Any professional advice appreciated "Insurance claim"

[S3_MCD]

Guys, back in Jan I was hit by a motor bike, square in the rear. Fortunately everybody was OK and the car was cosmetic (slow moving traffic on motorway).
Anyway.... I claimed via DL as a non fault accident, work has now been carried out, and being non fault no excess payable. The other party has disputed the claim saying that I pulled in front of him, hence I am being told by my insurer that they would like to suggest knock4knock as the were no witnesses, my word against his etc.

Now I am not really happy about going down this road for 2 reasons, seems like I will be admitting a degree of fault, as such, although i have my no claims protected it does limit my future claims (if i am unlucky enough to have a fault claim).

My insurer feels that this cannot be won, but why do I have to (potentially) suffer because of this?

Any help would be appreciated

Cheers.

 

[AndyMac]

Typical insurance company policy, try not to take it personally. If it's a small enough claim then they'll pay out on knock4knock as it's cheaper than disputing it in court.
Why do I lose my NCB & have to pay the excess if I'm hit by an uninsured driver, or, as happened to my wifes car last year, it was hit by a van while parked up outside our house, and the tw&t didn't stop?
They'll really only go to court if someone's injured, as we're then talking big money.
The wonderful world we live in....
Can't really understand why the biker would dispute it as he's gonna lose his NCB either way?
I wonder what happens in these cases when both parties are insured with the same company, they're hardly gonna pursue such a case through the courts.

 

[S3_MCD]

Cheer Andy

 

[IanL-RS3]

[ QUOTE ]
Guys, back in Jan I was hit by a motor bike, square in the rear. Fortunately everybody was OK and the car was cosmetic (slow moving traffic on motorway).
Anyway.... I claimed via DL as a non fault accident, work has now been carried out, and being non fault no excess payable. The other party has disputed the claim saying that I pulled in front of him, hence I am being told by my insurer that they would like to suggest knock4knock as the were no witnesses, my word against his etc.

Now I am not really happy about going down this road for 2 reasons, seems like I will be admitting a degree of fault, as such, although i have my no claims protected it does limit my future claims (if i am unlucky enough to have a fault claim).

My insurer feels that this cannot be won, but why do I have to (potentially) suffer because of this?

Any help would be appreciated

Cheers.

[/ QUOTE ]


if the other person ran into you - why didnt you pursue them for them being at fault?
not that that is any help now, but i dont understand why it would be non-fault? either you or the bike was at fault?
maybe i've missed something? actually what is usually classed as non-fault? i'm imagining a scenario where for example you hit a deer or something.

 

[CJ A4]

I had exactly the same a guy pulled out from a parked position doing a u-turn on a main 40mph road. The road was wet i didnt have enough time to stop and went into the back of him! It was his fault totally! He denied everything saying i was trying to over take him /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burningmad.gif I tried for a year even woth photgraphic evidence on the road concerned....diagrams but didnt have a witness! Insurance said my word against his and said better that his insurance agreed that we just pay for our own damage! front of my car was all dented and scratched...new bumper ...bonnet repair and new light he had a small crack on the rear bumper! What a fecking W@NKER! Moral of the story always try and get a witness statement for peace of mind.

 

[jojo]

[ QUOTE ]

I wonder what happens in these cases when both parties are insured with the same company, they're hardly gonna pursue such a case through the courts.

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe that's the case, insurer gets 2 sets off excess payments and robs two parties of NCB! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif

 

[IanL-RS3]

btw - do you have legal cover protection thingy? i guess this is a time when if you had it you can call it in to play? well i assume thats why we pay it.

and i didnt say it before, but sorry to hear about the accident.

 

[TDI-line]

I had a similiar claim with Elephant, both parties blamed the other party, claim is still in dispute since March 2004.

 

[AndyMac]

It's the way of the world, insurance co's seem to have a gentlemens agreement to do anything other than go to court, which is understandable I guess. I'd do anything to avoid the expense of the ludicrous judicial process in this country. If they started disputing every knock4knock claim in court we'd soon see our premiums rise even more than they do already. It's the lesser of 2 evils unfortunately.
I still think there's a huge market for a cheap in car cctv system, tiny camera mounted up by the rear view mirror feeding a hard drive recorder hidden away in the boot, permanently recording the last 8 hours. When you lock the car it switches to recording the inside/drivers door to capture any thieves. If something happens you simply hit a button and it transfers the current trip to DVD or video8 or similar, like a black box recorder for cars. End of argument in a dispute like this one, although I guess it could also work against you.
I'd pay £200 for one.

 

[nervus]

I've been in a similar position too. Has the accident spot been established and agreed on etc.

i.e. how could you pull out in front of him if there is no junction near or its an isolated dection of single carrigeway with no possibility of such manouvres etc?

