L driver crashing into motorway barrier

dumplingsaregood

Hi all! Recently I have been involved in accident, and few weeks later I received call from my Insurance that the motorway company claims against me damaging barrier (the weather conditions were quite bad and I skidded, no one else involved or injured in accident). However I am quite worried as I was unaccompanied… will my insurance cover this or is it invalid as I was by myself? Will they contact the Gardai (this was reported to them on the day and I am pending penalty points)? Will I have to pay for it? How much could this possibly cost as the worker from motorway company said it could be anywhere between 1 to 30K so I am freaking out… I was also told I might have to pay for fire brigade showing up on scene despite me not calling them and it not being necessary since there was virtually no one injured, beside me being checked up in hospital, but I used ambulance with dually qualified paramedics. I have been waiting for the test to get full license for close to a year now and as my home is distance away from my essential work, the commute would take 2.5 hrs one day and in morning taking earliest bus it would still be imposssible to get there on time. I have been already depressed and struggling with my mental health and I am scared the financial implications will be so high, I won’t be able to pay and I’ll be going to prison.

Trigger Happy

You are not going to prison. Points on your licence is likely all you can expect.

But I would be concerned about expecting the insurance company to pay for damage you caused as you breached 2 rules. First is driving unaccompanied and second is driving on a motorway without a full licence. Unfortunately there are no excuses for breaking those rules - understanding your difficult circumstances.

Insurance companies are not known for paying out unless they really have to. But have a good read of your insurance policy to see what the clauses are.

Eg Alianz state that "If your child drives unaccompanied or the accompanying driver does not meet the criteria above, the insurance may be invalid as insurance companies have the right to reject a claim if a driver was driving outside the terms of their licence.

Basically, this means if an unaccompanied learner-permit driver has an accident and the vehicle is damaged by the learner driver an insurance company may refuse to pay out."

dumplingsaregood

Hey thanks so much for the reply!

See I didn’t actually make a claim as I am well aware it was entirely my fault, which may put me in more trouble since I didn’t inform them. As for my car, I had to get it towed and I am not sure what’s that called in English, but it was totalled. I since got new (old) car. So I wouldn’t expect them to cover for that at all, but if they did pay for the barrier I would be absolutely delighted. I was kind of asking around shortly after accident whether I would be charged for barrier, but haven’t met anyone in similar situation so it hasn’t crossed my mind up until I received call from my insurance.

Del2005

The insurance company will pay for the damage that you did, the 3rd party isn't affected by the actions of others. But they will most likely cancel your policy and can sue you to recoup the payout, canceling your policy makes getting insurance again difficult and expensive. At this stage you just have to wait and see how bad it is.

Eggs For Dinner

To add to what Del2005 has said, you were the beneficiary of the emergency services, so regardless of who called them, you are on the hook for those. Your insurers can redirect those invoices for you to deal with directly

mondeo

Probably nowhere near as bad as you might think. Technically you have insurance but driving on your own isn't entertained these days. Go with the flow and see what happens.

T-Maxx

Why should the insurance pay anything? No wonder premiums are so high...

Eggs For Dinner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121053407#Comment_121053407

They are legally obliged to compensate an innocent 3rd party. However, they can (and do) recover their outlay from their policyholder