Crashed into an ambulance

[Gucci]

Fortunately, not me, but my brother-in-law was out for a Friday night spin in his Golf R32 last night. His account was that he left the lights "quickly", lost control and hit the side of an ambulance on the other side of the road

He's VERY lucky nobody was in that ambulance, but £100k worth of damage has been caused. Police rightly gave him a hard time and charged him with careless driving. Pretty much open shut case as far as they're concerned - young man, R32, bling wheels, friday night = carnage on the road.

So, my question is - what are the likely repercussions? Would his insurance company pay for his replacement car? How much could he be fined by police?

 

[trapperjohn]

There is a forum called "Fight Back" (or similar) where you can see what you may get for various motoring offences.

I'm thinking he will have a fairly heavy book thrown at him by the courts. If he has any points on his licence these will be taken into consideration in a negative way too.

As you will be aware - not a good situation for him.

 

[Spin_bowler]

Sounds like he made a right c0ck up of that "quick" getaway.

I think he'll need to go through his policy booklet in a bit of detail to see what the likelihood of his insurers paying out is. I know some don't if the driver is convicted of DD, for example.

With regard to the punishment handed down by the authorities, who knows? Depends on charges, his character, the mood of the magistrate on the day etc, etc.

The one certainty is that he'll not be insuring another R32 very cheaply in the near future.

 

[davidjpowell]

It's an accident. I can't see why his insurer would not payout. Obviously they are going to be increasing his premiums somewhat!

Difficult to see how you can **** it up to this degree. I'm betting there is more to the story somewhere

 

[Gucci]

mmm. Only he knows (and the odd witness I guess).

 

[Dieselman]

Of course the insurers will pay out, they have a legal obligation to and it's what he paid the premium to cover.

His bigger problem is what the CPS finally decide to prosecute for as this sounds more like dangerous driving than careless.

£100K worth of damage is going to take some beating...

 

[grober]

He left the lights "quickly"- is that a euphemism for " drag racing"? - don't answer that.

PS No chance that any of the fancy traction control systems malfunctioned? http://www.vaglinks.com/Docs/VW/Misc/VW_Haldex_AWD_SelfStudyGuide.pdf

if he felt " the car took over" then maybe worth getting a download of the controller ECU codes to check for any problem- on the other hand it might reveal some damning evidence?

 

[@MARK]

He needs to make sure he doesn't go discussing it online.

Most insurance companies trawl the Internet these days with cases such as this and its not unheard of for the insurance company to use the online version of events to show that the account on the claim form is different and therefore null and void.

They don't need much of an excuse to not pay out. Don't give them one.

 

[MOCAŠ]

He needs to make sure he doesn't go discussing it online.

Most insurance companies trawl the Internet these days with cases such as this and its not unheard of for the insurance company to use the online version of events to show that the account on the claim form is different and therefore null and void.

They don't need much of an excuse to not pay out. Don't give them one.

Fair point, and if you Google "r32 ambulance", this thread is on the first page of results.

 

[Alps]

Ouch, hope the situ gets sorted.

 

[Gucci]

I agree, if my brother-in-law had a different story, like "don't tell anyone I was really doing 90mph" then I'd be concerned about the thread online. I've kept to the facts, all of which the police have concluded or divulged by him. Nothing new is coming to light here.

 

[artyman]

Even crossing a junction after a 'brisk' getaway I'm wondering how £100K of damage can be caused in a collision only yards from the lights, also if the car was 'out of control' then presumably some of that starting traction would have been lost an hence less speed for an impact, something doesn't quite sound right.

 

[Spin_bowler]

I should imagine it's easy to tot up 100 grand's worth where a fully equipped ambulance is involved.

 

[trapperjohn]

Not to mention taking/getting/hiring one out of stock to cover for the "broken" one 'til it is replaced.

 

[John]

Hmm true, I wondered how he clocked up so many damage but thinking about it - a single defibillator is £1500 so it wouldn't take long plus the loan ambulance if there is such a thing.

He didn't pick that target well!

 

[Dieselman]

Maybe he's one of those people likes to get his moneys worth out of his insurance premium.

Should account for a few years payments...

 

[Ierton]

Of course the insurers will pay out, they have a legal obligation to and it's what he paid the premium to cover.

They only have a legal obligation to 3rd parties. T&C can dictate any clause in the case of the Proposer. You'll find almost all policies now have a clause of exoneration in the event the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

 

[Dieselman]

You'll find almost all policies now have a clause of exoneration in the event the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

How do you know he was, it wasn't mentioned in the original post?

 

[BTB 500]

Accident happened last night ... repairs can't possibly have been fully costed by lunchtime today (Saturday). Possibly the ambulance is worth £100k fully equipped and someone is guessing that it will be written off, but even in that event it's very unlikely all the onboard equipment is scrap.

 

[Ierton]

I don't and wasn't suggesting he was. I was disagreeing with your statement that an insurer has an obligation to honour a claim in any circumstance.