First car accident and he fled the scene

[carsaretheworst]

Hi all, hoping you can help as we are confused and shaken up!

Last night, DH was getting his work belongings from the passenger side of the car. Our street doesn't have off-street parking so has cars both sides parked as is common where we live. The road is wide so cars can pass still and pull in for traffic to go past etc.

As he was getting his things, other cars went past him with no issue.
All his lights were on and the road is lit by street lights, it was 6pm. A car sped down the road (recently a school girl got killed by a driver doing this round this area and we are by a school, so whilst speed limit is 30 people go around 20 and he was going 35-40). He caught DH's door as he went past and knocked DH.

The car stopped, shouted, DH went up to him and he smelled of alcohol. I was watching the whole thing from our window as I normally sit at the bay window in our bedroom in the evenings. I ran down and filmed the whole thing. The driver refused to give details and drove off.

DH's been told his car will be written off. We use it all the time and he needs it to get to school. Does anyone have any advice? We've filed with the police etc and because of him fleeing and the alcohol, the police checked ANPR last night to see if he was still driving but we heard nothing back.

Do we just now buy another car and claim the money back later? I am so confused. His car was a 2007 Mercedes with a year's MOT so probably only worth £1500? I'm not good at cars!

[carsaretheworst]

He has the top policy through Admiral. So I assume he should get a courtesy car.

He is insured for business and social purposes if that’s what you mean @ProfessorSlocombe. He can continue his job without the car as he has access to mine (which is on its last legs at the grand age of 20!)

The video is quite dark now I’ve watched it back, he is aware the video is being taken because I said “I’m videoing” there’s one bit where he can be seen albeit blurry, his voice is clear. He says that it’s not his fault as it’s dark and he couldn’t see him, DH then says “what do you mean, all my lights are on and I’m under a street light” I had no flash on and you can see this clearly and easily. DH is wearing white clothing so not dark. Not sure if relevant but he is pale skinned too so also not more difficult to see (I am dark skinned and have seen myself not being as visible if out which is why I mention it!).

He got back in his car to pull over he said, clearly on the video, but drove off. I have messages from the residents saying they saw the aftermath and him drive off “did he come back” it says, not sure if this is evidence.

He also damaged the neighbours car parked infront of DH but they aren’t claiming as it’s minor and not worth an insurance hike.

[mnahmnah]

You should get a courtesy car ASAP through insurance, unless you opted not to pay for that when you took the insurance. The police should get a reference number for the other drivers insurance to pass onto your insurance and the two insurance companies will sort it out

[ProfessorSlocombe]

His livelihood depends on the car.

Was it insured for that ?

[DynamoKev]

@30julytoday Molokai your car up

Eh?

[30julytoday]

Do haggle with write off value- don’t accept first assessment.Molokai your car up and provide evidence if you could have sold it for more prior to accident

[Lou98]

I worked for a big insurance company up until last year in the motor claims department. Your insurance company will be able to find out if he is insured or not just with the vehicle reg, they'll also be able to find out who the insurance company is. Be prepared though that this can take a while for fault to be determined. Your insurance company will write to them to advise them of the claim but they then need time to contact the other driver and get his version of events. If he delays in getting back to his company this can get quite drawn out. If he disputes the claim and says he wasn't at fault (which I've seen many times) then it will take longer. Send all the evidence you have to your insurance company. In the video you have, did you make him aware you were filming him? And did he actually say he was at fault and what happened, or was it just him denying everything? This will make a big difference.
If he admits to his company that he was at fault then it should be fairly straightforward and his insurance company may contact you directly wanting to settle the claim with you.

If the insurance company has deemed your car a total loss then it's most likely due to the age/condition of your car and that the damage will cost more/close to the amount that your car is worth. It's up to you whether you want to keep your car or whether you want the insurance company to pay out the value of the car. Keep in mind though that if you choose to keep the car, it could end up costing more than it's worth to get it roadworthy. You would most likely be best weighing up your options on that one and see what the insurance company offers for yours.

[sunflowersandbuttercups]

Just go through your insurance - their job is to win your case for you. They'll contact his insurance company/him and deal with it on your behalf - try not to get too stressed about it all.

[BluebellsGreenbells]

Did you involve the police?

If you buy the car back it’s still down as a write off - category S I think and you can’t sell it like that.

[RandomMess]

What is the injury? It may become an issue in the future.

[carsaretheworst]

@safariboot I think he is insured, we did do a vehicle check and everything else was in order. We have his licence plate and also I took a video of him admitting he's involved, it shows him etc so he can't deny.

However, I am concerned about the lengthy process.
He refused to provide details and left the scene (we now know why) so I am hoping committing a crime makes him automatically guilty? he can't just try 50/50?

[gobbynorthernbird]

OP, if you want to retain the vehicle check that they won't charge you for storage and recovery.

[carsaretheworst]

@gobbynorthernbird is correct. They assessed based on pictures. They are recovering the car for their warehouse but unless there's a change, it's written off.

