Life Sucks

[Guest paulwillie1000@yahoo.co.uk]

Sometimes life really sucks!

 

My son whose a student and drives round in an old school Polo (immaculate, full service history) was sat at a junction waiting to pull out, when the driver (Managing director) of a new BMW who was behind and on the phone at the time rammed him up the arse (pardon the terminollogy!)

 

The result is my sons car is written off, and he gets a couple of hundred pounds, and the MD is driving around all sorted as if nothing has happened

 

There is no way he can get another car before he goes back to uni, and deffinately not one in such a good condition, and especially for the money

 

To make matters worse we had the head gasket and a new exhaust the week before the BMW tosser took his phone call instead of looking what was happening!!

 

so all in all, hes got no car, is out of pocket, and im a taxi driver again!!

 

Thanks, got that off my chest!

 

Paul

[Guest Eric]

paul, might not help much, but i'm sure i heard somewhere that if you have receipts for recent work to the car the insurers should also pay out for these.

 

hth

cheers

ek

[miikae]

Hi Paul , was the Bmw driver reported for being on the phone by any chance ?

 

As if he was reported and was prossecuted for this you may be able to claim for more than the loss of the car , its just a thought .

 

Mike

[Guest paulwillie1000@yahoo.co.uk]

unfortunately he wasnt reported, no one else was involved,and no witnesses.

 

i will definately dig out the reciepts for work done etc, and see if that helps.

I also didnt realise that if i take my lad over to the garage to remove his stereo etc, we have to replace it, as its part of the valuation - i ll leave it in, that ll double the value!!

[Guest john]

Sorry to hear this, can't the police put a trace on his phone calls and prove he was on the phone at the time ? I'm sure I've heard about them doing that.

The guys at fault as proven by his insurers paying out, so can't someone press charges ??

There's some legal eagles on here who should be able to help .

[Guest craig030774]

dont forget whip lash

[enforcer]

Make sure the insurance company is aware that your son believed the other driver was on the phone at the time.

 

Report it to the police as well. They will tell you that as a damage-only collision the road traffic act is complied with by exchanging details and that it is a 'non-reportable' collision. Tell them that you appreciate that, but you believe the driver of the other vehicle has committed the offences of careless driving and driving whilst operating a mobile telephone. They will ask you if there is an independent witness. Without one it is very unlikely that the CPS would proceed and given the expense and intrusion of mobile phone analysis don't be surprised if they decline to help.

 

Tell your insurance company about your report to the police.

 

It is also worth carrying out your own CCTV 'trawl'. Depending on where the collision happened it is just possible that the BMW driver has driven past a CCTV camera (either publicly owned or privately) which just might add enough weight to warrant a prosecution. No harm in you asking the owner of any such system if they will help, or if you do identify a likely camera tell the police that you think it may have captured the driver. By the way don't drag your feet on this ... many older systems using analogue recording are unlikely to retain footage after a few days. The police would do this for a serious or fatal collision but they are very unlikely to take this on.

 

The other driver didn't by any chance give your son his mobile number when they exchanged details did he?

 

Finally DO NOT make up an injury if there wasn't one. This in itself is a very serious offence and believe me is not worth it. Craig - stop inciting offences of fraud!! Stick to nicking car wheels ..............

 

Only kidding mate!

[Guest paulwillie1000@yahoo.co.uk]

Thanks for all the advice guys,all taken on board,

 

if all else fails i can always try and extort some money out of him - Only kidding mr enforcer

[Guest craig030774]

richard as if i would, only expressing that whip lash can be apparent after a few days due to the impact

 

don't like scumbags who defraud insurances as i will end up paying along with everyone else who tries to stay on the right side

of the law

[Guest Paul Kirby]

paul, might not help much, but i'm sure i heard somewhere that if you have receipts for recent work to the car the insurers should also pay out for these.

 

hth

cheers

ek

 

I had a similar thing happen to me a few years ago just after I had put £32s worth of petrol in the tank. I included the receipt for this in my insurance claim and was successful.

[ibrooks]

The insurers are required to return your son to the same position he was in before the accident (or give him enough money to do it himself). If you can't find an equivalent car for the money they are offering then it isn't enough - simple as that. You need to be able to prove the pre-accident condition of the car (your service history and pictures to show the condition, lack of corrosion, receipts for work done etc. etc.). You then look at the usual suspects (autotrader, ebay, loot......) for cars in similar condition and see how much you'd have to pay for them. "Market Value" is such a vague term that insurers have been beating motorists over the head with it for years - the only way to get your due is to play as hard as them. They WILL try to bully you into accepting a silly low amount and they WILL take ages to sort it in the hopes that you'll just settle because you need the money quickly. Make it quite clear how much you'll accept and that you're quite prepared to stick out for as long as it takes as this will often make them start thinking about the increasing admin costs versus the cost of just giving you the money to go away. Make a pain of yourself and get timescales from them at every step - if an assessor is going to look at the car Tuesday then call them at lunchtime on Tuesday and if he hasn't been yet get a time in the afternoon when he will have, then call back half an hour after that.

 

If you've accepted any payout then you're sunk because you've agreed to their valuation.

 

Regarding the stereo - anything will do from the point of view of the valuation. They will NOT give you more for the car because it has a nice stereo. Find any old stereo and shove it in the hole left in the dashboard when you remove the nice one.

 

Iain

[nicko]

I was knocked of a motorbike in my teens and the insurance company wrote it off. They offered me a low figure for the bike (they said excessive milage, it was 9 months old with 5k on it!!!), my Stepdad rang the insurance ombudsman, they avised to tell the insurance company we had contacted said ombudsman ...... Suddenly my bike was worth more.... Result

 

Nick

[Guest paulwillie1000@yahoo.co.uk]

First offer in

 

First offer rejected !

 

i didnt take the call but apparently the fact that money had been spent in the last week was tough.

 

I will be on the phone on monday, and as Iain has advised i think i may become a pain.

 

looking forward to this.

 

watch this space!!