DS crashed his car

[Magicmumma]

Hi,

My DS aged 18 has his own car and was driving to his part time job in Tesco for an overtime shift on Friday morning.

The road was quite icy and slippy and the car began to slide so he panicked and put on the brakes which made it worse so he lost control of the car and crashed into a fence and some shrubbery at the side of the road and then the car spun out and hit another car driving the other way.

The car was very badly damaged, he is lucky to be alive and only has a few cuts and bruises. The other driver wasn’t badly injured.

I’m so relived he is alright, my heart nearly stopped when he rang me to tell me that he had crashed, but I’m terrified about the consequences of this now.

He maintains he wasn’t speeding or using his phone, what on earth is likely to happen with this in terms of insurance? Will we have to pay the costs of this ourselves? Although he wasn’t doing anything wrong, are the insurance company likely to blame him??

DH is mainly dealing with this atm. I’m just at my wits end.

Yes, it’s likely to be deemed as his fault. They may say he was driving too fast for the conditions. Depends on type of insurance he has. Insurance should cover it but his premiums are likely to rise massively, maybe by 50%. Were the police called or not?

The insurance will likely pay out as normal, you'll just need to pay the excess. It sounds as though the car will be written off - was it a new car/on finance or an older vehicle?

He will be deemed as being 'at fault' and it is a given that his premiums will rise, probably significantly. You can try and keep costs down by having a black inbox installed.

No advice, but thank goodness he's OK.

@NickMyLipple @StealthPussy yes the police were called and took a statement from him but I don’t think they’re interested in charging him with anything.

The car he was driving is a four year old car on finance. I’m just terrified that he will lose his licence or something

Oh he won't lose his licence! You said yourself the police aren't interested in charging him! You may find the insurance payout doesn't cover the outstanding finance on the car. This is what something called Gap Insurance is for - it will cover the extra so you're not out of pocket. Do you know if he had that? If not be prepared that the settlement from the insurer will need a top up from you for the finance company!

Was his insurance comprehensive?
He might get a driver improvement course.

yes he has comprehensive insurance and I think he did have gap insurance through his finance.

I just thought it would cause complications since he hit another car

It doesn't sound like he did anything wrong, police don't think he did. The Insurance will pay and he won't lose his license, it'll just be harder to get reinsured.

@MyKingdomForBrie yes he was driving within the law but he just panicked as soon as he felt the car sliding and put on the brakes. Awful situation

He may well have done the 'wrong' thing technically in putting on the brakes but that's a completely normal reaction for many drivers and will in no way get him in trouble. It sounds like this is making you much more anxious than it needs to, the only consequences will be financial and the potential knock on of him Maybe not being able to afford a car/insurance for a while.