Folks,

Looking for some advice following a collision with a Romanian registered lorry this am on the M4, clear conditions, me in the middle lane and all of a sudden he swerved into me catching the rear nearside wheel, see the damage pics below.
What options have I got with claiming against non UK registered vehicles? As I think the insurance is not going to support me on this even though I have a name of driver (could be false) and vehicle reg, have reported to police and insurance company etc, and no witnesses.
I was lucky I managed to steer it straight without being pushed into the fast lane.
Any wise words would be helpful.
Cheers.

Police didn’t come to the scene?

Nope, informed that if there is no personal injury they don’t need to attend, I’m thinking now that I should have requested them to.

Surely its your insurer’s problem to sort out, not yours? Why would they “not support” you?

If it transpires that he’s not insured, the MIB should pay out.

Go and pick 6 numbers as it usually ends up a lot worse than that.

If you have comprehensive insurance, your insurers will sort out your damage. It’s what you pay the premium for.

Your insurers and whoever handles you uninsured loss claim will then do whatever is involved to try and get the costs back from the other drivers insurers.

It is possible that the lorry driver and his vehicle details are legit, and his insurers are waiting to pay up.

@Cougar, let’s see, the insurers are on it but as i’m only TPFT i doubt they’ll support a claim with a non UK registered vehicle, without supporting evidence which there is none, no witnesses. One of the first things i’m doing is to fit a dashcam.

In that case you’re going to have a bit of fun. You’re not insured personally so that ones out, so you’ve got to pursue for the costs.
Do you have legal cover? If not then unless the damage is massively expensive then you’re probably best off trying to take the civilised route with the driver if you’ve got his details and don’t let him know you’re not covered. If that draws a blank then probably one to chalk up to experience… No idea what it would cost to bring a claim to success against anyone Eastern European and even then you might not get paid, but I bet it would be a lot.

If you’re TPF&T your damage is nothing to do with your insurers.

Go and pick 6 numbers as it usually ends up a lot worse than that.

+1 – for being side-swiped by a truck you have got off very lightly.

@Cougar, let’s see, the insurers are on it but as i’m only TPFT i doubt they’ll support a claim with a non UK registered vehicle,

They wouldn’t support it period, any payout to you will come either from the other driver’s insurance or from the MIB. Your insurance covers his losses if the accident is your fault, that’s what “third party” means.

I’d get this sorted before Brexit.

Seriously I imagine there are very strict EU laws on insurance for hauliers so it shouldn’t be an issue dealing with them, should it? Did the police give you an incident number to ‘prove’ that this happened? I suspect that without any witnesses, it will come down to your word vs his. Wouldn’t matter if he was from Romania or Romford, if there’s an opportunity for the insurer to claim mutual fault then they will do, and they won’t pay out. Good luck.

If my insurer didn’t support me in a case like that I’d be getting it fixed and taking them to the small claims court.

AFAIK for future reference comp is usually cheaper than tpft unless you have some peculiar needs or arrangements for insurance.

Er, eh? More comprehensive insurance is cheaper than less comprehensive insurance?

I fear you may be mistaken.

ring up the other guys insurance company

Er, eh? More comprehensive insurance is cheaper than less comprehensive insurance?

these days not so much, tpft sounds to them like you might not care about your car and possibly drive like a nutter

eh? More comprehensive insurance is cheaper than less comprehensive insurance?
I fear you may be mistaken.

He’s right. Remember it’s based on statistics, not logic 🙂

Last few times i insured in the uk (usually old bangers) the difference between tpft and fully was usually less than 30 quid. And that was with a patchy insurance history (out of the country lots, regular gaps, regular changes of address, regular changes of car). I guess the territory has changed a fair bit. But not that much. (Unless you are under 25)

If my insurer didn’t support me in a case like that I’d be getting it fixed and taking them to the small claims court.

For what. As said already TPFT covers the damage you do to someone else. The insurer’s job is to cover any claim made by the lorry driver.

andyl – Member

If my insurer didn’t support me in a case like that I’d be getting it fixed and taking them to the small claims court.

They’d love it if you did. What were you going to sue them for? Breech of the contract you entered into specifically omitting damage to your vehicle from your cover by taking on a cheaper premium?

Even judges deserve a good laugh now and again.

In all seriousness, if you got the Reg, then write to the MIB (or ring them) as whilst they won’t deal with your claim as such, (ie they only deal with uninsured/untraced claims) the MIB in the UK also acts as a central point of reference, where they can and will trace via the reverse Romanian version of the MIB, the insurers of the lorry, and more importantly, the UK handling agent of the lorry insurers.

https://www.mib.org.uk/ and don’t use anyone else or any other similar looking link, there are claims management companies who pretend they are the MIB to get your business.

You can therefore bring a claim, in the UK, against the lorry drivers insurers, and deal in English, with a UK Insurer or Claims Handling office.

Chances are it will be a department within Aviva, Zurich, Allianz or an agency like Van Ameyde.

He’s right. Remember it’s based on statistics, not logic

Ye gods.

It’s OK, you’re covered…Romania are also part of the Europe Experiment™ 😆

He’s right. Remember it’s based on statistics, not logic

Unless the facts are that females have fewer accidents than males. That is blatantly sexist.

Unless the facts are that females have fewer accidents than males. That is blatantly sexist.

And completely true, innit.
Snot just about how frequent incidents are, it’s also about how bad they are (severity). Younger/more testosterone driven people tend to hit things harder so cause more damage.

Romanian version of the MIB

Just imagine such a thing.

You got the details of the owners of the lorry, the reg and the driver’s name? So why not write to the company and submit your invoice for repairs? Not all Romanians are baddies; I’m sure companies who are trying to make it into Europe are anxious to protect their image.

why not write to the company and submit your invoice for repairs? let your insurance company deal with it?

Unless I’m missing something, I’m not sure why we’re overcomplicating this.

You’re involved in a collision where you’re not at fault. You tell your insurance company. They attempt to contact the other driver’s insurance. One of three things happen.

1) The third party insurers go, “yup, fair cop” and pay out for your repairs.

2) They prove to be non-existent, in which case the MIB covers your losses.

3) They go, “no chance, your car drove into our lorry, honest” in which case things get a bit trickier. But we can consider that when you find out what they come back with.

Because honestly, IMHO the best advice at this juncture is “wait.” You’ve done what you need to do and are waiting for a response. There’s little point in writing to the driver, the lorry company, your local MP or the Queen until you’ve heard back from your insurers. Then we can worry about what (if anything) you need to do next.

I assumed thaat TPFT would still assist you in the event of the other party being at fault but I guess not (never had TPFT, always gone FC as it was either only slightly more or actually less). Did you take legal cover? That would be the part of your cover you would use I guess if you did.

Join UKIP?

I would have thought that your TPFT policy would still cover you for repairs, as the accident was not your fault and your TPFT insurer would claim off the lorry drivers insurers?
Oh and by the look of it, most of the marks on the wheel are rubber, so will probably come off quite easily, doubt the scratches on the wheelarch will though.
I’d get the 4 wheel tracking checked though incase things are out of whack.