Advice on accident

SteelyDanJalapeno

Hi All,

Just looking for some advice as I've never been in this position before.

I left my car parked over night on hotel property on a double yellow line, when I went to pick it up this morning I got a nice shock of the front passenger wing is broke, front bumper needs to be replaced, passenger mirror broke and the passenger door is damaged. It turns out that a bus driver caught it while passing collecting party goers. His company are accepting full responsibility and are very apologetic etc.

I've informed my insurance company and they have told me that everything will be going through the bus insurance but that they would make a note of it.

So I guess as I've never really been in this position so wondering what I should do next.

The car is 162 and perfect so obviously I need it back to the state it was before, the guy that runs the bus company asked do I know any panel beaters ffs. Should I be the one to initiate the repair and temp car etc and send him the bill?

The other thing is he also needs pictures so he can assess himself aswel, I'm clearly parked on a double yellow line in the pics I have, I know this shouldn't be any excuse for their driver hitting me but I rather not go down that argument so I'm thinking of taking more pictures elsewhere back at home.

Thanks in advance.

Toyotafanboi

I doubt they'll be looking to argue with you. Paying for a few minor collisions a year is a calculated operating cost for any truck/ bus operator. I'd expect the company will settle it outside of insurance.

It's your entitlement to chose your repairer.

Get an estimate for repair from your chosen repairer, ask the repairer to pass that estimate to the bus company and the bus company will pay the repairer directly. This is probably the cleanest way to do it although there are other ways.

You will be entitled to a courtesy car for the duration of repair, this will be included on the estimate and provided by the body shop and invoiced as part of the repair.

If it's a 162 and you want a good repair you can always go back to your main dealer to get them to handle the work. They may sub contract it but you can be sure there will be genuine parts used and no expense spared or if you post your general location you could get recommendations on here for a good independent in your area.

E30i

My advice to you is to be straight on this and take the Pics in the position the car is in. The Insurance company will access if the positioning is a contributory factor in the incident and decide accordingly.

Not a lot you can do about that and it may be a factor but moving the car and taking pics elsewhere would I expect arouse greater scrutiny.

I'm sure they will be taking a statement off the bus driver anyway so it will come out.

Best of luck getting sorted.

SteelyDanJalapeno

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I doubt they'll be looking to argue with you. Paying for a few minor collisions a year is a calculated operating cost for any truck/ bus operator. I'd expect the company will settle it outside of insurance.

It's your entitlement to chose your repairer.

Get an estimate for repair from your chosen repairer, ask the repairer to pass that estimate to the bus company and the bus company will pay the repairer directly. This is probably the cleanest way to do it although there are other ways.

You will be entitled to a courtesy car for the duration of repair, this will be included on the estimate and provided by the body shop and invoiced as part of the repair.

If it's a 162 and you want a good repair you can always go back to your main dealer to get them to handle the work. They may sub contract it but you can be sure there will be genuine parts used and no expense spared or if you post your general location you could get recommendations on here for a good independent in your area.

Cheers, he's already said that they would usually sort anything under 1k themselves. I will go back to my main dealer so and have them assess.

E30i

TiltedBrain wrote: »

Cheers, he's already said that they would usually sort anything under 1k themselves. I will go back to my main dealer so and have them assess.

Damage you describe will run to a lot more than 1K at a main dealer

SteelyDanJalapeno

E30i wrote: »

My advice to you is to be straight on this and take the Pics in the position the car is in. The Insurance company will access if the positioning is a contributory factor in the incident and decide accordingly.

Not a lot you can do about that and it may be a factor but moving the car and taking pics elsewhere would I expect arouse greater scrutiny.

I'm sure they will be taking a statement off the bus driver anyway so it will come out.

Best of luck getting sorted.

Yeah I'm not worried about where it was parked, there's no excuse for hitting a parked car. I just didn't want the owner to see what he might think is an out and drag his heels.

