Car crash, what happens now ?

[Aschdaibach]

Have name changed for this. DH was in a very frightening crash a few days ago, he could see a car on the opposite side starting to drive slightly oddly and weaving. Then suddenly it swerved straight towards him and although he tried to steer away there was no time to escape so he was hit head on, it is a fast A road. The other car was then hit by the car behind DH, and shunted again into the back of our car. Our car is obviously totally wrecked. Thankfully DH has escaped serious injury as amazingly have the other drivers involved, who were both in smaller vehicles.
All seemed straightforward.
However, the driver who hit him has still not spoken to her insurers, in spite of them repeatedly calling. The insurers have said we need to move our car from the garage it was taken to, as WE are incurring charges, and we need to keep it somewhere free...??? Um where ? We don’t even know why ! We are now carless in a rural area, we will have to hire a car, and buy another asap. I assume the third driver involved is in the same position as us.
We live in a very small place, and have been told the other driver is waiting for the police report. The police have asked for more info from DH and have said the report could take six months. Will we have to wait six months or more to be compensated ? This is the first time DH has been in an accident so we are not sure what happens .

Because your DH doesn't have fully comp, your own insurance company won't deal with sorting your car. It seems pretty straight forward that this was the other drivers fault and as far as I know, the insurance company don't have to wait for anything from her. They can take your DH and the third car owners statements, contact the police and get the ball rolling. They should be providing you with a hire car while yours is repaired/replaced. She must have swerved onto the wrong side of the road? Very hard to claim no fault in a case like that. I would tell the insurance company that you won't be moving the car anywhere and it's not your issue if they can't contact her. The accident was her fault and as her insurers, they need to sort it out. The car will be staying put and you suggest they get you something to drive while they figure out what's happening with your car or you'll be making a complaint

https://www.comparethemarket.com/car-insurance/content/third-party-fire/?SRC=DE92&&SRC=DE92&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0ozHnYL-5QIVB7LtCh3U3AC1EAAYASAAEgJmCDD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Just found this as I wasn't sure - always done fully comp.

I would imagine you have to sort your car out and then claim from her insurers?

No dashcam ?

From the RAC:

If the accident is not your fault:
The other person’s insurance provider will pay any compensation owed directly to you. Your insurance provider will not help you when making a claim though, and you may need to seek help from an external claim company, who may charge a fee. You will be unable to claim for repairs on your own vehicle from your insurance provider, and as such your no claims bonus won’t be affected.

Please be aware that if your husband thought he might die, then it's more than possible he could develop PTSD. It's too early to say, because most people are very shocked at first, but it doesn't always lead to PTSD; but keep an eye on him, see the GP if its bad. If in 4-6 weeks time he's still struggling to sleep, jumpy, irritable, flashbacks, nightmares, he needs to see a doctor and get help. Any private counselling etc, get receipts.

Dealing with the insurers and police etc is incredibly stressful when you are already in shock, so anything you can do to take that pressure off him will be useful.

Ok I will ask him re legal cover, would it be with the insurance ? I don’t know why he chose third party, I assume he felt it was enough for what we needed but evidently not !

Are you insured through a broker or direct with a company? Did you pay extra for legal cover? Your insurers will be doing nothing with your vehicle you are not comprehensive, you need to arrange for your vehicle to be moved to a place of free storage if possible. Any costs that you are incurring now should be reimbursed by the third party but it depends how cooperative the other insurers are and it becomes more complex due to the fact your vehicle was hit again by another party.

I don’t understand what has happened here. My insurers sorted everything out before they had even spoken to the other party. Had their been an issue with the claim later down the line, I was told I might have to go to court etc. But in the mean time, they recovered my car, sorted a hire car, put me in touch with personal injury lawyers etc.

Ahh ok. Looking at others responses, seems the difference is whether or not you are fully comp.

We didn’t have a dashcam, no idea if either of the others had one.
Oh and yes, she came across the road into his lane and hit him almost head on as he tried to swerve out to avoid being hit. She hit the front of the car on the passenger side.

Your problem is being third party only, nothing is covered by your insurance company, recovery, storage, claims management etc. It's not really in your insurance companies interest to fight for the information from the other insures as they will not be getting any financial benefit from it. If you get an hire car you will have to pay for it and be aware that it can take months for even a simple claim to pay out. Sorry it's not better news but if she fights culpability it could take a long time to get the pay out.

