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  • Car hit by debris from crash – advice needed
  • bentudder
    Full Member

    So, Mrs Udder and I had been to visit from friends on Saturday and were driving home along the M40. We saw, on the other side, a police car belting along with lights and sirens on. As it drew close to us, a black car on the same side slammed into the media barrier, and we drove straight into a cloud of debris. Much banging and smashing ensued. Thankfully neither we nor the udderlets were hurt (and we understand the driver on the other side got away with nothing more than a sore leg too).

    I spoke to our insurers this morning, and they told me that if the other driver accepts blame for the accident, then we will not have to pay our excess or have our no claims bonus (over nine years’ worth) affected.

    Does anyone have any experience of this sort of thing? I’ll be a little peeved if something that wasn’t our fault costs a bunch of money. Having spoken to the police about it to get the collision reference etc, it sounds like a young driver who wasn’t paying attention. The police car behind him saw the lot, apparently. Anyone know if it would have recorded what happened? It had its lights on and all of that, so I thought it might be a possibility…

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    I guess the chances are the other driver will either admit fault or have fault put on him. The coppers will be keen not to be blamed!!

    geoffj
    Full Member

    If plod knows who it was, get insurance details and you should be good to go.
    Just make sure you claim for your premiums going up for the next 5 years – which they will, whether it is your fault or not.

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    hora
    Free Member

    your premium will go up for a few years. So you need to discuss this with the drivers insurer to be included (added) onto the car damages/payout.

    To get a rough ideal use the online carsupermarket quote generators and enter the circa amount/details of ‘accident’ and select 100% no fault – this should give you an idea.

    I wish I’d done the same when I was 100% at no fault. For upto 5yrs I had increased premiums.

    bentudder
    Full Member

    I didn’t realise you could claim for your premium going up too – that’s really helpful, thank you all!

    I got the collision report number from a really helpful copper who called the same night. The narrative he gave sounded like the driver didn’t see the police can when he pulled out, panicked, tried to pull back in again (the police car braked in the mean time and came nowhere near him) and clipped another car, then span out into the barrier.

    I’m going to look up how much more it’ll cost on our policy with a no blame claim. Could be a bit petrifying!

    br
    Free Member

    I’d get a quote first for your repairs, as if its only for a couple of hundred or so probably not even worth making a claim.

    CountZero
    Full Member

    Damn good luck you got away without serious injury there, that must have been terrifying! Talk about wrong place, wrong time.
    Hope it all gets sorted to your advantage.

    hora
    Free Member

    I didn’t realise you could claim for your premium going up too

    Its tangible losses. I’m not sure about all the legal jargon etc and the insurer may open with ‘no only car/personal injury’ but press them. Say you wont settle etc until this is sorted.

    I bet I lost circa £800-1,000+ over 5yrs of re-insuring.

    +1 the above- you kept a coolhead and didn’t react (i.e twitch the steering wheel)- that’d been terrible.

    bentudder
    Full Member

    b r – yes, my initial thought, but we will need a new headlight unit, bumper, windscreen and number plate for a new shape ’09 Octy, so I’m guessing it’ll be more than a few hundred. We’ve only had it a couple of weeks, too.

    Countzero – thank you. Luckily Mrs Udder stayed as cool as a cucumber. The Udderlets are 27 months and 9 weeks old – talking about it afterwards, we both didn’t have time to think about it at the time, but your blood runs cold, doesn’t it?

    Glad the lad at the wheel in the other car got away with a sore leg. Sounded like a moment’s inattention that cost him dear. There but for the grace of god – type stuff.

    /edit
    Thanks Hora. I’ve just checked, and it’s looking more like £40 a year extra. Nuts. Mind you, we are only paying £240 fully comp.

    Mrs Udder was driving, and yes, she did twitch, but not too much, and she kept her cool all the way through, despite the M40 looking like something out of a Michael Bay film.

    hora
    Free Member

    My mate twitched the wheel- which ended up being counter-steer in bigger measures. We ended up flipping about three times!

