Venting about car accident - stupid other drivers!

[Sunseal]

So, there is no real point to this thread other than for me to vent and declare that I officially hate ignorant self employed work van drivers!

Had a great time in town, did all the bits I wanted to, was having a good day. On the way home, there are two lanes leading to a roundabout. I was in the right hand lane to go right. He was in the left hand lane to go straight ahead (you can go left too, but that's a private road).
Because of the private road, if you wanna go straight ahead, you do have to follow the bend of the roundabout a little, the road naturally bends slightly as it's not shaped like a conventional roundabout.

So, I start pulling out to go right as there was no traffic, he must have seen there was no traffic and didn't fully stop at the roundabout at the first place, and overtook me slightly. But, as he followed the bend round to go straight ahead, he overshot it and took out my front left wing/bumper/indicator

I was so shaken (3 year old in the back, 22 weeks pregnant), I did pull over and he managed to get to me and pull over too. I got his reg but was too shaken up to think to take his name.. address etc. I don't really want to claim as it will put my insurance up next year (even though it was absolutely his fault!)

My OH is a mechanic and he can sort it for me, but he doesn't want to be out of pocket and has said I was silly to not get his name etc, cause then I could have sent him the bill privately. I just wasn't thinking straight!

Now I'm worried that if I don't go ahead and claim, but he does, and he says it was my fault, (definitely wasn't!) it will look bad that I didn't claim!

He didn't care at all though, I did ask him if his van was alright, and he just said something like "Hah, my van is trashed already", didn't ask me if I was alright or anything.

I have phoned the police as my partner said at least if it's logged it will look better for me, but they said if no one was hurt, details were exhanged amicably etc then they don't need to log/do anything.

So now I don't really know what to do! :/

 

[Pussy Galore]

Sorry to hear about your accident.

A vehicle reg is sufficient.. all insurers have access to an MID database and all they need is an accident date and vehicle reg to locate third party insurance details.

You have done the right thing reporting this to the Police although if there was no injury, they will take no further action.

It might be worth a call to your own insurers for advice? You do not have to proceed with a claim (and on the basis of what you have said it sounds unlikely that he will) but they can at least log it for you.

Also take some photos of your vehicle damage for your own record even if you choose to have the car repaired.

If you need anymore advice by all means get in touch..

 

[Gingerspice]

Most insurers ask you to declare ANY incident not just whether you made a claim. In theory this should always get raised in future when filling out info for car insurance renewal. It does depend on the wording but now a days it doesn't usually say 'have you made any claims in past 3 years' it's usually something like 'have you had any incidents or acci d ents leading to repair in past 3 years, so in that respect claiming or not claiming will make no difference to your insurance.

If you have the vehicle type, reg etc, take photos of your damage and log any concern or stress to you. Log all out of pocket issues, so could be claimed against him if needed (e.g. taxi fares etc while car is repaired etc)

 

[Yo_Yo]

you poor thing. I bet that shook you up. Hope your ok now?

If call your insurers personally-you don't have to make a claim, just get advice

 

[Sunseal]

Yeah I'm okay now, just wishing that I could go back in time and wait 5 minutes longer before leaving town to avoid it ever having even happened! Usually such a confident driver but it's shaken me a bit. I just drove to Sainsburys though to "get back on the horse" so to speak and I was fine. The damage isn't even that bad, I'm just annoyed at all the rubbish that comes with it and I will definitely be 3x more wary of work vans in the future haha. Can't believe someone can be so stupid on a roundabout as to do what he did! A blatent disregard of spacial awareness.
I would claim, but I'm too nice.. and frankly I don't want a doubled insurance quote next year because of something that wasn't even my fault. Instead I'll just sit here and seethe for a while

 

[EmzyJA]

Oh gosh you poor thing. They must be all out today as I nearly had an accident earlier. Some crazy looney came flying round the corner just after I've pulled out of my turning (like a little ful de sac) as I was going slow pulling off he almost smashed right into me, he literally came from nowhere. Then decided to swerve behind me and pull up next to me on a junction and hurl abuse at me.

Hope you're ok though and I agree ring your insurers and get some advice from them. If it was his fault then surely it'll be his insurance that pays out anyways?

