If I caused an accident...

randomway

I rear ended a company car last week after a car in front of it stopped suddenly for no reason. The driver of the car I crashed into took my details and wrote down his insurance number, the name, address and phone number of his company, but forgot to put down the reg number, drivers name and the insurance company's name. I was well shaken and just realized that I didn't take the reg number after got home from the doctor.
I called the number the next day, but the boss I was talking to didn't know about the incident and offered a call back... never called.

I called my insurance company to report the accident, a girl took my details, the details of the incident and said, they will call me back, but they didn't call me either.

Since I am at fault, and I had TP only insurance, I am not to keen to claim anything... do I have to push this case or is it the driver of the company car, who has to put a claim through? This was the first time I had an accident and I have no idea how to go about it... I don't want my insurance company to turn around and bring me to court for not putting more effort into reporting and following up this.

What do you think?

ball

randomway wrote: »

I don't want my insurance company to turn around and bring me to court for not putting more effort into reporting and following up this.

They're hardly gonna take action against you if a claim isn't put on your insurance.
Since the other person took your details, I'd imagine the company would contact your insurers.

Since it's a company car, there will be delays (driver will have to fill out a form for company, company send form to broker, broker sends form to insurer etc.)

But usually if your insurers don't hear anything after around 6 months, they will close off the claim and if your renewal hasn't come around in that time, your policy won't be effected

Nforce

randomway wrote: »

I rear ended a company car last week after a car in front of it stopped suddenly for no reason.

In other words..........you were tailgating :rolleyes:. The onus is on you to keep a safe distance from the car in front of you.

tossy

Nforce wrote: »

In other words..........you were tailgating :rolleyes:. The onus is on you to keep a safe distance from the car in front of you.

Oh no here we go the holier than thou crowd have arrived! i think the guy might realise a mistake was made,the post title is not "i rear ended a car what was i doing wrong?" he is in a spot of bother and looking for advice,you telling him he was tailgating and advising him to do a decade of the rosary as penance is not what he needs!

Nforce

No...what he needs is a course of driving lessons.
I don't claim to be Ireland's greatest driver, though I've 30 years of driving experience and have driven for a living doing around 80k miles a year for over 13 years, so I think that i'm fairly well qualified to say that driving up the arse of a car is not a clever thing.

PS. the OP appears to be blaming the fact that a car stopped suddenly "for no reason".......what difference does that make? The fact still remains that the company car in front of him could stop in time to avoid a rear end shunt, but he could not...as he was tailgating

x in the city

driving into someone arse can happen to anyone in all sort of unfortunate incidents

the law just have it basically made that if you drive into someone though titty. doesn't matter if the driver in front had cardiac arrest or if they had a mother of all sneezes and blasted on the brakes, your fault sir.

some ass in citywest a few years ago decided to come to a complete halt in the main roundie there and absolutely no one around in any direction.

i hate clowns who cant negotiate roundabouts at all

anyway good luck with your incident

congo_90

Nforce wrote: »

In other words..........you were tailgating :rolleyes:. The onus is on you to keep a safe distance from the car in front of you.

Naturally its wrong to tailgate. your Alledging the driver tailgated or are you a witness? Either way perhaps the driver took his eyes off the road to adjust the radio etc and lost the precious time in a safe braking distance.. Anyways back on topic.
Op you've done All the right things but here this:write down the exact time, date, phone number and person you spoke to. This will be useful if the driver escalates the claim. You've rang your insurer and the claimant so you've done your duties as an honest driver.

Sorry to hear about the crash. Is your/their car badly damaged?

Random

Your best option OP is to report it to your insurance company with as much information as you have available and let them take it from there.

As you are at fault (from what you've said) you don't have much involvement really once you give your version of events to your insurance company.

Ask them if they want to look at the damage to your car before getting it fixed but I doubt they will if it was all very straight forward.

Your insurance company will deal with the other person from there and you'll look after your own damages to your car, if you want to.

coolbeans

Nforce wrote: »

No...what he needs is a course of driving lessons.
I don't claim to be Ireland's greatest driver, though I've 30 years of driving experience and have driven for a living doing around 80k miles a year for over 13 years, so I think that i'm fairly well qualified to say that driving up the arse of a car is not a clever thing.

PS. the OP appears to be blaming the fact that a car stopped suddenly "for no reason".......what difference does that make? The fact still remains that the company car in front of him could stop in time to avoid a rear end shunt, but he could not...as he was tailgating

You're about as helpful as a stab wound do you know that? The guy came on here looking for some advice after an accident which he never implied was not his fault. Pointing out the bleeding obvious serves nobody's interests but the self satisfied pedant in you.