The legal cover would have been an add on to your policy usually between £15 and £40. If you haven't got that you could ring the third party insurers yourself see what they say but if they are refusing to deal without a police report then you are in for a lengthy wait I'm afraid. If the third party holds their hands up and admits liability it shouldn't be that complicated but if they don't you need someone fighting your corner . Your insurers will defend a third party claim but will not pursue your losses. Are you through a broker ?

Ok well that has at least helped me make sense of it, so thanks everyone for taking the time to post. DH was at home briefly and he said that he went for third party as our car is worth under £3,000 (older Volvo) so it seemed as though we would pay out more over the years in insurance if we had fully comp.
Now after this thread we can see that the advantages of fully comp are that it takes the stress off after an accident. I wish that this had been explained when buying the insurance ! We have had a terrible year and if ever there was a time we could do without all this added stress it is now. We will have to sort out storing our car then (will we get paid back for all that from her insurers?) and hiring another while we look for one to buy, and we will have to buy another car now right before Christmas, not knowing when we will be compensated.

I don’t know if we are through a broker, only DH drives so he sorted the insurance out. He will be home again in a couple of hours so I will show him the thread then.
V grateful for the help.

I know it seems very unfair when it's not your fault but this is the downfall of third party fire and theft policies. You will get any losses back eventually but as there are more than 2 vehicles involved , a third party not co-operating , injuries , police involved etc this is all going to take time. Is there anywhere you can store the car for free ? You need to keep your losses to a minimum . If you have no legal cover you need to find an Accident Management company who will liaise with the third party insurers on your behalf .

You will get any losses back eventually

Assuming the other parties are (a) insured and (b) don't decide to contest liability.

The OPs husband also needs to be aware that - disgracefully - there is an expectation they will minimise any losses they claim for. And that's another area which can lead to a stressful bunfight. Any time off work will need to be taken from holiday, or unpaid. Any car hire needs to be the shortest time possible before a new car is purchased. And so on.

Hope OPs DH gets it all sorted out without too much hassle.

Get damage to your car documented, photos etc, then scrap the car. this will save you paying for storage, but make sure you document the damage first.

Your DH may also want to make a claim against the other driver for injuries and psychological impact. This is likely to be a long drawn out process. I suggest your DH contacts the police to push for the other driver to be prosecuted for dangerous driving. He may need to be very persistent. He could ask if she was breathalysed and or arrested, and if not why not. If she is found guilty of dangerous driving or another driving offence it will give her insurers no excuse for not paying up.

Your DH may also want to make a claim against the other driver for injuries and psychological impact.

Trying to do this without expertise is ... difficult.

This is likely to be a long drawn out process.

No likely. It will.

I suggest your DH contacts the police to push for the other driver to be prosecuted for dangerous driving.

The police aren't easily pushed ... even if ... He may need to be very persistent.

He could ask if she was breathalysed and or arrested, and if not why not.

There is no obligation on the police to divulge such details (especially if there is an ongoing investigation). Was there any suggestion of impairment at the time ? Not all forces breathlyse as a matter of course. If the OPs DH wasn't breathlysed, it's unlikely anyone else was.

If she is found guilty of dangerous driving or another driving offence it will give her insurers no excuse for not paying up.

Want a bet ? As I said, even if liability is not an issue, then there is still plenty of room to argue over damages.

Sadly this is a "been there, done that, got the T-Shirt" story for me.

DH was breathalised, I assume they did all three drivers as a matter of course. It was reasonably early morning, he had just done the school run. He doesn’t drink anyway, but I suppose the other driver could have had too much the night before although DH says she was driving normally, then started swaying (I think it is called “fishtailing “ ? ) then the big swerve out into his lane. On the ‘phone sounds most likely to me, or a steering problem ? She was saying that she had lost control of the car, when DH went to check that she was ok, just after the crash. She was screaming and not completely coherent though.
Needless to say, after this thread it will be fully comp from now on..😢

I do think DH is still shocked and traumatised. He is trained for emergency situations, so when he managed to get out of our car, he went to check on the other two drivers. He must have been sitting in the car for some minutes, either in shock or passed out, as by then both the other drivers were out of their cars and in the road. He spoke to the emergency services but an ambulance was already on its way, as someone had stopped and called one. Then when he was taken into the ambulance he felt very wobbly indeed.