Car Accident advice

Youcant_seeme

Hi all,
I was invloved in a car accident 9th October 2019.
Was driving on a regional road (Company car)doing about 70kph when car coming in opposite direction veered over white line. I swerved to avoid head on collision.
Guards and ambulance came.
Drivers side very badly damged to extent both doors wedged closed. Tyre blown out. Side mirror gone and bad dents.
Guard ask me to make a statement as he said she was in the wrong.
Made statement.
Janurary Guards say no witnesses and other party not owning upso no criminal charges.
1 yr on and my insurer still hasnt recieved Garda report even after requests.
Other party requested we both take 50/50 blame.
I said no as I know I was in the right.
I was out of work from 9th Oct till 12th Jan. I went back in november but company doctor deemed me unfit for work (bad whiplash in neck. Sore back. Nerve in right thigh) I wanted to work but as I said they deemed me unfit.
I am still having trouble a year later with neck pain and nerve pain in leg.
Just looking for advice on what to do from here. I feel I am been fobbed off.
Thanks for reading

thebiglad

Youcant_seeme wrote: »

Hi all,
I was invloved in a car accident 9th October 2019.
Was driving on a regional road (Company car)doing about 70kph when car coming in opposite direction veered over white line. I swerved to avoid head on collision.
Guards and ambulance came.
Drivers side very badly damged to extent both doors wedged closed. Tyre blown out. Side mirror gone and bad dents.
Guard ask me to make a statement as he said she was in the wrong.
Made statement.
Janurary Guards say no witnesses and other party not owning upso no criminal charges.
1 yr on and my insurer still hasnt recieved Garda report even after requests.
Other party requested we both take 50/50 blame.
I said no as I know I was in the right.
I was out of work from 9th Oct till 12th Jan. I went back in november but company doctor deemed me unfit for work (bad whiplash in neck. Sore back. Nerve in right thigh) I wanted to work but as I said they deemed me unfit.
I am still having trouble a year later with neck pain and nerve pain in leg.
Just looking for advice on what to do from here. I feel I am been fobbed off.
Thanks for reading

Presume as it was a company car you have no claim for the vehicle and your company is dealing with all of that and again presume it is through them that you are hearing there is no resolution of liability or Garda report availability etc.

Don't expect too much from the Garda report, it may just be your statement and that of the other driver - unless it was a very serious accident Garda are unlikely to have photographed/measured the accident location - did you take any photos of the position of the vehicles?

You state driving on a national road and other driver crossed the white lines so presume this is road wide enough for 2 cars to pass at a normal driving speed within their own lanes. Did the accident occur on or near to a bend, what did the other driver state (or do you believe) caused them to swerve into your lane?

As you are asking for advice you and mention injuries it is your intention to pursue a claim for this - have you lodged a claim with PIAB (if liability is disputed the claim will be rejected from the process but, you have to go that route in pursuing an injury - it may focus the other insurer).

I rarely recommend a solicitor but, on this occasion, unless your application to PIAB is accepted by the other insurer I feel you have no option but to go the legal route, just be clear on their fees and/or deductions from any settlement you may eventually receive and remember this is not going to be a short process so manage expectation.

Best of luck

Youcant_seeme

thebiglad wrote: »

Presume as it was a company car you have no claim for the vehicle and your company is dealing with all of that and again presume it is through them that you are hearing there is no resolution of liability or Garda report availability etc.

Don't expect too much from the Garda report, it may just be your statement and that of the other driver - unless it was a very serious accident Garda are unlikely to have photographed/measured the accident location - did you take any photos of the position of the vehicles?

You state driving on a national road and other driver crossed the white lines so presume this is road wide enough for 2 cars to pass at a normal driving speed within their own lanes. Did the accident occur on or near to a bend, what did the other driver state (or do you believe) caused them to swerve into your lane?

As you are asking for advice you and mention injuries it is your intention to pursue a claim for this - have you lodged a claim with PIAB (if liability is disputed the claim will be rejected from the process but, you have to go that route in pursuing an injury - it may focus the other insurer).

I rarely recommend a solicitor but, on this occasion, unless your application to PIAB is accepted by the other insurer I feel you have no option but to go the legal route, just be clear on their fees and/or deductions from any settlement you may eventually receive and remember this is not going to be a short process so manage expectation.

