Car accident/new car

[elroy]

Had a car accident on the motorway last night, was in the right hand lane of the motorway, a car two ahead of me braked suddenly and the car in front of me went into that car. I saw this happening, swerved to avoid it but left front of my car went into the right rear of the one in front. Scary enough crash, fcuking air bags the works came out.

But am asking has anyone similar experiences? I dont feel the crash was my fault but im hearing because i went into the back of the one in front that I am likely to be liable for her damage. Have comprehensive cover so shouldnt be too bad......hopefully. Except my no claims is no more.

Also my car is uneconomicable to repair at this stage so looking out for a new car. Guard told me i had no chance without ABS brakes so thats a must in the new one.
06/07/08 but dont wanna pay much more than €10k, looking at focus, corolla, golf, A3......that kinda range, anyone have any recommendations, good/bad experiences?

[Mr A]

Was a passenger in a very similar crash.

Your insurance choices will probably amount to either paying for the damage to the car in front or accepting higher premiums when he claims off you insurance. You're not so bad once you have comprehensive though, at least you'll get a few quid for your own if it comes to it.

[Wangball]

I work in the claims department of an insurance company and deal with liability disputes like this all of the time. From your description you will definitely be held liable for the rear damage of the car in front of you and depending on the severity of the impact you may be held liable for a portion of the frontal damage of the car in front as well as a portion of the rear damage of the car in front of them as well as a percentage of any potential injuries that arise from the accident. These are notoriously messy claims, probably best to let the insurance company deal with it all and take the hit on your NCD.

As for buying a new car I'd hit up one of the auction places (Merlin are the best) and see what they have, the way the motor industry is nowadays its bargains galore

[elroy]

I work in the claims department of an insurance company and deal with liability disputes like this all of the time. From your description you will definitely be held liable for the rear damage of the car in front of you and depending on the severity of the impact you may be held liable for a portion of the frontal damage of the car in front as well as a portion of the rear damage of the car in front of them as well as a percentage of any potential injuries that arise from the accident. These are notoriously messy claims, probably best to let the insurance company deal with it all and take the hit on your NCD.

As for buying a new car I'd hit up one of the auction places (Merlin are the best) and see what they have, the way the motor industry is nowadays its bargains galore

Thanks for that much appreciated. Ya by the sounds of things the car that I crashed into is definitely going to claim on my insurance, no word on the others yet. In fairness the insurance company have been very impressive so far and are looking after it for me, dealing with the other insurance company and so forth. Got me a replacement car in a day as well. My own car was 2001 so its actually uneconomical to repair, so they are going to offer me a cheque for its value I believe. Presumably the car is then theirs and they look after scrappage etc?
Any idea what kinda hit Im likely to take on the NCD? Will probably be paying for the pay out for a few years. At least I had comprehensive, definitely going to spend more time going through policy details in future.

[don ramo]

Thanks for that much appreciated. Ya by the sounds of things the car that I crashed into is definitely going to claim on my insurance, no word on the others yet. In fairness the insurance company have been very impressive so far and are looking after it for me, dealing with the other insurance company and so forth. Got me a replacement car in a day as well. My own car was 2001 so its actually uneconomical to repair, so they are going to offer me a cheque for its value I believe. Presumably the car is then theirs and they look after scrappage etc?
Any idea what kinda hit Im likely to take on the NCD? Will probably be paying for the pay out for a few years. At least I had comprehensive, definitely going to spend more time going through policy details in future.

no, they pay for the price of the car, and its your own decsion if you want to fix the car, they dont buy the car off you, they might know someone that will buy it off you, or you can trade in the damaged car when you buy a new one, they might give ya a few hundred quid for it, if your going to a dealer

thats how it worked for me a few years ago when someone crashed into the back of me,

[John83]

no, they pay for the price of the car, and its your own decsion if you want to fix the car, they dont buy the car off you, they might know someone that will buy it off you, or you can trade in the damaged car when you buy a new one, they might give ya a few hundred quid for it, if your going to a dealer

thats how it worked for me a few years ago when someone crashed into the back of me,
Legally speaking, they own the wreck in that case, AFAIK. Perhaps they don't bother actually collecting them though.

[elroy]

I work in the claims department of an insurance company and deal with liability disputes like this all of the time. From your description you will definitely be held liable for the rear damage of the car in front of you and depending on the severity of the impact you may be held liable for a portion of the frontal damage of the car in front as well as a portion of the rear damage of the car in front of them as well as a percentage of any potential injuries that arise from the accident. These are notoriously messy claims, probably best to let the insurance company deal with it all and take the hit on your NCD.

As for buying a new car I'd hit up one of the auction places (Merlin are the best) and see what they have, the way the motor industry is nowadays its bargains galore

WB, seeing as you work in the insurance industry, quick question for ya!

Following my recent car accident, my no claims bonus is out the window, well i think im at least going to lose 3 of my 5 years (didnt have NC's protection).