    FunkyDunc
    Free Member

    Christ I had a lucky escape once then!

    Similar scenario on the M62, just out of the corner of my eye I see a car flying towards me (well the central barrier). The impact to the barrier noise was amazing, but it all happened before I had time to react.

    Looking back in the mirror it was carnage. I thought I was very lucky that day!

    bentudder
    Full Member

    Aye – it makes a hell of a bang, doesn’t it? We were behind a car that had a blowout once – it almost upended when it hit the median barrier. Both times, it’s almost like it’s happening in slow motion. The only time I’ve had a similar experience has been yacht racing when something expensive and/or dangerous has happened.

    rocketman
    Free Member

    reminds me of the time I nipped up town in mrs.rocket’s 2-day old Fiesta.

    I parked in a side street and when I came back I notice a fair crowd had gathered by where I’d parked. Another car had come round the corner, swerved for whatever reason and ploughed into the car in front of me it was carnage there was glass and bits of plastic everywhere.

    The little Fiesta was completely unscathed so I picked my way through the wreckage and drove off.

    mrchrispy
    Full Member

    I do hope you’ve pointed out that, although she did well, if you were driving you’d probably have avoided ALL of the debris AND managed to change the channel of the radio at the same time!!!

    hora
    Free Member

    Similar scenario on the M62, just out of the corner of my eye I see a car flying towards me (well the central barrier). The impact to the barrier noise was amazing, but it all happened before I had time to react.

    Also on the M62 I had a truck wheel/tyre coming towards me, I just changed lanes without thinking. it hit a car behind me. Surreal. Didn’t freak/nothing just ‘oo look a wheel’.

    swampi
    Free Member

    Just reading this and noticed everyone saying about increased premiums, when i had a total loss claim it made no difference to my premiums every year when i re quoted with and with out declaring it…odd

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    Potential future Mrs ‘spoon had something similar on the M4, some nutter in a kit car (westfied radical / ktb x-bow style thing) came onto the motorway quickly and straight for the outside lane a car in front, floored it over the white line into the lane and consequently spun.

    We just put it down to one of those things. But then her car is already battle scared so I argued it probably wouldn’t add anything to the value of the car getting the bumper replaced or other chips filled in unless she then paid for every other pannel appart from the roof.

    bentudder
    Full Member

    I do hope you’ve pointed out that, although she did well, if you were driving you’d probably have avoided ALL of the debris AND managed to change the channel of the radio at the same time!!!

    We now have two healthy sons, and therefore my reproductive equipment is surplus to requirements. However, for some reason – sentimentality, perhaps – I prefer to retain the use of my testes.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Surreal. Didn’t freak/nothing just ‘oo look a wheel’.

    I suspect (or hope) that MTBing trains your reflexes to spot a gap or a line in a moment of crisis.

    I was doing 30mph down a tight very busy road lined with cars, when some girl pulled out slowly without looking. I stood on the brakes, spotted my eventual resting place and tried to place my car as close to the oncoming traffic as possible to minimise the damage. I was impressed with my presence of mind, but really it was a lot less scary then flying around a blind corner on some fast technical singletrack and finding an unexpected rock/tree/drop-off etc.

    In case you are intersted, I bashed her side door in and put a small dent in my bumper. Sounded really loud though, I thought I’d totalled my car!

    hora
    Free Member

    I have far more car confidence than bike control or confidence etc.

    I’ve never panicked in a car and boy have I got myself into a couple of pickles. Just stayed calm. Wish I was like that on a bike!

    HoratioHufnagel
    Free Member

    Just reading this and noticed everyone saying about increased premiums, when i had a total loss claim it made no difference to my premiums every year when i re quoted with and with out declaring it…odd

    I had a similar experience.

    I got quotes with and without and there was 30 quid difference for 3 points and a 4k insurance claim for total loss and temporary car hire (other party paid in full).

Viewing 21 posts - 1 through 21 (of 21 total)

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