Transit crashes into back of car - what now?

[southbeemer]

Just been woken up by a phone call from girlfriend.

She was on way to work, got off an a-road onto the slip road, drives down to join the next road, she is stationary as she cant join the flowing traffic as there is no room. Guy comes behind her in a transit van and smashes into the back. She is pushed out into the on coming traffic and luckily the cars who are coming towards her manage to stop. He has hit her quite hard apparently, so hard the stereo has come out.

My questions are, this guy drives for a company - what now? Do i just ring that company? What will happen then? Will it affect no claims bounus for me etc?

[big pimp]

firstly, sorry to hear about your girlfriend.

you need to get her to a hospital to get checked for whiplash within the next 48hrs, as signs may not be yet apparent if shes in shock

get onto the police - make sure they have all info (though this would more than likely be done at the scene)

get onto a solicitor - forget about the company - let their insurance handle it all through solicitors - there is no point in you talking to them now at any stage.

ross

[BigFas]

let insurance handle it, it's why you pay them

[southbeemer]

firstly, sorry to hear about your girlfriend.

you need to get her to a hospital to get checked for whiplash within the next 48hrs, as signs may not be yet apparent if shes in shock

get onto the police - make sure they have all info (though this would more than likely be done at the scene)

get onto a solicitor - forget about the company - let their insurance handle it all through solicitors - there is no point in you talking to them now at any stage.

ross

She actually works in a doctors surgery, so he has looked at her and all is fine apparently.

The police were not called as there were no injuries to either of them, none visable anyway so he said they didnt need to be called, both car and transit were driven away.

Is a solicitor not ging to cost a bomb to sort it out for us?

Also quickly - will this cost me because i have an excess or is that only if the accident is our fault?

[southbeemer]

let insurance handle it, it's why you pay them

Would i have to even tell my insurance though, or do i just go straight through his companies insurance

[Juber]

Fliipping heck!

Sorry to hear that mate. As Fas has said, let the insurance do it, thats what you are paying them for.

Hope your GF is ok, if the impact was hard enough to push streo out, then sorry to say i woould assume shes injured.:(

[southbeemer]

Fliipping heck!

Sorry to hear that mate. As Fas has said, let the insurance do it, thats what you are paying them for.

Hope your GF is ok, if the impact was hard enough to push streo out, then sorry to say i woould assume shes injured.:(

She is adamant she is fine. She was in tears etc when she rang but i think she is more worried about the car, which obviously doesnt matter. Im just waiting for the dickheads who have blocked my driveway to get out of the way so i can get out there.

Edit - just text me again saying that she is still shaking etc, think she is in a bit of shock.

[BigFas]

Would i have to even tell my insurance though, or do i just go straight through his companies insurance

Of course you do. What happens if for some reason the other party denies responsibility? What happens if the guy gave your gf false details at the scene. Tell insurance company everything you can, then leave it to them. If you're fully comp, they'll give you the go-ahead to get your car repaired, hire car etc. and in paralell chase the other part for any losses. ASSUMING everything goes smoothly, will not affect your premium or NCB as they've recovered their outlay

[Dirty Black]

Call your insurers and take it from there, you shouldn't need a solicitor at this stage or unless things get sh1tty.

As you were hit from rear then its almost certain Transit-man's insurers will pay out.

The main thing is your g/f really - concentrate on her & let your insurance company guide you regarding the claim.

[southbeemer]

Hi

Have spoken to our insurance company and they are going to deal with it. We have to pay the £350 excess and we can claim this back of the guys insurance. Basically the garage will be taking the car within the next 24 hours and we will have a courtesy car until it is back.

Also she went to the doctor and the doctor beleives she has got whiplash, we probably wont bother to fight it as accidents happen but it has been logged incase it gets worse. He beleives she could need physiotherapy.

[dodgyken]

You also need to report the accident to the police - giving both sets of details - and then attend to show insurance etc.

Do this ASAP as failing to do so is a criminal offence.

[MistaSmiff]

Yep, call your insurers and let them deal with it, it wasn't her fault.

My only worry would be that when claiming via a business claims can take longer to sort out, this is usually because the driver of the commercial vehicle needs to submit his details to the company he works for and this does'nt always happen quickly, also the company usually never want admit it was their fault.

[Vert]

I did some van driving over the summer period, for Tesco home shopping. :D

We all had minor incidents (I hit a house at 5mph!) but it was quite easy for us.

We bring out the accident book and fill in all the required details; all the usual stuff like our name, van reg, which branch, their details, as well as time, date, location, any third parties, witnesses, was anyone hurt, if applicable. Did the police need to be called, if so what's the officers and number, etc, small diagram, etc.

Then there would be small slip for the driver to fill in and give to the other party, with basic details such as van reg, branch, driver name, etc, and on that would be printed details of the company insurance policy number and a phone number. Obviously we would have to report back to our line manager asap, and they took in our accident book to file. The other party would then either contact their insurance company with our details or persue it themselves.

[MistaSmiff]

Then there would be small slip for the driver to fill in and give to the other party, with basic details such as van reg, branch, driver name, etc, and on that would be printed details of the company insurance policy number and a phone number. Obviously we would have to report back to our line manager asap, and they took in our accident book to file. The other party would then either contact their insurance company with our details or persue it themselves.Yep this is the part that normally goes into a blackhole ...:)

[girlpower]

Hope you get things sorted out soon. ;)

[Shuriken]

As said, tell insurance everything as theres no way that could be her fault and make sure she doesn't accidentally suggest it might have been. Other than that, let them deal with and be with your gf, 'cos she probably isn't feeling too great! I hope she gets better soon.

