Find out who they are and take them to disputes for the excess?

MikeAqua:

 

Find out who they are and take them to disputes for the excess?

 

yeah, fair call. Only problem might be due to the "privacy act" I will be really difficult to find out who the car owner was.

Just came off the phone with someone from the Insurance company. THey will request the CCTV footage but also said that if they can't prove who was actually driving (eg Owner says: "I have no idea what happened to my car") then we still have to pay the excess...

I think if I hear the sentence: "as per the wording of your policy" one more time, I may punch someone...

gcorgnet:

 

 

 

Haven't got a quote yet, will take it tomorrow. Police said they had the drivers details and passed them on. Insurance Company has sent the driver a letter. (WTF, a letter!)

 

Police have confirmed that the CCTV should help and that the insurance company could get access to it.

 

Honestly, as a matter or principle, I am not expecting to have to pay one cent (even temporarily) on this one. People who can't drive piss me off, especially the ones who hit my car, so I will put up a fight.

 

I wonder how the privacy act affects the CCTV footage. 

Probably police can get it, I don't see how the insurance company would be allowed access. Being a minor crime , police may choose not to investigate (ie, don't do their job). 

I had an experience where some youths fighting at the shopping center car park jumped in their cars after the fight roared out of their parks  and hit our parked car in doing so.   Despite numerous witnesses to state that we were definitely not at fault, the insurance company said we still had to provide names and addresses of the fighters who hit our car.

Especially annoying when the other party does not admit fault when they are clearly at fault. 

gcorgnet:

 

 

 

Now the insurance company is telling us that we must pay the excess ($400 in our case) so that they can recoup their costs. They will then reimburse us if (and only if) the other driver recognises being at fault and signs a document admitting fault.

 

This is pretty normal.  It doesn't matter whose fault it was or who did what.  Put simply, you have a contract with your insurer whereby you pay a monthly premium so that they will cover certain repair costs, only if you pay the excess on those repair costs.  Nothing more, nothing less.

As a completely separate legal issue - if someone else caused the damage then you may have a right at law to recover that cost that they have caused to you (i.e. they caused you to incur the cost of your excess).  This however has nothing to do with your insurer.  You'll need to prove they caused the loss.

As a courtesy insurers will usually work together, and where cops/witnesses are involved loss is often easy to prove, so the other person's insurance often covers your excess.  You need to focus on proving that they caused the issue, see if the cops can assist with that via the CCTV etc.

Which is why it's important that that police do their bit and investigate it. If they have the registration of the offending vehicle then they can serve a notice on the registered person for the vehicle to identify who the driver was. The registered person has the duty to identify who was driving or be charged with failing to identify the driver which carries a $20,000 fine.

Even if you do get footage of the CCTV the quality is such that you probably won't be able to see who the driver is/was. Hence the reason for police to do there bit as above.

gcorgnet:

 

MikeAqua:

 

Find out who they are and take them to disputes for the excess?

 

 

 

 

yeah, fair call. Only problem might be due to the "privacy act" I will be really difficult to find out who the car owner was.

 

 

 

You can get the name and address of the registered owner.  But you will have to apply and provide your details in the application

https://transact.nzta.govt.nz/transactions/ReqPersonalInfoAccess/entry

Dulouz:

 

I just purchased a Dash Cam due to my current experience with insurance.  

 

Unless you have a rear cam, it wouldn't be very helpful in situations like these as it can't see the rear.

OK, a bit of an update on this.

Essentially the insurance company is taking its sweet time, dragging their feed for anything and seemingly only doing anything (like contacting the cops to request the CCTV recording after their first attempt was unanswered) only after we call to tell them to.

Being caught between the cops and the insurance in this instance is very frustrating as because of all the privacy BS nobody is telling us anything and nothing is happening.

Quote for repair came out at just under ~$1k (with $400 excess) and due to worry about rust, we will obviously repair but really don't feel like being $400 out of pocket for someone else's mistake...

Insurance says they haven't heard form the owner after having sent them a letter... And they also say that even though they know what car was involved and who is the owner, as long as they can't pin an actual driver, we'll still be liable for the excess.

This is extremely annoying. It should be the insurance's job to do what it take to recover their cost from the other party, as long as it is established that they are at fault.. Right now, it feels like they don't really care (and why would they as either way someone other than them is forking out the $400 excess)

Sorry about the rant but feeling very annoyed right know and quite unsure what my next move should be...

sonyxperiageek:

 

Unless you have a rear cam, it wouldn't be very helpful in situations like these as it can't see the rear.

 

Very happy with my Blackvue dual camera dashcam.

Given that people can drive around without insurance in NZ, I have always thought it was a good investment/insurance.

jarledb:

 

Very happy with my Blackvue dual camera dashcam.

 

Given that people can drive around without insurance in NZ, I have always thought it was a good investment/insurance.

 

I've heard that older versions overheated, does the new one overheat at all?

It did all sorts of funny over exposuring etc

Any reason you can't go after the car owner for the $400 excess via disputes?

MikeAqua:

 

Any reason you can't go after the car owner for the $400 excess via disputes?

 

Hi, the main reason was "I didn't think of it". Someone on this thread suggested that and I will probably do that it it comes to it. But first, I need to get their identity from NZTA :-(

Dulouz:

 

I just purchased a Dash Cam due to my current experience with insurance.  

 

It doesn't need to be a dashcam - for those thrifty minded you can get Android "Dailyroads Voyager" and install your phone in a cradle, this works just as well!

I have 2x dashcams - one front and the other forward.

I have this Drivepro 200 looking forward and this looking backwards.

alliao:

 

 

 

 I've heard that older versions overheated, does the new one overheat at all?

 

It did all sorts of funny over exposuring etc

 

I have not had any problems with them at all. Could use a little better resolution on the back camera, but other than that I have no complaints.