Hit by an uninsured driver today

Countryripple

While in a line of cars today to leave a carpark. A micra in front of me decided for some unknown reason to reverse. as he was coming towards me i beeped, but he kept going then looked over his shoulder and hit me. Got out of the car, the micra had a tow-bar!!! there is a hole in my number plate and the bumper is outta whack and the headlight is kinda hanging out.

So, the guy says there is not much damage and he'll pay for it blah blah. I say yea fine but want his insurance details anyway. So I go round the front of his car, no tax, insurance or NCT, it was a 97 reg. i asked him what the craic was. he says he has insurance. Takes a cert from his wallet. im taking the details down from it when i see the reg does not match the one on the car that hit me, and also, it was only for a period of 2 weeks, which ended at 23.59 on the 14th march 2007.

got his phone number, rang it while i was standing there to make sure it worked. got his address extra. he showed me garda id etc with his name and photo on it.

I phoned the gards when i got back home and they asked me to come down with the details.

What im just wondering now is, if i go to the crash place tommorw 4 this insurance company, it so happens to be behind my house , and they tell me the policy is expired and wont look at it, what can i do? Would i have to pay them myself for the asessment and then try get the money back out of this guy?

I dunno what damage is done bar the visual bits and one of the lights aint working now and there was a noticable smell of burning all the way home.

Anyone any idea how something like that would work? If he is not insured do i just get it done and pay meself and then get it back from him?

Any advice would be great. Thanks

afatbollix

im not sure but i think your insurance sould sort it out..... give them the details and they will follow it up...

copacetic

if he isn't insured you can go through the mibi. One of the lads in work got hit by an uninsured driver before xmas and is going through them at the moment..

http://www.mibi.ie/mibipublic/mibi/

leeroybrown

Part of the cost of every motor policy in Ireland goes to fund the Motor Insurers Bureau Of Ireland which deals with claims against uninsured drivers.

Edit: Someone else always beats you to it...

Countryripple

Yea I know about the MIBI, a friend of mine had the luxury of a stolen car ramming hers while it was parked outside the garden!! She was just angry that they never knocked in and told her they hit it........seriously.......that was what she said!!!

Anyway, in my case the guy seemed fairly upfront that he will sort it out and wants me to phone him tomorrow with a price. I basicaly just want to know will they even asess it if they find the policy to be expired? I really dont want to go through my insurance cos they will knock back my NCB until it has been sorted. Although, we do have the same insurance company.

Plus, the car that hit me was not the one on the policy, and i think it would be strange that a company would insure anyone for 2 weeks to be able to drive any car?

Gary ITR

Car insurance is only valid for the specified time, there is no 'grace' period at all, it's not like home insurance where you have a week ot two

copacetic

Countryripple wrote:

Yea I know about the MIBI, a friend of mine had the luxury of a stolen car ramming hers while it was parked outside the garden!! She was just angry that they never knocked in and told her they hit it........seriously.......that was what she said!!!

Anyway, in my case the guy seemed fairly upfront that he will sort it out and wants me to phone him tomorrow with a price. I basicaly just want to know will they even asess it if they find the policy to be expired? I really dont want to go through my insurance cos they will knock back my NCB until it has been sorted. Although, we do have the same insurance company.

Plus, the car that hit me was not the one on the policy, and i think it would be strange that a company would insure anyone for 2 weeks to be able to drive any car?

before I had open drive I once got it for 2 weeks so I could drive a friends car abroad so it can happen. His story sounds a little dodgy. You'll have to be careful your insurance company don't just put all this against you which would be then easy thing for them to do.

Countryripple

Yea i know. To be honest, im not going to ring them until i contact the accident repair place and see what they say. I reported it to the garda anyway, purely cos he had no tax and insurance. i mean if the rest of us pay it....so should he!

bazz26

I would definately report the incident to my insurance company straight away especially when there is an uninsured driver involved.