We've had three emails now:

1. total loss basis
   
2. personal injury legal claim (we are not going to pursue this as injury is minor)
   
3. no claims is unaffected

[carsaretheworst]

@activitythree

He caught the door. Until the damage is assess you have no idea that it will be written off. Even if it is you could always buy it back and repair. And when you take out insurance go for a policy that offers a courtesy car when you have a write off because they time between accident and payment you have no transport.

The insurance company have said it's a 'total loss basis' because the damage outweighs the value.

We've just learned you can buy it back so will do that as it has a lot of MOT on it, 10/11 months worth.
Of course, it would be illegal to have a passenger. So will do the work route.

[BigPaperBag]

We’re going through something similar at the moment @carsaretheworst and the girl that hit us is now lying about what happened 😫 Expect it to be a long drawn out process.

[sunflowersandbuttercups]

You'll just need to go via insurance.

My car was written off in an accident last summer. They picked it up the same day and took it to the garage, and brought me a courtesy car.

I got a call within 48 hours saying it was un-repairable and they were offering X for the car. The money was in my bank account within the hour. But as soon as my car was written off, they took the courtesy car back so I did have to go a few days without a vehicle.

As soon as I heard my car was a write-off, I contacted the local garage and arranged to see some other cars and I had a new car within three days.

I'm with Tesco but I was really impressed by the experience - they were really professional and everything went very smoothly.

[Embracelife]

Find out cost of replacing door from local garage if that is all it is
Talk to your insurers
If you can repair and want to you may come to arrangement
It s not for you to go after the other car driver leave to insurers

[PrtScn]

So the door is damaged? Does it close? Can your DH just not the car? Or does insurance become invalid once the insurance company deems it a right off? I still used my car for a few days when somebody hit mine, but this was many years ago.

[SpiderinaWingMirror]

The insurer I work with writes cars off without seeing them, sometimes telling policyholder that will be the outcome before seeing pics.
It's pretty simple really:
Car more than 10 years old for example, probably worth no more than 2/3k. Cars are usually written off if the cost to repair is more than 50/60 per cent. Even the most minor damage can cost more than 1k.
Write it off, pay policyholder pronto, sell salvage. Most efficient and cost effective way of doing it.

[GnomeDePlume]

DD1 had her car written off by an uninsured driver (dont be surprised). MIB dealt with the claim. The money for the car came quite quickly but the personal injury (DD suffered severe whiplash) took over a year to settle.

Not some young driver in an old rust bucket but a middle aged man in a reasonably modern car.

[2bazookas]

Contact your insurer and give them the number of your Police crime report.

[safariboot]

(PS: My opening line was not meant to sound sarcastic!)

[safariboot]

You must be really shocked. Drunk drivers are scum.

Unfortunately the insurance process is likely to add insult to injury. It's likely to be expensive, to feel like a kick in the teeth, and some insurers will make your DH repeatedly describe the accident.

The following all applies if the third party insurer will not pay out. Even though you know the car registration, if the keeper denies being the accident driver their insurer will probably contest the claim.

Your insurance may include a courtesy car, however these are only provided until your car is repaired or written off. So you might not get one at all if your insurer is already confirming the writeoff.

When the car is written off you will get the market value of your car minus your excess. As a PP mentioned there is often negotiation here, insurers giving low initial offers which get increased. You can dispute the decision to write off, or depending on the type of write-off you can buy the car back.

If your car is written off your policy ends, but if you are paying monthly then in most cases you still need to pay. This is because paying monthly for car insurance is technically taking out a loan for the entire premium that you pay back over the year. And your new car will need a new insurance policy. If the old policy only recently started this can be a considerable extra expense.

Depending on your insurance, there may be no or limited coverage for any injuries DH sustained. Just because he seemed OK doesn't mean he's not been hurt, some injuries aren't obvious straight away. It depends on exact terms and whether your insurer tries to wriggle out of paying.

"Fault" to a car insurer isn't really about who caused an accident, it's about who pays. Therefore this claim goes down as at-fault for you, with a corresponding greater insurance premium in future. I wouldn't trust what your insurers have said; they could be assuming the other driver gets found and change their mind if it's not.

So yeah, a shit situation all round.

On the other hand if the drunk driver can be traced, and was insured, and their insurance pays up, things look somewhat better. No excess, no at-fault claim on record, a hire car may be available (but beware! these have pitfalls that can cost you £1000's!).

Either way you'll probably spend the next few years getting ambulance-chasing lawyer spam calls, just to add a final insult.

[VeganVeal]

It might no effect your no claims but you will see a premium hike next year as you DH will been seen as a higher risk as he has made a claim. Just because it isnt his fault doesnt mean they see him as less of a risk

[Rillington]

You may be able to buy the car back from the insurance company. You could then just replace the door from a scrap yard. Any car older than a few years will be written off by the insurance company.