Best of luck

I have been dealing with the insurer myself personally as the company said I can.
We are both under the ssame insurer.
The other party is denying any responsibility.
No I have not filed anything yet but may look into it.
Yes it was a road wide enough for 2 cars and with a white line. It was just after a bend on a straight.
The other car pulled in about 500m up the road. I had to regain control of car after been hit. Other partys family arrived within 10 minutes and tried to interfere. Playing it down and the guard had to ring me after as the husband was trying to eavesdrop my statement. The guard drove 70km to meet me at my local station then to take statement of complaint.
Thanks for your reply

Eggs For Dinner

Success will be wholly dependent on what you can prove. As suggested above, I wouldn't wait up expecting the Garda Report to arrive any time soon

Caranica

I had an issue like that where the other party was 100% to blame but the insurance companies wanted to settle 50/50. Got an independent assessor involved and the outcome was the other driver was found to be totally liable. Claim was settled pretty quickly after that.

hullaballoo

Eggs For Dinner wrote: »

Success will be wholly dependent on what you can prove. As suggested above, I wouldn't wait up expecting the Garda Report to arrive any time soon

You need to stop with this. You have vested interests and every time a thread like this is posted, along you come making misleading statements like the above to protect your vested interests under the guise of offering advice. It is exactly the kind of underhanded behaviour the insurance cabal love but it is absolutely unwelcome here and it stops now or I will move to mod actions for it.

OP, it is usually enough in a case like this to give your version of events. In terms of proof, your sworn evidence is as good if not better than any other evidence. Sure, it would be nice if you had footage or post incident photographs but cases like this are before the courts every day of the week where you have a claimant say what happened and then a lying toerag of a defendant get caught out in their nonsense afterwards.

Provided it happened as you say, there is no need at all to fear bringing a claim.

Eggs For Dinner

You need to stop insisting that posters in the legal discussion forum have to follow the mantra of your profession. It is a DISCUSSION forum, not a private members club for those employed within the legal profession

Firstly, I do not work for an insurance company, I did for 18 years, but I have have a different role within the industry for the last 20 years, which is primarily to ensure that policyholders rights are protected and I am good at what I do. I have no vested interest here but to contribute and give advice from my experience and your threat to conform or get banned is bullying

It is seriously misleading of you to suggest that a sworn statement by a person is better proof than any other evidence. Are you for real? Is that all it takes to succeed in a claim, just say it happened your way? If that was the case why do we have courts? How do courts decide an outcome? Not on statements by the participants, but on what proofs are put before it

Samuel T. Cogley

OP the Garda Website gives a stupid amount of detail as to 'who is who' in regard to District and Divisional officers. Start with the local Super and work your way up in getting your report.

Peregrinus

hullaballoo wrote: »

In terms of proof, your sworn evidence is as good if not better than any other evidence.

Why would it be better than the sworn statement of the other driver? And, as the other side is denying liability, we should consider that possibility that the sworn statement of the other driver may contradict the OP's sworn statement. It may, for example, deny that the other driver crossed the white line; it might even suggest that the OP did so, or that the OP was speeding, or whatever. We do have strong reason to think that the other driver may have made a statement to the guards which denies that they were at fault, so why would w assume that they won't do the same in court?

And the court has no obvious reason to prefer the OP's evidence over the evidence of the other driver.

This is the OP's insurer's concern. They don't want to incur the cost and grief of a trial whose outcome is (on the limited evidence we have seen so far) uncertain.

salamiii

ask to see the garda report that was filed

did you take any photos

get a solicitor

PatrickSmithUS

Youcant_seeme wrote: »

Hi all,
I was invloved in a car accident 9th October 2019.
Was driving on a regional road (Company car)doing about 70kph when car coming in opposite direction veered over white line. I swerved to avoid head on collision.
Guards and ambulance came.
Drivers side very badly damged to extent both doors wedged closed. Tyre blown out. Side mirror gone and bad dents.
Guard ask me to make a statement as he said she was in the wrong.
Made statement.
Janurary Guards say no witnesses and other party not owning upso no criminal charges.
1 yr on and my insurer still hasnt recieved Garda report even after requests.
Other party requested we both take 50/50 blame.
I said no as I know I was in the right.
I was out of work from 9th Oct till 12th Jan. I went back in november but company doctor deemed me unfit for work (bad whiplash in neck. Sore back. Nerve in right thigh) I wanted to work but as I said they deemed me unfit.
I am still having trouble a year later with neck pain and nerve pain in leg.
Just looking for advice on what to do from here. I feel I am been fobbed off.
Thanks for reading

First of all what has your solicitor advised? There's not way you should be doing anything without hiring one. Otherwise you are seriosuly running the risk of doing something that will count against you if this ever goes to court.


If there's a dispute regarding liability then your insurance company should have advised you on the next course of action.


I'd advise speaking to a solicitor. If it comes down to a he said vs she siad then your solicitor should be able to hire an expert in car crashes to produce a report to prove who was in the wrong. The judge will likely give you some idea as to have he is swaying and advise all parties to try and negotiate a settlement.



Bottom line is go and speak to someone quickly.