Anan1

AFAIK, the MIBI only pay for personal injury, not for damage to your car.

copacetic

Anan1 wrote:

AFAIK, the MIBI only pay for personal injury, not for damage to your car.

They cover damage to the car if the driver is uninsured. They don't cover untraced cars, eg if you say someone hit you while parked.

Damage to property:
Where the damage has been caused by an uninsured motorist you may again claim the same entitlements as if the motorist was insured, BUT you will have to pay the first €440 yourself. If the vehicle was stolen, then the amount which you have to pay becomes €220. Your entitlement extends to necessary car hire and other reasonable costs
If the damage was caused by an untraced vehicle, unfortunately you cannot claim

Tipsy Mac

If your going through MIBI be prepared for a long long wait.

Did the gardai not want to go around and seize his car when you told them about the crash or were they too busy at the donut shop to actually enforce the law?

badbrian

I had a similar incident in the middle of last year.
I was approaching a red light in the right hand lane of a dual carriageway.
Someone in the left lane seeing no cars ahead in the right lane decided to change lane without looking. Just as I was passing on his right.
As I was practically upsides when he tried this I couldn't avoid him. He crashed into my front passenger door, and did damage to the front left panel as well as lights on left hand side.

As all the cars were stopped (red light, remember) I got a couple of people's numbers before they went and we got about talking about the incident. The other party first claimed I was driving too fast. I said fine - I'm not going to argue with you. Let's call the gardai. Then he relented and said he'd pay for it, gave me his number, I went around to get insurance details. He asked how much I thought it would cost. I had no clue but I guessed it wouldn't be less than a thousand euro (new front door, front left panel, lights, labour and VAT)

He couldn't believe it. I got a bit wary. Took his insurance details, took photos. I suggested again we call the gardai just to be sure. Then he fesses up that it's his friend's car. Then he got a call. While he was taking this call I called the guards. They were around quick sharp. It turned out not only was it not his car, there was no insurance on it either (the insurance disc had belonged to the previous owner who didn't remove it when selling).

The other party had initially been very friendly and I thought genuine when said he would pay for the damage. But once the gardai got involved he turned nasty as he was now in trouble for driving without insurance (and for all I know no licence).

Anyway it has all been sorted through the uninsured driver's fund. I was told by my insurance company that it will not affect my NCB, although the claim is still officially outstanding against my policy. I think it works that as I have comp cover they put it against mine until it works it's way thru the uninsured fund. It is my insurance company that are processing the claim.

In order for it to go thru the uninsured fund you will have to get a garda report on same.

kmick

You idiot - you should have called the guards straight away. Especially in the circumstances. He revered into you - he will just say that you ran into the back of him. Also he had false insurance. What the hell were you thinking? You always call the gardai even if it is your fault. Plus got a tip from an insurance women one time to always keep a disposable camera in your glovebox. This will not end well for you i.e. forget about ever getting any momney back.

_Kaiser_

Tipsy Mac wrote:

If your going through MIBI be prepared for a long long wait.

Did the gardai not want to go around and seize his car when you told them about the crash or were they too busy at the donut shop to actually enforce the law?

General rule seems to be that unless there's any injuries involved, the Gardai aren't all that interested and will tell you to sort it out through your insurance company. :rolleyes:

In this case though they should definitely be talking to the guy that hit the OP as not only was he driving without insurance, he somehow had the cert from another car, that was not only expired, but which his tried to pass off as belonging to his own.

But as you say, it was probably close to shift change and/or they were too busy going to the chipper for the rest of the lads! (and yet then they wonder why they've such a negative public image!) :mad:

MarkR

kmick wrote:

You idiot - you should have called the guards straight away. Especially in the circumstances. He revered into you - he will just say that you ran into the back of him. Also he had false insurance. What the hell were you thinking? You always call the gardai even if it is your fault. Plus got a tip from an insurance women one time to always keep a disposable camera in your glovebox. This will not end well for you i.e. forget about ever getting any momney back.

