Car Accident Drams, Help Needed/advice From Experience

[Yts]

hi i am not sure if this is the right place to place this so mods if not please move to correct place.

hi guys, my younger brother 18yrs old and on green Ps is being screwed by a driver who had accident with him and his insurance company are trying to blame him for the damadges to the other driver and not pay out his written off car

Incident occured 4 weeks ago on a friday morning. my brother was on his way to work as usual in the morning, he pulled up to the lights on mulgoa rd to turn right onto batt street (dick smith on the left,Mobil service station on the right) light was green car in front proceeded to turn as no traffic and light was green my brother followed. they proceeded to drive up batt street in line with the medium strip, where the driver in front indicated left arrow and proceeded to pull over to the side of the road. he came to a complete stop so my brother proceeded to drive in a straight line past the car when it abruptly pulled out from the curve and into the path of my brother that was still driving. due to the lack of time my brother was unable to react in time to avoid hitting his car completely resulting in my brother hitting the car at the front a pillar. i have attached photos of the place of incident stating where it happened and the layout. i have also attached photos of my brothers car from the damadge, my brother did not get photos at the time of incident when it occured. after the accident happend the car in front pulled away from the incident and parked on the side curb. Police came to the scene of the incident. Police officer got the details off my brother and told him that he was right to go. (i am assuming that this meant that he was going to charge the other driver who was at fault and that he didnt need to be there any more). A tow truck was there for both cars, although my brother works just around the corner so he said he would limp his car to his work and leave it there 2 streets up. The other car was deemed not safe to drive and the other driver wanted it towed. my brother got the details off the other driver and that was all. we then proceeded to contact the other driver and get his insurance claim no so my brother could get his car fixed, he delayed returning my brothers calls for 2 weeks. he also rang the police station to get a report number to verify the incident 2 times which both times he was not returned a phone call.

When we got the other cars details for the insurance we were given the name of an assesor who came out and viewed the damadge of the car after we got a qoute from a repair place to say it was a write off and faxed it through to them.

My brother then had a letter from the insurance company asking for more information and all his details including his insurance (at this time i believed something was sus and not right) they then sent out a letter asking for the details and a description of the event as there was a descrepency with the claim. he did as he was asked and wrote back with a diagram and the information i have told you with.

Today he got a phone call from the insurance agency that left a message, this is the message:

This is a message for ##### i am #### from the insurance company ###### in regards to the accident with our clients vehicle on the the 27th of august. Just touching base with you in regards to your version diagram that you are sending through and based on the information we have been provided with we are not accepting liabilities for the damages your vehicle and are actually holding you 100% at fault for overtaking a turning vehicles on a single lane carridge way [/b] "" "" "" blah blah so based on our records of the damages you are at fault. (after listening to this a few time i believe that they still dont have our diagram)

here are photo's i went down and took this afternnon to give you an idea< sun was very glary so photos are not full hd quality or anything like that but you get the idea.

and damadge to his car

now correct me if i am wrong but how can you overtake a turning vehicle on a single lane carridgeway??? when he was turning right and there are double lines???? your thoughts?

any and all advice is much appreciated and as you can see he is driving a car that he should be on his ps which prob has the power of a 1/4 of 1 hub lol

Edited September 30, 2010 by Yts

[MBS206]

The road rules stipulate you CAN have multiple cars in a single lane, and it then transforms into a line of traffic.

Just a technicality, skim read a heap of it and I'm cooking dinner...

[Kintake]

If that happened to me I'd try to get a Lawyer who can help me.

[Yts]

If that happened to me I'd try to get a Lawyer who can help me.

yes i am currently looking into it. he is only third party insured and we have spoken to his insurance agency but they said he had to pay the access of $1750 if he wanted them to fight the claim. which i think is down right rediculous considering all he will get back for his car is 600 odd dollars. what i need to find out is if he will get his excess payment re emburst if he wins the claim?

the facts are there, based on what i have said is there any grounds that the other guy can appeal, all it comes down to is his word against my brothers due to the lack of effort from the nsw police, all this would have been sorted in an incident report number had been filed and the other driver had been charged with neg driving, but it looks like the other driver wormed his way out of it. it states in the law that if a car has to be removed by tow truck then a person must be charged for the accident and that it can't be claimed as a P54 or P55 where they class it as dismissable because both cars are still drivable.

[Yts]

also i have got the name of the constable that was at the scene of the crime, so i will try and talk to him, trying to track down the tow truck driver who arrived at the scene also.

