Car Accident. What are your thoughts?

[iluszn]

So I was driving to work on tuesday.. Turned from Kingston Road onto warrigal.. 2 turning lanes.. I was in the left.. she in the right. On warrigal . I indicate to the middle lane and speed up to the 70 speed limit. Lady in the right lane decides the car is going to slow.. and merges into the right rear of my car.... now during this whole time which felt like 5 minutes, I held the horn down, moved to the left side of the lane.. but still.. She collected me..

Now here is the Dilemma.. I believe she thinks that I am in the wrong and wont put in an insurance claim..

FACTS:

- Car I was driving at the time is a friends I am using to get to work and back, no insurance :unsure: (Only found out after the fact!)
- I was travelling straight
- She was in a kluger 4wd and didnt see me
- She is probably in her mid to late 50's
- She has full comp insurance with Allianz
- I have filed a police report about the events that occured
- Allianz refuse to do anything for me because she has not contacted them (Which i find odd)
- She gave me the wrong license number (Missing number)
- She lied to me on the phone about waiting on paper work for the motor insurance claim (from past experience, call, give all details, get claim number, done)

ISSUES: I don't think she will file an insurance claim because she really believes I am at fault for being on the road while she was driving.. There is damage to my friends car, panel pushed in, paint scrapped off rear quarter and bumper.

What I think I should do:
- Contact Her insurance company and give police report number and speak to a manager
- Contact her after her insurance company and ask why she has failed to lodge a claim

Things I would rather it not come to:
- Draft a letter of Demand and have it sent to her with a quote for repairs
- Seek Legal representation
- Take her to court as a civil matter and claim for damages, lost income, stress (As its not my car, dont want to give it back damaged) and all court expenses.


So in all. What do you guys think I should do?? Is there anything I have missed that I should be looking into? Any other avenues that I should take? Things like this make me really angry.

 

[Entaran]

Go ask the police officer who you filed the report with what the correct course of action is to take.

Speak to Allianz at length about the matter and make sure you mention to them that you are prepared to engage the services of a solicitor if required.


I hope you took photos at the accident with your mobile.

 

[rock_it]

They will just tell you to take it to court...

Allianz wont care until she files the report... They wont give you any information as the policy is not in your name.. If you threaton court action, it goes to her.. Not to them .. So it is then up to her to fight .. Not them ...

As far as they are concerned... There has been no accident...

 

[Squiddy]

What a slag

 

[DOUGMO]

Go ask the police officer who you filed the report with what the correct course of action is to take.

Speak to Allianz at length about the matter and make sure you mention to them that you are prepared to engage the services of a solicitor if required.


I hope you took photos at the accident with your mobile.

as above mate, contact the cops for "advice" then advise her insurance company that she has "hit you"-explain the circumstances, the only thing is its not worth mentioning legal action to the insurance company as its not them you would need to pursue.

good luck

 

[Legume]

Now I could be wrong...... but I think in the lady in the other might have "right of way" in the eyes of the law. :huh:

I say this because my brother had a similar case once.

He was turning right. There were two lanes that turn right and the road he was turning right into was two lanes. Now he was in the left of these two lanes and excecuted his right hand turn into the corresponding left hand lane of whatever road he was turning into.

There was some young girl next to him turning at the same time (rhd turn in rhd of the two lanes). She went wide and into his lane, and therefore the front drivers side guard of his car.

He was told that she had "right of way" as she was to his right.

Both parties were with RACV and from what I can gather they managed to get excess from each and each had a claim lodged against them.


What differs is you were both travelling straight (how far from the intersection were you?) and the damage has occured on the rear of your friends car indicating you were in front.

From past experiences from people who wont pay up I would suggest a few things.

Make a claim The insurance company should try and recoup what they have to pay out. But hassle them and dont let them think its your fault. If all other avenues fail then just the excess is lost and not the full repair cost.

If you think your insuarnce company is going soft, you couldget a debt collector, using one of your quotes. Make sure you get a few expensive quotes from a European car repair shop or the like.

Be strong but not too strong as they will get defensive and become conniving like its a game.

Or pehaps admit to her (and only her) that you were at fault. She might then lodge a claim against you and get the ball rolling. Then when the your friends insurance contact you say, no that was not the case and then sort it out from there.

I once had a old bloke make a left hand turn from the right hand lane when I was next to a traffic island (there was a slip lane given for the left turn on the other side off the island) yet refused to pay. He knew it would cost me alot more than the damage to take action. In the end after a lot of headaches and lost sleep I forked out $1200 to repair my own car.

 

[CLuTZ]

I deal with and serve people all the time with Magistrates court complaints over motor vehicle property damage. If you are 100% in the right, take her to court. Sounds like she failed to keep a proper lookout.

Firstly though, make your intentions clear that if she does file a claim, you will launch legal proceedings against her without further notice. If she still refuses to pay/claim go to your local magi court and grab yourself a copy of this:

It's pretty easy to fill out- if you have any issues, feel free to contact your local magi court civil counter.

If she lives near the city, western or northern suburbs, feel free to pm me and i'll serve her for you, free of charge.

 

[evo-gsr]

May be needing some of your advice on a similar matter Dre? I will be in touch!

 

[iluszn]

SMALL UPDATE: Contacted Allianz. And the claim has been lodged some 5minutes before I called today. So I have the claim number, I am awaiting them to send me a diagram and details (Which I find odd, never had to do this before). To complete and send back. Gave tehm teh Police report number aswell for the record. Unfortunately the claim is under review so no at fault is listed. So.. Lets see where this takes us.


Thanks for all teh feed back.

Dre, Ill have to take a look at the whatever you posted at home (Work blocks some pics)

I will be giving her insurance company today and give them information regarding the accident etc, if they are still unwilling to assist, ill contact her and make her aware that I have filed an accident report with the police and I suggest she contact her insurance company, or, if she wants to settle without insurance, I will give her quotes on the repairs. If she still insists on being rude about it, then, As stated above, will let her know i will be proceeding with the legal avenue and there is no further notices.. get the form as Dre mentioned and have it filed.


unfortunately Dre, she lives in Pakenham so a little out of your way, but I do appreciate the offer.

Cheers
Denis

 

[rock_it]

Good luck mate...

I hope, that the insurance is not going to be a prick about it ... They could rule that in the case where you are both merging lanes, you are both at fault for not checking. In that case they would fix their car, and you would have to fix yours...

If you then wanted to dispute this, you would have to take the insurance company to court and not the lady at fault ... Fingers crossed this is not the outcome...

 

[iluszn]

probably should have been clearer.. I was already in the lane. She was ahead in the right lane, me in teh centre lane.. As I was passing her she indicated and merged into the rear right side of me.. To me, its clear cut that she failed to see me in her blind spot of her Tonka Truck and merged into me..

 

[iluszn]

Insurance came back, Not at fault. Car goes in next week for repairs.. but 4 days without a car.

 

[boostboy76]

That's good news. If it was diputed between both parties who was in the right, you might have had to start looking for witnesses.

I know how you feel about the whole female in a 4WD thing - the worst drivers in the world are not old people or Volvo drivers, it's middle aged rich women in bloody Porsche / BMW / Mercedes 4 Wheel drives, taking their kids to school in the morning!! :fuuuuu::fuuuuu::fuuuuu:

 

[lefty]

Good news.

Now go tell your friend to have AT LEAST 3rd party insurance.

 

[JiMi]

agreed... 3rd party is a more than just insurance for damage you cause, if you have an accident and its not your fault more often than not they will go into bat for you (in a case like this for example) and then just recoupe the costs from the person