MINI Cooper 51 plate - Parked Car Hit from Behind

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Mon 20 Apr 2015 19:37
MINI Cooper 51 plate - Parked Car Hit from Behind - Ally28

Hello

After a long period of being without a car, I decided to take the plunge and buy a little runaround for myself. Recently had put in a brand new steering pump and was really enjoying being back on the road again.

Then, while I was at work, some muppet in an old BMW decides to drive into the back of it outside a police patrol base of all places. He claimed that this was because he was forced to swerve to avoid a head on collision with another driver.

To be fair, both he and the other driver stopped and had already given their insurance details to the police(who only had to stroll over the road in order to attend) by the time I turned up, having left work. So far so good.

So I get the car recovered to the local Mini Dealer which is round the corner from my workplace.

I notified my insurer the same evening for 'information purposes only'. I then get onto the third party(i.e the bloke who hit my car) insurer. They take the details and get back to me stating that their policyholder holds the other driver responsible and to contact the other driver's insurer to organise repairs for my car. Naturally no-one's open after 5pm.

Does anyone have any advice as to where I stand with this? I mean, as far as I'm aware it's the BMW driver who's hit my car. He's caused the damage. So why are the other driver's insurer going to pay for repairs when their policyholder didn't actually hit my car?

What I don't want is to be stuck with a car that's not being repaired because two idiots who weren't paying attention(trust me - if you saw where this accident occurred, there was absolutely no excuse to be going so fast that you can't stop regardless who's ultimately to blame) are arguing the toss about liability.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm the only blameless party, so what should I do? Should I try to pursue matters with the other driver's insurer direct? Or just let a claims management company deal with things(I've already rebuffed attempts to foist an expensive hire car on me - thanks in no small part to the excellent advice I've seen on the boards here)

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Mon 20 Apr 2015 20:27
MINI Cooper 51 plate - Parked Car Hit from Behind - Falkirk Bairn

Write to both the 3rd party insurers telling them you need a car for everyday use - commuting, social D&P. Through no fault of yours your car is off the road.

If you have a good credit record you can tell them you will hire a car locally until your car is repaired or they pay the full retail price of your car.

If you do not access to funds TELL them you would like them to hire a car for you or alternatively you will have to resort to a Credit Hire - at much higher cost per day.

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Tue 21 Apr 2015 09:43
MINI Cooper 51 plate - Parked Car Hit from Behind - skidpan

Its quite simple really.

Providing you are insurred fully comp your own insurer will repair your car and all you will have to pay are any excess amounts. Then if you have legal cover you will use this to recoup your excess and hire car costs from the 3rd party which will then automatically get you your NCB back if its not protected. If you don't have legal cover organisations like the RAC and AA provide uninsurred loss claims services for a small fee.

The bottom line is despite what the 3rd party is saying the person he swerved to miss has nothing to do with your claim. Its between you and the person who hit you.

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Tue 21 Apr 2015 10:00
MINI Cooper 51 plate - Parked Car Hit from Behind - FP

Skidpan is absolutely right.

The person who hit the OP is responsible for the damage and if an insurance company is saying otherwise they are being seriously misleading - possibly deliberately obstructive.

If the driver who hit the OP's car feels they are not fully to blame it's up to them to go after the driver of the car who forced them to swerve, but that is totally outside the OP's concern.

The OP should make a claim on their insurance, pay the excess and get it back as Skidpan advises. It's an unfortunate fact of life that (even if they do not make a claim) their car has been involved in an accident and the insurance premiums may increase.

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Tue 21 Apr 2015 11:51
MINI Cooper 51 plate - Parked Car Hit from Behind - Brit_in_Germany

I remember reading a newspaper article a couple of months ago where a totally innocent third party was involved in an accident but didn't receive any compensation because the accident was one which was "unavoidable" and therefore no negligence was involved.

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Tue 21 Apr 2015 12:16
MINI Cooper 51 plate - Parked Car Hit from Behind - skidpan

I remember reading a newspaper article a couple of months ago where a totally innocent third party was involved in an accident but didn't receive any compensation because the accident was one which was "unavoidable" and therefore no negligence was involved.

That is partly irrelevant since all the OP needs is their car repairing. Their fully comp insurance will do that regardless of who was to blame. The relevance would be in that instance the OP would not get their uninsurred losses reimbursed.

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Tue 21 Apr 2015 20:36
MINI Cooper 51 plate - Parked Car Hit from Behind - Ally28

Thanks for the replies everyone. I had a feeling that the responsible driver's insurer was mugging me off somewhat. I'm not that knowledgeable on motor insurance, but I thought the whole point of the RTA was that insurers were obliged to settle any third party vehicle damage and then try to recover their cost from anyone else they held liable, whether that be their own policyholder or anyone else involved.

Hey ho - I'm fully comp and because I'd only recently returned to driving I didn't have a no claims bonus to lose anyway, so I'm going to just have to see how much this costs to repair, try to avoid a write off scenario and chase him/his insurers via mine if they continue to play silly beggars.

Early days yet so I'm (probably stupidly) hopeful of a positive outcome.

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Wed 29 Apr 2015 09:39
MINI Cooper 51 plate - Parked Car Hit from Behind - jc2

Do you have "legal cover" as part of your insurance? Sometimes it's also offered by breakdown and other motoring organizations-if you have,involve them ASAP.

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