 

[RaspberryK]

If you claim and it's his fault it won't affect your premium or no claims.
You might want to consider the fact you may need to replace car seats and such which can be done via the insurance also.
Xx

 

[Sunseal]

Ah, sorry you almost had an accident EmzyJA. You do get some nutters on the road that think it's okay to put everyone else in danger!
I think even if it's not your fault, your own premium goes up a bit, but you don't lose your no claims. I'm worried if I phone my insurance company to make them aware/get advice they will want to put my premium up for no good reason! It was stretch enough affording my insurance this year and was banking on it going down next year! I'd be quite happy to get in some cheap second hand bits and get my OH to fit them, but he is adamant that he doesn't want to be out of pocket and would want to bill the other driver (but I was an idiot and didn't get his name or address as I was too busy shaking!) Failing that, it's not horrendous cosmetically. All I really need is a new indicator light legally, which I will get asap myself. I can cable tie the few loose ends and knock out some of the dent

 

[Yo_Yo]

Well I think you should go through insurance so he pays more in future, as it's idiots like that who put premiums up!

Main thing is your all ok though honey. I think I'd have been a blubbering wreck!

 

[Sunseal]

Weeellll, absolutely, it could have been a million times worse and the main thing at the end of the day is that everyone is a-ok

 

[Gnomer]

I highly doubt he will claim. My OH is a white van man, some plonker drove right into him whilst he was parked the other day, looks like his van has been attacked with a tin opener. His response was 'it'll be right, vans aren't made to look pretty. I'll whack some filler in the hole'.
Some drivers are just eejits. I'm wary of vans because I know they need more room, and I know they are less concerned about bumps and scrapes.
If it doesn't cost much to fix, I'd probs just fix it and leave the insurance out of it. Prices are beyond ridiculous anyway! And I'm sure they'd jump on any excuse to add another few hundred.

Glad you're all ok though! That's the main thing. No harm to mummy or babies.

 

[MummyToAmberx]

sorry to hear what happened and glad your all okay.

personally i hate people that cant drive, if anyone caused damage to my car through their fault of not driving properly id be straight on the phone for what they did - no excuses.

If my insurance put cost up when renewal is due id ring them, ask them why and complain and say im leaving. Will more than likely knock money off.

I claimed for broken window in feb that some scum decided to just break in the night.
When renewal came it was +£200.
Rang up, moaned at them ans got £200 off price it should have been before added £200. They will just try to get away with what they can, think many wont ring to complain.

 

[Sunseal]

Thanks ladies. I have rung his insurance company this morning and put a claim in.
I had overnight to relax and calm down a bit, and actually the shakes just turned into "why should he get away with driving like an idiot?!"
He obviously didn't give a toss about his van.. whereas I value my car and need it very much! I think the fact he just didn't seem to mind at all when we were pulled over is what made it worse! He drove like he didn't care and then acted the same when I was standing there shaking, 22 weeks pregnant and with my little boy in the car, not knowing what to do!
I fully intend to get the repairs to my car paid for. I'm not being out of pocket for his wrecklessness

 

[MummyToAmberx]

Good on you girl, he clearly sounds like he deserves it and owes it to you to pay for damages hes caused.

 

[Mrs Eleflump]

I hate drivers like that...there seem to be a lot of them around here! I don't drive in Portsmouth or Southampton because I'm too scared of getting smacked into! I'm glad you and your littlies are okay, though, that's the most important thing.

You've definitely done the right thing by claiming - you should always tell your insurance if you have an accident even if you don't claim - if you don't tell them, you can run into problems when you renew, as you then have to declare you've had an accident, and they can view your lack of informing them as fraudulent

When it comes to renewing, do a bit of legwork beforehand and get a few different quotes, you will usually find someone who's cheaper than who you're with - I'm with Diamond and I never just go with what they quote me, as Admiral are always cheaper, but I tell them that and they knock a massive lump off the quote so I'll stay with them. As others have said, if you make a fuss/threaten to leave them, they will come down on the price. Particularly as the accident was not your fault, they haven't got a leg to stand on putting your quote up.