Nforce

coolbeans wrote: »

You're about as helpful as a stab wound do you know that? The guy came on here looking for some advice after an accident which he never implied was not his fault. Pointing out the bleeding obvious serves nobody's interests but the self satisfied pedant in you.

randomway wrote: »

I rear ended a company car last week after a car in front of it stopped suddenly for no reason.

What does that sound like to you?

@congo_90 if you fail to maintain a safe distance between your car and the car in front it's a clear cut case of tailgating........doesn't matter if you're changing radio stations, adjusting seats or juggling bowling pins....that's the way it is.

L-M

Nforce wrote: »

What does that sound like to you?

***be nice!***, or else it was your company car that rear ended.

congo_90

Nforce wrote: »

What does that sound like to you?

@congo_90 if you fail to maintain a safe distance between your car and the car in front it's a clear cut case of tailgating........doesn't matter if you're changing radio stations, adjusting seats or juggling bowling pins....that's the way it is.

why would you juggle bowling pins?
on the flip side, yes safe distances work. I know from experience of both being rear ended and having a few near misses myself.
I admit that one time i was distracted trying to tune a station hence my mention and came close to a car infront (not too close, but enough for comfort) Also adjusting seats shouldn't be done while driving full stop.

Op. my advice is still the same.

coolbeans

Nforce wrote: »

What does that sound like to you?

@congo_90 if you fail to maintain a safe distance between your car and the car in front it's a clear cut case of tailgating........doesn't matter if you're changing radio stations, adjusting seats or juggling bowling pins....that's the way it is.

You'd need the patience of Job with people like you. The issue is not tailgating the issue is what is going to happen next. He gave the guy his details and is wondering how the other party will pursue the claim against him...it's irrelevant whether he was tailgating or not. In the eyes of the law he is wrong. He has not and is not denying this. You coming along with a smug cheap shot which is not helpful. Jeez!:eek:

To the OP. I think that you have done everything that could reasonably be expected of you given the circumstances. This will probably take a while to iron out. Get on with your life. **** happens. Good luck.

Esel

Nforce wrote: »

In other words..........you were tailgating :rolleyes:. The onus is on you to keep a safe distance from the car in front of you.

The Wise And Thoughtful poster.

randomway

I have almost 7 years driving experience, more than 80k miles, and this was my first accident. Yes, I was closer than I should have been, and my tyres were in very bad condition and it was raining... as I said, I was at fault, no question about that. Tell me you have never done tailgaiting on an angry Monday morning... Anyways, it's not about that, I wasn't looking for driving advice, the accident is enough lesson for me, thanks.
I could start with giving out for the girl who missed the exit on the motorway and had to stop in the middle of the road to think it over... it's just part of the story, that's why I mentioned it.

My car has been written off, the other car's rear bumper only just deformed a bit, it was a van with a huge steel bumper.

I guess I will call the insurance company again and give them all the details that I have and explain the situation, just to be safe.

Thanks for the sound advice.

Hi OP, sorry to hear about your accident. I hope you're ok.

I would be interested to know who your insurance company is? I would be concerned that they may pay out without informing you that they are doing so. Believe me, this does happen, with one insurance company in particular anyway. Then when you get your renewal they have hiked the price up by miles.

randomway

Deleted User wrote: »

Hi OP, sorry to hear about your accident. I hope you're ok.

I would be interested to know who your insurance company is? I would be concerned that they may pay out without informing you that they are doing so. Believe me, this does happen, with one insurance company in particular anyway. Then when you get your renewal they have hiked the price up by miles.

Hibernian.

That's the other thing, there will be no renewal, I am using a motorbike from now on... will I have to pay the insurance on the car for the rest of the year?

Well I don't think Hibernian are quite as back handed!

Sorry to hear about your car.

Yes you can claim back the remainder of the years insurance but they may charge an admin fee which could be big. But the short answer is you are allowed to cancel insurance. This may not be the case if there is a claim pending though, I'm not sure how that works.

Gonzales

tossy wrote: »

Oh no here we go the holier than thou crowd have arrived! i think the guy might realise a mistake was made,the post title is not "i rear ended a car what was i doing wrong?" he is in a spot of bother and looking for advice,you telling him he was tailgating and advising him to do a decade of the rosary as penance is not what he needs!

