Car accident... whom is at fault?

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#1641126 27-Sep-2016 10:50

@Aaroona - re cctv: have you managed to obtain this yet?

If there are cameras which may show the incident you need to be aware that as storage is at a premium, any evidence will be overwritten quite quickly. I don't know whereabouts you are, but here in Wellington LTNZ cctv is only available for ~72 hours. And they may not release it to you anyway. My advice (if its not too late) is to get onto them and see if they have it. If they do get them to save it and see if they will release it to you. If not, find out who they will release it to i.e. your insurance co or police.

Aaroona

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#1641155 27-Sep-2016 11:13

Dratsab: @Aaroona - re cctv: have you managed to obtain this yet?

If there are cameras which may show the incident you need to be aware that as storage is at a premium, any evidence will be overwritten quite quickly. I don't know whereabouts you are, but here in Wellington LTNZ cctv is only available for ~72 hours. And they may not release it to you anyway. My advice (if its not too late) is to get onto them and see if they have it. If they do get them to save it and see if they will release it to you. If not, find out who they will release it to i.e. your insurance co or police.

@Dratsab I logged a request with FYI.org.nz yesterday to see if they can confirm the footage does exist and get it released if possible, but they can take up to 20 days to respond if required.

I'm going to try and get through to the the traffic operations center shortly and see if they can get someone to check, given the footage may expire (and may have already).

Thanks for the info! hopefully it's kept a little longer than 72 hours :)

Aaroona

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#1641175 27-Sep-2016 11:28

Aaroona:

Dratsab: @Aaroona - re cctv: have you managed to obtain this yet?

If there are cameras which may show the incident you need to be aware that as storage is at a premium, any evidence will be overwritten quite quickly. I don't know whereabouts you are, but here in Wellington LTNZ cctv is only available for ~72 hours. And they may not release it to you anyway. My advice (if its not too late) is to get onto them and see if they have it. If they do get them to save it and see if they will release it to you. If not, find out who they will release it to i.e. your insurance co or police.

@Dratsab I logged a request with FYI.org.nz yesterday to see if they can confirm the footage does exist and get it released if possible, but they can take up to 20 days to respond if required.

I'm going to try and get through to the the traffic operations center shortly and see if they can get someone to check, given the footage may expire (and may have already).

Thanks for the info! hopefully it's kept a little longer than 72 hours :)

Just spoke to the traffic operations team in Auckland. They said I can't request it myself and it must come from an official police request.

She said that basically had to happen in the next day or so. I did ask if she could at least put through a request to hold the footage until I can organize for that to happen. She said she would put through a request and see if they could reserve it, but no guarantees.

The next thing to deal with is the insurance company... apparently I have to 'temporarily' pay my insurance excess, which is odd??

ajobbins

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#1641262 27-Sep-2016 13:15

Aaroona:

The next thing to deal with is the insurance company... apparently I have to 'temporarily' pay my insurance excess, which is odd??

That's quite normal. You could wait for them to determine fault, but they wont authorise any repairs until you do so. I had to do this recently (here in oz), as my car was hit while parked by a drug affected driver. The cops caught him and have his details, but aren't legally allowed to release them to me for privacy reasons, so I can't give them to the insurance company.

In stead, I chose to pay the excess and have my car repaired immediately. The insurance company request the details from the police via an official channel, but it takes up to 10 weeks for them to receive the details, at which time I will receive my excess back.

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dickytim

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#1641264 27-Sep-2016 13:20

I had the same thing happen, took 6 months as the other party wouldn't answer his phone or contact the insurance company.

How ever this usually only happens if there is a question over fault.

ajobbins

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#1641267 27-Sep-2016 13:25

Yes, I think NZ is slightly different in that you have to get the 'at fault' party engaged to not pay the excess. In Australia, you only have to provide the details of the at fault party. But even if you are not at fault but can't identify a 3rd party, you'll still have to pay an excess and they have no ability even attempt recovery. I had to do this a number of years ago in NZ when someone scraped the side of my car in a carpark, and left no details. Didn't effect my premiums or NCD however, and paperworks clearly states 'not at fault'.

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Aaroona

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#1641269 27-Sep-2016 13:26

ajobbins:

Aaroona:

The next thing to deal with is the insurance company... apparently I have to 'temporarily' pay my insurance excess, which is odd??

