I was insured fully comp so I'll get onto my insurance company this evening about getting a rental car and see what they say. I was hesitant to go through them as I don't want to do anything to affect my no claims bonus considering the accident was completely out of my hands

If you claim from your policy it WILL hit your NCB until such time as your insurer can recover their outlay.

This means come inception of a new policy, until the whole things settled you'll have zero NCB and pay the consequences of the same .

S Line

Further bodrie advice

You should establish which persons insurance policy you are going through - you cannot claim twice!!!

Provided that the person has admitted liability their insurance company should set up a claim this is done under a ‘claim number’. Once this is done:

You the ‘third party’ are entitled to a hire car for either

A if the car is being repaired than the duration of the repairs
B if the car is written off a predetermined set time

The insurance company will get the get both a garage and an assessor to generate a repair figure once that figure has been established there are 2 ways it can go.

1 if that figure is economical and with your permission they will repair the car (or you could take the repair amount in lieu of repairs).
2 if it is uneconomical than they will give you the pre accident value of the car.


Regarding getting this sloved quickly - You need to establish which person you are claiming from and they in turn need to contact their company. Once this done Insurance companies are usually quick to contact 'third parties' and get them sorted efficently. if you have yet to hear from any insurance company this means they have not been contacted by their client - after 4 weeks !!!

The above is based on the assumption that you have a straight forward claim for damage to your car and you just need a courtesy car to keep you mobile.

Mister Dread

Unless you have open drive then it has nothing to do with your insurer. Your firends insurer and the other drivers insurer have to battle it out. If the claim goes against your friend or is 50/50 then you might not get money to repair your car. Your friend will have to cover that bill.