[katie.g]

hi all

i,ve had a nasty crash with an uninsured foreign driver, i,m not at fault and have witnesses

my 320 touring is a wreck and i have injuries, was loking forward to prob my best season ever but now over before it even starts...

does anybody have any positive advice i could follow, i have no experience of insurance claims, no doubt i'll get a palltry offer from my insurers for my what used to be pristine car and nothing else

the foreigner let off by police no doubt

thanks in anticipation, kathy.

[creepy coupe]

Sorry to hear that. I hope you’re fully comp? . If you have the other drivers details, your insurance company might try and claim against the foreigner. If not and your car is a total loose, they will make you a first offer. It’s generally the rule to refuse the first offer for a better one.

(1)First thing, notify your insurance company (if you haven’t already. Check your policy for legal services cover.
(2) Get any genuine injuries looked at
(3)Write/make notes of everything you remember and addition expenses you might incur

[katie.g]

sorry about my spelling, must take more care with ipad...

i have fully comprehensive insurance

thanks kathy

[makkan00]

I had experience with foreigner driver.
Before I say anything, would you like to tell us how do you know that he was not insured?

[dxb335d]

Any pics of the damage and explanation of the crash.

I am very sorry to hear of your predicament.

[MEGA]

Did you call the police to the scene at the time of the incident ?

As he was uninsured you would want a crime number as well as proof it is not you at fault at all I would have thought.

The offer for your car will be pathetic but push back on it at least twice before accepting.

As for the injuries, same applies. Take it to civil court to keep pushing it. Don't just accept their fob off. He was uninsured. It should definitely go to court if you want a good resolution..

Someone with more experience can offer better advice I'm sure.

[bounty78]

Sorry to hear this The bottomline is you are OK..cars and property can be replaced. The number of crap drivers on the road makes my blood boil..and some of them lack insight into their driving abilities. And worse still are these uninsured foreign drivers without a UK licence. They should make it compulsory that anyone who were to purchase a car in the UK needs to show their driving licence. I bet if the DVLA were to run a spot check on the roads, there will be thousands of them driving without a UK licence.

[Moh]

As long as you have witnesses doesn't matter if other party was insured. Your claim would go through m.i.b

[urfankhaliq]

Originally Posted by MEGA

Did you call the police to the scene at the time of the incident...

I don't think the police come out to accidents unless someone is injured which is very annoying and a piss take!

[Mart1000]

Hi Kathy, sorry for the position you find your self in and hope your are not badly injured.

Before I go on, let's not turn this into a police bashing thread please, it's not warranted or helpful.

Kathy you need to give us a little more info. What's the circs of the accident? We're police called or not. As above, police will normally only turn out to an accident if there is an injury or obstruction. Is isn't a piss take, if they turned out to all accidents that's all we'd do all day.

m.O.h has stated correctly. You need to go through your insurance and if they won't pay out then you can make a claim through the motor insurance bereau.

There will be no crime number from police as such as no insurance is not a recordable offence under home office rules (motoring not criminal). If police attended they should have dealt with the uninsured driver and summonsed him, lending weight to your claim.

Before I go any further, I'll wait for a lot more info from you..... As everyone else should.

[urfankhaliq]

Wasn't intended to be a police bashing post however I still believe it would be of benefit to the public if police would attend road traffic accidents when requested. (whether it's a nuisance to the police or not) Think of the number of disputes that would be resolved almost immediately!

Anyway to the OP best of luck!

[Mart1000]

Damage only is up to insurers to sort out. There just isn't the resources to investigate every single rtc for claims purposes.

However the op states there were injuries so police should have attended and completed an accident report book, if they we called.

[makkan00]

Well if OP is insured comprehensive, following will happen.

1) Insurance company will send engineer to estimate the repair bill, and if not feasible, CAT D or CAT C. Depending on the situation, OP should either get the car repaired or paid by her insurance (Not T.P unless he was insured).

2) If there is any personal injury involved, OP will be offered treatments and bills will start piling up.

3) If T.P driver was insured, OP insurance company will try to track it, through the reg number of T.P's car. Send them love letter to admit the fault. In this case, we are dealing with european insurance company. T.Ps' representative legal company is allowed to have 6 months to investigate the whole matter from the day they send acknowledgement letter to OP's legal team.
I had accident, where european truck ran in to my car from the back. My solicitor wrote to their company, and they acknowledge our love letter after 3 months. Now from there on, legally they are allowed to have 6 months to investigate (lucky european drivers). One of the reason given was translation of english documents to foriegner language and back.
So for start, we had 9 months delay.

If T.P driver was not insured, OP's insurance company will go through MIB (government kept quota for those people who get involved in accidents by uninsured drivers). It take ages to settle down these. Here is the link explaining further details

MIB file


Couple of things OP should consider.

1) Have you taken any photos of the whole situation covering T.P's car and your own car?

2) As you mentioned about Police, you should have police report. Now in my case, reg number of T.P's truck was wrong on police report. I am not sure whether police undermined it (lack of concentration or lack of time) or police could not understand 'European English'. Is it rocket science to read T.P's reg number and write it on police report? Sadly, Police officer could not write that correctly in my case and I had to show the correct reg by photos, so that my insurance company could track T.P.

