advice on how best to deal with car crash

Puteq

Hi all, I am hoping someone might have some words of advice for me on a car crash i had this morning. Firstly, no-one was hurt so thank goodness for that. I was driving along a country road, slowed down indicating right as I was going to turn into a small side road perpendicular to the main road. I was aware there was a van behind me but it was a good distance behind. Unfortunately the van had whipped past overtaking me as I was turning and clipped the front right side of my car. the driver barely kept it under control and pulled in ahead. i drove my car off the road and talked with him, the first thing he asked me was was i willing to accept responsibility for the crash. I said no, that I had my indicator on indicating I was turning. He said he saw the indicator but i put it on too late - not true I had it on in time but we were driving at 7 in the morning east, i.e. into the sun so i am assuming he didnt see it in time, he seemed a decent enough guy so i dont think hes lying. anyway I want to know who is responsible for the crash from an insurance point of view, i feel i did everything right, indicated and stuff, but he did have a passenger so i am worried all he has to do is get the passenger to agree that i never indicated, hopefully this is just paranoia. the guards were called by the way, and we did exchange insurance details but the other driver called me earlier asking would i deal with things outside of insurance but i dont want to agree to anything without at least knowing who was in the right and wrong (from the point of view of insurance). i dont want to screw the guy over or anything, but i know very little about this stuff so i dont want to be an idiot either...
Thanks

JD Dublin

Be very careful in dealing with this person outside of the insurance company. I was asked to do similar when someone I vaguely know through family connections drove in to the back of my parked car.

Cut a long story short, it wasn't worth the delay or the stress.

To cut out the messing, ask this person to buy your car from you to put you back in the situation you were in before the crash. I predict that they will refuse to buy the car from you, coz they don't want a damaged car either...

Give them 12 hours to get themselves sorted out, otherwise get the insurance on to it immediately. In fact I would phone the insurance company now, let them know what's going on and that you are negotiating with the other driver at the moment and that you may resolve it between you.

Did the guards express any opinion on who was in the wrong?

Puteq

Thanks for the advice. I asked the Guards 'what now' when they arrived and they said their role there was to ensure that both drivers exchanged insurance details, which we had already done by then, but they said they werent there to decide who was in the wrong etc. which i was surprised at, I always had the impression they went and investigated accident scenes or at least kinda had a look around to determine what happened. So I think I'm in the right but I'd appreciate hearing from others who might know better what they think...

Bohrio

I have to agree with JD, he might seem nice but unfortumately you cant trust people this days. he could be talking to his insurance company and telling them u were at fault for all you know. at least let your insurance company know of what happened. im not 100% sure but, if you signaled within reasonable time i believe it was his fault, try to find out if there were cctv cameras in the area, also was it legal to overtake?

You might want to wait for other people to maybe give you a better answer but this is mine> i had a similar issue with the motorbike where a guy reversed into me in a petrol station> Sure it was all smiles at the beginning, we decided to deal with it in the qt but a few days after he pretended it never happened, wouldnt answer my calls etc. thank god i already had the cctv of the day of the accident otherwise he could have gotten away with it... it wasnt long before he admitted full liability (through his insurance) and got the bike fixed

So he was overtaking at a junction?

listermint

Hi OP,


Go get x2 quotes for the car to be repaired. Give them to the guy ask him to choose. If he disagrees go straight ahead to the insurance company. Do this as soon as you can. Sometimes it can all be dealt with in person. Sometimes not.

JD Dublin

Good points there from Bohrio, and from Whoopsadaisy. The overtaking at a junction may be an open and shut case if it ever comes to court. I think it is up to the overtaker i.e. him to make sure it is safe to overtake.

As for Listermints point, I agree about the quotes, but I have yet to meet a person who resolved a crash between the 2 people, I am sure it does happen I've just never heard from anyone that it works out well..

listermint

JD Dublin wrote: »

Good points there from Bohrio, and from Whoopsadaisy. The overtaking at a junction may be an open and shut case if it ever comes to court. I think it is up to the overtaker i.e. him to make sure it is safe to overtake.

As for Listermints point, I agree about the quotes, but I have yet to meet a person who resolved a crash between the 2 people, I am sure it does happen I've just never heard from anyone that it works out well..

