Advice regarding dealing with crash caused by a potentially uninsured 3rd party.

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Chaitanya

75 posts

Master Geek

#148607 24-Jun-2014 21:05

Hello Geekzoners

I was rejoicing the refund from ValueBasket only to end up in another unrelated mess for no mistake of mine.

Someone crashed into my rear bumper last Saturday while I was stationary waiting at the lights. They came out of the car to check if my son and I are okay, apologized, tore a piece of their ASB account statement that has their address on it, wrote their first name and phone number and asked me to provide these details to my insurance provider. All good, except that the phone number was not theirs. So I went to their address where their damaged car is parked and left a note with my phone number and asked them to get in touch. They did not call / text me. This made me a bit nervous. Their car is 96 Subaru wagon that is looking neglected both interiors and exteriors. Their wof and rego are current. But this is none of my business and they perhaps don't have to talk to me because I have the required details: rego + name + address which they are obliged to provide as per law.

However I am preparing my case for the worst case - if they happen to be uninsured. My insurer -Vero with who I have a full 3rd party insurance- accepted my claim and confirmed they are happy to write off because as per the panel beater the damage is pretty bad and costs between 5 and 6 grand! in which case Vero will have to write off. I made it clear to Vero that I won't be happy at all to accept the potential write-off because pre-accident valuation is not going to buy me the same car. If I accept the write-off Vero will pay the market price which is not going to get me the same car, 3rd party will get away and I will be the net loser for no mistake of mine because I need to shell more bucks from my pocket to get another car. And I will not only have to lose excess but also become a claimant which will affect my future insurance. So I am against claiming from my insurer.

Most importantly, I don't want to let the 3rd party get away with this. I am expecting the 3rd party (or their insurer) to own the liability and restore my car to its pre-accident state. So my question is how to deal in case if 3rd party is not insured. I am hoping they have to pay whatever the cost of my repair is from their pocket if they are uninsured. But unsure if I am being naive.

Please let me know as this is the first ever crash I am involved in and hence have no experience or knowledge about this deal. Meanwhile I will have to live with the weird looks I get driving the car with the uneven bumper. Thankfully all the rear lamps are working, at the least.

Thank you.

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17165 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1073709 24-Jun-2014 21:18

What make,model,year is your car?

Also btw you might be risking a ticket driving it if it is not roadworthy.

Chaitanya

75 posts

Master Geek

#1073723 24-Jun-2014 21:30

2002 Honda Civic hatch.

Also btw you might be risking a ticket driving it if it is not roadworthy.
Does uneven bumper make the car road unworthy?

Hopefully this topic doesn't go off topic. My main quest is to understand how to deal with potential uninsured 3rd party.

Sounddude

I fix stuff!
1928 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

2degrees

Lifetime subscriber

#1073724 24-Jun-2014 21:31

Chaitanya:
Hopefully this topic doesn't go off topic. My main quest is to understand how to deal with potential uninsured 3rd party.

Small claims court is probably the only way.

Uninsured drivers is why insurance premiums are so high in this country.

Bring on compulsary insurance IMO!

Coil

6614 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1073728 24-Jun-2014 21:34

Write it off dude. That chassis will be bent and thats something that could endanger your son and you. If your in the wet and in a situation where you need all the grip you can get you will be in strife.

It should be insured for purchase or market value anyway.

Chaitanya

75 posts

Master Geek

#1073745 24-Jun-2014 21:49

TimA: Write it off dude. That chassis will be bent and thats something that could endanger your son and you. If your in the wet and in a situation where you need all the grip you can get you will be in strife.

It should be insured for purchase or market value anyway.

Thanks for that safety suggestion. I will consider that in my decision.

I insured for market value without fully aware of what that actually means. In 3 years market value significantly drops obviously.

But why or how can 3rd party can get away. The traffic is not even moving. He hit me when I was fully stationary.

Just because I happened to be in front of them, I had to lose significant part of my savings by being compelled to buy a car I did not have to if only other party was a bit careful? or live with a car that's inferior to my original one.

We try to save tens of dollars here and there. Someone gets on to the road uninsured and wipes thousands. And walks away as if they did nothing.

Coil

6614 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1073749 24-Jun-2014 21:55

Chaitanya:
TimA: Write it off dude. That chassis will be bent and thats something that could endanger your son and you. If your in the wet and in a situation where you need all the grip you can get you will be in strife.

It should be insured for purchase or market value anyway.

Thanks for that safety suggestion. I will consider that in my decision.

I insured for market value without fully aware of what that actually means. In 3 years market value significantly drops obviously.

But why or how can 3rd party can get away. The traffic is not even moving. He hit me when I was fully stationary.

