Involved in an accident, did I do enough?

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Involved in an accident, did I do enough?

lNomNoml

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Topic # 223256 20-Sep-2017 22:53

I was involved in a 4-car accident this evening, a car hit another car which then hit me and another.

I took down the mobile number, driver’s license, business card of where he works (he was driving a customers car) and rego of the guy who went into me.

I have the rego of the other car he hit as well.

I do not have the details of the first car and of the other car who got hit as well.

I did not involve the police. No one was injured but my car is pretty banged up in the front and I have full insurance with AMI.

AMI tried to contact the guy who hit me but went to voice mail, they will try to contact him again tomorrow and his work.

I'm just worried the guy who hit me tries to slip away and I end up paying the excess.

michaelmurfy

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Reply # 1869866 20-Sep-2017 23:13

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From experience always get the police involved with accidents like this as they will verify details etc else you did everything right.

I had a very similar accident (involving being rear-ended by a truck) and the truck driver gave me incorrect details, insurance couldn't track him down and I had to pay...

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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lNomNoml

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Reply # 1869868 20-Sep-2017 23:25

michaelmurfy:

From experience always get the police involved with accidents like this as they will verify details etc else you did everything right.

I had a very similar accident (involving being rear-ended by a truck) and the truck driver gave me incorrect details, insurance couldn't track him down and I had to pay...

Thanks, I should of but the other drivers involved didn't feel it was nessassary.

I'm just hoping I don't have to pay the excess as I can not really afford it at the moment.

robjg63

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Reply # 1869870 21-Sep-2017 00:11

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Whether the police are involved or not will make no difference to your excess.
Sounds like you have at least one witness so you should be ok.
The excess thing is a pain at times....

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

mattwnz

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Reply # 1869871 21-Sep-2017 00:13

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michaelmurfy:

From experience always get the police involved with accidents like this as they will verify details etc else you did everything right.

I had a very similar accident (involving being rear-ended by a truck) and the truck driver gave me incorrect details, insurance couldn't track him down and I had to pay...

If you got the rego, then I can't see how their should have been a problem. But there are some dodgy truck drivers around. I also had a problem with a truck driver where they ad an unsecured load that fell of the back of the truck onto my car. It was an absolute hassle getting the excess repaid, as they had trouble getting hold of the truck owner to get the money off them.

But the OP will likely have to involved the police anyway, as the insurance company will likely demand it, so you will likely need to go to the police station to report it. My insurance company demanded this.

floydbloke

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Reply # 1869903 21-Sep-2017 07:20

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Always take photos too. Better to have too much information than too little.

SATTV

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Reply # 1869909 21-Sep-2017 07:49

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I had someone rear end my company van about 5 years ago, my employee did everything right, got the drivers details, photo of the car that hit the van etc.

Unfortunately he did not get a photo of the driver.

We did not get the police involved as it was a minor incident.

Fast forward a couple of weeks we find out that the plates were stolen of another car, the address we were given was vacant and we could not go any further so no chance of getting my excess back.

So my advice is to get photos of the driver as well, then that can be taken to the police and there is a lot more chance of something happening.

The most important thing is that you are OK, replacing a car is a pain but could have easily been a lot worse.

John

I know enough to be dangerous

lNomNoml

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Reply # 1869910 21-Sep-2017 07:55

Hi all I took a photo of the driver who went into me, his licensed and rego, thanks for all your comments I will involve the police from now on and get better details, the driver has responded to me via text but it looks like I will need to talk to his boss and the company he works for to have this resolved

floydbloke

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Reply # 1869961 21-Sep-2017 09:18

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lNomNoml: .... I will need to talk to his boss and the company he works for to have this resolved

You're insured, let AMI do the work. That's what you pay your premiums for.

scuwp

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Reply # 1870032 21-Sep-2017 10:15

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Next time make sure you get details of all vehicles and drivers involved. Ask for their drivers licence and take a photo of it, and get their current contact details as well as the registration numbers makes and models (again you could just whip around and take photos of the cars and of the rego labels in the windows). Nose-to-tail crashes are usually pretty straight forward as to who is at fault...it's the one who wasn't able to stop short of the car in front.

Report it to your insurer and let them do the work from there. It is after all what you pay them so much for.

Always be yourself, unless you can be Batman, then always be the Batman

lNomNoml

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Reply # 1870523 21-Sep-2017 21:43

Lots of lessions learnt and advice for next time, was able to get the guy who caused the accident to own up, so I don't have to pay anything, car is at the panel beaters now.

Would of been a little easier if I had gotten off my bum and plugged my dashcam in.