He asks for advice, not name calling. I was wondering how you know he won't get any money back. Can you see the future? If so I would like the number for the euromillions.

Reported

OP, either he or that MIBI should sort it, but I've heard it takes a long time. Hopefully your insurace will cover it in the meantime if he doesn't sort it.

C_Breeze

Ok so from reading throught this thread i have 3 points to make

1) Since when are Irish guards "too busy at the donut shop" ?? ..do we even have any here? Stupid Americanisation right there.

2) Would you not just buy a camera phone instaed of keeping a 'Disposable Camera' in your glovebox ? ...surely tha fact that the fone will have a video function on top of picture is a bonus.

3) OP, you best bet it get the most resonable Quote for your damage and sort it out personally with the uninsured driver , leave the guards and MIBI out of it, afterall he didnt say he is unwilling to recompensate you did he?

_Kaiser_

C_Breeze wrote:

Ok so from reading throught this thread i have 3 points to make

1) Since when are Irish guards "too busy at the donut shop" ?? ..do we even have any here? Stupid Americanisation right there.

We used to anyway.. Dunkin' Donuts if I remember right, but the point I think he was trying to make is a general disinterested attitude to this sort of thing from our girls n boys in blue.

2) Would you not just buy a camera phone instaed of keeping a 'Disposable Camera' in your glovebox ? ...surely tha fact that the fone will have a video function on top of picture is a bonus.

Agree, and seeing as you can't hardly buy a phone without a camera these days, everyone should have one.

3) OP, you best bet it get the most resonable Quote for your damage and sort it out personally with the uninsured driver , leave the guards and MIBI out of it, afterall he didnt say he is unwilling to recompensate you did he?

Well the guy is hardly gonna say "feck off" there and then with witnesses etc around is he? By the sounds of it he sounds like a (possible) scumbag - no insurance, trying to pass off another car's disc as his own, Garda ID (so presumably 17-20?) etc, so the OP shouldn't have taken any chances, because as has been pointed out, now it's his word against the other guy's.

Tipsy Mac

C_Breeze wrote:

Ok so from reading throught this thread i have 3 points to make

1) Since when are Irish guards "too busy at the donut shop" ?? ..do we even have any here? Stupid Americanisation right there.

Ok, too busy at Centra then

unkel

kmick wrote:

You idiot

No need for that, kmick...

Countryripple

I didnt metion it earlier as I didnt think it mattered, but the guy was foreign. Yes I did have a camera phone and took photos. Ive had the car asessed this morning and waiting for them to call back with a quote.

rang his insurers who also happen to be mine. The policy he showed me defo expired. Of course you want to keep someone in good faith and get them to pay out but im still going to phone the Gardai and see of they will be doing anything about it.

Insurers have now put this as a claim against myself until he either pays me out of his pocket or in worst case, does not and i have to go MIBI route.

The other half has a mate works in parts place who can get me the parts required so will get a price for them after lunch, whack on some labour cost and give this guy a ring.

mmenarry

You do have another option.

In any event, rather than the MIBI, you can directly sue him for the damages. Should the repair bill be less that €1200 (or whatever the current limit is), then you can use the small claims court. The SC court costs pittance (€7 when I used it a couple of years ago), and is very straightforward, they're pretty helpful in the office there.

That would mean avoiding the "excess" for the MIBI one. Its just a suggestion of another option that you have.

M.

whippet

I didn't think the small claims court could be used for two private individuals?

mmenarry

whippet wrote:

I didn't think the small claims court could be used for two private individuals?

Its mainly used for eaxctly that. I sued my landlord for withholding the deposit. (although that exact one is now not covered by small claims due to the new rent laws)

You can bring a claim against anyone there, as long as the value of your claim is less than the limit.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/justice/courts-system/small_claims_court/

It says you can claim for minor damages to property, which would be exactly what I'd say the OP would be doing.

M.

