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On the way to work this morning a cock weasel in a van drove into the bloke behind me who then rear-ended me (we were both stationary).
Hit with enough force to bend my towbar vertical and impale it in the boot door...I'm suspecting its a write off, as that will have bent the chassis + bumper destroyed, cracked rear wings and damaged exhaust.
So, what do we think the effect on my bloody insurance premium will be at renewal 😡
Also I bet they'll low ball me offer wise.
Add to the fact it's a great car, been really reliable, and I'll have to pay for a towbar on whatever I get to replace it.
Not the Monday morning I was after!
Never mind. Your whiplash payout will cover that.
If it did that much damage whiplash is a real possibility, get checked out, it can take time to show.
Annoyingly (or not!?) I seem to have no after effects from the crash.
I'm not one to make up an injury....though I've already had a phonecall from the injury lawyers linked to the insurance company!
It was 3 years yesterday that my BMW got written off in a no fault rear end shunt - slightly more exciting than yours, by the sounds of things. But apart from the initial renewal - 1 month later when fault hadn't been completely declared it's not really affected my renewals.
Good luck.
Hit with enough force to bend my towbar vertical and impale it in the boot door
Ooof! good thump that
Also I bet they’ll low ball me offer wise.
Standard
Add to the fact it’s a great car, been really reliable, and I’ll have to pay for a towbar on whatever I get to replace it.
Tell them you want the price of the extras fitted to your car. You shouldn't be left out of pocket for others mistakes, you'll have to fight for it but sadly that's the way the game works.
You did declare the tow bar when you took out the insurance ?
FWIW my premiums never went up after I got rear-ended a couple of years back as the other driver admitted full responsibility and their insurer sorted everything. Can't really see any way that they can assign any blame to you for the accident so hopefully it'll be the same outcome.
We had this, guilty drivers ins paid for a hire car, got a fair offer for our car. My shoulder took the impact and took a few days for bruising to come out. A bit of a headache that night but nothing major.
The crossroads where the Muppet flew out without stopping is now regularly speed checked. In fact last week police monitored 60 cars and 20 were speeding, it's a 20 as a school area.
We are still paying higher insurance 2years later, as is everyone named on policy as it's on the database.
I got whiplash from a small shunt when our Panda was written off nearly 2 years ago. It was bloody painful. I didn't feel anything for the first couple of days but by the end of the first week I could barely turn my head. It feels like your neck can't take the weight of your head as if you're wearing a lead helmet or something. It took months to get full movement back in my neck and shoulder. The free physio was very much needed and appreciated. A bad nights sleep now can still trigger it and cause 3 or 4 days of pain and discomfort.
Previously I didn't think whiplash was a real thing as you only ever hear about it in relation to insurance claims. But yes, it's real and you might be yet to experience it.
I put an injury claim in. First time doing such a thing. I got way more than we got for the car and it paid the deposit on a Fiesta ST.
You did declare the tow bar when you took out the insurance ?
Shouldn't matter as a 3rd party (although you should declare it anyway).
FWIW it took 3 offers from mine to get anything approaching a reasnoble value. So just keep refusing.
I’m not one to make up an injury….though I’ve already had a phonecall from the injury lawyers linked to the insurance company!
Think of all the faffy things you're going to have to sort out, the fact that your new car is either going to be newer (expensive) or the same age and being sold because X, Y or Z mainenance jobs are due soon, your premiums are going to go up, your NCD is going down, you're going to waste hours on the phone.
Given the level of general pissed-off-ness you can expect, I'd argue a few grand for being a bit stiff and sore for a few days is further from being unfair than the rest of the process.
Ours was written off last Monday. Couldn't be bothered to haggle as it was in poor cosmetic condition anyway.
New EV lease deal signed today.
Re the towbar, they're suppose to insure you for your loss not for whatever the book says. So tell them you need a towbar and it'll cost more.
Its bloody terrifying when you get rear ended by another car, hope you get it sorted quickly and without hassle. It happened to me 20 odd years ago in my pristine alfa 75 2.0turbo (Italian import) thanks to a dozy bint who ploughed into the back of me at 70mph as I sat stationary in roadworks, unfortunately for her she had removed her seatbelt to apply lipstick in her interior mirror and as such she exited through the front windscreen and ended up mashed over the rear of what was left of my alfa, the insurance company were absolute cocks regarding paying out on the true value of the car and it took independent valuations from various specialists and threat of court action before they eventually paid out.
You did declare the tow bar when you took out the insurance ?
Yeeeessssssss, I think.
I seem to remember clicking 'yes' to the any modifications question, but then towbar not being an option to choose!
This is also my 3rd year with these insurers, they managed to actually best the other lowest quotes each year. So I think/hope I did!
Mrs M had this very same accident a few years back - but hers was a BMW 3-series hitting a Toyota Landcruiser that then went into the back of our car.
As far as our insurer was concerned, for us it was a no fault accident - they'll send you a letter to that affect when it's all been closed off and that means your future premiums are not affected.