+1,000,000

Zube

Deleted User wrote: »

I would be concerned that they may pay out without informing you that they are doing so.

Of course his insurance company will pay out, they aren't going to waste a fortune defending this in court. They certainly don't have to ask the OP's permission.

If the OP was a loony, he could instruct them not to pay out, but when he loses the ensuing court case, he'd have to pay for the damage, costs and possibly whiplash for the driver in front himself: the insurance won't cover you if you insist on ignoring their legal people.

Zube

randomway wrote: »

What do you think?

One thing (from experience): if you get a visit from a friendly policeman, do not give him a statement. Talk to a solicitor first.

Zube

Zube wrote: »

Of course his insurance company will pay out, they aren't going to waste a fortune defending this in court. They certainly don't have to ask the OP's permission.

If the OP was a loony, he could instruct them not to pay out, but when he loses the ensuing court case, he'd have to pay for the damage, costs and possibly whiplash for the driver in front himself: the insurance won't cover you if you insist on ignoring their legal people.

oh I know that they will pay out, it's in your t's & c's that they can do it without informing you. I just meant that he wouldn't know about it until he got a shock at his renewal date. The problem with them paying out without telling you is that if the claimant reverses into a pole the next day they could easily claim for that damage too and the OP could never defend it. And the amount your insurance premium is raised by can be based on the amount paid out.

rocknchef

OP I think you have done all you can at the moment. sit back and let the insurance companies sort it out.

hope nobody was injured to serious

dade

Nforce wrote: »

What does that sound like to you?

@congo_90 if you fail to maintain a safe distance between your car and the car in front it's a clear cut case of tailgating........doesn't matter if you're changing radio stations, adjusting seats or juggling bowling pins....that's the way it is.

wonderful and how does that help the OP out? he's already said he may have been in the wrong, you posts are not helping him out with his problem, which in case you failed to notice is not (a) how do i get out of paying yup through some random loop hole (b) how do i pass the book onto the guy in front. no the OP is going to option (c) what do i do next, I've tried to trace the other driver, I've reported it to my insurance.

OP ignore Nforces helpfulness. from what i can see you've done all you can. you notified your insurance immediately, i presume you gave them all the details like yer mans insurance number etc. leave it with them to look after it's what they are paid for. here's to hoping the other guy's leg doesn't mysteriously fall off or he has some strange reoccurring back pain

Sorry to hear about your car by the way. hope it works out OK for you mate.

Seth Brundle

No more comments about the OPs driving skill or reaction to Nforce's post please! Get back on topic

randomway

rocknchef wrote: »

hope nobody was injured to serious

I have a lot of trouble with my ribs and back, but no one was hurt in the car that I crashed into.

Thanks all for the useful comments and for the driving advice.

Seth Brundle

randomway wrote: »

I have a lot of trouble with my ribs and back, but no one was hurt in the car that I crashed into.

Thanks all for the useful comments and for the driving advice.

Make sure that you are looked at properly. My neck still hurts (and possibly always will) from a similar accident a year ago (I was the one rear ended though). A car can be replaced, etc. but your health is your wealth!

rocknchef

as i said already worry about fixing yourself and let the insurance sort themselves out. and dont worry about the driving school brigade:rolleyes: if there were nobody making mistakes we would have nothing to give out about:D

randomway

randomway wrote: »

I have a lot of trouble with my ribs and back, but no one was hurt in the car that I crashed into.

Thanks all for the useful comments and for the driving advice.

get yourself to a doctor and make sure you're ok, it could get worse.

and as per rocknchef. If noone made mistakes noone would need insurance so ignore people on high horses, they'll fall off them some time!

randomway

rocknchef wrote: »

as i said already worry about fixing yourself and let the insurance sort themselves out. and dont worry about the driving school brigade:rolleyes: if there were nobody making mistakes we would have nothing to give out about:D

I understand their concern, but they are judging me by one occasion and I am not even the boy racer type with a Honda Civic or something, just a regular guy driving too close on a rainy morning... could happen to anyone.

And yes, in part I am angry with drivers stopping in the middle of the road just because they missed the exit on the motorway... I stopped or avoided many of these drivers before, changing lanes in the last second, stopping and reversing before an exit, etc... I was a fool on that morning.

I called the insurance co. again to ensure that they logged the incident, they said there was no claim against me so far.. I gave them all the details again and left the case with them so.
The longer it takes, the better for me, I'm kinda broke right now