Single vehicle RTA

hawkeye_bmr

My partner was in a crash and not sure what we need to do now as never dealt with this before.

Single vehicle, lost control on wet oily bend and flipped onto its side, ended up in the ditch. Thankfully no injuries apart from a bit of whiplash and bruising.

Car is a write-off, roof cut off to get her out safely.

She is named driver on the insurance, but it's only TPFT, car value is only e1000 and the excess is e500.

Another motorist phoned for ambulance etc when he came across the scene.
The Garda attend the incident organised the removal of the car.

What happens/needs to be done next as I'm clueless?!

I've a feeling there's a hefty bill on its way...

CiniO

AFAIR most TPFT policies would cover fire brigade charges which possibly could apply for cutting the roof to get her out.

I don't think there are any charges for ambulance or garda attendance.

Only thing which you might be asked to pay is removal of vehicle/towing, but I can't imagine it being big sum. (and that's only provided your insurance doesn't cover it).

Toyotafanboi

There'l be a bill for the fire service and towing the wreck afaik.

I once had my crashed car towed by the gardai, was around €300 + daily storage iirc. No idea what the fire service will charge.

I'd say it's still not in your best interest to claim.

Hope the other half is ok and not too shook

Del2005

Hope you're better half is OK, it can take a while for the adrenaline to wear off and the pains to start.

You'll get a nasty bill for the fire brigade and ambulance, not sure if you're TPFT insurance will cover it.

Since you only have TPFT you can't claim for your written off car. If the car was recovered you'll need to contact an Authorised Vehicle End of Life company to arrange scrappage as there may be storage charges.
.

Mycroft H

There will be no bill for the HSE ambulance.

bazz26

You would want to find out what recovery service removed the car and where it is located as aside from the recovery service they may well charge a daily storage fee on top of that.

savagethegoat

I think you can forget your insurance, any costs will be coming your way. Third Party Fire and Theft doesn't cover you in any way for a single vehicle accident.

Your only hope lies in your "wet and oily bend" statement

fepper

Fire brigade charge per hour,maybe cutting and gas usage extra,hse free

_Kaiser_

You have to admit though, charging for the fire brigade to attend a scene like that (ie: not a nuisance/time-wasting callout which would be a different matter) and then sending someone a bill after is ridiculous! What do we pay insurance, or even taxes, for?

hawkeye_bmr

Just been on to the insurance company, they wont cover any cost for fire brigade or recovery truck. No claims not affected so we just ring them with details of new car (once we get one sorted).

They would have covered recovery costs if I rang them to organise it, but not for this as the Garda had arranged it.

Seriously, who would be thinking of that at a stressful time, my main concern was that my partner was ok.

I also agree with _Kaiser_ , its not like they weren't needed, surely that's what taxes should pay for!

savagethegoat

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

You have to admit though, charging for the fire brigade to attend a scene like that (ie: not a nuisance/time-wasting callout which would be a different matter) and then sending someone a bill after is ridiculous! What do we pay insurance, or even taxes, for?

Well in this case, he didn't pay his insurance for it, did he.

I agree about taxes though, it shouldn't be the case that someone might risk life or property trying to deal with an incident themselves rather than risk a fire brigade bill.

Del2005

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

You have to admit though, charging for the fire brigade to attend a scene like that (ie: not a nuisance/time-wasting callout which would be a different matter) and then sending someone a bill after is ridiculous! What do we pay insurance, or even taxes, for?

Even better is that because they charge for chimney fires people don't bother calling and try to tackle it themselves, it usually escalates quickly. So what could have been dealt with by a fire person and an extinguisher now needs 2 engines and maybe a tanker. But the civil servant who thought up the charges can't be fired or reprimanded so everyone suffers.

hawkeye_bmr

Got onto the recovery company today, came to e125 so wasn't as bad as I was expecting, signed over the wreck to them to save the hassle of taking it to the scrapyard.

Hopefully I can get a refund on the unused tax

Miike

Rescue services (Fire brigade) service charge is €500. Towing will be in the 100-200 region with added per day of storage. HSE & Gardai are free.

savagethegoat

hawkeye_bmr wrote: »

Got onto the recovery company today, came to e125 so wasn't as bad as I was expecting, signed over the wreck to them to save the hassle of taking it to the scrapyard.

