I was involved in a not at fault collision and since I only have third party insurance, I asked for their insurance details.
After booking for an assessment at their service provider, I was advised that since the repair costs are under the excess of their policy, they will not help in getting money from the driver.
I have also contacted my insurance provider and they were not able to help too.
The driver says she has got no money.
What can I do?
Involved in Not at Fault Collision
Lrzrz on 08/06/2016 - 11:24
Comments
ah, how much is the repair ? some people have crazy high excesses , talk to a laywer/legal aid ?
a letter of demand is generally the first step.It is only around $700
Lol, so I should just jack up my excess on my insurance premium and not worry about hitting other cars then as if it absolves me of all responsibility. Thanks for the heads up, and I should be able to save some money on my premium.
what's the damage to your car?
what car do you have?
It is scratches on the back bumper, on an old BMW.
Your profile says you're in Melbourne, so when you say that you only have "Third Party Insurance", I'm going to assume you mean Third Party PROPERTY DAMAGE insurance (as opposed to the Compulsory Third Party Insurance for injury in NSW).
If that's the case, check your policy - most Third Party Property Damage insurance policies have a clause where they will cover you up to a certain amount - either $3000 or $5000 (or something similar) where there's been an accident and:
1.You're not at fault AND
2.You can provide them details of the driver at fault.So if the other party are not willing to settle, you can contact your own insurer.
I contacted my insurance Allianz and they argued that they are insured, so they cannot help.
This is the bad thing about not having Comprehensive Insurance…
Was the other driver's car damaged? Will she be lodging a claim with her own insurer?
If she is, you should be getting the claim number from her to and claim against that.
That'll be the ideal situation.If not, then you'll need to send the other driver a letter of demand with a quote attached - (I would also send a copy to her insurer).
The demand letters might be enough to prompt her (or worry her enough) into lodging a claim herself.
Where she refuses to make a claim or pay out of her pocket , you'll have to take civil action against her to recover your costs.
I have her claim number, but the insurer would not help because it was under excess.
I'm not quite sure what you're saying -
Have you got the actual Claim Number for this incident or do you have her Policy Number?To have a Claim Number, it means that she has lodged a claim on her own policy (and has paid the excess). That claim will pay for the damage to both her own car and your car. The value of the damage to your car has nothing to do with the amount of her excess…
@bobbified: I have the actual claim number from their insurer, Youi, but they contacted me saying that they will not cover if it's under the excess of her policy. Are they allowed to do that?
The other insurer indemnifies her from the damages she causes in accordance with her policy. If she's lodged a claim and paid her excess, her insurance will pay for the damage to her car and your car.
I would go back and contact Youi again and ask to speak to a manager. Also put things in writing.
(The only time I can see the insurer refusing to process the claim is where the total damage to your car AND her car is less than the excess she needs to pay to make a claim and they advise her that she is better off sorting it out herself - but I don't think that would be the case unless the damage is one scratch on your car and one scratch on her car and the excess is something in the thousands).
@bobbified: I think she has a very high excess because she is a P plater and the policy appears to be her mothers.
Was the damage on her car bad?
It's likely the excess payable for her is:
1. The basic excess (whatever level the policy has been purchased at)
2. The unlisted driver's exxcess (if she's not listed on the policy)
3. The inexperienced driver's excess.But it still doesn't make much sense because if there's a claim number it means that she's lodged a claim and in her case of being at fault, she should've already paid the excess.
When you called up her insurance, did you tell them the story and give them a description of what happened and make it clear to them that it was their insured's fault?
I"m wondering because the way to get a claim going (and subsequently getting a claim number) without paying the excess is to tell the insurer that she wasn't at fault and blaming the whole thing on you - in that case, her insurer will eventually chase you for costs.
the policy appears to be her mothers.
Send the letter of demand to her mother, as she is the one responsible for the excess and she might put pressure on the daughter.
@bobbified: I called up Youi and they said were surprised that the driver was unwilling to pay for the repair costs. They said they have just emailed the driver the consequences for not paying, and told me to wait a day to see how they reply.
Send the letter of demand to her mother, as she is the one responsible for the excess
The driver isn't the policyholder. Op can't legally force a third-party pay for the excess.
Was there any damage to her car? If there is ~$700 damage to your car, plus damage on her car, if she makes a single claim for both she'll likely exceed the excess.
Did she do anything illegal that caused the accident, or was overly negligent? If so, I would write a letter to her insurance company asking them to cover the damage to her car caused by her dangerous driving and say that you'll be seeking having her charged by the police for what she did that caused the damage (eg failing to stop at a stop sign, failing to give way etc.)
This worked with a problem I had in the past. The driver of the other car went drove through a give way sign into the side of my car and had an unrestrained dog in her car. Her insurance originally wanted to go for equal fault - a letter showing the location of the sign that she went through, plus having a witness seeing her do it and the fact that she had the dog in the car and stating that this information would be handed over to the police to have their client charged caused them to change and pay up.
As previously suggested, send her a copy of your quote and a letter asking that she pay you that amount by a particular date (say a couple of weeks after the date of the letter) or you will take legal action against her that will result in her having to pay even more.
I'm confused.
You weren't at fault so you shouldn't need to pay anything.
Send the at fault driver a letter of demand to pay within 14 days or you'll start legal action.
Take your car to a smash repairer and ask them to call the driver about paying to have your damage repaired.
I was in the same scenario and took my car to be assessed for a quote and the lady behind the desk at the repairer asked me for the driver's number and said she'll talk to her. The lady was quite abrupt with the driver and said they will be repairing my damage and sending an invoice to her which she will need to pay, so she has to decide whether to go through her insurance or pay outside of it. The lady behind the desk had obviously been doing this for years and knew how to get people to do the right thing by talking to them in these situations. I never had to talk to the driver, it was all taken care of by the smash repairer and I collected my fixed car a few days later.
Spoke with a smash repairer and they did exactly this for me and arranged a time for repairs. Hopefully everything runs smoothly.
I had an accident two years ago. Not my fault. I had no insurance. I live in Melbourne, the other driver lived in NSW (who absolutely treated me horribly!).
I ended up representing myself at the Magistrates Court, and was awarded damages, court costs and interest. Hopefully you won't need to go the whole way.
Please read knick007's comment above. Legal Aid centres have 'letter of demand' templates on their websites you can work off. This is the first step you must take. Hopefully you won't need to go any further after this.
you can pay your insurer ask them to step in to retrieve the money for you from their insurer, normally it is around $300.
For sure everyone will say they have no money to pay the others. You told her that if you are forking out money to get the ball going, she will have to possible pay more to settle this.
Offer her $300 and see if she is willing to pay.