So am just about to buy a new car and checking out the insurance quotes and am looking in the region of 1.5k comprehensive. However, if i insure the car in my missus name with me as a named driver, the insurance quote drops to about half of the above.

Sounds good to me, but is there anything i should be aware/careful of here?? I presume i will need to disclose on the proposal form details of my accident and claim, will this push up the quote given to me?? Any advice appreciated.

[brendy_éire]

Elroy, similar thing happened me.

You can be blamed for hitting the car in front of ye because ye were meant to leave enough distance between yourself and the car in front for you to be able break and not hit them. That's what it is in the North anyway. May be slightly different in the Free State.

As regards ABS; I'd never drive a car without them. Since my last experience (swerving off a gravel road in New Zealand, on a straight road, at 47kmph, into a 5m ditch).

Humans are idiots. ABS is smarter than us.

[Wangball]

My own car was 2001 so its actually uneconomical to repair, so they are going to offer me a cheque for its value I believe. Presumably the car is then theirs and they look after scrappage etc?

Some companies settle and retain salvage, others settle net & deduct a salvage value leaving you to dispose of the car.....those companiies are the bad ones!

[Wangball]

WB, seeing as you work in the insurance industry, quick question for ya!

Following my recent car accident, my no claims bonus is out the window, well i think im at least going to lose 3 of my 5 years (didnt have NC's protection).

So am just about to buy a new car and checking out the insurance quotes and am looking in the region of 1.5k comprehensive. However, if i insure the car in my missus name with me as a named driver, the insurance quote drops to about half of the above.

Sounds good to me, but is there anything i should be aware/careful of here?? I presume i will need to disclose on the proposal form details of my accident and claim, will this push up the quote given to me?? Any advice appreciated.

Are you married or is she just your girlfriend? The reason I ask is if you are married the car is a shared asset regardless of whose name is on the VLC, its the whole 50/50 husband & wife thing. In that scenario what you described above is perfectly fine.

However if its just a GF or live in partner then you will have an issue because insurable interest comes into play. If you are the registered owner then the car cannot be insured in your GF's name to obtain a lower prmium, thats called fronting and will result in any claims you have being knocked back and your policy being cancelled.

Getting back to the proposal form, thats a bit of a grey area, some companies have a system for carrying a named driver's NCD across and some don't....you'll have to disclose it but chances are it won't have much of an effect at all

[Wangball]

Elroy, similar thing happened me.

You can be blamed for hitting the car in front of ye because ye were meant to leave enough distance between yourself and the car in front for you to be able break and not hit them. That's what it is in the North anyway. May be slightly different in the Free State.

.

No difference whatsoever, its called the 2 second rule. Our rules of the road are a near carbon copy of the British Highway Code.

[Macy]

No difference whatsoever, its called the 2 second rule. Our rules of the road are a near carbon copy of the British Highway Code.
Well nearly, you're supposed to leave a safe stopping distance. 2 second rule is a method of doing this in good conditions.

On the insurance renewal, try adding your missus as a named driver on your policy. It makes mine a good bit cheaper to have her as a named driver on my insurance.

[Bluebeard]

Glad to hear you survived, and everyone is OK enough to have worries about the insurance.

[elroy]

Some companies settle and retain salvage, others settle net & deduct a salvage value leaving you to dispose of the car.....those companiies are the bad ones!

My insurance co have been very helpful I have to say. Claim isnt settled yet but they have already offered me a value for my car and in order for me to get the cheque have had to send them the licensing certificate so that they can dispose of it.


Are you married or is she just your girlfriend? The reason I ask is if you are married the car is a shared asset regardless of whose name is on the VLC, its the whole 50/50 husband & wife thing. In that scenario what you described above is perfectly fine.

However if its just a GF or live in partner then you will have an issue because insurable interest comes into play. If you are the registered owner then the car cannot be insured in your GF's name to obtain a lower prmium, thats called fronting and will result in any claims you have being knocked back and your policy being cancelled.

Getting back to the proposal form, thats a bit of a grey area, some companies have a system for carrying a named driver's NCD across and some don't....you'll have to disclose it but chances are it won't have much of an effect at all

Thanks WB. Am not married, its my girlfriend, she was insured as a named driver on my old policy. Sounds fair enough. Presumably if the car was registered in her name or both or names (not sure if this is even possible) then could get around this 'fronting' issue??

Whatever about saving cost, if i have learned anything from this I want to be sure that under my insurance policy that everything is disclosed and above broad i.e. god forbid if i have to claim again in the future, dont want to have left anything short and give them a reason to refuse claim.



Glad to hear you survived, and everyone is OK enough to have worries about the insurance.

Thanks BB. Crash is a good few months ago so have to start looking ahead and the joys of insurance form part of that.

[elroy]

Rang my current insurance co, to insure my new car under my old policy is only gonna cost me in the region of E130 extra. This will mean my new car is insured until the expiry of my existing policy. The effect of the no claims wont actually kick in then until i go to renew the policy.......or at least so the lovely lady on the phone said :D Suits me nicely.

This sound right to you WB?