Young lad drives into my car.....

I had a young man, early 20s back into my car at our local shop/garage. I was in the shop & he came in to find me. Admitted liability straight away. We exchanged details & he said he would get his papers from his parents house about a mile away & come over to my house. He did exactly what he said, rang his Insurance Company from my house. What a pleasure to meet an honest young man, he could have driven off & I wouldn't have known who was responsible, he was a "white van man" .. just goes to show they're not all bad.

I only had letters informing me of where repair was to be carried out & that I could have a hire car, no phone calls, no hassle. Repair came to nearly £1000 + hire car for 1 week, hate to think what it did to his Insurance. Incident is reported on my Insurance but it has not affected my premiums.

Never deal with other parties Insurers but pass everything to your Insurance Company, it's what you pay them for!Glad you're all ok

It is for instances such as those outlined above that I have a dashcam installed. There can be no arguing as to who is at fault.

I just hope, if I ever am involved in an accident, that it doesn't work against me :D :D :D

I am pleased to read that there were no serious consequences for the gransnetters involved in those incidents. Even the lowest speed impacts can really shake you up

That is not good - but I do know that in the heat of the moment it can be difficult to get your act together with taking down the right details.

A few years ago I was parked outside one of the sports centres in the city. A man in his mid 40 s reversed into me, jumped out of his car and shouted why are you parked there? . Waiting on someone I replied. Well there is no damage done he said jumped into his car and drove of. I was so shocked I didn't even get his registration. Incidentally , my front wing was scratched and dented and cost a lot to repair. Be pleased if the other driver is good enough to exchange details with you.

It could have been so much worse. When I faced a similar situation the middle aged driver was asleep at the wheel. We got out and went to the other car where we found the radio on at full blast, the car staemingly hot and a weeping wife who said thank goodness it was over. Apparently they had spent the weekend driving round country lanes looking for a property to buy and she thought her husband was simply too tired.

The police arrived, an ambulance was called and he disappeared into hospital. We never got a chance to speak to him. He and his wife went home the following day and they disputed any responsibility. The police could not help. Eventually all we got was £10 in recognition of the delay which then saved our NCB. Ever since I have paid to save our NCB.

I had a delivery driver reverse into my car ( he was lost and trying to turn around ) He told his insurance company that I had driven into the back of him ! Luckily I had legal cover with my insurance and after going to small claims court with their lawyer I won. he wasn't a very good liar and he kept forgetting his story. I always get legal cover with insurance now.

In fact this lane is one of the easier country lanes round here - at least it is straight and the hedges quite low. Very good visibility - just have to use passing places when you meet another car - unless it is going too fast!!

I had almost completed my reverse in a Curry's carpark when I heard a thud only to find that someone had reversed into me. The driver of the car was very apologetic and we exchanged details. A week later having heard nothing I asked my husband (legal man) to phone the offender and to his amazement offender said 'what a shame that we were both reversing at the same time'. You could have knocked me down with a feather! and my husband.I wasn't sharp enough to take a photo.
The ins., company wanted me to agree 50-50 but I refused as you couldn't really see any damage to my car only if you looked very closely. Even so BMW gave me a quote for over £700.?
I told the insurers that it was his fault and NOT mine and left it.

Another time I had a 'lovely' young man drive into the back of me at traffic lights. It was one of those horrible dull drizzly days and he was driving too fast and misjudged his speed. Hardly any damage at all to my car but his looked like it had been in a car crash. He was so apologetic and he gave me his phone number.
I later that day spoke to his mother and she said 'I don't suppose he told you that he only passed his driving test this morning'. I think he was showing off a bit to his friend but what a harsh way to learn. The weather was just awful that day and I still think about that lovely young man and how unlucky he was that day.

He can't be poor of he (or his parents) can afford the insurance cover for a young man of his age!

Glad his premiums will go up.....It will make him think twice about being so wreckless on the road...and actually killing someone. Just because he comes from a rundown estate does not make him poor...I can assure you....have no pity please!

I have heard women of my age or thereabouts express their fear of motorways. Personally, I am much more nervous about country roads, where you never know what's coming round the next corner, on your side of the road.
I have uninsured loss cover, to pay up if the other insurance does not offer cover.

Don't say that! - I will feel even crosser!

Even if you have no claims protection, unless your insurance company recover all their costs, your premiums will still go up. Just not fair

Luckygirl, isn't your insurance company supposed to be 'arguing' on your behalf with his? Yours does not want to pay for the damage, regardless of being able to recover it via bonus lost or whatever.

No advice Luckygirl just to say I'm glad you're all OK.

It does seem a crazy insurance situation that you find yourself in!

That's how I felt, Luckygirl The lad who hit me was late for work so he was speeding. He shot himself in the foot when it went to court by lying about the time the accident happened. I could prove what time I was at that particular junction so all I had to do was stick to my story under cross-examination.

All that money, time, stress etc., could have been avoided if his insurers hadn't insisted on 'knock for knock'

The police don't turn out now unless vehicles are causing a hazard on the road or somebody requires an ambulance.

In the good old days they would sort out who was at fault.

Job done!

I have never been in this situation before so it all seems a bit crazy to me. I understand that insurance companies want to keep their costs down and therefore premiums; but for people to have to accept that they are also at fault when it is simply not true does seem to go against natural justice.

Glad it was not more serious. We were side-swiped many years ago by a bunch of under-16s who has stolen a car and went on a joy-ride on country A-road. They hit a coach that was travelling up beyond us as well!

Oddly, we were not able to claim on the owner's policy as his cover did not include damage done by his car if stolen. So we had to use our own insurance.

That was really really really annoying....

If and when an accident occurs the best advice is NEVER believe anything the other driver says or does. They will make every attempt to wriggle out of their responsibility no matter even if they're clearly to blame. Moreover no two witnesses will tell the same story. And if you are obviously not to blame (like being shunted from the rear) then make it quite clear to your insurance company that you will only accept a "NO BLAME CLAIM" and nothing else is acceptable. In the case of any accident on the road the soft approach simple won't work.

cornergran - photos are not accepted as evidence as they can easily be altered (photoshop or other means) whereas Dash Cams are much more difficult for the average person to alter

NFU are a very good insurance company and I am sure they will listen to you.

My SIL was knocked off his motorbike when the woman in the left hand lane turned right across him, his insurance company said he should accept 50/50!blame! Luckily two witnesses and the police report have been sent to say otherwise, damned cheek!

Thank you for all that advice folks.

I will download the photos today and email them with a line drawing of what happened to my local branch of NFU and see what they say.

Part of me just does not want the hassle; but another part feels it is all so unjust.

my late mother was hit by a farm student in a Land Rover in the snow. She saw him coming and was almost entirely off the road when he hit her. She took photos (instamatic - pre mobile phone days) and got him to sign a statement admitting it was entirely his fault - his insurance company was furious with him but paid up. My mother was a very practical woman.

I was involved in an accident where it was entirely the other drivers fault and he tried to implicate me and they wanted a knock for knock result. I stuck to my guns. which led to delays repairing my car.

In the end I wrote to the chairman of the insurance company, just enclosing a diagram of the accident and saying I would not accept any liability. It worked.