friend's car totaled at red light

[alexpacer]

Sorry first for the long post.. i've tried to make the story short

Friend of mine, 3 weeks ago got his car totaled when he was on the way to work near the exit of eastern fwy. He was waiting for red ligt and a lady coming from behind with normal speed hit his car without trying to stop. His car got smashed and hit the car in front of him.

He was fine and called us to pick him up to work after the accident, went to see a doctor and taken the next day off to rest. So it is already 3 weeks after that, my friend still struggling trying to make the lady who was driving to put her insurance claim & pay the damage of his car.

He contacted the lady's insurance company first and was told the lady only had 3rd party insured, they can't do anything if the lady don't claim the damage. Got the lady's number from the insurance company, tried to call her several times but she simply hangup the phone from my friend. And just switch off the phone after few calls.

Now the insurance company can't help him because my friend has 3rd party insured only, we tried to talk to the police officer who look after the accident but they just told us that they can't do anything about this (weird right?? sounds like you can just hit and run away ).

Need anyone's suggestion please, my friend lost his car, the towing company is charging him $12 a day of the storage coz the damage is not yet solved and can't just send the car to trash. Yet now he haven't got anything paid back. My friend is seeing a legal consultants this Tuesday see if they can help him. this is the only way we can think of so far.

Oh, yes. and please be aware specially we are on two wheels.. this is the second time he got hit when stopping at red light, first time was in another friend's car....

[Kawastu]

Get him(your mate) to pay his excess and have his insurance company fight for it. I had a similar situation. If she has 3rd party, the insurance will fix his car then chase the money from her. As long as they have details of her (Name, Rego Number ect.) If they sort it out and get her insurance to pay, he can claim his excess back.

[alexpacer]

Get him(your mate) to pay his excess and have his insurance company fight for it. I had a similar situation. If she has 3rd party, the insurance will fix his car then chase the money from her. As long as they have details of her (Name, Rego Number ect.) If they sort it out and get her insurance to pay, he can claim his excess back.

So my friend should contact his insurance company and say he's willing to pay the excess fee first? he told me that being a 3rd party insurance won't do anything for being damaged by other that is insured, though i don't know if this was just his thought.

[Lainie]

Yeah I think what Kawastu said. Was there a police report done and the smash I mean she was at fault regardless as she hit his bum. a solicitor could end up costing a shit load more too so I would as first step ask his innsurance comapny.

[Smitty]

He contacted the lady's insurance company first and was told the lady only had 3rd party insured, they can't do anything if the lady don't claim the damage. Got the lady's number from the insurance company, tried to call her several times but she simply hangup the phone from my friend. And just switch off the phone after few calls.

huh..??
If she has 3rd party..start annoying HER insurer
and if you get nowhere, either the Insurance ombudsman
or a solicitor are the go....

3rd party insurance is designed to pay for damage to the OTHER car
in this case ..ya mates

hth

cheers

[Lainie]

Get him(your mate) to pay his excess and have his insurance company fight for it. I had a similar situation. If she has 3rd party, the insurance will fix his car then chase the money from her. As long as they have details of her (Name, Rego Number ect.) If they sort it out and get her insurance to pay, he can claim his excess back.

So my friend should contact his insurance company and say he's willing to pay the excess fee first? he told me that being a 3rd party insurance won't do anything for being damaged by other that is insured, though i don't know if this was just his thought.

Call her insurance company and make a general enquiry and ask what does third party insurance cover. Go through the scenario of what happened as an example say if I hit someone up the bum does this cover the cost of the car I hit? Let them do themselves in. Get name of person you talked to and your friend can go back to that. 3rd party is designed for cover to other cars not your own as far as I thought. Why the hell does she pay insurance for and not use it? Silly Woman

[alexpacer]

Yeah I think what Kawastu said. Was there a police report done and the smash I mean she was at fault regardless as she hit his bum. a solicitor could end up costing a shit load more too so I would as first step ask his innsurance comapny.

I'm sure there was a police record of the accident, the police arrived the at the day, my friend was told to go to a police station few days after the accident to explain the information or something like that. We didn't want to get solicitor or court involved because it is just not worth it....the car is about $7000 and can't imagin what will be left after all this court thing..

[Lainie]

Yeah I think what Kawastu said. Was there a police report done and the smash I mean she was at fault regardless as she hit his bum. a solicitor could end up costing a shit load more too so I would as first step ask his innsurance comapny.