I've got some close up pics of that damage where it's parked that I can share.

bear1

The car was parked on double yellows? Could their insurance company counter argue that negligent parking caused the issue?
Hope you get it sorted quickly and not left out of pocket btw just thinking aloud.

SteelyDanJalapeno

E30i wrote: »

Damage you describe will run to a lot more than 1K at a main dealer

Yeah agreed, I think I need front bumper, 1 headlight, front wing, mirror and repair door or maybe replace. And asses for any chassis damage.

But either way the process would be the same So? Have it assessed and bring this to him or his insurer?

Toyotafanboi

The thing is if you've damage across 3x panels, no matter how light, that'll easily go north of €1k.

In that case I'd be preparing to go the insurance route.

The process remains the same though, you still chose the repairer, still entitled to replacement vehicle etc you just pass the estimate to the insurance company instead of the bus company.

The insurance company may try to encourage you to one of their "approved repairers" which you can choose if you wish but the reality is you have the final say so if you're not happy then don't settle.

The double yellow lines shouldn't affect anything. Your car was parked so the liability will stand with the bus.

SteelyDanJalapeno

bear1 wrote: »

The car was parked on double yellows? Could their insurance company counter argue that negligent parking caused the issue?
Hope you get it sorted quickly and not left out of pocket btw just thinking aloud.

The way I see it is there's no excuse to hit a parked car, anyway these lines were on private property. They don't mean anything

ebbsy

Get a solicitor.

Toyotafanboi

ebbsy wrote: »

Get a solicitor.

It's a pretty cut and dry case I don't think there's a need, personally.

bear1

TiltedBrain wrote: »

The way I see it is there's no excuse to hit a parked car, anyway these lines were on private property. They don't mean anything

Wouldn't the lines mean no parking regardless?
The damage you mention on a 1 year old car will be way north of 1k so be prepared that this will take longer than usual.
Especially with Christmas and New year's coming.

Caranica

I hope you don't have the same insurance company as the bus company. If so they will do everything they can to avoid paying out. Good luck getting this sorted asap

bear1

ebbsy wrote: »

Get a solicitor.

For What? All that do is cause a ball ache for the op and cause the costs the rise.
Bus company admitted liability so suddenly getting a solicitor involved would piss them off I think.
Now if they began to play the smart ass then it's a different story.

Del2005

TiltedBrain wrote: »

The way I see it is there's no excuse to hit a parked car, anyway these lines were on private property. They don't mean anything

Depends where the car is parked, double yellow lines are used to indicate places where it's dangerous to park and the only danger a parked car is usually in is being hit by another vehicle. The lines mean nothing but the position of the two vehicles does and the OP parked somewhere that they shouldn't have.

SteelyDanJalapeno

bear1 wrote: »

Wouldn't the lines mean no parking regardless?
The damage you mention on a 1 year old car will be way north of 1k so be prepared that this will take longer than usual.
Especially with Christmas and New year's coming.

Agree on the damage yeah, and as long as i get a temp car it doesn't matter to me how long it takes on repair.

I'd expect them to be fully responsible even if I was on a street and they hit me tbh. On public roads I may be due a fine for parking on double yellow lines but that would be a separate case to the crash.

On private property in the hotel to me, they mean the hotel don't want me to park there.

SteelyDanJalapeno

Anyway, the whole lines discussion is really a side bar, they have fully admitted liability and I'd assume the driver would have saw the lines anyway.

My main op has been answered on the process, thanks

E30i

TiltedBrain wrote: »

Anyway, the whole lines discussion is really a side bar, they have fully admitted liability and I'd assume the driver would have saw the lines anyway.

My main op has been answered on the process, thanks

Best of luck with this, it isn't this forum or yourself that you need to convince, the Insurance Company will have their own criteria and will make their initial assessment accordingly. You might then need to challenge this assessment.

Please keep us posted as I expect your experience will be useful to other people.

