Advice on Crash please

SD1990

hi all,

Last night i was driving down a hill where i live in the pissing rain and suddenly BANG.A car that was parked on the hill had pulled out and clipped me as i drove past it. I didnt stop straight away as i felt it was unsafe to do so as i was in traffic. I pulled in 20 metres from the incident and looked at the damage which is quite extensive. Then the car that had hit me, which i was told from 3 witnesses was a blue car with learner plates, drove away up the hill. By the time i turned around and pursued the car, it was gone.

Now i have a feeling that the car in question may have been a resident on the hill so there is still hope that i will find it.

Here are the few problems. My car is currently not NCT'd and due to this, at the time, i thought it best not to the ring the gardai.

If i find the car and it is insured am i entitled to full compensation for the damage? Which i reckon would include a new door, side panel, rear arch panel and bumper.

Please post advice on my situation and critisms on my actions if you can back them with a solution. Thanks

jaffa20

Did you get the details of the witnesses? Otherwise, the driver could just deny liability.

mathepac

Major mistake not to inform the Guards. If the car / driver cannot be traced you may have weakened your position in relation to an MIBI claim.

Will your witnesses be willing to make statements to the Guards and support your version of events? Did you get their names and addresses? The Guards take a dim view of people who leave the scene of an accident (don't forget you left as well).

If you have witness statements and a Garda report / PULSE incident number etc you should have enough to sustain a claim against either the other driver's insurance or the MIBI, but do something now, you've wasted enough time.

crow_eat_crow

AFAIK MIBI is only for personal injuries

ravima

go immediately to gardai and report. Visit locus and see if there is any debris left at the scene. Amazingly, you might find a number plate or glass and there may be paint marks on your own car.

Even with glass and paint, Gardai can check for similar coloured makes being repaired.

mathepac

crow_eat_crow wrote: »

AFAIK MIBI is only for personal injuries

Read the content on the site I linked to - plugs the gaps in your knowledge-base.

C4Kid

This is just my opinion and there is no offence intended,

You said You were going down a hill in the rain in a car that hasn't been certified to be on the road, Not the safest situation imo.:(

You have learnt an usual lesson for not NCT'ing You vehice, You had a minor crash through little or no fault of Your own but it wasn't worth calling the Guards because You had no NCT and the other driver dissappeared.

My advice: Keep your car roadworthy for the safety of both Yourself and other roadusers;)

SD1990

Thanks for replies all.

I have investigated the scene and did at the time after the other driver disappeared. There was no evidence on the road that i could see/find. The rain of hell definetly didnt help there. But there is extensive blue paint markings on my car where the damage is and i have taken a sample of this and stored it.

AFAIK a car can be identified from this? Well the model and year anyway.

The witnesses were very reluctant. They were not irish and were getting soaked so they literally said "she hit you she was a learner driver in a blue car" word for word and left. The paint confirms that. I had a friend in the car at the time who recalls the same series of events as me.

If i find the car that did this i think the paint would be enough to put fault on them and it is obvious she hit me.

Regarding the roadworthyness of my car, just because it is not NCT'd doesnt mean it is not roadworthy. My car is (was!) in great nick. But i agree with you i should have NCT'd it a long time ago and alot, if not all of this could of been avoided.

loobylou

mathepac wrote: »

Read the content on the site I linked to - plug the gaps in your knowledge-base.

As far as I can see from that link, MIBI will not compensate the OP for property damage caused by an unidentified driver unless "there are significant personal injuries arising from the same accident".

mathepac

SD1990 wrote: »

... AFAIK a car can be identified from this? Well the model and year anyway. ...

Too many episode of CSI I suspect

Nonoperational

I'd say you have a slim to zero chance of getting any satisfaction here. I can't imagine that the blue paint you took a sample of is any use. There is no proof you took that sample from your car at the time you said you did. Your not a guard so taking and storing samples will probably do you no good.

You basically ruined any chance you had when you didn't call the guards straight away. You have no solid witness, no reg, no proof of the time or even date the supposed crash happened... you have nothing except a paint sample and your word.

I'd be amazed if the guards even bothered investigating. In fact I'd say they won't. If you think they will take your paint sample and based simply on your word analyse it and determine what car it came from then you have definitely been watching too much CSI!

kirving

It could be done, just an unblieveibly massive amount of work.

Isn't that why investigators dealing with Princess Diana's death suspect the Merc was hit by a mysterious Fiat Uno.

SD1990

I still believe a third party can identify the make of this car with a paint sample.

By chance if i find the car, do i have a good chance of success then? If the paint is matched surely i do?

Nonoperational

It can be done but I'd be surprised if the guards would do it.

Say you go to the guards after finding the car, what happens if the driver says you hit them?

wmpdd3

If there are business' on the hill or in the vicinity they may have cctv of a blue car leaving the area, if you ask really nicely they may look into it for you.