Well see in this case they already have to garda report so that much is covered in terms if denial he overtook at a junction.
If she wants to go insurance route she still can.

And i know of x3 people that resolved successfully minor hits on vehicles (with no issues)

randy hickey

OP. imho the other driver was at fault here- I mean, what on earth did he think you were doing when you slowed down to perform your right turn??
I also would advise you to let the insurance company deal with it. You seem to have dealt with this properly so far- I know it's not easy to remain cool,calm and collected when you experience your fist RTA, so fair play to ya!

Jarren

Contact your insurance company ASAP

kaahooters

so he was overtaking at a junction, wouldnt that mean it was his fault as your ment to undertake on a car turning to the right?

listermint

Jarren wrote: »

Contact your insurance company ASAP

Why would you do that? Contact HIS would be the port of call. Dont claim off your own.

johnos1984

Contact YOUR insurance company and pass on HIS details and tell them what happened and explain that you wish to claim from his insurance to have your car fully repaired.

Explain that he over took you at a junction and everything else that happened.

You are OBLIGED to inform your insurance company of an accident ASAP

If he wishes to settle the claim let him buy the claim back from his insurance company

scamalert

go to insurance or call them,get a special leaflet where you need to draw,details of the accident and how it happened,fastest way is to locate office in your town.Then go to the guards and request the details that they took from the scene,like was there any breaking marks on the road and etc,as it seems now guy had to be speeding or tailgating you,and didn't choose safe distance or action to take,take notes of how wide the road was was there any markings,speed signs,take couple of pics of the area and scene.As this will be your proof,otherwise he might decide to shake you out,with his own version,or even claiming that more damage was done then they though at the beginning,And deal only with insurance company as they are on your side,and if possible get them to send you one of the experts into the scene with you.
As i had a friend who by accident drove backwards into a car,almost none damage done to bumper,so decided to deal with out the guards and in cash, and spend over 1000e to replace the damaged part by dealer,few months latter came letter that passenger suffered neck injury and is suing her :cool:

Puteq

Thanks for the advice everyone, I would've replied sooner but I was out with a flu for the last few days. The story now is we are going through the insurance, as it happens the other driver was only willing to deal outside insurance (which was his preference) if I would accept full responsibility. I found this ridiculous so we agreed to go through insurance. I was speaking to a claims person from Claimsafe (who are the company my insurance broker use) and I asked her what are the odds this case would fall one way or the other. She said she sees these situations all the time, sometimes it goes one way, somestimes the other, 50-50 so she just couldn't say. I think the fact of this being a junction isn't as important in a small crappy country road compared to a city, though I hope the insurance company doesnt think so! Anyway thanks again for the advice and I'll let you know how this pans out eventually.

Jimmy Bottlehead

Even if it was a junction, he shouldn't be overtaking you at it, it's lethal. I'd imagine they'll side with you, I hope so anyways. Shame the guy was a dick about it, but his loss.

Best of luck.

no1beemerfan

Was there no signs/road markings at the junction? Surely there would have been something to warn a right turn was ahead? Did it have them green markers at the start of the road to the right? If there is anything to suggest there is a right turn ahead then the other driver wasn't paying attention and copping on you might have been turning into the road.

If so I'd be going out and taking pictures and sending them to the ins company.

djimi

It could be argued that you shouldnt have started to turn without making sure that it was safe/clear to do so, but I feel the fact that the other guy pulled off a kamakaze overtake will probably outweigh that.

Gumbo

OP, post up a google map link to the junction if you can.

atech

What were the road markings like?

If it was something like this road where you were turning right then I think it could be argued that its your fault for not checking your mirrors.

LINKY

jinkybhoy

From what OP has posted my wife was in almost an identical incident.

It went to court and she won in the high courts.

Other insurer refused to settle up despite the overwhelming evidence. It took 4 years to get it settled.

Get your insurance involved or a claims handling service immediately. We waited too long to get pro active so I'd advise you to be.

challengemaster

Also bear in mind, indicators have no legal standing. They are for indicating your intentions to other drivers, but that doesn't mean 100% you're going to do that, or legally obliged to do that. Which means other drivers still have to use their brains.