Rights after car collision?

Denalihighway

Hello all.
I'd to know one's rights should the following happen

Assuming the following:
- My car was hit while stationary and while I wasn't in it
- the other driver is assuming full responsibility

My assumption would be that I can approach my car dealer and have the car restored fully to the pre-collision condition. I'm a decent person and I would assume this is what I should expect - no more no less.

Or is it more complicated and can the person at fault require quotations or have any sway on who I might deal with regarding the repairs etc? The dealer in question is where I bought the car and they would be middle of the road as far as prices would go, more importantly I know they would do a good job.

I'm just wondering what the situation is should the person want to play hard-ball.

Many thanks for replies.

UrbanFox

Assume that there is no question of write off.

You can have your car repaired by Jack the Ripper if you want. The other party has utterly no say in where your car gets repaired.

You are not obliged to get a second estimate. You just tell him that this is the estimate, take it or leave it.

You are not obliged to take it anywhere suggested by the other party even if he offers to have it repaired fully at no cost to you. In fact, never have anything to do with such arrangements as they are usually well dodgy.

Make sure to recover all that you are entitled to.i.e. depreciation (if relevant), car hire and so on.

If the other party shows any signs of messing you around stop dealing with him and go directly to his insurance company.

Even if you are getting on with the other party you still need his insurance details. If the accident happened in a public place you are entitled to his insurance details as well as confirmation of ownership of the vehicle if it is not the driver's vehicle. If there is any messing about this report him to the Gardai who should be able to get the information for you.

If a person does not give you insurance details there is a fair bet that they are not insured or that they are hiding the accident from their insurers or their boss if it is a company car !!!!!

Denalihighway

music to my ears.
Thanks a mill

5500

UrbanFox wrote: »

Make sure to recover all that you are entitled to.i.e. depreciation (if relevant), car hire and so on.

Have you any idea what the scope is for depreciation,are you legally entitled to it?

Does it relate to how long you have owned a car or the year of the car?

PjC

It depends in the type of claim...

If the third party is settleing with you directly you are not obliged to provide any more than one estimate from the garage of your chioce. Be it main dealer of family friend. However this estimate must be justified and supported.

But...

If the third party is settling throught his insurance company you will have to provide evidance of the damage and repair, and sometimes photgraphs will not be enough for the insurers engineer. In this case the safest route is to leave the car un-repaired and request the third parties insurer sends an engineer to inspect the car in its damaged state. Then the engineer will arrange for a approved garage to repair the car, once you are satisfied with this repair the car will be released to you.

Would you know I worked in a claims department for 2 years? :rolleyes: lol

5500

One of my friends is having hassle at the moment with a company trying to claim depreciation,she has the car 2months but its a 03.Market value is 23k and there was 7ks worth of damage done by there party.

She asked if she was entitled to depreciation and they said shes not legally entitled to any as the car is 5 years old regardless of the damage caused but she thought she would have seen as shes going to have to sell it cheaper when the time comes due to the damage that was caused

Del2005

eireal wrote: »

One of my friends is having hassle at the moment with a company trying to claim depreciation,she has the car 2months but its a 03.Market value is 23k and there was 7ks worth of damage done by there party.

She asked if she was entitled to depreciation and they said shes not legally entitled to any as the car is 5 years old regardless of the damage caused but she thought she would have seen as shes going to have to sell it cheaper when the time comes due to the damage that was caused

You don't have to sell it cheaper cause it's been crashed. Once the repairs are done to manufactures standard then it's as good as new, make sure they are done good. Many a new car has had loads of work done and no-one is told.

And don't forgot that if the perspective buyer doesn't ask don't tell.

liz72

Hi could anyone shed a light on this?A guy on a moped crashed into front of my car.He was on wrong side of road over white lines.I have two witnesses.However he is blaming me.I have put in a claim against him but now he is trying to claim me?That was a month ago and my car still ot fixed.Could this go to court?

dK1NG

UrbanFox wrote: »

If the other party shows any signs of messing you around stop dealing with him and go directly to his insurance company.

Hypothetically, of course: but what if you cannot get insurance details (if they even exist), even after the boys in blue are involved?

Say a person crashes a car into yours while stationery but does a runner. Police called. The problem then is getting details from the G.S., made worse by the fact that the owner of the other car (who was not the driver) does not appear to have insurance.....

McCrack

The Gardai wont have a problem with this. They will give you the registered owners details including the drivers insurance details (if any). I mean essentially it's a criminal matter if somebody hits your car and drives away (insurance or no insurance).

This actually happened to my brother a couple years ago, his car was parked and some ****head in a van hit it and drove off. Somebody had seen this and got the reg, brother contacted the Garda and they passed onto my brother his details and the Garda contacted the driver himself too...

dK1NG

The problem, however, is that the reg'd owner was not the driver. The criminal process would not help the affected party to be reimbursed for the damage done to his/ her car.

McCrack

There is a presumption in law that the registered owner is the driver, the onus shifts onto the registered owner to state who was driving his vehicle if it's involved in an accident/offence if he himself wasnt the driver, otherwise he is accountable for any Fixed Penalty Notice/Summons and consequent legal action.

dK1NG

Again, hypothetically of course:

Say after a few months the gardai come back and say the owner claims the vehicle was stolen, and to deal with the matter through MIBI....

Does the car owner have any other options there? The other car was uninsured, so no way of getting satisfaction through the owner. Would there be any way/ point of following this issue up with the G.S. - ie asking is any action being taken against that person for having no insurance (really bitter at this stage:o).

Lets say its not about the money - especially as an excess will apply to any clain via MIBI - but the fact that the boys in blue took six months here (only geting info after complaining to the Superintendent). Basically, its just a case of let it go at this stage I s'pose?!:(