As for what they pay you for your car, it'll be trade, so what you'd get for PX rather than buying it off the forecourt. Ours was fairly old so was worth more as a working car than a pile of cash, not that insurers see it that way.
I did note that it had recently been filled up and claimed for that as well as other incidentals you incur from having your car written off. The other guys insurers were good though and we had a hire car the next day, their claims team went through everything with us and even told us who would ring to avoid the inevitable influx of ambulance-chasers ringing us.
If you've got whiplash it'll be tomorrow morning that you notice it. It manifests in odd ways sometimes, in a different (bike) accident I thought I had a sore shoulder but it was the insured party's physio that told me it was whiplash.
that means your future premiums are not affected.
Sorry, that isn't the case.
Our car was crashed into parked with no driver - it is still a claim. It doesn't affect No Claims DISCOUNT, but it does affect baseline Premium price.
I was paying about £380 a year for my Forester before I had to claim for a stolen exhaust. It dropped my no claims down to 4 years.
Claim declared on my new policy on my Octavia with 4 years no claims and I'm only paying £290 a year, so don't lose hope!
In my experience, the cost of our insurance did not go up. It wasn't a claim on our insurance after all, the claim was against Mr BMW driver.
As for what they pay you for your car, it’ll be trade
Is that right. Can you (an ordinary non motortrading bod) easily buy at trade prices ?
As for what they pay you for your car, it’ll be trade, so what you’d get for PX rather than buying it off the forecourt.
That is incorrect. Bad insurers may try it on, good ones less so. Either way, it's the start point of a negotiation.
Annoyingly (or not!?) I seem to have no after effects from the crash.
You will. Get checked out by a GP - even virtually. I was rear-ended 15 years ago by a transit stationary in traffic. Neck has never been the same since despite physio. Payout was modest.
You are claiming from your insurer who will recover from the other party. Premium may rise slightly. Reject offers and state why. When Son 1 wrote off my RS Twingo, it was easy to justify their low offer was rubbish since there were only 14 cars available in the country to purchase!
Whiplash doesn't always present immediately. When I was taken roughly from behind by a large Polish gentleman it took a few days for symptoms to develop.
Just being in an accident can impact your insurance. I've been in two accidents where I wasn't involved in making the claim, one a hire car and one a named driver. Both non fault accidents but both increased my premiums at the time.
I'll have to wait and see what happens with the latest accident after someone decided to reverse into me last week.
This is over the space of about 17 years btw.
Second others on the whiplash, I was fine immediately after, it was a different story 12 hours later.
It was a fun call to the rental car company - "Where's the damage?" Me: "All over" (Someone decided to make me the filling in a car sandwich at the back of a queue of traffic, literally every single panel was damaged, even the roof was creased)
Whiplash doesn’t always present immediately. When I was taken roughly from behind by a large Polish gentleman it took a few days for symptoms to develop.
Mr Sheen?
Deal with the other party's insurer and get them to give you a hire car until you're sorted. They're less likely to dick you around with lowball offers when you're costing them £75 per day or whatever to keep you mobile.
Cos I called the RAC first to get towed, they passed me on to their claims management company (Slater Gordon).
They seem very efficient, already spoken to other drivers, assessed that I'm a no fault claim, arranged garage and hire car, all within a couple of hours.
Even had a non-pushy call about potential whiplash, etc. Told them no pain now, and they'll call back in 48 hours to see if I'm hurting then.
Spoke to my insurance co, and they seem happy for this company to deal with it, as I'm not making any claim on my insurance.
Even had a verbal promise that my no claims is safe and premium shouldn't be overly affected.
Our car was crashed into parked with no driver – it is still a claim. It doesn’t affect No Claims DISCOUNT, but it does affect baseline Premium price.
So was there another insurance company involved that bore the brunt of the costs or was it your insurance company that paid out? If the latter that may explain.
Secondly to state that it wont effect NCD isn't true as it depends if they're protected or not as part of the level of cover you take.
I had a no fault claim in 2015 and it made zero difference at renewal. You can work it out by doing quotes with and without the claim.
Given the level of general pissed-off-ness you can expect, I’d argue a few grand for being a bit stiff and sore for a few days is further from being unfair than the rest of the process.
My wife was involved in a whiplash-inducing crash some 14 years ago (pretty much to the day). At the time we took the nice little pay off and enjoyed having a few grand to spunk away. Yet had we known the longer term effects we’d have not signed her rights away. And just a couple of nights ago her lower neck flared up yet again (two years ago it flared up so badly it was so debilitating she couldn’t drive or do pretty much anything with her left arm).
Never assume whiplash is a bit of discomfort and a bit of money - consider what longer term issues may surface. After all, it’s exactly those sort of issues the insurance companies want you to waive your rights away for.
