Weird accident on Wednesday

G

Gargybloke

Active member
 Poole & Woking
I've been a little preoccupied the last few days trying to schedule my other car, the Citroen C4, to be fixed. I was involved in a bit of a weird accident Wednesday afternoon.

Driving back out of London on the M3 westbound in the rain, the cars around are bunched up and I am in the outside lane.

Suddenly, just ahead, I see a car on the opposite carriageway in the outside lane sorta going diagonally into the central reservation between us. A shower of debris came over the barrier right in front of me. Pretty much a hail of large stones.

The noise was terrible but got through it ok and I pulled over some distance further on. The car is driveable. Lots of damage to all front facing panels and 4 huge hits to the windscreen.

As an example, look at this pic of a hit on the number plate and imagine these size stones hitting all over the front.

IMG_2079.jpg

I can do nothing more than continue home. Just wasn't sure what to do. On advice from my neighbour, I phone the Surrey Police and get a reference for the accident that happened into the central reservation. Caused by a blown tyre they say but luckily nobody seriously hurt. They want me to go to my local cop shop to show my docs which I do and get another reference.

I got the windscreen replaced and Admiral directed me to a repair garage to assess the work and schedule it in.

Everyone, including me, is a bit amazed at the accident. I guess this happens but not very often. Unlucky really, a few seconds either way and I would have been ok. They are hoping to recover my excess etc but it is a strange one when I wasn't really directly involved in an accident but the fallout from one. If not it will cost me £250 :(

We are talking new bonnet, bumper, respraying etc, apart from the already replaced windscreen.

Anybody else have a "secondary" accident like this and what happened in the end?
 
This is not a secondary accident.
By definition, owing to the presence of a motor vehicle on a road an accident occurs whereby damage is caused to another etc.
When you take your documents in I would request the details of the 'offending' driver and vehicle so you can forward them to your insurance company.
 
and the pain in the arse is that it is now on your record and you have to declare it for the next 5 years :headbang:
 
I don't think the insurance companies are wrong to increase the premium after a no fault incident, it makes sense, victims are not as bad a risk as perpetrators from their pov but they are still a cost to the industry (and may possibly not drive defensively).

Annoying though.


(I am not suggesting the OP was culpable)
 
Well, as Dav says, my insurance company says that they will get the driver's details and I can claim against that. If so and costs are recoevered I should be ok. Just a bit of an awkward one and annoying as Finisterre says.
 
Did you know the details of the offending vehicle, could anyone collaborate the accident on the other side?
 
But how did the insurance company know who to claim from? What I meant was, did the police know about the accident on the other side? And the keepers details etc...
 
Finisterre said:
I don't think the insurance companies are wrong to increase the premium after a no fault incident, it makes sense, victims are not as bad a risk as perpetrators from their pov but they are still a cost to the industry (and may possibly not drive defensively).

Annoying though.


(I am not suggesting the OP was culpable)
Click to expand...

it's to do wth statistics, and statistically victims are likely to be victims again.

the way it is worked out is totally different to how it used to be done, hence this idiosyncrasy affecting a lot of blameless (and in all likelihood, continually blameless) drivers.
 
Nickm said:
But how did the insurance company know who to claim from? What I meant was, did the police know about the accident on the other side? And the keepers details etc...
Click to expand...

Yes, I think when a car goes into the crash barrier, probably closes at least one lane, needs recovering and causes big tailbacks, the Police will know who they are.
 
I expect your insurance company will try a counter claim against the party liable


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Sorry to hear about the accident, I hope all goes well with the repair and that you are not left out of pocket mate. Good luck!
 
JaEdBa said:
it's to do wth statistics, and statistically victims are likely to be victims again.

the way it is worked out is totally different to how it used to be done, hence this idiosyncrasy affecting a lot of blameless (and in all likelihood, continually blameless) drivers.
Click to expand...

Statistics are only any good if you use them properly... At the moment, the 'base' premium for a motor insurance is based on the car and the rating area, namely the area where the car is regularly kept overnight - which is usually your home address, or somewhere near it for those who don't have parking. Each area is rated according to claim statistics; car crime and accidents. That all makes sense. Similarly, drivers who do fewer miles per year get discounts. Again, that makes sense. But at the moment, most insurers don't take into account where those miles are actually driven.

So, if you live in the middle of the countryside, where car crime is almost nil and the roads are almost deserted, your base premium will be low. But you may then commute to a major city and rack up 25k miles a year on busy urban roads and motorways. OK, you won't get a mileage discount, but your premium is still low. Someone who lives in the same major city, doesn't commute and only does 8k miles starts off with a huge base premium and then gets a very small discount for the lower mileage... and much of their mileage may be driven whilst they are on holiday in a rural area.

Statistically, which driver is more of a risk? The one with the (much) lower premium. Go figure...
 
I damaged a parked car a while back. Definitely my fault, it wasn't moving. It is a bit of a tight squeeze getting past where they park. They still park there.

:roll:
 
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