Our car was parked up, not even moved in a couple of days.
Neighbours car, well he's named on the insurance to drive it anyway, rolls back on the hill our road is on and hits ours. He wasn't in the car and doesn't park cars in gear evidently.... He wrote off another neighbours car a few years back in exactly the same way.
Summary:
1 I have £455 excess on my insurance. Protected NCB.
2 His insurance still hasn't admitted liability according to my insurer. Though my insurer "thinks" it's pretty clear cut.
3 I have video from neighbours cctv. Time stamped, shows his deliverless car (it's a convertible...) rolling down road, it then goes out of view and a fraction of a second later you hear a big smash and my car alarm going off. So a smoking gun but not 100% definitive.
4 I assume the neighbour has told the truth but he is a bit of a "character."
5 Being nagged by insurer to get car repaired. I told them I wanted to wait (car is drivable) till other insurer has admitted liability. My insurer hinting that if I wait longer I might have to pay the excess then wait till they (hopefully) get it back from 3rd party.
Am I offer thinking this?
Should I just let them get on and repair it in the hope that the circumstance and evidence is pretty conclusive?
I didn't purchase legal cover.😕
Thanks guys.
You don't say how long it's been, but if there is too much delay, Letter before Action to him personally. Ultimately it's entirely his liability regardless or not of whether his insurance co. is getting its act together.
The prospect of getting sued should encourage him to ask his insurer to get a move on.
PS You shouldn't have to pay any excess. It's entirely his fault, obviously, you appear to be able to prove this.
Have you got the name of his insurer? If so, call them and explain, IME they'll take control and get you sorted directly rather than you having to deal with your insurer. TBH, I'm surprised they haven't already been in touch.
Russia guys, both insurers (well mine anyway) are notified on the day of the accident. 14 days ago.
He may not have as he was having a bbq...
Russia guys,
Don't mess with him then.
14 days ago.
I clearly didn't read your OP title!
Phone your insurer, follow up with email, and tell them to fix your car asap and that it is completely clear what happend and you expect them to indemnify you against this loss. As is your insurance contract.
Don't expect your insurer to do this actively.
I have letter from Churchill basically responding to a letter before action, basically asking me not to sue them. With £100 m&s voucher attached.
I was taking them on following a similar clear cut case - and claiming back all costs, excess, full policy cost (they hadn't done what they were contractually obligated to do) and some compensation. I had included insurance ombudsman on the letter too.
Have you thought about hammers and frozen sausages?
Lol, not quite yet lol
On hold to his insurance right now..
Ok....
Turns out that after 2 weeks he hasn't even contacted his insurance!
Wtaf?!
His insurance will not talk to me as a third part till he contacts them!😠
Leave it to your insurers and don't worry about it.
BTW, not all Russians are bad - the parents of my daughter's friends are lovely. As was the ex KGB colonel I worked with in Moscow in 1997.
What a ****.
Did he give you his details?
If not and he did not report to the police within 24h he has committed an offence. Report it to the police and provide the crime number to your insurer.
Get your car fixed then buy a load of bricks and choc his car when it is parked on the road.
Initially we wouldn't give his Sir name.... He only lives 2 houses away.
He did later that day as I lied and said my insurance advised me to call the police if he wouldn't give his name.... Within a minute I got a text from him with his Sir name.
I suspect he'd been drinking that day and didn't want the cops turning up.
As it happens I met him down the road a short time ago tonight!😳
I'll update later...
His insurance will not talk to me as a third part till he contacts them!😠
You are not their customer, he is.
Get your insurers to fix your car. It's what you pay them for.
+1 for leaving it to your insurer. Your car was legally parked (I assume), damage not your fault, you've told them who damaged it, they need to indemnify you against your loss. They'll know how to get the money from the other party's insurer (and that insurer knows that). If by any chance it's uninsured, I think there's a pool for claims against uninsured drivers at fault.
Yeah, car legally parked in my mother's disabled bay in fact.
He's a named driver on the policy, though it's not his car.
When I met him earlier this evening he said he had never called his insurer before when he'd been involved in accidents, "there's no need?". He also said he'd split up with the lady that's the main policy holder... as much as to say "don't see this as my problem now?".
I honestly find people like this hard to get my head around. It's always somebody else's job to clear up his mess, you know the type?
As well as having written off another neighbours car in our road he's also hit another 4 cars, yes 4.... In parking related incidents. I mean, what the hell??
I think I will go the path of least resistance. Get car sorted and hope my insurer makes sure his bloody insurance pay up/admit liability.
Why are people like this? I don't get it. On the day it happened and right up till now, he's never uttered an even insincere apology.
He was the same to the bloke who's Shogun he wrote off with his works Transit van that rolled down the hill 50 metres into it. No apology, nada.
He’s a named driver on the policy, though it’s not his car.
None of that is relevant and none of it your problem. Drivers, owners, whatever, the car has to have insurance on it if it's parked on a public road.
It's your insurers' job to work out who is liable (and from what you've said it might be her rather than him, if even if it was his mistake he wasn't actually driving) and there's where you need to light the rocket. As MCTD says, you have no relationship with his insurer and you shouldn't be talking either to them or to him.
No apology, nada.
An apology can be interpreted as an admission of guilt. "Sorry" is laudable but a bad idea if you're planning on ever having insurance again.
Cheers Cougar and other posters,
I've decided to contact my insurer on Monday and get the car repair process started.
Interesting point you make about the liability as he wasn't actually driving the car. Hmm... Still, I'm hoping that one proves more of a headache for him having to deal with his ex than for my claim being processed.😉
As you allude to, the car is insured so I'll let my insurance try to work that one out.
Must admit, if I'd done similar I would have been beyond apologetic but as you say that might not be the recommended default where insurance is concerned unfortunately.
Thanks for all the advice as always guys, I'll keep you updated.
2 weeks is very little time especially during August and CV19. I'd get your car fixed and let the insurance sort itself out. Sounds as clear cut as it gets tbh. If he definitely has insurance you'll be fine.
For reference I got my car dinged in spring 2019. Not as clear cut as yours with no 3rd party witnesses. It was fixed by insurance. Other party and their insurer denied responsibility so initially I had to pay excess. Ended up having to send them a letter before action and then they paid. All settled Spring 2020.
As MCTD says, you have no relationship with his insurer and you shouldn’t be talking either to them or to him.
Hold your horses a little there. When my motor got written off a couple of years ago, the other insurers contacted me directly and offered to deal with me directly for car hire and repairs if that had been relevant. They do this because it reduces the admin markup my ins co would have added to the bill that they would have issued to them. As per my previous comment, they will probably be keen to help directly once it has been reported to them. Obviously they can't do this or even talk to you if the policy owner hasn't reported it to them. I assumed, as did the OP that the other party had reported it to their ins co.
An apology can be interpreted as an admission of guilt. “Sorry” is laudable but a bad idea if you’re planning on ever having insurance again.
Interesting, I thought the law had changed to avoid this?
I think you've jumped to the conclusion your insurer won't sort this and by delaying repairs you are actually hampering the insurer. It will be the policy holders problem anyway, his ex, not him so talking to him is pointless. If it's her car she should have informed her insurers. If the other insurer approaches you directly about keeping costs down (and you are happy with what they are offering) crack on, it's in every policy holders interests to avoid excess cost, if not just deal with the people you have already paid to deal with exactly this sort of issue.
He’s Russian - so post the CCTV footage onto YouTube under the title ‘crazy russian driverless car crashes’ or similar and watch the ad cash roll in...👍
