Car insurance claim without address - advice?

Lultnrg on 22/03/2019 - 16:46

Had a car accident which was not our fault.

Pulled over and exchanged details with the other driver but they only had an international drivers licence (which I have photos of). They would not provide an address or phone number.

Have full comp insurance and have made the claim. Our insurance company agreed we were not at fault but is saying even though we have their rego and drivers licence, we need their residential address or we'll be liable for the excess and will lose a % of our NCB.

Went to the police station after the incident but they could not find the driver on their system. They found the address of the registered vehicle, but as it was under a different name were unable to provide us with the address. Did an online rego check and the other car has CTP with the same insurance company as us, but again apparently that means nothing as it was a different driver.

Do we have any options here or are we up for the excess?

Automotive Car Insurance Insurance

Comments

  • whytd on 22/03/2019 - 16:51

    I'm not sure what state you're from, but most states drivers must:

    Regardless of damage, if you are asked to, you must provide the owner or driver of any other vehicle involved in the crash with the following information:

    Your name, address and licence details
    Your vehicle registration number
    If you are not the owner of the vehicle, the name and address of the owner.
    You can ask the other driver(s) for similar information.

    Maybe you can go back to the police and say they didn't provide this information?

    • ultnrg on 22/03/2019 - 17:01

      In NSW. I know I need their address, but tbh I think I was pretty lucky to get what I did. The other driver did not stop immediately and when they finally did, were a few big guys and were very aggressive about the whole situation (I was almost just going to leave without any details as I didn't want anything happening to the family). The wife called the police from inside our car without them knowing, but they took off before the police arrived.

  • boomramada on 22/03/2019 - 16:57
    +2

    Make a police report then claim it though your insurance company.

    • altomic on 22/03/2019 - 17:03

      this. you have the vehicles rego. get a police report . submit claim

    • ultnrg on 22/03/2019 - 17:04

      We called the police when we stopped, but the other party left before they arrived. The police then put an APB on the other car and did not show up to the scene.

      They told us to go to our police station after the incident which we did, however the police there told us they couldn't file a report or provide us with any sort of reference/incident number as there were no cops on the scene.

  • [Deactivated] on 22/03/2019 - 17:08

    Dashcam?

    • ultnrg on 22/03/2019 - 17:19

      No dash cam. Insurance said it wouldn't help unless we had their address anyway.

      • [Deactivated] on 22/03/2019 - 20:20

        Police will be interested.

  • Ti-au on 22/03/2019 - 17:09

    Have full comp insurance and have made the claim. Our insurance company agreed we were not at fault but is saying even though we have their rego and drivers licence, we need their residential address or we'll be liable for the excess and will lose a % of our NCB.

    Sounds odd, perhaps talk to www.afca.org.au. Call their 1300 number & report back.

    OR perhaps you can apply to Roads Dept. (or use a solicitor) and get address.

    • ultnrg on 22/03/2019 - 17:21

      We looked in the PDS, pretty much says without an address for all parties involved we're liable :(

      • Ti-au on 22/03/2019 - 17:31

        A Solicitor can get an address based off Rego (and licence I think) so that might be a way to go? One that did a conveyance for you in the past perhaps? or something like that…

        Sorry thats my only advice.

    • fantombloo on 22/03/2019 - 17:25

      Not odd at all. Insurance company want their pound of flesh regardless where it comes from - if you can't pass the buck they'll stop at you, at fault or not.

  • El Grande on 22/03/2019 - 17:13
    +1

    You should always call police. I learnt that the hard way. Had a P plater rear end me while I was stopped at a red light. Took the photo of this drivers licence, The damage to his car with rego in the same photo + damage to my car. Reported to insurance everything was good. Had my car repaired.

    After a almost a year I got a call from the insurance (AAMI) saying the owner of the car doesn't know the person who was reportedly driving the vehicle, they verified the vehicle doesn't have the reported damage and they can't find the driver who was reportedly driving the said car (I had given them the name, address and licence number on the phone at the time of the accident). By this time I didn't have any of the photos as I had deleted them. At the time of the accident I offered to send the photos but they said they didn't need them. They wanted me to pay the excess but I told them you can't expect me to have the photos almost a year after the accident especially when I offered to send them. They agreed to wave this excess as a good will gesture but it still counted against my name as an at fault accident. They said always call the police and get a copy of the report. I didn't know that was required as the only other time I had an accident I was at fault.

    • ultnrg on 22/03/2019 - 17:22

      Oh wow that sucks! Thanks for the tip…will head back to the police station and try and get a report filed.

      • El Grande on 22/03/2019 - 18:14

        Basically the owner refused to acknowledge the car was in an accident and accused me of lying. Said didn't know anyone by the name that I had passed on and had the car repaired (it was just a bumper graze on his car). Something pointy behind the bumper of my car had pierced through the rear bumper on my car. Otherwise it was not even worth reporting.

        • try2bhelpful on 22/03/2019 - 19:22

          There are some really dodgy people out there.

          Many years ago the other half had a car badly clip his car and them drive off. He managed to get the licence plate before they took off. He went to the police and, guess what, apparently the car had been stolen, that morning, but they hadn't noticed until the caps rang them and then, guess what else, their car reappeared a few days later a few streets from them. It was dodgy as hell but the cops could do nothing about it unless they had proof the other people were lying. You are reminding me to get a dashcam for the car; does anyone know if they are good enough so we might have some chance of seeing who was driving at the time of the accident.

    • AdosHouse on 22/03/2019 - 18:04
      +3

      That there is a huge pile of bull shit from the insurance company, and I would have been straight to the relevant ombudsman office.

      Couldn't find the drivers, bullcrap, you gave them the drivers license details, not your job to be a PI and track them down.

      • El Grande on 22/03/2019 - 18:14
        +1

        Basically the owner refused to acknowledge the car was in an accident and accused me of lying. Said didn't know anyone by the name that I had passed on and had the car repaired (it was just a bumper graze on his car). Something pointy behind the bumper of my car had pierced through the rear bumper on my car. Otherwise it was not even worth reporting. Did I mention the car was only 10 days old.

        I did threaten to report them hence the goodwill gesture.

  • pegaxs on 22/03/2019 - 18:33

    They would not provide an address or phone number.

    Then that is the time that you tell them to stay there and call the police. They have to exchange details. If they refuse to give you their details, then that is a whole new set of issues…

    • try2bhelpful on 22/03/2019 - 19:23

      It is also the time you get the Mrs to start filming them from the car so you have an image of who they are.

  • Ocker on 22/03/2019 - 19:03
    -1

    You're screwed, sorry mate

  • Euphemistic on 23/03/2019 - 07:19

    How bad is he damage? Is it small and worth considering not repairing, DIY or cashier for a panel nearer? This would save you the excess loss of NCB.

  • HeWhoKnows on 23/03/2019 - 11:34

    I would have thought it was up to the owner to prove they were not driving the car by providing details of the person that was driving the car.

    But anyway this is a major problem with all backpackers on 457 visas.

    They take our jobs, rack up fines and have accidents but you can never find them to serve notice on them.

    LEARNING HERE: CALL THE POLICE !

  • minniethemoocher on 23/03/2019 - 12:25

    Is there an address on the international license?

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join