Op, don't forget you'll have to declare this no fault claim with a new insurer for some years to come at general time
I didn't know that (Hell, the insurance wasn't even involved but I thought I should call my insurer just to notify then that the rear of my car had been scratched a little in a shunt, to cover myself...) and got a rather abrupt letter from the new insurer. Easily sorted but worth remembering.
Deal with the other party’s insurer and get them to give you a hire car until you’re sorted. They’re less likely to dick you around with lowball offers when you’re costing them £75 per day or whatever to keep you mobile.
Worth being cautious if dealing directly with the 3rd party insurer. You have a contract for with your insurer, so if they arrange for the repairs to your car and later there’s a problem with those repairs, they’re obliged to help you out. If things go wrong further down the line when you’ve dealt with the 3rd party that might not be so easy. Should be low risk if you’re not injured and not precious about your car though.
Deal with the other party’s insurer and get them to give you a hire car until you’re sorted.
I have never known it to work like that. It's always been a case of if you are at fault your insurance company will give you the lowest spec cheap car they can get away with (whatever is in the terms of the insurance and often there is a limit to how long they will give you it for). But if the third-party is at fault then you should get at least a like-for-like car (or better) and keep it until the claim is settled. This is still done by your insurer and they just pass the cost on to the third-party's insurer.
I got rear ended by a chap in a Citroen Picasso who must of been looking at his phone. He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and made a very nice skull indentation in the windscreen. Anyway my car bmw was a write off although hardly looked damaged. The Picasso just collapsed on impact.
Direct line was the insurer and made me a paltry offer. As said above the insurance is to make good your losses so should pay the going rate for exactly the same car. I trawled autotrader got several examples of similar cars and emailed these and they paid (eventually). I wonder how many people accept the first offer...it’s a game to wear you down...
I wonder how many people accept the first offer…it’s a game to wear you down…
Our car was so low in value I just couldn't be bothered haggling up 10 or 20% as that would only have been a few hundred quid!
Soooooo...turns out Mr ****tyboombatty in the white van isn't a named driver on the insurance :-/
Apparently the insurance co. are arguing that their vehicle wasn't present at the crash. Luckily both me and the other driver have photos of it with the reg visible.
I'm getting a bad feeling about this!
I’m getting a bad feeling about this!
Got any old bombers?
cock weasel in a van drove into the bloke behind me who then rear-ended me (we were both stationary).
Apparently the insurance co. are arguing that their vehicle wasn’t present at the crash. Luckily both me and the other driver have photos of it with the reg visible.
Is your claim not off the insured vehicle behind you as they never left enough space behind your car and his insurance claims off the white van man?
Actually yes, I suspect you're right. Though me and the bloke behind were both stationary, so gap is moot I suppose?
Is your claim not off the insured vehicle behind you as they never left enough space behind your car and his insurance claims off the white van man?
no, they were not negligent so they have no liability for the claim. Being stationary a foot off the bumper of another stationary car is not negligent behavior
This when you let your insurance company do what you pay them for. Get yourself sorted, let them (and the police) chase the other party. With the evidence you have it really comes down to 2 choices; either the owner knowingly let the driver take the van without insurance or it’s been taken without permission (ie stolen). So the 3rd party has got themselves into a right mess
Things seem to be progressing ok.
Photos with van reg showing mean that the 3rd party's insurance co. have agreed that it's the right vehicle...it seems that owner 'may' have lent vehicle to the driver. I'm guessing he'll get in some shit for that.
So I'm guessing insurance pays out, but will then they probably sue owner or driver for the money?
On a positive note I've found a really well priced, excellent condition, full service history, Skoda Yeti (always fancied one), with towbar already installed.
So I’m guessing insurance pays out, but will then they probably sue owner or driver for the money?
Not sure about this. I always thought it was the driver insured not the vehicle, so sadly this might still fall back to your insurers.
Have the driver and owner been reported to the police yet?
Have the driver and owner been reported to the police yet?
Yep, I rang up and informed them with the police ref number I had. Little shit deserves all he gets 😡
Having looked into it, if it is confirmed he has no insurance cover, then I need to speak to the Motor Insurance Bureau and access the uninsured drivers fund.
The driver may have been covered to use other vehicles on his own policy. If not, I'd expect the van owners insurer to pay out third party then cancel the policy. In that case, next time the owner tries to buy insurance, they'll need to answer 'yes' when asked if they've ever been refused insurance or had a policy cancelled. That will make it interesting for them to get reasonably priced cover.
Still no news on insurance payout.
I have a feeling white vans insurers are dragging their heels, even though he (apparently) lent vehicle to the driver.
Two positives though...
I picked up the 'new' Yeti yesterday. It's great 😍 really nice to drive, love the tall/upright feel if the car. Kids really Ike it too.
...and amazingly when I did my a swap of my insurance to the new vehicle, it actually came out cheaper!
Same engine size, age, etc. But I guess it's considered a safer and more staid vehicle than a Mitsubishi Lancer.
Mitsubishi Lancer.
But Lancer is very reliable.