That's quite normal. You could wait for them to determine fault, but they wont authorise any repairs until you do so. I had to do this recently (here in oz), as my car was hit while parked by a drug affected driver. The cops caught him and have his details, but aren't legally allowed to release them to me for privacy reasons, so I can't give them to the insurance company.

In stead, I chose to pay the excess and have my car repaired immediately. The insurance company request the details from the police via an official channel, but it takes up to 10 weeks for them to receive the details, at which time I will receive my excess back.

Thats interesting to know. What happens if they say that you weren't at fault though? I understand they need to find someone at fault, but surely if they can say it's not going to be me, then that should be enough to waive it and deal with the other stuff internally?

EDIT: you've just answered my question above it seems... They need to engage the third party before continuing :)
makes sense... a little annoying, but it is what it is!

I've chosen to get my car repaired asap as well, because frankly, it looks terrible and the exhaust sounds a little funny (suspect it's done some damage further up). It goes in Monday for repair and initial estimates are up to 2k, but potentially more once they get it up on the hoist he said where they'll be able to see the rest of it.

I really hope it doesn't take that long to resolve though... sheesh, 10 weeks!?

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Jase2985

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#1641378 27-Sep-2016 17:07

why would you go through FYI.org?

Aaroona

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#1641380 27-Sep-2016 17:08

Jase2985:

why would you go through FYI.org?

Wasn't aware there was another channel, until after I had submitted it.

jpoc

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#1645534 5-Oct-2016 00:44

I think that the person who is most at fault must be the one who misused the word 'whom' in the title.

jonathan18

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#1645648 5-Oct-2016 09:08

jpoc:

I think that the person who is most at fault must be the one who misused the word 'whom' in the title.

There's being a pedant and then there's being an @rse...

Aaroona

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#1645675 5-Oct-2016 09:38

jonathan18:

jpoc:

I think that the person who is most at fault must be the one who misused the word 'whom' in the title.

There's being a pedant and then there's being an @rse...

Just can't please some people...

An update:

Insurance has waived my excess, so that's a relief.

Now the not so good part;
As predicted, there is more damage to my car than they had thought. Once they were able to pull the bumper etc. off, they were able to see that the spare-wheel container in the boot is smashed in and needs replacing/repairing. Then of course the exhaust as well- they're not sure if they're going to be able to economically repair the exhaust or whether it will require a replacement.

Current repair bill is already well on its way to 5k... Thank god for insurance!

richms

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#1645751 5-Oct-2016 11:02

Whats the car worth? You might be looking at a write off, and what really annoys me is that they dont just turn up with a replacement car, I have to go car shopping and waste ages finding another one, which I cant get them to pay me for my time for.

Richard rich.ms

Aaroona

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#1646171 5-Oct-2016 21:11

richms:

Whats the car worth? You might be looking at a write off, and what really annoys me is that they dont just turn up with a replacement car, I have to go car shopping and waste ages finding another one, which I cant get them to pay me for my time for.

To replace, probably around 18k, insured for 17k.

I'm not sure what the "write off" limit is. I would think maybe 75-80% of the value? But probably still a bit to go yet.

They've (the car repair place) had to order some parts from Japan, as they've not available locally. So that could be a couple of weeks. They've said they will put my car together again (presumably with the new bumper) and I can at least drive my car around until the new parts arrive.

I'm glad they've said they will do that because the loan car, while some kind of mobility, is a far cry from what I'm used to. I drove it on the motorway the other night and felt like I was about to be blown off when a trunk overtook (yes, the truck overtook) me! It has barely any power whatever, particularly when the aircon is on! haha.

They said they'll send it in for the exhaust tomorrow to try and get it fixed, then if its done successfully, they'll hand over the keys! So fingers crossed... I miss my baby!

oxnsox

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#1646222 5-Oct-2016 21:53

Had a similar thing happen to me 15 or so years back.

I was car B. I believe I stopped with millimetres to spare, but when vehicle C hit me I then made contact with car A.

Merc owner A's insurance companyheld me at fault for following to close.
Merc owner C's insurance company held me at fault for driving dangerously, and stopping to quickly (against Merc A), therefore not leaving them enough room to stop safely. Of course this couldn't be proved.

Honda owner B's insurers said C was following too closely, and couldn't determine if B struck A or B was pushed into A.

Net result.
My insurer paid for repairs to Vehicle A,
they also paid part repairs for B
C's insurer paid for C and part repairs for B

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