Non fault accident - help?

[Dav the wheel nut]

As the vehicle was parked on a shared drive and not on a road I'm not convinced this is covered by the Traffic Act and may therefore be a civil claim for the damage caused.

[ShineyT]

As the vehicle was parked on a shared drive and not on a road I'm not convinced this is covered by the Traffic Act and may therefore be a civil claim for the damage caused.

I did wonder this but technically while my car was on a shared drive, the third party were actually on/leaving a road. The space is literally next to a small road coming in to a cul-de-sac.

Small update I do now know who they are insured with so am going to be contacting them this morning. Will also be visiting BMW later to get a full repair quote from them. Just need to find another garage to get a quote from. Wonder if Merc or Audi would quote as expecting that to be similar priced!

[mjennings23]

Do this and then contact their insurance company direct. Just notify your insurance company that your car was hit but dont progress any further with them.
Make your claim only through their insurance, you can get the car repaired anywhere you want, I'd go through bmw, you dont have to use anyone they suggest but you may have to get more than one quote for the repairs.
If your not happy then tell them your going to claim through an accident management company.

I agree with most of this, but DON'T tell your insurer if you go down this route - they'll post an outstanding claim on your policy which has the potential to be a major PITA!

Ideally you want it all settled as a non-fault claim before you get your renewal because you have no duty of disclosure until renewal on an annual insurance contract.

Your insurer will never pay the AMC fees which is why the AMC will never claim from your insurer, only from the insurer of the guilty party (or tort-feasor in legalese)!

Insurance companies log accidents on the MIB database, therefore if you use the MIB database to find the details of the other party (bearing in mind you can only legally use it if you've been in an accident, and they require you to provide your own vehicle information too) then choosing to 'not declare' it in future is going to end badly, as any future insurer could find out with minimal effort about this incident.

[mjennings23]

As the vehicle was parked on a shared drive and not on a road I'm not convinced this is covered by the Traffic Act and may therefore be a civil claim for the damage caused.

I did wonder this but technically while my car was on a shared drive, the third party were actually on/leaving a road. The space is literally next to a small road coming in to a cul-de-sac.

Small update I do now know who they are insured with so am going to be contacting them this morning. Will also be visiting BMW later to get a full repair quote from them. Just need to find another garage to get a quote from. Wonder if Merc or Audi would quote as expecting that to be similar priced!

Perhaps speak to BMW and find out their approved body shops in the area, then just get quotes from them. That way it's still going to be the same standard.

[mjennings23]

As the vehicle was parked on a shared drive and not on a road I'm not convinced this is covered by the Traffic Act and may therefore be a civil claim for the damage caused.

Dubious. If land has open access from the public highway then the road traffic act can generally be applied to it. Add this to the third party being on the public highway at the time of the incident then by all accounts it is absolutely something insurance companies will be forced to cover. I have no doubt that the OP contacting the third parties insurance with the evidence will result in a very quick resolution, they're only too aware that an accident management company getting involved causes prices to rapidly spiral upwards for themselves.

[ben g]

Some absolutely terrible advice in this thread

You must declare all accidents to your insurance company, aswell as at renewal time.

You can claim off your own insurance and they will then go after the third parties insurance company to recover the costs. This is what we recently had to do after the third party denied liability.

Yes, it's stressful, but if you know 100% an accident isn't your fault and you have witnesses/police reports/cctv etc then it's not a problem.

Whether you claim on your insurance and they recover the costs or you contact the third parties insurance company instead, you will still need to declare it as a non fault accident come renewal time.

There's no getting out of it. All insurance companies use the same database, so can easily see whether you're telling porkies

Regardless who's insurance company you end up using, you are entitled to get the vehicle fixed at a repairer of your own choosing. They can only advise you use one of their 'approved repairers', which might aswell say 'cheaper for the insurance company to use' as they have contracts in place to direct work to that particular garage.

Good luck with it all.

[richy176]

What insurance company are you with - they sound pretty useless.

You could get a written estimate including cost of a replacement vehicle and written statements from your witnesses and then send a `Letter Before Action' inviting him to pay for the repairs or be taken to the County Court. Send a copy to his insurance company as well.

Have you given your own insurance company any witness statements? I wonder if they have some connection with the other insurer as they seem to be quite obstructive.

[Sidewaze Samm]

With the pressure they're under these days, the police have adopted a policy of only pursuing the cases they deem to be important. But as said in detail by Rusty, it is an offence - so I would contact the chief constable asking for the incident to be investigated, preferably while the other vehicle still shows signs of damage, or to explain in writing why his force is incapable of closing a case that requires 0 percent detective work.
No legal assistance option with your policy? Definitely consider an AMC and then small claims court for any uninsured/unrecovered losses.
Complain to your insurers having read the policy document first. You can get the repairs done where you like. Then when they reject your complaint refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Of course this doesn't help get your car fixed quickly, so hopefully it's not a daily driver you need.
Then get a decent insurance company asap (yes, there is a difference and never ever buy on price alone) Who are you insured with?
Good luck

[Sidewaze Samm]

Do this and then contact their insurance company direct. Just notify your insurance company that your car was hit but dont progress any further with them.