Are you sure no-one witnessed the accident??? Try advertising in a local paper with times and dates etc appealing for a witness. See if anyone comes forward. Make sure whoever comes forward cannot be proven to know you though - you get me?

 

[recomdos]

[ QUOTE ]
I've been in a similar position too. Has the accident spot been established and agreed on etc.


[/ QUOTE ]

I was thinkiing the same nervus. if it has been agreed about the location, build up of traffic and avg speed (how slow was the accident?) then it may pay in your favour. i.e. if it was gridlock and no room to pull out in front of him then how could he claim that it was your fault? If it was quite freely moving traffic and there was room to change lanes etc it will be a bit tougher to prove.

It's totally sh!t when this happens. I had a very slight bump last year after only having the car a month! The lady was very genuine and in that way I was lucky, as I didn't think to stop and get a witness - it just skipped my mind whilst I was trying to take everything in...

Keep us posted and good luck!!!!

Rob

 

[S3_MCD]

thanks all. the situation was 2 lane motorway, slow moving traffic (due to volume) 0800, in jan, wet slippery roads. i was on the inside lane doing 15mph.... or there abouts. the motor bike was no where in sight, and then bam, i felt an impact from behind, i checked the rear view and there was bike and driver lying in the road. i immediately pulled over to check that he was OK. after making sure he was details were swapped and both went separate ways.

I claimed on my insurance as non fault, with my insurer to claim costs back from the 3rd party.

3rd part is disputing fault, saying that i he was travelling a safe distance from the car in front and that i pulled infront of him, causing him to fall off his bike! he had not reported the impact. It is infact his insurer that are advising that they intend to take me to court!!

so DL have advised that if i am confident that i am not at fault that if the other 3rd party take the claim to court that they will prepare a defence. however they have also advised that in such cases the judge normally decides on a knock4knock basis.

so as far as i understand it:
best case: it could be decided in my favour, but due to no witnesses - unlikely
expected case: knock4knock which could impact my no claims bonus should i be unfortunate to have a fault claim in the next 12mths (NCD currently protected)
worst case: it could be decided against me, which as no witnesses is just as likely as best case scenario.

wieghing this up and being pessimistic, i am not chuffed.
what i am concerned about is what happens if for some reason the judge finds against me... what sort of potential comebacks are there???

 

[AndyMac]

You've got nothing to lose, let the insurance company handle it, it won't go to court. Are you actually out of pocket?
Have they now insisted you pay the excess?
Considering the trauma, time and expense of taking something like this to court I would forget about it and move on (if possible). Remember it's a no claims discount, not a no blame discount. It happens all the time.
Try disputing a claim against a horse sitting on your bonnet (happened to a friend of mine), was a ****** nightmare as neither horses or riders are insured. God knows why insurance isn't mandatory for horses on public roads! Try taking a uninsured car on the road that you have no control over.
Believe me you don't want the shag & hassle of a court case looming over you.

 

[Ade_D]

I thought that if someone hit you from the rear then it's automatically their fault. Doesn't matter what you did, if he was too close to stop or not paying attention then why should you suffer.
Personnaly i would fight it, be prepared for it to go on a while though...

Whatever you decide to do, good luck. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beerchug.gif

Ade

 

[AndyMac]

Not strictly true, if you suddenly pull out into the fast lane doing 30mph in front of someone doing 70mph and they run into you, is it their fault?
Yeah, fight it all the way, let it take over your life for the rest of the year, I'm sure you haven't got anything better to do. Sound advice from the sidelines.

 

[IanL-RS3]

i take andy's point that its easy for us to say "fight the system".

but i would if

1) i had legal protection cover
2) there is cctv on that stretch of motorway and maybe you could get footage to show that you were already in that lane? or even better footage or the accident.

i am not sure how you go about 2 and how long the tapes are kept etc.?? i guess popping in to your local police station would be a start. As they say if you dont ask!!....

Otherwise as andy says - the amount of money it will cost you against the time and effort really isnt worth it.

 

[nervus]

If you have legal cover, than take it to court you have nothing to lose. As far as i can tell you are more likely to be at fault if your behind i.e the bike rider.

Even if you pulled out, you should leave enough room for every possibility of someone changing lanes or pulling out.

The bike rider is trying it on, as if he gets a 50:50 its better for him than a 100% at fault. Especially with bike insurance!

Its worth fighting as long as you can put it to the back of your mind and let legal people sort it!

I had a similar dispute with a well known bus company. The tw4t pulled out of a bus stop and into the side of me and claimed it was his right to do so as he was indicating - not so!
It took 11 mths to sort out and was destined for court until a week before the court date when the bus company decided to pay up in full - yeehaa!

good luck mate!