Sue Pa Key Pa

Caranica wrote: »

I hope you don't have the same insurance company as the bus company. If so they will do everything they can to avoid paying out. Good luck getting this sorted asap

Rubbish. A claim is just a claim to insurance companies. If you think a claim handler is going to act the maggot and risk escalating a straightforward matter over a couple of grand, you're mistaken.

EazyD

Caranica wrote: »

I hope you don't have the same insurance company as the bus company. If so they will do everything they can to avoid paying out. Good luck getting this sorted asap

That's simply not true.

bear1

Caranica wrote: »

I hope you don't have the same insurance company as the bus company. If so they will do everything they can to avoid paying out. Good luck getting this sorted asap

This makes no sense.

Caranica

Sue Pa Key Pa wrote: »

Rubbish. A claim is just a claim to insurance companies. If you think a claim handler is going to act the maggot and risk escalating a straightforward matter over a couple of grand, you're mistaken.

I've been there! Fought the company but couldn't afford to go legal so had to suck up the repair costs. Was told off the record that they'd have paid out if I had a different insurer. Will never ever give that company business again.

bear1

Caranica wrote: »

I've been there! Fought the company but couldn't afford to go legal so had to suck up the repair costs. Was told off the record that they'd have paid out if I had a different insurer. Will never ever give that company business again.

And you think there is no chance of being in a crash with someone who uses the same company again?

ford2600

Just to complicate matters...

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1963/act/7/enacted/en/print#sec6

SteelyDanJalapeno

ford2600 wrote: »

Just to complicate matters...

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1963/act/7/enacted/en/print#sec6

Hmmm, the manager on duty was very quick to say we don't get involved in these types of things, maybe makes sense now we he said that.

EazyD

Caranica wrote: »

I've been there! Fought the company but couldn't afford to go legal so had to suck up the repair costs. Was told off the record that they'd have paid out if I had a different insurer. Will never ever give that company business again.

Insurers don't deny cover on the basis that the two drivers involved (both yourself and the Third Party) hold a policy with them. It just isn't true. You were likely denied cover for another reason (which without knowing the details no one can specify why).

Vic_08

TiltedBrain wrote: »

The way I see it is there's no excuse to hit a parked car, anyway these lines were on private property. They don't mean anything

The way I see it there is no excuse to abandon a car on double yellow lines.

Has it occurred to you that those lines are there specifically because large vehicles need the space to manoeuvre in?

Utterly selfish behaviour, personally I hope you get screwed over with this.

Cows Go µ

Vic_08 wrote: »

Utterly selfish behaviour, personally I hope you get screwed over with this.

They won't. If a parked car is hit then the moving car is always liable. The bus insurer could maybe argue that there was contributory negligence but in reality that's never going to happen.

This is as straightforward a case as an insurer can get. The op will pick a garage, get a quote and if it's super high they might get an assessor out but more than likely they will pay out based on a quote from the garage and pay for the temporary car

SteelyDanJalapeno

Vic_08 wrote: »

The way I see it there is no excuse to abandon a car on double yellow lines.

Has it occurred to you that those lines are there specifically because large vehicles need the space to manoeuvre in?

Utterly selfish behaviour, personally I hope you get screwed over with this.

No it didn't occur the double yellow lines were there for large vehicles manouvering.

Thanks for your input thou.

exaisle

Vic_08 wrote: »

Utterly selfish behaviour, personally I hope you get screwed over with this.

FFS grow up. I hope you

OP shouldn't have parked where he did. True. However, if the bus driver thought there was any risk of hitting OP's car, he should have gone to reception and asked for it to be removed.

It remains the bus driver's liability. He hit a parked vehicle.

SteelyDanJalapeno

Car is now with the main dealer to be repaired, their assessor agreed with our dealer's assessment of about 3.5k.

Courtesy car in the meantime, as some advised above this was as clear cut as could have been.

Atlantic Dawn

Yes best outcome, you will have the receipt and paperwork to verify it was repaired at main dealer.