CiniO

C4Kid wrote: »

This is just my opinion and there is no offence intended,

You said You were going down a hill in the rain in a car that hasn't been certified to be on the road, Not the safest situation imo.:(

What not safe in it?
Going down the hill, driving in the rain, or not having NCT.
Neither of this has any impact on safety.
Hence, that he never said that car was not roadworthy.

You have learnt an usual lesson for not NCT'ing You vehice, You had a minor crash through little or no fault of Your own but it wasn't worth calling the Guards because You had no NCT and the other driver dissappeared.

Here's the point.
Probably it was worth calling the guards.

My advice: Keep your car roadworthy for the safety of both Yourself and other roadusers;)

Once again - not having NCT has nothing to do with roadworhiness of car.
For example in July I was forced to drive without NCT by Irish law for a while.
If I wasn't smart enough to get advice in this forum, and do some tricks with NCT booking centre, I probably wouldn't have NCT until now, and would have to drive my car without it for almost half year now.

djimi

SD1990 wrote: »

I still believe a third party can identify the make of this car with a paint sample.

By chance if i find the car, do i have a good chance of success then? If the paint is matched surely i do?

All paint transfer proves is that your car collided with another car. It doesnt tell who was at fault; what happens if the third party claims that it was in fact your car that hit theirs? Unless your witnesses are prepared to back you up then it becomes your word against theirs.

C4Kid

I was forced to drive without NCT by Irish law for a while.

I'm not surprised with the tone of your response. Nobody is forcing you to drive, get a bus

If you can't keep the car legal, NCT, tax, insurance, don't drive it. Why should you be an exception?

If I wasn't smart enough to get advice in this forum, and do some tricks with NCT booking centre,

I got my NCT without having to do tricks with the booking centre.

SD1990

went to the garda station and reported it. gave statement and details etc. he was very good about it and is sending a technical team out tomorrow to view the car and take a paint sample. he also said he will try and get a look at local busniess cctv.

I know what he says and what happens may be different but its worth a shot and at least i have the gards on my side now.

CiniO

C4Kid wrote: »

I'm not surprised with the tone of your response. Nobody is forcing you to drive, get a bus

Let me clarify few things.
1. I live in the area where is no buses or any other public transport. You are very lucky if you can get a taxi.
2. We live in 21 century, and normally everyone would expect to be able to drive newly bought car straight away. I wasn't.

If you can't keep the car legal, NCT, tax, insurance, don't drive it. Why should you be an exception?

I bought a car in Northern Ireland and imported it here.
Paid the VRT, registered it in Ireland, insured it, taxed it. All this in 2 days. Then I came upon NCT. I rang them to book an appointment, and was told nothing was available for the next 6 months, and that they don't do booking above 6 months, so there is nothing available at all.
Pretty much it meant for me, that I couldn't legally drive my car which didn't have NCT, and I couldn't NCT it, as there was no booking available. So I couldn't do anything.
Hence, that imported car after registering in Ireland becomes liable for NCT straight away. But NCT can be booked couple of days after registration, and waiting times for booking are a joke. Do you find it as an fairly law?

If I wanted to obey that law, I would have to wait for probably half a year with my car waiting on my driveway, before I could start using it.
Considering point 1. above it was absolutely impossible, as it would probably mean I would die of hunger.

I got my NCT without having to do tricks with the booking centre.

Fair play to you.
I did it as well before with other car, when I could book my NCT early enough.
But as you see in example above, not always it's possible.
In that case only a trick saved me from driving a car for half a year illegally. I managed to shorten that period to about 2 weeks.


Are you still surpriced with the tone of my responce?

mathepac

loobylou wrote: »

As far as I can see from that link, MIBI will not compensate the OP for property damage caused by an unidentified driver unless "there are significant personal injuries arising from the same accident".

There's a variety of schemes and agreements depending on whether the offending car / driver is identified but uninsured or unidentified and whether the claim is for property / vehicular damage and / or personal injuries. It's complex, but unless OP makes an application with supporting statements and information within the timescales allowed the chances of a successful claim are zero.

TouchingVirus

Is it not a problem that legally the OP shouldn't have been driving at the time of the incident? Legally speaking the car was not roadworthy, it hadn't passed it's NCT test. Also, unless the driver buried into your door you probably just need a good panel beater - you don't sound like you've been involved in accidents before but I expect you'll be quite amazed with what those lads can do :P

-Chris-

@C4Kid - I think your sentiments (while possibly correct), are possibly misplaced in this thread and are dragging it off topic.

Can we all try to keep relatively to the issue at hand?

Thanks

-Chris-

@C4Kid - I think your sentiments (while possibly correct), are possibly misplaced in this thread and are dragging it off topic.

Can we all try to keep relatively to the issue at hand?

Thanks