I'm sure there was a police record of the accident, the police arrived the at the day, my friend was told to go to a police station few days after the accident to explain the information or something like that. We didn't want to get solicitor or court involved because it is just not worth it....the car is about $7000 and can't imagin what will be left after all this court thing..

Yeap I agree shit a solicitor will charge $1,000 to fill out paper work so I have found out What does his Innsurance company say all about it

[alexpacer]

Yeah I think what Kawastu said. Was there a police report done and the smash I mean she was at fault regardless as she hit his bum. a solicitor could end up costing a shit load more too so I would as first step ask his innsurance comapny.

I'm sure there was a police record of the accident, the police arrived the at the day, my friend was told to go to a police station few days after the accident to explain the information or something like that. We didn't want to get solicitor or court involved because it is just not worth it....the car is about $7000 and can't imagin what will be left after all this court thing..

Yeap I agree shit a solicitor will charge $1,000 to fill out paper work so I have found out What does his Innsurance company say all about it

my friend's insurance: i've not heard his phone conversation to his insruance, but as my friend told me, as he is 3rd party, his insurance company can't do anything (I assume they are asking for $$ but we didn't realize by the time). The car in front of my friend has premium insured and is now working out how to not pay the excess fee and get their car fixed by the lady's insurance.

the lady's insurance: can't do anything about this because their client did not claim to the accident, damage or anything. They cannot force their customer to claim. (I assume that they don't want to pay unless their customer is a responsible person)

it is so clear that insurance company is pushing the responsibility to others, we will make few calls tonight after work.

[alexpacer]

huh..??
If she has 3rd party..start annoying HER insurer
and if you get nowhere, either the Insurance ombudsman
or a solicitor are the go....

3rd party insurance is designed to pay for damage to the OTHER car
in this case ..ya mates

hth

cheers

I think we are not yet hitting the limit of the insurance company, will sure try ombudsman after we have to throw craps to the insurer

[mike-s]

if your mate has 3rd party property, then his insurance co WILL be able to cover his car up to a limited value (say about 5k or so) if you are able to 100% identify the driver at fault.

I had nrma 3rd party property on my shitbox camira, i was involved in a 4 car accident while stationary at the lights turning right. the driver at fault was over 0.05 so was immediately was negating insurance coverage. there was another driver who had just imported his skyline the day before, and was going to insure it the next day (big mistake), another driver with a 1996 commodore who had no insurance and woulda had about 5k of damage to his car, the front right 1/4 of his car was gone. Then there was me with my camira and 3rd party property insurance, i was able to identify the driver that caused the accident and after the investigation (took 3 months due to the complexity of the problem) and i had a cheque for 900 for an indicator and minor panelwork. i never fixed the panelwork and bought a replacement indicator for $10 from the wreckers.

[mike-s]

oh and theres no excess to pay when you claim a 3rd party accident due to someone else. It wont hurt his insurance history at all, unlesshis future insurers are a pack of asshats.

hell even 400 would be worth paying if it got your car fixed, i would then take her to small claims court to recoup the cost of the excess.

[I-K]

Yeap I agree shit a solicitor will charge $1,000 to fill out paper work so I have found out

Plenty of solicitors around who'll whip up and send out a letter of demand without charging for it up front. It's an easy way to build up awareness among potential repeat customers. If you phone a law firm and they ask for up-front payment for a letter of demand, hang up and phone another one; repeat until one who'll do it for free is found.

In any event, legal fees are recoverable from the other party's insurance. You just add them to the claim. It serves as an incentive to settle the claim quickly.

From here, a letter of demand is the go. If she ignores that, you apply to magistrate's court for a hearing. She gets a letter from the court then. If she ignores that, she gets a default judgement against her. If she ignores that, she'll have to change her name and grow a beard to ever get credit again.

Short version, find a lawyer who'll issue a letter of demand for free, or a nominal fee, at least.

[mike-s]

also, another thing, which state are you and your mate in? let us know & update your profile please mate.

[alexpacer]

also, another thing, which state are you and your mate in? let us know & update your profile please mate.

We are in vic, sorry i forgot to update my profile after register

i think, if my memory servs... my friend will get a maximum of $3000, but i can't be sure if he was referring to his civic (2 month before accident) or this lancer that was total lost in the accident. we were just having chat about insurer that time. but $3000 won't cover the damage too so we will keep trying to annoy the lady's insurer