[AlexanderWilde]

1 if the tow truck came to remove any one of the cars then a police report must be filed this is the law so id definitely recommend contacting the cop that was at the scene

2 if the other car was hit in the back side then it is technically your brother fault (insurance company mentality) if the other car was hit in the side then it is clear that the other car turned in to traffic causing the accident therefore liable for damages.

if the police advised that your brother was not at fault and the other driver was then he would be charged and fines and demerit points taken witch would show he is at fault

the insurance company is trying to bully your brother out of the claim

i strongly recommend looking for a lawyer for advice but by no means try to take on the insurance company in court because they will make your life a hell

easiest thing to do is report them to the

Insurance Ombudsman Service (IOS)

Investigates complaints about insurers. If you believe an insurer is acting

unfairly call 1300 78 08 08.

have a read of this link http://www.legalaid.nsw.gov.au/asp/index.asp?pgid=486

and make sure you get copies of the police incident report

Insurance Services Unit

Provides copies of the police incident report. Call 8835 8377.

good luck!

[Yts]

1 if the tow truck came to remove any one of the cars then a police report must be filed this is the law so id definitely recommend contacting the cop that was at the scene

2 if the other car was hit in the back side then it is technically your brother fault (insurance company mentality) if the other car was hit in the side then it is clear that the other car turned in to traffic causing the accident therefore liable for damages.

if the police advised that your brother was not at fault and the other driver was then he would be charged and fines and demerit points taken witch would show he is at fault

the insurance company is trying to bully your brother out of the claim

i strongly recommend looking for a lawyer for advice but by no means try to take on the insurance company in court because they will make your life a hell

easiest thing to do is report them to the

Insurance Ombudsman Service (IOS)

Investigates complaints about insurers. If you believe an insurer is acting

unfairly call 1300 78 08 08.

have a read of this link http://www.legalaid.nsw.gov.au/asp/index.asp?pgid=486

and make sure you get copies of the police incident report

Insurance Services Unit

Provides copies of the police incident report. Call 8835 8377.

good luck!

thanks for the advice it is much appreciated! i read through the link and have gained alot of useful information. as per your no 1 that is what i have been trying to get out of the police but they say an incident number was recorded but no report and no charge was laid, there for the coppers did a slack arse job or rather they didnt do there job properly!

as in no 2) the other car was hit at the front a pillar where the front door and front guard meet, his car was on full lock when this happened so by no way was he trying to go straight, and he was half over the double marked lines in the pictures. (assuming he was trying to do a u turn illegally)

at present i am waiting to talk to the constable that arrived at the scene to get information off him and find out more about the incident report. he wont be in til tuesday next week so have to wait til then, and also will be ringing up the insurance company to confirm whether or not they have actuallly recieved the diagram and our side of the story. i believe the other driver has given a different/false state of events that have happened and that is why they are trying to be firm with my brother thinking that they can bully him into believing he is at fault.

[jeff]

accidents and claiming of insurance is a royal pain in the arse!

hope it gets sorted out for your brother soon (and in his favour)

[GTR-N1]

From what I read of your story, there are two parts.

Part 1.

The driver in front of your brother indicated to go left and veered left towards the kerb.

If your brother had hit him during this procedure, your brother would have been at fault.

Part 2.

The driver in front then pulled out into your brother's path by illegally turning right; and coming out from the kerb without looking/stopping.

Your brother then hit that car at the offside A-pillar. Your brother is in the right.

A traffic lawyer is required.

Pity your brother doesn't have a witness.

There's a thread here in the NSW section about Traffic Lawyers. A local one in that thread is David Wilson in Penrith.

Hope this helps...

[Yts]

From what I read of your story, there are two parts.

Part 1.

The driver in front of your brother indicated to go left and veered left towards the kerb.

If your brother had hit him during this procedure, your brother would have been at fault.

Part 2.

The driver in front then pulled out into your brother's path by illegally turning right; and coming out from the kerb without looking/stopping.

Your brother then hit that car at the offside A-pillar. Your brother is in the right.

A traffic lawyer is required.

Pity your brother doesn't have a witness.

There's a thread here in the NSW section about Traffic Lawyers. A local one in that thread is David Wilson in Penrith.

Hope this helps...

the driver indicated left and came to a complete stop, then proceeded to pull out into my brothers path, sorry if i wasnt clear with that.

thanks terry if things need to go further i will get in contact with him, thanks for all the help guys

[PSI-FED]

The fact that your brother was the one who hit him from behind isnt going to do him any justice.. From what ive seen insurance companies seem to go by the idea that if u hit some one from behind, no matter what the circumstances its automatically your fault as you cant prove things like "the driver failed to indicate, the driver was speeding e.t.c."

I had an experience where a car merged into me and hit my rear quater panel. They argued that I was speeding e.t.c. and came up with all the excuses under the sun. I proceeded to go to my panel beater, get a nice over priced quote with a few irrelevant extras that had nothing to do with the accident but where arguable and fax it straight to her insurance company as well as forward it to her.

Needless to say my R34 was back on the road within 2 weeks looking better than ever with not 1c of coin from my pocket

[Abo Bob]

First thing is that the insurance co will try anything on, particularly with a younger driver. Call their bluff. A short polite phone call to say their claim is ridiculous and that you will not budge may do the job.

