Rear-ended by un-insured

Wavey

Afternoon all.

On friday evening my girlfriends car was rear ended. She was totally in the right.
Problem is the guy who hit was driving his sisters car in which he wasnt insured.
The guards were not called to the scene but we called into the station an hour later just get it down on paper.
Now he says his father is gonna pay for the repair.

Damage is quite extensive. We got a ball park figure of about 3K to repair it. The car is not worth that much. Its probably only worth about 1500 (before the crash).

Now we dont want to screw this guy over but we dont want to get screwed either.

What is or best course of action? If my girlfriend contacts her insurance company will her NCB be affected? and what would happen to the guy? or his sister? Will his sisters insurance company pay up if he was driving?

We are by no means "Compo Culture" people but my girlfriend was complaining of intermittent back pain and neck pain over the weekend.
She's going to give it a week and see if it goes away. If it dosent shes gonna see a doctor. Is this the right course of action?

Any advice or experience?

Cheers
Wavey

kahlua

I think what happens is that the car is declared a write off, cos the cost of repair is more than the worth of the car. If he was to claim it on his insurance the insurance company would just give you the 1500 for the car, but because he's not insured its up to you. He's going to have to pay cash so you can repair the car or get the cash for the repair and buy a new car. Hope this helps

Merrion

A few years ago I was rear ended by an uninsured driver and they never paid up leaving me about €3000 out of pocket and no recourse.

I'd say you are safest to assume he is not going to pay and act accordingly - guards, solicitors etc.

Don't end up feeling sorry for him though. By driving uninsured he has already effectively taken money off you.

bada_bing

i would advise you not to have any sympathy for him because you might end up with getting nothing at all. I have known quite a few people whose's cars were hit by uninsured drivers and reported them to the gardai and the gardai did nothing at all.
I even know a guy who has never paid car tax or insurance for 3 years and he was caught twice by the gardai and all he got was a slap on the wrist.......so the cops don't give a sh*t and they seem to favour uninsured drivers, probably the paperwork is just too much for them so they couldn't arsed.

Wavey

@ Merrion

Could you not have started a civil lawsuit to get your money?

Gurgle

He should not have been driving without insurance. There is a fund to cover accidents caused by uninsured drivers which is paid for through extra loading on everybody else's premiums.

And definitely don't settle in a hurry if your gf is getting back & shoulder pain. If it is whiplash, its only going to get worse.

Hang him!

Gmodified

Guy shouldn't be driving and Garda will probably do him for it

as per claim


you can claim through http://www.mibi.ie/faqs.asp even if driver was uninsured, what happens is that you get paid from special found and they will chase him for this money, which is quite painful

firstly wait a week to see if your gf is clear of any injuries.

ando

he's an idiot, all his fault. Hang him up to dry. If it was me I would of got the garda on the scene especially seeing he's not insured. Dont worry about screwing him for money, he should'nt of been driving in the first place.

Wavey

Thanks for all the replies lads.
Well we're contacting a solicitor today to see where we stand and we're waiting for a written quote to come back for the repair.
Hopefully there wont be any agro.

a_ominous

Why bother with a solicitor at this stage? Priority #1 is get the GF to the doctor. Make sure there's nothing broken; get a full checkup. There might only be soft tissue damage and this will heal in a week or two. If she's out of work and not paid, then you might have some cause for trying to get compensation for that.
The fact that this cretin was driving without insurance is not important now; if he had insurance what would you be doing now? Doctor or solicitor??

Getting a solicitor in at this stage is a bit premature IMHO. The gards have a record of the incident. The solicitor is unlikely to turn the case away; he get's paid by the hour and charges you for every letter he sends.

Regarding repairs, you will not get 3000 to repair a car that's worth only 1500. Not economic as you've said. I would reckon the most money you could reasonably expect is perhaps a grand which would give you something like the market value of the car when you include scrap value. Also some compensation may be payable for the GF's injuries. [I think the PIAB comes into effect tonight 1 June, so compensation will be limited]

IANAL, this is just my opinion as a joe soap.

leonotron

Why didn't you claim from the MIB? They would have covered this

Originally posted by Merrion
A few years ago I was rear ended by an uninsured driver and they never paid up leaving me about €3000 out of pocket and no recourse.

I'd say you are safest to assume he is not going to pay and act accordingly - guards, solicitors etc.

Don't end up feeling sorry for him though. By driving uninsured he has already effectively taken money off you.

Orion

Originally posted by a_ominous
[I think the PIAB comes into effect tonight 1 June, so compensation will be limited]

I think the PIAB only applies to injuries at work for the time being. Correct me if I'm wrong.

As for the uninsured driver - don't have any sympathy for him. By getting behind the wheel of a car w/o insurance he was breaking the law anyway. If he has a license he'll get penalty points for it. If not - he could be barred from getting one.

You are not at fault for the accident so make sure that you are fully compensated - either by the driver or MIBI. You don't have to screw somebody to get fair compensation.

pclancy

He didnt pay to get insured on his siters car. You girlfriend did pay to get insured or her car. Im sure if the situation was reveresed he might not be so tolerant with your sister. Plus for medical reasons it would be very important to have the crash reported to the insurers and the cops because god forbid she did start to get whiplash or some other back/neck problems her view on compo might change.

leonotron

Your best course of action is to get an assessor to take a look at the car to give you an estimate, or else get your car to a garage, they will do an estimate and then the assessor will verify that. An insurance company won't take a garage estimate for something like this. You should also go to the hospital and get your girlfriend checked out, the sooner the better. Then talk to the guys father, show him the estimate and make sure he is willing to pay for the damage, plus the cost of your assessor. If you claim through the Motor Insurance Bureau then you will have to pay an excess of €440, so it might be an idea to get your claim bumped up a little. People here may view this as compo culture but why should you be out of pocket? Make sure the Gardai have contacted the other driver about this too. Your GF should really have called the cops at the scene in the first place.

Merrion

Why didn't you claim from the MIB?

This was in the UK, about 10 years ago.

leonotron

ahh, fair enough.

Seth Brundle

also keep tabs on your g/fs own costs involved in dealing with this - phone calls, time off work, medical, etc.