Shuriken.

[southbeemer]

Thanks for all your words, much appreciated.

Here is what has happened so far. Doctor beleives GF has whiplash and will be passing her file onto a physiotherapist for her to be looked at. She keeps on complaining about the pain in her neck and doctor did some tests and beleives it needs passing over - great!!!

We phoned our insurers Wed afternoon and they started the procedings immediatly. They rang this morning to say that they have heard from the guys insurance company and that they want the details so they will be faxing them over.

Took the car to the garage today so as they could assess it and send the quote off to our insurers. The guy said we need a whole new boot and it needs rebuilding as it has been pushed in. He also said that he needs to give the roof a good check as he isnt sure if there has been any damage there. He didnt put it on the ramp either which suprised me - he said he will do that after speaking to the insurers and will see if anything is damaged underneath.

What a nightmare - especially when it wasnt her fault. We have to pay the £350 excess and then claim that back, which they said will take about 3 months!!!

[southbeemer]

Vert - funny you should say that - im a Dot Com Manager for Tesco for my sins!!!!

[mystic sport]

What a nightmare - especially when it wasnt her fault. We have to pay the £350 excess and then claim that back, which they said will take about 3 months!!!

See if you can get your insurance company to waive the excess as it is very very clearly not your girlfriends fault. My car was hit in the rear on the M25 on tuesday and even though I am dealing directly with the 3rd parties insurance I did inform my insurers direct line. They offered to have the car taken in immediately and claim back all loses from the other insurer but as my car is perfectly drivable I would rather not make a claim via direct line, however, when I mentioned the excess payment 'if' I were to use direct line I was told it was waived as it was clearly a non fault accident.

My loan car which is effectively a hire car has been agreed by the 3rd party insurance which IMHO is them admitting liability as the hire company will be retrieving all their costs back through his insurance.

So, ask for the excess to be waived, it is simply not her fault and she shouldn't have to pay ;) .

[southbeemer]

Hi Mystic, the insurance company will not waive the excess, they simply say keep all receipts and then contact the other parties insurance and get them to refund you (they dont even do that for us apparently!!)

Took the car to the garage on Thursday and havent heard a peep about it since then off anyone. Insurance company said they would ring on Friday but havent bothered.

[mystic sport]

I dealt with his insurance company directly, not through my own, in fact directline have removed the claim number that I told them I 'didn't' want off their system, and the liability was settled on friday and my car is booked in. Call the tranny drivers insurance copmany and ask what the holdup is as it is very clear cut who is at fault IMHO.

[southbeemer]

I dealt with his insurance company directly, not through my own, in fact directline have removed the claim number that I told them I 'didn't' want off their system, and the liability was settled on friday and my car is booked in. Call the tranny drivers insurance copmany and ask what the holdup is as it is very clear cut who is at fault IMHO.

Rang our insurance company today and they have wrote the car off, they didnt bother to tell us, we had to ring them!!

[mystic sport]

Maybe that is a blessing mate as the car did seem very badly damaged from your description. Real pain in the backside when you have to do all the chasing. Really hope this is all sorted soon for you.

[southbeemer]

Maybe that is a blessing mate as the car did seem very badly damaged from your description. Real pain in the backside when you have to do all the chasing. Really hope this is all sorted soon for you.

Erm.... possibly mate but if you check my other thread you will see that through my own stupid fault its not that simple now!!!

[southbeemer]

Hi all, not been on for a while due to a number of issues - changing service provider, working away etc but thought I would give an update now im back!!

This is still dragging on now. My insurance company have started proceedings against this guys insurance now. Had to sign all the court papers and send them to the solictor so as they can act on my behalf. They think we will end up in court. They are denying liability and refusing to pay up - this even though their van smashed into the back of my girlfriend on an a road joining another a road!!

[wicksta]

Are they saying it was her fault because she was stationary on a slip road or something?

Hope it all works out in your favour.

[robinh20mrv]

hows your mrs neck? bet it sore, call claims direct or the like, it could pay for a free m3..............the pain the pain, i can never drive again ect ect :)

[Doc Matt]

get onto a solicitor - forget about the company


Why would you need to get onto a solicitor? Surely ins companies have a proper way of sorting this out.

[BigFas]

Why would you need to get onto a solicitor? Surely ins companies have a proper way of sorting this out.

Absolutely. It makes me laugh people spending more money on hiring their own solicitors when their insurance policy INCLUDES £1m of legal cover (assuming fully comp of course).

as I said from the get go,let your insurance company deal with it.

[southbeemer]

Thanks all. The insurance company are dealing with it, they have put us onto their solicitors who are now dealing with us personally.

The guy who hit my missus admitted liability without any problems however his insurance company are denying it. We have not been told the reasons, they just dont want to pay out by the looks of it. Our solicitor is claiming a lot though now including daily interest and hopefully they will back down.

[Grizzle]

Glad to see the solicitors are claiming for everything, i would be doing the same, had an onyx bin truck hit my front bumper last year it took them 3 months to get it fixed i claimed for everything even down to new tyres lol.