Next help I think will be getting the other driver charged. Call the cop and tell him that you wouldn't have cared either way if they got charged except that now they are trying to avoid paying so would he please have them charged as appropriate. They attempted a uturn over double lines without indicating, stopped in a no stopping zone and drove negligently by not keeping a proper look out for your bro.

If yes, take this back to insurance co for another go. Keep fighting their insurance co for a bit before you go for lawyers or your own insurance.

[jawrgy]

Scummy cops not doing their paper work. But if your brother was doing 65 in a 60 zone OMGSH they will have their paper work out and be more than happy to lean on your bonnet filling out your fine.

Doesnt help that he is a P plater....

[Aaron BNR32 GTS-T]

had troble with and accident at then end of last year and wasnt my fault had a guy change over 3 lanes to the left with his right indicator on...

best thing to do is send an illustration of the incident and everything to your insurer and theirs and photos etc

that cleared my name from being 'my fault' as the other driver stated and i sold my car at a loss and bought another

[D_I_F]

From what you have just described providing that the other party was stationary at the side of the road the other party is 100% at fault. When pulling out from the side of the road the driver has a duty of care.

Obviously he hasn't paid attention and just pulled out.

[oweban]

From what you have just described providing that the other party was stationary at the side of the road the other party is 100% at fault. When pulling out from the side of the road the driver has a duty of care.

Obviously he hasn't paid attention and just pulled out.

So sayeth the lady in the know.

qft

[Daleo]

Insurance companies will try almost anything to avoid paying out. Understand that this is their primary objective and you will save hours of heartache.

My partner's fully insured car was hit as she drove into an intersection by car that had run a red light. Her car sustained in excess of $10000 damage. We had two independent witnesses, and the other driver admitted fault to the poilce at the scene.

IMPORTANT NOTE;The two cars were both insured by THE SAME INSURANCE COMPANY

I spent the next 12 weeks, ringing the insurance company EVERY day, to find out why the insurance company thought my partner was at fault.

Excuses like;

"We don't take traffic lights into account, when attributing blame" WTF?

"We're not obliged to talk to your witnesses" How can you get an independent account if you don't?

"The other driver has been with us for 40 years" So what!

"We can't get a copy of the police report" Oh yes you can...

And then from one charming employee; supposedly a department supervisor, who had been ordered to call my partner to apologise for her appalling treatment

"Why don't you just pay the f##king excess you stupid b##ch!"

This was the day we were to pick the car up from the panel beater, so we'd have to pay excess otherwise he wouldn't release the vehicle.

Unbeknownst to the insurance company, I had ordered a copy of the police report, It showed the other driver had been charged with negligent driving at the scene. He had obviously lied to the insurer and they were happy to accept the lie.

At no point during the whole sorry affair did I speak to the same person twice, and had to start from the begginning EVERY time.This is to wear you down, to make you give up.

Do not give up, document EVERYTHING, record telephone conversations, email documents to them, so you have a provable train of documentation do not EVER leave the scene without a reference number or a card from the police (just ask them they'll happily give you one).

You can beat these people at their game you just need to stay the course. Do not give them one dollar if you don't have to.

Happily, we didn't pay the excess, nor do we insure with these bloodsucking cowboys any longer. We now insure with an excellent insurer.

Good luck.

Edited October 6, 2010 by Daleo

[s13_Skyline_inside]

i hope you went about the supposed supervisors head, thats disgracefull

[Daleo]

i hope you went about the supposed supervisors head, thats disgracefull

Considering this person was supposed to be apologizing for the poor treatment she'd already received, I felt it was a complete lost cause at this point.

And after the earful I unloaded on this weasel (I was listening to the conversation silently on the speaker) I wouldn't be surprised if he packed his desk & left.

Also why you should record conversations. Lesson learnt.

Apologies for thread hijack.

[Yts]

The fact that your brother was the one who hit him from behind isnt going to do him any justice.. From what ive seen insurance companies seem to go by the idea that if u hit some one from behind, no matter what the circumstances its automatically your fault as you cant prove things like "the driver failed to indicate, the driver was speeding e.t.c."

I had an experience where a car merged into me and hit my rear quater panel. They argued that I was speeding e.t.c. and came up with all the excuses under the sun. I proceeded to go to my panel beater, get a nice over priced quote with a few irrelevant extras that had nothing to do with the accident but where arguable and fax it straight to her insurance company as well as forward it to her.

Needless to say my R34 was back on the road within 2 weeks looking better than ever with not 1c of coin from my pocket

got my brother to ring up and ask the people at the insurance agency if they had recieved his diagram and his version of events, the woman working there proceeded to ask him for his information and his insurance stuff without answering his question finally found out that they seem to have misplaced his diagram and version of events, they said that they would be ringing back today to let us know.