Accident

[harry90]

So i was at macquarie shopping centre and the driver in front of me reversed into the front of my car. At first the damage didnt look like much (it was dark), and her number plate got wedged into the front bumper and made a hole in it. But after driving over a bump the front bar got looser and more damage was caused and the fog light was hanging out. The bumper is not aligned properly with the side on and the headlights brackets are broken.
She seemed adament that it was her fault, but it clearly was. My car was stationary and she backed into me at around 40-45 kilometres/h. I have all her details and have notified my insurance of the damage to the car. They informed me to get a quote and send it to her insurance company and a copy to her along with a letter of demand. The reason for this is probably cos the damage didnt look like much at the start and there was barely any damage to her car so she has not put a claim in yet.

Any suggestions as to how to pursue the situation ?

[Shane001]

They informed me to get a quote and send it to her insurance company and a copy to her along with a letter of demand.

I thought the whole point of having insurance is that they do this for you. It's not up to you to pursue fault. If you have full comp insurance you simply get your quotes and your insurance pays to fix it, then they pursue her insurance for costs. Or am I missing something... again lol!

[J]

Damn dude that's sucks.

I agree with shane. Not that it really matters but were you parked or waiting?

[harry90]

Well my insurance wont pursue it on my behalf because i only have third party property. My car was stopped.
The scenario goes like this. I was waiting for a car to come out of its spot so i could park there, but the car in front of me saw the spot and reversed to get where i was, but i guess didnt see me and hit me.

[brad_gpx]

i had a similar situation before
except i was was still slowly moving at like 1km/h when the driver hit me, we were both reversing and despite it was clearly his fault (witnesses also said it was his fault) police told me that it was mutual negligence or something like that
they told me if i was stationary i would have had a case


so if you were stationary you should go for it
it may be helpful to see if there is any video footage at the carpark that could help you

[BorepYano]

dammit guys, this is why i wrote the sticky on insurance lol

1. if you have the other driver's phone number, give them a call, explain to them that they need to lodge a claim on their insurance for the dmg done to your car.
if they have full comp then this one claim will cover your dmgs and theirs - they have to pay their excess.
if they have 3rd party property then this claim will only cover your dmgs - they still have to pay their excess.

when they are lodging the claim with their insurance company, they will be asked to provide your details. and normally the insurance company will contact you or ask the other party to contact you with instructions and most importantly - their claim number.

Once you have the claim number, call their insurance company up and say "i'm the not at fault third party in an accident involving one of your insureds, I have a claim number",
they'll say "what is the claim number",
you read it to them,
then they'll let you know what you have to do, depending on the insurance company, they'll either ask you to get a quote and fwd it to them and/or ask you to attend an assessment. if you car is not drivable (this includes not legal to or you don't feel safe to), tell their insurance company at this time, and they'll most likely organise for your car to be towed to a repairers or their closest assessment center.

if you can nicely convince them to lodge a claim through their insurance company, this would be the easiest way of doing it.

2. if you can not contact the other driver by phone or in person, but you know who they are insured with, call that company and ask them to perform a "3rd party search" for your details (name, rego etc. whatever details you would've given to the other driver).
if they give you the privacy act spill then tell them that since you are not asking them for any of their customers' information, you are asking them to look you up, they can do it. if on the off chance you get a peon that still doesn't do it then nicely ask to speak to their supervisor (or ask them to check with their supervisor).

If your details show up then it means they can give you the claim number and inform if there is a dispute in liability, and what you have to do next.
If your details don't show up then it means the other driver hasn't lodged a claim (or there's an off chance that they are dyslexic and gave their insurance company the wrong details) - goto step 3.

3. If you can not contact the other driver by phone or in person, and you don't know who they are insured with, then you'll need to get a couple of quotes (the other driver can ask for upto 3) and write a letter of demand, and send it to the other driver.
If you don't have their address, you can go to the transport department and request a rego search, it'll cost you a few $s and they'll ask you for a stat dec saying you'll only use the information for insurance purposes and not harass the driver. (best to call them first to find out exactly what you'll need to do, saves you running back and forth to them) Whatever all this costs can be recouped as part of the settlement.
I'm sure there are templates on the internet for a letter of demand, if you can't be bothered to google it yourself, here's one that I didn't prepare earlier: http://www.aami.com.au/resources/pdf/sa ... demand.pdf

Try to encourage them to lodge a claim with their insurance company, as contrary to popular believe it's normally easier to deal with an insurance company, then a person that doesn't know much about cars.
If you get no response in a couple of weeks, you probably should send a 2nd one (just in case Aust Post ate it), if there's still no response a while after the 2nd one, you can proceed with small claims, but let's hope that it doesn't come to that.

4. If you find out the other driver does not have insurance.
Depending on the insurance company you are with, but most of the companies (as far as i'm aware) will have a "uninsured 3rd party extension" (or something similar sounding) "additional benefit" on their 3rd party property policies (this is the policy that you have).
This basically means, that your insurance company will cover you upto an (normally a pretty low) amount. provided that all these criterias are fulfilled: you know who the 3rd party is (and they can contact them), 3rd party is 100% at fault, and the 3rd party was not insured at the time of the accident.
I'm pretty hazy about this now, but you might still have to pay your excess in this case.

Or if your insurance doesn't have that then... tough titties to the other driver, they own you the money, if they won't pay.. small claims.


*in any of the above mentioned steps, you are allowed to pay up front to have your car fixed if the time taken to process has been unreasonable (especially if it's going to cause more dmg or if your car is undrivable), and be reimbursed. but make sure you are not being ripped off though (i.e. if it's a $500 fix, but your panel beater quoted $2000, and you just said to go ahead with it because you don't care since you'll get the money back anyway... once that's found out, then you'll only be reimbursed the $500 not the $2k)
*be aware that in any case, there's a small chance you might not get paid for this. i.e. you win small claims, they are given a court order, but no one can physically force them to hand you the money.
*remember that no one is happy when they receive a letter asking for money (should've seen the tantrum I chucked with I saw my rates lol), so keep that in mind when you write up the letter of demand. (read it back and if it can be taken offensively, then change it)
*the easiest way to solve these problems normally is transparency and understanding. So always be nice when you contact anyone, especially the other driver.

oh and general disclaimer crap: As far as i'm aware the information I provided is correct and current, but I take no responsibilities for ... well quite frankly, anything.

and now i'm going to add this bit to the sticky, and hope the next time something like this happens, people will read it lol
good luck mate, hope it works out.