I was rear ended yesterday, should I go through lawyer?

[Waytooearly]

Hi all, just wondering if someone has been through similar and has wisdom to share.

I was rear ended yesterday on way home from work. About 30mph. I was about to overtake a bus but when bus went to pull out I stopped to let him. Half second later van crashed into back of me.

We both pulled into car park and made sure no one hurt. I confess I was a little shakey and teary from shock of it. Young guy was driving boss's van, he had no phone so I lent him my phone to ring his boss. Bless him, he was really apologetic and saying it was the worst day of his life. I told him that's what insurance was for, that we'd go through insurance and at the end of the day we were both able to walk away and drive away so not to worry.

My car dented in back, I had my friend make sure all my brake lights and hazards working before I went home. Other van dented in front.

I felt disoriented last night and my friend insisted on taking me to A and E but after two hours I said I just wanted to get home and rest.

Woke up with tight sore neck, still dizzy so came to GP, they gave me sick note for a week and diagnosed whiplash.

Anyway, my question is: should I instruct a lawyer? I wasn't thinking to, to begin with--I'm insured and after checking online I see other driver's insured too. Insurance should sort it all, right?

However after dealing with my insurance I don't feel so confident in them. I think I need someone on my side.

I phoned insurance right after accident (whilst sitting in car, after van left) and made a claim. I was still kind of teary but wanted to get everything lodged right away. However they were less than helpful.

1.Right away they said I had to pay an 'admin charge' of £36. I said I would dispute it as I didn't understand what it was for.

1. They said I'd have to pay excess of £500 in order to get car fixed. I pointed out that I'd been rear-ended and so maybe other insurance could pay, just got answer that it was a long process to determine liability.
2. There was something else about my replacement car--my policy says I'm entitled to one whilst my car is being fixed but there was some other company I had to talk to and claim with to sort? And so I waited whilst they put me through and this additional company said they needed evidence that the accident wasn't my fault? I finally just said, 'I can't deal with this right now.'
3. And now the Auto Repair place is calling to ask when I'll be bringing my car in. I'm like, I need to sort out the replacement car first...

For the amount of money I pay for insurance insurance I was rather expecting something more along the lines of,' Sorry to hear that ma' am, what can we do to fix this for you and make your life easier? '

Through work I know a very good PI lawyer and she's agreed to take on case. It just ses like overkill to instruct lawyers for something so minor.

What do you think?

Hi Enid, thanks for this. I think I will need to instruct a lawyer. I can't pester the driver as I don't have his contact details. He used my phone to ring his boss--I suppose I could ring his boss at same number, but this is someone who's already tried to get me to sign a statement saying someone else was at fault.

Refusing to pay a penny of my own money means I don't have a safe car to drive.

We had to pay our excess and then we got it back when everything was settled (we were rear ended by an uninsured driver).

Also, we had a hell of a time with one insurance company (50/50 fault), they were rubbish. One of the cheap companies, quite well known. I've never gone back to a cheap company again, we've stuck with the one that handled our uninsured driver claim. They are more expensive but were super helpful and everything was so easy.

If you get a courtesy car, it will most likely be a hire car. You can get your own insurance for the hire car to protect you from the (hugely expensive) cost of a flat tire, windscreen damage or chips. It's not expensive but I'd recommend it (after we had a flat tire 30mins into our hire car trip and were stung for nearly £200).

When it's all over and sorted out, don't forget to get clarification on who's fault it was and the total amount that the claim was for. It is helpful to have that info when getting new car insurance quotes.

I did end up instructing the lawyer. Only because my own insurance was telling me I had to go to a specific garage thirty minutes away and then use a hire car that they would arrange. I couldn't get a clear answer on who was going to pay for hire car.

Other party's insurers did get in touch with me offering repair and hire car but only if I signed stuff.

The lawyer entered everything on a portal and said one of their mechanics would look at my car and just give me a chunk of money to have it repaired at the certified garage down the road from me.

I received about six phone calls yesterday from credit car hires, auto repair places, some sort of claims management whatever, and it was a relief to just be able to say, 'Here are my lawyer's details.'

