Car Prang Query

[R33shaun]

Ok so this arvo i was driving home from work and a guy pulled out infront of me in a roundabout. I had no where to go and hit him in front of his drivers door.

Cops came and booked him and he's intirely at fault.my car got towed to the towing companys lot

.

The problem is i dont have insurance (4grand a year was the cheapest i could get full comp for), luckily he has full comp and will be paying for my car.

Ill post up picks later when i get them off my mates phone but my car is fairly bad, left hand front corner is smashed and its pushed the strut back so the wheel is hitting the guard. punctured the radiator, crushed the intercooler pipe and pod also wrecked my 2 day old au thermals which i only just finished installing. The bonnet, grill, front bar etc are all wrecked to.

so what im interested in in what i have to do to get it fixed through his insurance? And if its written off whats the go and how do i get my car back to salvage parts?

Ive spent over ten grand on it in the last 4 months getting everything sorted and now this happened. Ill never get a payout to cover what'd cost to replace as is so if the worst happens and its written off i really want it back so i can transplant the good stuff into another car.

How can i come away from this without being way worse off?

Edited April 12, 2011 by R33shaun

[DLOOOK]

In my experience, my s13 was takin to my preferred repairer. The assessor from the party @ fault will view the car. And work out how much damage there is and how much they will pay you out. . They work out the value of your car and also take into consideration what mods you have done to the car. They will give you a figure say $12000 you then negotiate with them and say you've done this and that to the car and you think its worth more. Then in my experience then will offer say $15000 and they say you get to keep the wreck. They then send u a cheque in your name not the repairers name so its up to you if you want to get the car repaired. In my situation I got the car towed to my home and sold the wreck.

Also I went to http://www.acornrentals.com.au/ and they gave me a hire car and Acorn claimed the money back from the party at fault. I had the car for 4 weeks (time taken for me to get the insurance settlement)

So in the end I was happy with the outcome!!!!

[R33shaun]

cheers mate hopefully mine works out that well! Did you have insurance yourself or did they the others guys insurance ring you? howdyou go about it all?

[R33shaun]

heres pics of the damage

strut tower up close\

what do you think right off or not?

[Socrates]

check for chassis rail damage

if no damage, i wouldnt think it would be write off.

[TTSNRSMAN]

if it helps,i was rammed by a 4wd years ago in road rage incident.cops saw it and arrested the other guy on the spot.(almost turned up on the force as they were in the area)it helps that the cops have him at fault.i got a quote for$3300.15 for the damages.i rang the courts and requested a bailiff(yeah they do exist)be sent to his place and recover said amount in property as i had heard nothin of repayments.when the bailiff turned up the guy said he had been making payments.he gave me the receipt no's and i checked it out.he was tellin the truth.but the court was taking the money for fines as he didn't specify to give it to me.he ended up paying the whole amount as he was charged with criminal damage and realised he'd compromised his travel plans abroad for the rest of his life.ohh,back to your question.great that cops are on your side.they don't deal with the money side,just the law side.keep annoying the cops and courts for progress.good luck

[conan7772]

Get the insurance details off the driver at fault.

Keep up communications with the insurance company in writing.

Type them all properly and give the insurance company all your details concisely, including the car.

Model, series , and mods etc.

Make sure you are contactable all the time.

If the cops haven't provided one, draw an accident report of what happened showing streets and where the cars were and hit.

Forward a copy of the police report.

Keep ringing and sending follow up letters to insurance until they respond.

You should get the assessors phone number. Be friendly to him and point out any mods or anything else you're concerned about. Offer to help source parts if needed.

Heaps of panel beaters won't touch imports because of parts availability.

Insurance companies are naturally elusive when it comes to claims.

Don't give up.

You should be right.

[R33shaun]

thanks for the replys

it might not be as bad as i thought, i rang suncorp before (thats who the other guy is insured through) and they said once i get his claim number I just give them a ring back and organise to have it taken to there assesment centre, i can then get a repairer of my choice to give a quote and theyll pay to get it done.

Ill get the claim number this arvo when the other guy gets home from work and ill start hunting for a panel beater tommorrow.

cheers for your help everyone and ill post up updates when they happen

shaun

[BeastVS]

Just for future reference, the police will usually not give you an incident number unless either driver I's injured, I know this because I went through it recently when I had someone hit my old commodore.

[R33shaun]

I got onto suncorp this arvo and my car is going into there assesor tomorrow, im also getting a free hire car till mine is sorted so it all seems to be ok atm so far. For all the bad ive heard about suncorp they seem alright to deal with so far but tomorrow will tell.

In anycase im getting drunk so thanks for the replys and info from everyone its made a painfull situation more bearable!

cheers shaun

[TTSNRSMAN]

I got onto suncorp this arvo and my car is going into there assesor tomorrow, im also getting a free hire car till mine is sorted so it all seems to be ok atm so far. For all the bad ive heard about suncorp they seem alright to deal with so far but tomorrow will tell.

In anycase im getting drunk so thanks for the replys and info from everyone its made a painfull situation more bearable!

cheers shaun

[R33shaun]

Got a payout figure from suncorp yesterday. I ended up getting $9800 and my car back so not a bad outcome in the end. Now i just have to transplant all my gear into another car...

cheers for everyones input

shaun

[boiracer]

not a bad outcome at all. may i ask why would your insurance cost 4 grand? and you cant justify it after spending more than 10 grand on your car in a few months? if it had been your fault you woulda been screwed. everyone needs insurance.

glad it worked out for you tho

[RB25PWR]

Just for future reference, the police will usually not give you an incident number unless either driver I's injured, I know this because I went through it recently when I had someone hit my old commodore.

Can't speak for Townsville. But in NSW, Police will only come to accidents if the following happens.

# Driver/VEH involved in an accident and fails to stop to give details

# Driver just not wanting to give details

# Any vehicle needs to be towed

# Anyone is injured

# You suspect that the other party is under the influence of drugs/alcohol.

So If Police turn up and booked the guy. Then they are going to create an 'incident'. So there's no reason why they wouldn't give the number out. I can't see why any other state wouldn't adopt this principal also, but I've been wrong before.

Anyone involved in any incident, they're entitled to the event number if one is created. / NSW

Who told you that Police won't give out an incident number unless a driver is injured? Makes no sense.

edit: @OP: How old are you and what's your history? Amy, NRMA, all the major insurance companies want some ridiculous amount of money like $4k, however JustCar only wants around $1500 for full comp... tried them?

Edited April 22, 2011 by RB25PWR