A word of warning on this point (generally speaking that is - and highly unlikely in this case):
If you notify your insurer of a 'claim' and that you don't wish to pursue it with them (what can be termed "For notification purposes only") then later wish to change your mind because things have not gone as you expected, your insurer may refuse to deal with the claim.
In the days of paper claim forms, this warning would have been printed on the form. But these days, with everything done by phone...?

[Mr Tidy]

Insurance companies log accidents on the MIB database, therefore if you use the MIB database to find the details of the other party (bearing in mind you can only legally use it if you've been in an accident, and they require you to provide your own vehicle information too) then choosing to 'not declare' it in future is going to end badly, as any future insurer could find out with minimal effort about this incident.

Just to clarify I'm not suggesting that the OP doesn't disclose the accident to his own insurers, but motor insurance being an annual contract there is no duty to disclose until renewal (I did spend over 30 years working in the general insurance claims industry, so have some experience in this area) and hopefully if the OP claims against the other party it will be a settled non-fault claim by the time he has to disclose it.

[C8H18]

Insurance companies log accidents on the MIB database, therefore if you use the MIB database to find the details of the other party (bearing in mind you can only legally use it if you've been in an accident, and they require you to provide your own vehicle information too) then choosing to 'not declare' it in future is going to end badly, as any future insurer could find out with minimal effort about this incident.

Just to clarify I'm not suggesting that the OP doesn't disclose the accident to his own insurers, but motor insurance being an annual contract there is no duty to disclose until renewal (I did spend over 30 years working in the general insurance claims industry, so have some experience in this area) and hopefully if the OP claims against the other party it will be a settled non-fault claim by the time he has to disclose it.

How has the OP been in an accident? He wasn't even in the f***ing car! Someone damaged a piece of property belonging to him (civil matter) and then drove off without leaving details (criminal offence). It would seem that the driver of the other vehicle has insurance to cover the civil aspect of his actions (as is required by law), against which the OP can readily obtain details (through MIB) and submit a claim, either:

a) Via his own insurers.
b) By trying to resolve the matter directly with the other party's insurers.
c) By using an accident management company to do option b) on his behalf.
d) By attempting to recover his losses through the small claims court.

From what OP has already said, option a) is proving difficult. Armed with a crime number and signed witness statements, option b) may be easier than he thinks, especially if he mentions to them the possibility of option c), but states that he "hopes that such a course of action will not be necessary..."

[ShineyT]

For what it is worth, had a repair quote today from BMW - £4232 all in.

Less than I expected if I am honest.

[Z4 COUPSTER]

Maybe it's time to contact an Ombudsman to get Inpartial advice? Just an idea. And that quote sounds fair. Also you don't want it Catted with ins
hard to get the value later

[Mr Tidy]

You can't contact the Ombudsman for impartial advice - his function is to provide a judgement when you have reached an impasse with YOUR OWN insurer (not the insurer of a third party).

Back in the late 80s when I had regular dealings in this sort of stuff the decision of the Ombudsman was binding on the insurer (but not the policyholder) yet the fee of over £150 was paid by the insurer - so if we had a claim for £100 that wasn't covered it was cheaper to pay the claim regardless of whether it was covered than the referral fee!

A repair cost of £4,232 for any M model surely isn't going to get it into "Cat" territory?

OK C8H18, while strictly speaking the OP may not have been involved in an accident he does have an outstanding claim and most insurers ask about accidents or claims IME.

For the purposes of the RTA a public road is roughly defined as "a road to which the public have access" so even drives tend to fall within that definition (as they should) - trying to suggest it isn't a public road is smoke and mirrors and/or wishful thinking (or total b*llocks) IMO.

But the OP has a claim in civil law against the idiot that hit his car (or the insurer of that car), or a claim in contractual law against his Comprehensive insurer - he can choose which party he pursues his claim against.

I wish him all the best regardless.

[Sidewaze Samm]

Back in the late 80s when I had regular dealings in this sort of stuff the decision of the Ombudsman was binding on the insurer (but not the policyholder) yet the fee of over £150 was paid by the insurer - so if we had a claim for £100 that wasn't covered it was cheaper to pay the claim regardless of whether it was covered than the referral fee!

My experience with the Ombudsman, FOS, is somewhat more recent - up to around 2010 when I think the fee had just risen to £500. I wonder what it is now?