Hopefully I can get a refund on the unused tax

'm not sure but I think you'll need a cert of destruction to get the tax back

CiniO

hawkeye_bmr wrote: »

Got onto the recovery company today, came to e125 so wasn't as bad as I was expecting, signed over the wreck to them to save the hassle of taking it to the scrapyard.

Hopefully I can get a refund on the unused tax

If you signed ownership of the car (filled last page of logbook) to the recovery company, you won't get any tax back. They might.

hawkeye_bmr

Just an update on this if anyone needs to know what the outcome was...

Received the fire brigade bill,, a shocking €960.
Then received A&E charge, standard €100.
On top of the I had already paid for the recovery of the car, €125.

Got in touch with insurance and got it all taken care of as part of the policy benefits, even though it was TPFT.

As there was no property damage and no one else involved, these fell under claim costs and there was no affect to my NCB.

I think it was due to not having any claims for damage/injuries that saved the NCB.

Other half is recovering well, still some tenderness in shoulders and back, but hopefully it will heal with time.

Seth Brundle

hawkeye_bmr wrote: »

Just an update on this if anyone needs to know what the outcome was...

Received the fire brigade bill,, a shocking €960.
Then received A&E charge, standard €100.
On top of the I had already paid for the recovery of the car, €125.

Got in touch with insurance and got it all taken care of as part of the policy benefits, even though it was TPFT.

As there was no property damage and no one else involved, these fell under claim costs and there was no affect to my NCB.

I think it was due to not having any claims for damage/injuries that saved the NCB.

Other half is recovering well, still some tenderness in shoulders and back, but hopefully it will heal with time.

Good result, glad to hear herself is on the mend.
Bear in mind when ringing around for insurance next year they will ask about "any accidents, claims or convictions" and you must say yes. Be sure to mention that it was but check if yours counts as a non-payout claim.

Special Circumstances

Not a bad outcome considering, pity about the whiplash dragging on.

Has she had anyone express surprise at the "whole imaginary whiplash" thing yet? A lot of people believe this stuff is only put on, which of course makes no sense at all in this situation where there is no "money for jam" involved. They firmly believe that the human cervical spine is perfectly evolved and adapted to see its way through these type of shunts.

"Whiplash doesn't exist" they'll say "€500 euro max compensation, and a funt in the hole for free".

It's amazing how ignorant some people are of fairly common sense physics and physiology.

I'm guessing your partner would gladly pay €500 out of her own pocket if the soreness after the day is preventing a proper nights sleep.

HiGlo

Interesting.

I was in a similar single vehicle crash myself about 2 years ago (car didn't flip or anything, thank god! just a few spins). My car lost control in oil on the road from an earlier truck crash.

There was an ambulance called but a firebrigde responded first so they were there too. I was charged €100 for the ambulance but never got any bill for the fire brigade. I'm not sure if that's because they weren't specifically called, I dunno. I was also charged €350 by the hospital as apparently it's a standard charge for RTA's. I replied to them to explain that I wasn't claiming any personal injury so that charge was waived.
I was charged I think €175 for the removal of the car and "storing it" until I got sorted with the insurance co.

I wonder how come there was no charge for me with the Fire brigade.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear that you partner is ok. I'm sure it was an awful shock for her.

MarkR

Maybe the fire brigade bill is the insurance rate. See if you can bargain it down?

robtri

MarkR wrote: »

Maybe the fire brigade bill is the insurance rate. See if you can bargain it down?

why?? Op says all taken care of by Insurance company...

Voodoomelon

hawkeye_bmr, glad to hear your wife is recovering, some big bills alright. Ambulances never incur a charge (not sure why the other chap above was), but €100 is standard for A&E as you know.

Not to take away from the accident, but do you know what brand and model tyre was on her car? I'm always curious to know what rubber a car was running when a supposed oily/fuel covered road is involved.

Odyssey 2005

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

You have to admit though, charging for the fire brigade to attend a scene like that (ie: not a nuisance/time-wasting callout which would be a different matter) and then sending someone a bill after is ridiculous! What do we pay insurance, or even taxes, for?

