What to do when rear-ended?

[st11x]

I was waiting at a roundabout today when I got rear-ended by a CRV. This is my first accident and I was at a loss what to do. At the moment, I couldn't see anything much wrong with my car except for a few marks on the bumper. We exchanged contacts and left.

On closer inspection, I noticed that the metal bit just below the lights and before the bumper is dented. There is a gap between the chasis and the bumper, but it's slightly wider near the point of contact.

Should there be a gap at all? When I got the car, the gap was already there.

How should I proceed if I want to claim the other person's insurance?

I live in the ACT, any advise where I can get the car fixed. Or will the insurance company decide?

thanks
Matthew

[arden]

When u say u got the other persons contacts.
did u get :

1) Drivers Licence
2) Name, Address & Contact No.

If yes.
Ring up your insurance company.
Tell them u want to lodge in a claim.

They will most likely tell u the steps u need to take.

You prolly have to fill in a claim form and get 2 quotes.
Some companies have a list of their preferred repairers.

After all that, they will tell u whether the claim will be approved and advise
which repairer they choose.

At the end of the day, u wont have to fork out any excess coz it wasnt your fault.

[st11x]

Yes I had all the details, but what if I didn't have any insurance for my car? Can I claim directly against her insurance?

[Cosmo Dude]

You will be claiming against the other drivers insurance. It would be nice if you were insured, that way the insurance companies duke it out without you being involved and your car gets fixed.

[st11x]

Thank guys ... hmm ... so I reckon I should give the person a call to get her Insurance details. She didn't give it to me then. I'll have to give her Insurance a call or does she have to do that first?

I agreed it'll be harder to deal with the insurance guys myself
:(

[Toyboy]

You should of also called the police so they could write up a report and make things easier on claiming insurance :wink:

[dfvadr]

police dont come to minor accidents like that , but u have 24 hours to go to 1 and do a report if you like , but ur insurance will do everything 4 u an contact theres an them

[arden]

Theres no point ringing her up getting her insurance details, that wont help.

Get a few quotes and send her a "Letter of Demand".

Hopefully, she will pass it on to her insurance company.

But it really depends how much $$$ damage is.

She might be a bitch and ignore it. Then ur only hope is thru the court system.
Most at fault excesses are around $400, so if shes kind enuff, then she might negotiate some sort of settlement with you.

[platypus]

police only require the damage to be reported where there is $500+ of damage....

so only if you require a respray will it be that expensive

[geetee]

sorry to butt in here guys, but isn`t insurance compulsory in austrailia or is it optional?
over here you can`t take your car, or even park it, on the public roads without at least third party insurance.

[BigBoyLemonade]

Howdy! Hall Bros in Fyshwick are fantastics at what they do!

[arden]

sorry to butt in here guys, but isn`t insurance compulsory in austrailia or is it optional?
over here you can`t take your car, or even park it, on the public roads without at least third party insurance.

Same deal here in OZ, but it doesnt cover you for 3rd party property damage.

[mrpayner]

st11x: are you saying that you're BG isn't insured?

When I was rear-ended [similar damage to yours] all i did was ring NRMA and they told me to get a quote from the place that i would like to get my car repaired at, then they would look after the rest. My relatively minor rear-end cost her $1600.. Needless to say, i had seen her shortly after in 2 new cars.. She must be a crap driver. :twisted:

AP

[st11x]

MrPayner,

Sadly it is not insured. I was prepared to accept paying a third party any damages, but never did I know that it will be that difficult even if I were claim against someone elses insurance. It's not true that 3rd party is compulsory. There's another form of third party that is compulsory that you have to take out when renewing rego.

The father of the lady spoke to me (I guess she was afraid of saying the wrong things) this morning and he told me his insurance asked me to get a couple of quotes. I was already going to do that anyway. It was hard, some places want you to book in advance, some wanted up to 100 bucks for looking. I eventually got a free quote from The Body Shop in Fyshwick and it was about 1.2K. Wow, can't believe it. The parts and labour were evenly split!

I couldn't get anymore quotes as they wanted me to obtain the claim # and the name of the insurance company. I rang the lady and she refuses to give it to me. Then I learnt from her that they didn't contact their insurance at all, they were trying to see how much it will cost and pay me if it's relatively cheap.

She was still adamant that there's no problem with my car. I must admit I didn't see it until I went home and saw the dent unpon closer inspection. She kept saying that her CRV was okay. Well, it was so much higher that I would expect the bottom of the CRV to hit me instead. I distinctly heard a crash, not a bumper to bumper thud.

I suspect they either didn't have insurance, or she is not insured to drive the car. That's why they procrastinate. She told me she'll ring me again tonight (and give me her insurance details after checkign with the father). I highly doubt it.

What should I do afterwards besides blaming on bad luck?

I was thinking of ringing the police to ask for advice and to tell them that they refused to give me their Insurance details.

thanks
Matthew

[SehnKhan]

You really needed to get in touch with the police within 24 hours of the accident, but I would still be getting in touch with them. Especially now that they are not giving you the insurance details, which you should definately get upon having an accident (minor though it may be).

I would say give them a call tonight and explain that you require their insurer details and claim number (if applicable) so it can be recorded on any written quotes for the repairs of your car. If they do not supply these (i.e refuse) I would touch base with the police or the insurance industry ombudsman for furhter advice. The longer it draws out, the harder it is going to be to prove that the damage came from the CRV. Did you have any witnesses or was someone in the car with you?

Some more advice - don't get angry or upset with them on the phone. Try and be reasonable no matter how much they annoy you.

Best of luck sorting it out mate, hope they don't give you too much grief.

[platypus]

48 hrs

[st11x]

Thanks for the advice SehnKhan. I went to the police today to lodge a report as I thought it might be better just in case they decide to pull a trick and I would have a record with the police to start with. I finally got their insurance company, but they haven't reported the accident, so there's no cliam #.

The only witness is my wife who was in the car. I doubt that will be of any use.

Have you guys heard of this insurance company Allainz? I thought I might have made a mistake and the name of the company is Allianz. But google did give me 1 result from Allainz.

Surprisingly, she was the one who sounded a little angry initially as she didn't want to acknowledge that she has done some damage. I told her I'll drive to her place to show her, I even offered that to her father, but they didn't want to. **shrugs**

Should I take this new information about their insurance company and try to get some more quotes or should I ring up their insurance company and ask for advice? I don't want to aggravate it further by going directly to the insurance company behind their back though.

thanks
Matthew

[Cosmo Dude]

Try http://www.allianz.com.au

Give 'em a call anyway

[platypus]

go directly to the insurance... they will sort out lots and lots