Shiva

whippet wrote:

I didn't think the small claims court could be used for two private individuals?

You're correct Whippet - its only for consumers to seek redress if you have "bought goods or services (or the service) for private use from someone selling them in the course of business. The procedure is not available for use by one business person against another."

EDIT:
Hmm....mmenarry. Thats not how I read it...but you may well be right.

Either way, its worth looking into in order to get a definitive answer.

Randomswinger

Go through the MIBI its a long process but they'll get it sorted

I had an accident last year with a forgien registered car which left the scene. I claimed on my fully comp policy which was later refunded through MIBI

If you're going through MIBI any claim on your policy shouldn't effect you NCB

You say you were coming out of a carpark, have you checked the cameras for proof of reg and what actually happned?

mmenarry

From my link above:

Claims can be made for faulty goods or bad workmanship. Claims can also be made for minor damage to property. Claims can no longer be made in the Small Claims Court for the non-return of rent deposits - this is now handled by the Private Residential Tenancies Board.

(text bolded by me)

Worth a try, max limit is €2K. Worst case scenario, you've lost 9 euro. MIBI route, you're out the excess.

In my experience, they're very helpful, and worth popping in if you're in town(near the 4 courts)

M.

netwhizkid

Sorry to drag up an old thread but I need some advice further to this and this.

I got hit by an allegedly uninsured vehicle on Friday and they have ten days to produce the insurance by the Gardai who I brought to the scene where they dinged my car.

I am nearly 90% certain they have no insurance and I am looking at a €200 - €400 repair bill to the paintwork of my cars rear wing and bumper.

I have my own insurance company notified from the day the accident happened, however I felt physically sick today when I rang them up quering my Insurance Quote which ironically arrived the day of the tip. It had increased from last years premium of €650 to €770 this year and I rang them asking why and they have now said they are increasing it to €1050 until my incident on Friday is resolved and I am found to be not at fault.

I only had Third Party F&T on it so will not be claiming off my own insurance to begin with. However if the Driver that hit me truly has no Insurance I shall have to pursue it through the MIBI to get paid for the damage to my car as pursing it through the Civil Courts will be nearly impossible as the other party is most likely on no fixed abode if you get my drift.

igglou

What you could have done if you have comprehensive insurance and felt the person in the wrong was not gonna pay up, would be to contact your insurance company and say the damage was done while you were parked in the the car park and claim off the comprehensive end of your policy. This does not affect your NCB as there was no third party involved.

McSpud

I don't have any words of wisdom for the OP but how does someone drive around uninsured & avoid checkpoints? I must pass through a checkpoint once a month.

There should be much bigger penalties for driving uninsured including losing licence & significant financial ones.

L1011

igglou wrote: »

What you could have done if you have comprehensive insurance and felt the person in the wrong was not gonna pay up, would be to contact your insurance company and say the damage was done while you were parked in the the car park and claim off the comprehensive end of your policy. This does not affect your NCB as there was no third party involved.

Most insurances firms will hit your NCB if you claim for damage in this hypothetical case; as they have no proof at all that it isn't self-inflicted. You could hit a planter/pole/tree/whatever and claim it was someone else's car hitting you that scarpred and get away with an intact NCB - not in their interests!

Zzippy

McSpud wrote: »

I don't have any words of wisdom for the OP but how does someone drive around uninsured & avoid checkpoints? I must pass through a checkpoint once a month.

There should be much bigger penalties for driving uninsured including losing licence & significant financial ones.

The guards in your area must have feck all else to do! I've been driving over 12 years now and have probably passed through a checkpoint on average once or twice a year in that time... and its not like I'm living on the Aran Islands or somewhere remote!

Fighting Irish

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

If your going through MIBI be prepared for a long long wait.

Did the gardai not want to go around and seize his car when you told them about the crash or were they too busy at the donut shop to actually enforce the law?

