Rear Ended!!!

Jood

Hey guys, just a quick one, I was rear ended this afternoon unfortunately. A van stopped suddenly 3 cars on front of me, we all managed to stop but the guy behind me didnt and went straight into the back of me, he didnt accept liability when the guard came along so what happens now. I have reported the accident to his insurance company and they said that they'll get back to me, so what happens now will his insurance pay out to fix my car???

Mr. Presentable

By law he is required to leave enough space to be able to stop should the vehicle in front of him do so. He is also required to pay full attention. In other words, regardless of what he says, if he hit you from behind he is culpable. Let the insurance companies sort it out between them - his should pay up ultimately.

Marcus.Aurelius

If the van was making an illegal right turn, then it's the van drivers negligence and his insurance company would have to fork out. I imagine this is very rare. If your guy just was too close or absent minded, then it is his fault. Don't worry about it, insurance companies say never to admit fault at a scene. He will have to submit his version to his ins company, and you will submit one to your company.

The two assessors meet and blame is apportioned. Rear ending someone nearly always puts you in the wrong. You should be grand.

Seth Brundle

I was rear ended about two months ago. There was no contest at all. I got my money about a month ago!
It is very unlikley that his insurance company will try to fight. Take enough pics etc. of your car and get your own professional assessment done on it. If you need to pay for doctors, hire car, whatever, then keep all receipts etc for your claim.

what_car

Jood wrote:

Hey guys, just a quick one, I was rear ended this afternoon unfortunately. A van stopped suddenly 3 cars on front of me, we all managed to stop but the guy behind me didnt and went straight into the back of me, he didnt accept liability when the guard came along so what happens now. I have reported the accident to his insurance company and they said that they'll get back to me, so what happens now will his insurance pay out to fix my car???

this is really simple. you stopped on the road, in traffic, a car ran up your rear
case closed he is 100% liable, and he has to pay.

if you read your insurance docs it says when you are in a crash never to admit liability!

make sure you write down your account of what happened and include pictures and or sketches of the situation then fax it to the insurance company so they are 100% clear!..

this happened to me before... when i asked the garda he said his report would say "that my car was struck from behind". and the chap that ran into me from behind had to pay all..

dont worry!

MarkR

What they said. The driver behind you did not leave himself enough time / space to stop. If he did he wouldn't be in this mess. As long as you have his details there should be no problem. An assessor should be out shortly. You may want to call his insurance company soon if they haven't contacted you to see what's happening.

Do you have any pictures? Not really needed in this case but always handy. I keep a disposable camera in my glove box. Last one was used when I got hit by a careless driver.

Seth Brundle

Given that the OPs question has been answered now, Im going to address this:

maoleary wrote:

If the van was making an illegal right turn, then it's the van drivers negligence and his insurance company would have to fork out.

In a queue of traffic, what the person up front is doing does not justify someone at the back not driving carefully. I honestly don't believe that this is correct information. If the van was making an illegal right turn then presumably the van would be either
* stopped, in which case all traffic behind should have stopped and/or preparing to stop
or
the van was making the turning manouvre in which case the traffic behind
should be stopped behind it or driving in such a manner that it will not be involved in a collision.
Either way I can't see a justification for rear ending someone just because white van man up front is turning.

bazz26

In most cases it is the person who runs into the back of you that is liable. They are supposed to be travelling at an appropriate speed and distance to be able to stop before hitting you.

Insurance companies will state that you never admit liability at the scene of an accident even if it seems 100% certain that you are liable.

More than likely your insurance company will deal directly with the other party's insurance company directly.

Seth Brundle

With my case, I notified my insurance company but there was no need for them to get involved unless the other partys company started messing with me.

Jood

Thanks everyone for your replies, I have to go and have an estimate done tomorrow so we'll see what happens after that.

Keith C

Make sure you notify your own insurance company to let them know what happened. It wont affect your NCB butgive them a heads up anyway, they'll advice you how to proceed.