Just because I happened to be in front of them, I had to lose significant part of my savings by being compelled to buy a car I did not have to if only other party was a bit careful? or live with a car that's inferior to my original one.

We try to save tens of dollars here and there. Some idiot gets on to the road uninsured and wipes thousands. And walks away as they did nothing.

Your insurer will pay you out the agreed value of your car when singing the policy. E.G: my BMW is insured for $6000, It will stay at that. If its written off, stolen i get that about -claim. Your insurer should chase the offender for their part of the deal. If they provided false details and you got name address number plate go to police. Small claims etc probably will not be worth your time. As it will most likely end in them dribbling $5 a month for 20 years.

gzt

17165 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1073750 24-Jun-2014 21:56

They go for a hefty price don't they? How much did the insurance company offer?/how much were you insured for?

Do you have the detailed quote/diagnosis from the panelbeater?

Panelbeating insurance repair is performed to a very high standard, often better than new. Assuming no severe chassis damage it may be possible to restore it to the previous condition for the payout (perhaps using a different panelbeater) if the ins company let you keep the car.

This doesn't answer your question I realise ; ). I'm sure that will happen eventually.

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Chaitanya

75 posts

Master Geek

#1073756 24-Jun-2014 22:07

@TimA: Your insurer should chase the offender for their part of the deal.
So hopefully I am not naive in rejecting the potential write off from my insurer if they value my car too low. I will hopefully come to know tomorrow.

@gzt: In Aug/2011 I bought mine for 7k and insured for the market value of the car at the time of incident. I will hopefully know tomorrow how much my Vero is going to offer but I am sure whatever they offer is not enough to buy a similar car. I wish to be proved wrong.

Panelbeater estimated at a high level between 5-6k as the cost of the repair and is fairly certain Vero will write off.

I will also check if Vero can pay for the cost of repair OR write off and let me keep my car. I think I need to be very lucky to get Vero accept to either of these options.

Coil

6614 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1073768 24-Jun-2014 22:16

Chaitanya: @TimA: Your insurer should chase the offender for their part of the deal.
So hopefully I am not naive in rejecting the potential write off from my insurer if they value my car too low. I will hopefully come to know tomorrow.

Given trademe you got a strong case of $6k+

Shouldn't go sour but if it does switch to Sovereign or ASB insurance after its sussed.

gzt

17165 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1073771 24-Jun-2014 22:17

Ok see what happens tomorrow. Yeah definitely factor in the real cost and time of chasing the other party yourself before you reject a payout. There are just so many ways that route could end with nothing/less than nothing/very little.

Imo you won't have to make a decision on the spot. You can easily get at least 24 hours but probably longer if you really needed it.

I'd suggest editing your post to remove the name of your panelbeater. That is not relevant to the discussion and someone may get the wrong idea.

gzt

17165 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1073774 24-Jun-2014 22:21

TimA: Given trademe you got a strong case of $6k+

Yeah agree. Get the numbers tomorrow it may not need to end there if the offer does not meet expectation.

btw kms could also be relevant when estimating market value.

Chaitanya

75 posts

Master Geek

#1073781 24-Jun-2014 22:40

Thanks for your ideas and time @TimA and @gzt. I removed the name of the panelbeater. Sorry, I did not anticipate but I get what you mean.

I will update tomorrow. Thanks again. Much appreciated.

Batman

Mad Scientist
29771 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1073785 24-Jun-2014 22:45

with uninsured driver at fault if they have no money you are out of luck. you can sue for whatever you want, if they have no money you can't grow money from his backyard.

having said that ... this is just my shallow understanding

Aredwood

3885 posts

Uber Geek

#1073805 24-Jun-2014 23:57

Has the other party admitted fault for the accident? My understanding is that if they have then you won't have to pay an excess and it shouldn't affect your insurance record. Also because the accident is a nose to tail, and the back of your car is damaged. It makes it very hard for the other party to argue that it isn't their fault. And even if the other party only repay the insurance company $20 per week, The whole amount owed is still counted as an asset from the insurance companies point of view.

sdav

846 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1073831 25-Jun-2014 02:15

Get more panel beater quotes (2 more) and another valuation. I dealt with an extremely rude assessor from an insurance company recently in almost the exact same circumstances you find yourself in. I had to fight to keep my car and he even lied about legislation regarding writing the car off. Anyway turned out the car was worth more than their valuation (which was $3000 less and apparently their assessor favours the customer... yeah, right). This was easily the tipping balance and suddenly they were able to repair the car! Funny that. Irony is the insurance assessor annoyed me so much I ended up leaving that insurance company. He even swore and hung up on my panel beater that phoned him to explain how he would repair the vehicle!

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