:rolleyes:

L1011

Zzippy wrote: »

The guards in your area must have feck all else to do! I've been driving over 12 years now and have probably passed through a checkpoint on average once or twice a year in that time... and its not like I'm living on the Aran Islands or somewhere remote!

Some places have *lots* of checkpoints. Friend lived in Dundrum for a year or so and 2/3rds of the time I went over to him I passed through a checkpoint there, without fail. Back home I see maybe one every 6 months...

PeakOutput

dont know if this has already been said but

if the guy decides not to pay and you only have third party then you can claim threw mibi with the large excess they charge

if the guy decides not to pay and you have comp then your insurance company has to deal with it. you will have to pay your regular excess but your no claims discount will not be affected

thisis an agreement between all the insurers and the mibi both options need a letter from the gardai confirming the other person is not insured

PeakOutput

igglou wrote: »

What you could have done if you have comprehensive insurance and felt the person in the wrong was not gonna pay up, would be to contact your insurance company and say the damage was done while you were parked in the the car park and claim off the comprehensive end of your policy. This does not affect your NCB as there was no third party involved.

that is wrong your bonus is split into accidental damage and third party what you described would affect the accidental damage portion of your ncb. this affect would be alot smaller than if a third party was involved though


ugggh old thread never mind sorry

Caliden

C_Breeze wrote: »

2) Would you not just buy a camera phone instaed of keeping a 'Disposable Camera' in your glovebox ? ...surely tha fact that the fone will have a video function on top of picture is a bonus.

Digital photos cant be used as evidence whereas actual photos can.

Vertakill

netwhizkid wrote: »

Sorry to drag up an old thread but I need some advice further to this and this.

I got hit by an allegedly uninsured vehicle on Friday and they have ten days to produce the insurance by the Gardai who I brought to the scene where they dinged my car.

I am nearly 90% certain they have no insurance and I am looking at a €200 - €400 repair bill to the paintwork of my cars rear wing and bumper.

I have my own insurance company notified from the day the accident happened, however I felt physically sick today when I rang them up quering my Insurance Quote which ironically arrived the day of the tip. It had increased from last years premium of €650 to €770 this year and I rang them asking why and they have now said they are increasing it to €1050 until my incident on Friday is resolved and I am found to be not at fault.

I only had Third Party F&T on it so will not be claiming off my own insurance to begin with. However if the Driver that hit me truly has no Insurance I shall have to pursue it through the MIBI to get paid for the damage to my car as pursing it through the Civil Courts will be nearly impossible as the other party is most likely on no fixed abode if you get my drift.

I was hit by an uninsured driver last year and when I rang my insurance company to explain the situation, and how I wanted to claim for his insurance (guy lied about insurance at scene of crash) they dealt with the whole thing.
They passed it onto the MIBI and the MIBI then delegated the claim to an insurance company in Ireland, other than my own one (Quinn, at the time).

So it was then FBD who were sorting out the claim. I was able to (eventually) get the ref number from Quinn for the MIBI, ring the MIBI and get the ref number for FBD and then once I got onto FBD, I was then able to have a line of communication that wasn't being passed down through 2 other parties.

It took a long time due to the other guy lying about his insurance and the slowness of Quinn, MIBI and FBD combined.

With my policy (and I'd say it's similar on most others), my NCB was 100% protected in the event of a crash with an uninsured driver.
So regardless of the outcome of my incident, whether it was 100% his fault, 50/50 or 100% my fault... my NCB was covered because the money is always recouped via the MIBI so my insurance company didn't stand to lose any money.
In saying that, they wiped my NCB completely while this was ongoing which was a real pain in the a$$ because my renewal popped up just after the crash.

igglou

PeakOutput wrote: »

that is wrong your bonus is split into accidental damage and third party what you described would affect the accidental damage portion of your ncb. this affect would be alot smaller than if a third party was involved though


ugggh old thread never mind sorry

My mother-in-law genuinely claimed for this after her car was damaged in a car park a few weeks ago. It didn't affect her NCB.