Really all I wanted was to be able to get my car repaired without paying admin fees, excesses, and car hire fees to everyone under the sun. It took instructing a lawyer to make that happen.

Next time I'm going with better insurance!

Er wont the lawyer cost far more than the excess ...

When I got rear ended the other parties insurance handled everything, not mine They couldn't have been more helpful probably hoping I wouldn't sue for whiplash and had me towed home, arranged a courtesy car to be delivered the next morning, paid in full for repairs plus new car seats for the DC and rang me daily to update me.

I thought that was normal!

Who is your car insurance company so the rest of us can give them a wide berth?

Lawyers’ fees are recoverable against the guilty party on a No Win No Fee basis swimming. (For now)

Yeah it's no win no fee.

I take it this is your first ever accident, OP?

Everything you out in your first post seems standard to me - the excess, courtesy car company, body shop repairs... There is a lot to sort out when you've had an accident, it's a pain! Which I guess is why a lot of people will try and sort out any repairs themselves without going through their insurance.

Still confused why you've involved a lawyer though, it wasn't a huge accident by all accounts 🤔

You shouldn't have to pay an excess in an accident that wasn't your fault though! I certainly didn't have to, nobody even suggested it.

Are you with Equity Red Star? I was hit from behind by another driver and my insurance company handled everything, including hire car, recovery to a garage of my choice, and all of the legalities. The other driver was with Equity Red Star and they didn't seem half as efficient, plus they tried to get me to accept the blame.

Insurance should handle everything - including taking the other party to court if they don't admit liability, and your insurance co's legal team feel you have a strong case.

This happened to me and I eventually got my excess back and would have had other damages/loss of income if I'd had any.

Ive been hit twice. Both times the other partys insurance have also contacted me and first time i did it through my own and second time through 3rd parties insurance (direct line) decided to get it fixed through them. They sorted my car, gave me a courtesy car, organised for me to see someone about injuries and paid for physio. From what i remembered i paid nothing. Although going through my own insurance was much more time consuming than direct line when their driver hit me. I would think as long as you are 100% not to blame you shouldn't incur any costs. My last accident was 5 years ago so things may have changed.

Unfortunately it might be disputed that the OP was 100% not to blame. I was in an accident that seemed obvious it was the other drivers fault but he refused to take responsibility and I had to settle 50/50. It sounds like in this case, the other driver's boss may try and dispute it. Just be aware as after speaking to friends and family, I really don't think claims ate as cut and dried as they used to be.

Maybe I don't have a good insurance provider. I'm not recognising any of this talk about people contacting me and getting help and not paying a penny!

It was pretty awful sitting there in my car, still crying, hoping my phone battery wouldn't run out, being passed among bored young call centre workers and being told about different fees and charges I'd have to pay.

I’m more surprised at those saying they didn’t pay a penny TBH. I think they were fortunate, and would have been in cases where the other party admitted liability to their insurer immediately.

If your other party is going to contest it, I would expect to have to pay the £500 excess at the outset, and hope to get it back when they’ve worked out who is at fault if it is the van driver (from your description sounds like it could be). This can take a little while, but TBH if you were just sat in your lane and hadn’t moved I wouldn’t expect it to take long to work out. But the insurance company can’t immediately say who has liability if it is contested- both insurers need to hear both sides of the story, before coming to an agreement. With insurance it’s not like law where the party is backed up whatever the case by the solicitor they are paying. If the other persons insurance company thinks he is at fault they will tell him. I spent a lot of time explaining to people that it did not matter if the person in front braked suddenly, indicated but didn’t turn, stopped to let someone out, parked on a double yellow line...whatever...still their fault.

Maybe in my case it was just so obviously not my fault that it was simple. I stopped at a red light. The man behind me stopped in my car boot so there was no chance he could have even tried to say it was my fault!

I can’t help but think these no win no fee solicitors have a lot to answer for tbh.
But obviously not as much as those who take advantage of them and drive our premiums up.