There's was an accident locally a couple of months back. A small rigid truck left the road,struck a house railing and continued into the ditch. Was perfectly parked off the road and along the ditch. Was about 8 feet from the edge of the road. The driver thankfully wasn't injured.
There were five (5) fiber Gades at the scene ( directing traffic) for about eight hours. Tell me that's not riding the Insurance companies...

hawkeye_bmr

The tyres where Kingstar, dont no model or anything, they where already on the car when we bought it with probably 95% thread. At time of crash, thread was at a minimum 60%, as it was a very low use car, less than 100km/ week.

Four Phucs Ache

Thanks for updating, glad all is well and recovering.

In 99 had a single RTA involving ice and a gap called Sally.....no damage to car thanks to good Irish Heather beds but got a bill for 700 Irish pounds after they turned up, pulled the car out and an out of hours charge as it was 3 am.

I have no other experience with dealing with emergency services charges but add on 17 years inflation and the 960 euro seems possibly normal.

josip

hawkeye_bmr wrote: »

The tyres where Kingstar, dont no model or anything, they where already on the car when we bought it with probably 95% thread. At time of crash, thread was at a minimum 60%, as it was a very low use car, less than 100km/ week.

An earlier thread here about Kingstar.

Voodoomelon

hawkeye_bmr wrote: »

The tyres where Kingstar, dont no model or anything, they where already on the car when we bought it with probably 95% thread. At time of crash, thread was at a minimum 60%, as it was a very low use car, less than 100km/ week.

Thanks for updating. A high likelihood that the tyres were to blame assuming their was no fuel on the road; thread depth has nothing to do with it, they are unfortunately diabolical tyres. Many reports on the first page of Google alone of these tyres spinning out.

hawkeye_bmr

Yeah I know now that they are rubbish! Firestones on the new car, at least I know that make.

With all this talk of people driving around with below minimum depth on their tires, no E mark or older than 6 years old for NCT, there isn't much to stop these cheap "budget" tires being sold, even though they are terrible in wet weather....

Special Circumstances

Odyssey 2005 wrote: »

There's was an accident locally a couple of months back. A small rigid truck left the road,struck a house railing and continued into the ditch. Was perfectly parked off the road and along the ditch. Was about 8 feet from the edge of the road. The driver thankfully wasn't injured.
There were five (5) fiber Gades at the scene ( directing traffic) for about eight hours. Tell me that's not riding the Insurance companies...

That's not riding the insurance companies.

ThisRegard

HiGlo wrote: »

Interesting.

I was in a similar single vehicle crash myself about 2 years ago (car didn't flip or anything, thank god! just a few spins). My car lost control in oil on the road from an earlier truck crash.

There was an ambulance called but a firebrigde responded first so they were there too. I was charged €100 for the ambulance but never got any bill for the fire brigade. I'm not sure if that's because they weren't specifically called, I dunno. I was also charged €350 by the hospital as apparently it's a standard charge for RTA's. I replied to them to explain that I wasn't claiming any personal injury so that charge was waived.
I was charged I think €175 for the removal of the car and "storing it" until I got sorted with the insurance co.

I wonder how come there was no charge for me with the Fire brigade.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear that you partner is ok. I'm sure it was an awful shock for her.

If it was Dublin the ambulance and fire brigade are the same, fire brigade often get to the scene first if the ambulance is elsewhere.

MarkR

hawkeye_bmr wrote: »

Just been on to the insurance company, they wont cover any cost for fire brigade or recovery truck. No claims not affected so we just ring them with details of new car (once we get one sorted).

They would have covered recovery costs if I rang them to organise it, but not for this as the Garda had arranged it.

Seriously, who would be thinking of that at a stressful time, my main concern was that my partner was ok.

I also agree with _Kaiser_ , its not like they weren't needed, surely that's what taxes should pay for!

robtri wrote: »

why?? Op says all taken care of by Insurance company...

Sorry, had only seen first part when they said that the insurance would not cover it.

soc

HiGlo wrote: »

I was also charged €350 by the hospital as apparently it's a standard charge for RTA's. I replied to them to explain that I wasn't claiming any personal injury so that charge was waived.

And they say that average Joe is milking the insurance companies for every penny they can get and that's why premiums are on the rise....funny how no one mentions that government run organisations such as the HSE themselves are in fact guilty of this...this is ridiculous.