O.P, please check your police report and make sure things are correct.

3) You will be offered replacement car, but there is usually a clause in that, which states 'In case if insurance company cannot recover the money, you will have to pay the bill of hiring car'.
It is unfair, so please read small print and make sure that you do not get trapped in situation like that. If you have any other car, which you can use, by all means use it. I remember there was other thread where people discussed about massive bills charged by replacement car companies, and some of those had to go to court to win the claim.

4) Stay in touch with witness (through e-mail / phone). This case may take long time to settle, so at few instances, your insurance company may need to contact them.

5) Please write down each and everything in detail now. As your insurance company may ask you about something 12-24 months down the line, where you may struggle to remember small details.
Print street view from google map and draw some photos of your car and T.P's car and how accident happened. From my experience, it always help you.

Well all the best and hope everything works out for you smoothly.

[Mart1000]

Some good info there. But we need a bit more. This foreign driver, is he a resident in the Uk? How did you know he wasn't insured? Did police attend? Are the witnesses independent? Did you take pictures? Did the driver leave the scene without stopping?

If it wasn't reported, as a matter of importance get yourself to your local nick and at least get a self reporting form, fill it in and return it ASAP.

I take it your injuries have either beel logged by paramedics, hospital or GP?

[makkan00]

If T.P driver was uninsured, Police should not have let his car go, unless somebody else (relative of T.P insured to drive that car) was there to help T.P driver.

Police should call recovery truck to tow T.P's car in those situations where driver is uninsured. Isnt it?

[m1bjr]

claim, get well, buy another car Kate.

Not worth losing any more sleep over it, have been there myself.

Good wishes.

[Mart1000]

If police attended...

The other driver should have been reported for no insurance, and an accident report book completed as well as a process book stipulating the offences. The driver would also have his car seized as well.

If it is a foreign driver on a visit things may well be different and this is where it becomes a bit more complicated. Let's see what happened first though...

[edowen]

Call Steve here : http://www.europaconsultants.co.uk/

They are excellent - Steve is on Pistonheads. They will help you out. Great chaps and chapesses.

(this is assuming your insurance co. is useless, which is highly likely).

[m1bjr]

Originally Posted by edowen

Call Steve here : http://www.europaconsultants.co.uk/

They are excellent - Steve is on Pistonheads. They will help you out. Great chaps and chapesses.

(this is assuming your insurance co. is useless, which is highly likely).

And presumably if they cannot recover anything from the other party (highly likely) Kate gets a whopping great invoice?

Yeh... nice find.
You on commission?

Glad to see the government cracking down on these operations at last.
Everyone pays in the end. And the only ones laughing all the way to the bank are these 'accident management company' clowns.

[Kerr]

Originally Posted by m1bjr

And presumably if they cannot recover anything from the other party (highly likely) Kate gets a whopping great invoice?

Yeh... nice find.
You on commission?

Glad to see the government cracking down on these operations at last.
Everyone pays in the end. And the only ones laughing all the way to the bank are these 'accident management company' clowns.

Can only agree.

Countless threads are popping up about the astronomical charges these companies charge ripping off all parties.

[katie.g]

thank you all for your help and support, its greatly appreciated

firstly it was a nasty accident, the police, paramedics, ambulance, firemen, doctor, nurses were all so helpfull , proffesional, supportive.... i cannot praise / thank them enough, and we really should not complain about them, because if we are unlucky enough to get in an accident they are our saviours

the police informed that the other driver was uninsured, no license etc, the police took away both cars, and they played the " we dont speak english trick"

it didn't get pics, witness details or anything, was in no state to be able to, luckily there were several witness and they gave details to the police, i need to find them and thank them

as it stands i'm likely to get a pay out from my own insurance, which will be a low offer for my pristine e91

loss of no claims bonus and inflated future insurance costs

if i'm lucky some compensation for injuries from the MIB

stand my own costs for hire car/ expenses in the interim

But thats not the half of it

i'm unable to work, prob for about a month and my job isn't one of those jobs where they pay you when you are away ill/ injured

its a very small company i work for and they have to get someone else in to cover my job, in reality i've just lost my job. i have no complaint with my employer over it, he has to look after his business. To be fair both me and my employer knew i was planning to leave soon, as i was hoping to fullfill my dream of becoming a proffessional athlete for my final few yrs while i'm still just about young enough to compete, all the links and sponsors were coming together for me just nicely

but now i have a smashed knee and its over, recovery and surgery etc is going to write me off for this yr and prob forever at the level i was hoping to compete

its unbelivable how your life can change in a second, because of a illegal imigrant who thinks the roads are his race track and he's so special that laws dont apply

this was a high powered Audi with 4 imigrant youths in it, please feel free to draw your own conclusion about how it was being driven.

again thanks all for your help, you kinda make me feel that i'm not alone in this

love , Kathy

[creepy coupe]

Jeez Kathy that's a terrible story. It's sounds as though you had good advice support from the accident. Once again push for a better offer on your car.

It does hit home just how things can change in the blink of an eye. I really hope things turn out better for you soon and hope you buy another BMW and get some photos of it on here very soon.

All the best