Third party has gone into radio silence....

[Crazyfool]

Sitting in a park car park with my son waiting for my eldest to arrive, a young lad reversed into me. We didn't exchange much in the way of details because he agreed he would pay for the repairs to my vehicle outright. Mercedes indicated it was a corner repair so I sent him the photos of the damage and how much it was going to cost, he accepted, then I booked the car in for the repairs...then lock down began. I sent him another message indicating the repairs had to be cancelled and I would get in touch with him when I could re-book the car.

Its now booked in for early August, however the lad has gone into radio silence.

I don't see why he should just walk away from this, irrespective of the cost, so am considering going through Mercedes accident claims center. The only problem is, I don't have his insurance details due to the nature of our agreement. I've conducted a very brief check on askMID and the vehicle is insured, but is this the right approach to obtaining his insurance details.

Any views would be appreciated. Thanks all

 

[Doodle]

You don't need them, they will be able to find them out from the vehicle details.

Fully expect he may deny it happened though, so unless you have independent corroboration or written admission you may find yourself with a fight on your hands.

 

[Mr. B]

I would suggest you will just have to bite the bullet with this one.
If he was going to pay he should have paid when you told him how much the repair bill was going to be b4 you had the work carried out.
With the passage of time he’s probably thought sod it i‘m not paying.
Is it worth footing the bill rather than going through the insurance because although it’s not your fault and you would be claiming on his insurance it will still get registered as a claim and could effect your premium.
You could always take him through the civil court.

 

[markjay]

Firstly, I am assuming it is a reasonably expensive repair. Otherwise it isn't worth pursuing, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that once insurers are involved it may affect your own premium come next renewal, even if it wasn't your fault.

Hopefully you have some correspondence to hand where he accepts liability and confirms the facts (both are needed, admission of liability in itself isn't always sufficent because his insurer may claim that he wrongly thought it his was his fault, but on fact it isn't).

Then, leave him a voice message or text message saying that you will be making a claim directly off his insurer. This might just bring him around.

The next hurdle if finding the name of his insurer. You want this, because you want to make the claim directly against his policy, and not on your own policy.

I suggest that you (a) notify your own insurer of the event (which you have to do anyway), and see if they will provide you with the name of his insurer, and if this does not work, then (b) file a report with the police and see if they can help with providing the name of his insurer, and last (c) if you can't find the name of his insurer, then employ an accident management firm, they will find it out for you.

I am usually very much against using the services of these firms, but they are effective in pursuing insurers. Perhaps you should use the Mercedes Benz accident management services via the dealer.

However, if you are able to contact his insurer directly, then file a claim directly with them, and do not involve your own insurer (other than the mandatory notification) or an accident management firm.

Next, the insurer will seek to get response from their client, and based on the facts you provided and the input from their client they will make a decision if they accept liability and agree to pay out.

Keep in mind that once the other-party's insurer accepted liability, you are entitled to a rental car of similar size to yours for the duration of the repair (i.e. while your car is in the garage), and also to a refund of any other expense you may have incurred e.g. taxis or stamps/postage etc.

Good luck.

 

[optimusprime]

I just dont trust anyone today . But this guy just might be ill with the plague thats going about . Go on and check out the reg and find him again dont let it sleep .

 

[219]

Sitting in a park car park with my son waiting for my eldest to arrive, a young lad reversed into me. We didn't exchange much in the way of details because he agreed he would pay for the repairs to my vehicle outright. Mercedes indicated it was a corner repair so I sent him the photos of the damage and how much it was going to cost, he accepted, then I booked the car in for the repairs...then lock down began. I sent him another message indicating the repairs had to be cancelled and I would get in touch with him when I could re-book the car.

Its now booked in for early August, however the lad has gone into radio silence.

I don't see why he should just walk away from this, irrespective of the cost, so am considering going through Mercedes accident claims center. The only problem is, I don't have his insurance details due to the nature of our agreement. I've conducted a very brief check on askMID and the vehicle is insured, but is this the right approach to obtaining his insurance details.

Any views would be appreciated. Thanks all

Legally , your claim is against HIM , not his insurer .

He can , if he wishes , invoke his insurance to indemnify him against the claim ; that is his choice , but does not affect his liability .

You could use the service you mention , your own insurer ( who you are contractually obliged to inform of the incident even if not claiming ) , or , if you have written admission of liability and agreement to pay , from the other party , you could raise an action in small claims court which should result in him being ordered to pay .

Merely suggesting to him that this is your intended course of action may be enough to bring the required response .

you said he was a young lad - perhaps over the lockdown he has been out of work and no longer has the money to pay ? Perhaps ask him if this is the case and suggest he can go through his insurance. Even if he has cancelled it , as long as it was in force at the time of the incident a claim can still be made .

 

[Jukie]

I suggest that you (a) notify your own insurer of the event (which you have to do anyway), and see if they will provide you with the name of his insurer, and if this does not work, then (b) file a report with the police and see if they can help with providing the name of his insurer, and last (c) if you can't find the name of his insurer, then employ an accident management firm, they will find it out for you.


Good luck.

The police will not provide insurance details. Data protection and all that. Also, it's a damage only RTC with details exchanged (to whatever extent) therefore it is not a reportable/recorable accident. No police action required or taken. I doubt any Constabulary would even create an incident log.

 

[219]

The police will not provide insurance details. Data protection and all that. Also, it's a damage only RTC with details exchanged (to whatever extent) therefore it is not a reportable/recorable accident. No police action required or taken. I doubt any Constabulary would even create an incident log.

Indeed that is the position .

Sometimes you can get lucky with a friendly cop ; after my ex had her parked car damaged by a girl driving daddy’s car , and was told she was insured by Tesco , which proved not to be true when Tesco informed us she was not insured through them .

My ex went down to the station to ask if the girl had insurance , where the WPC on the desk informed her that she could not divulge this information, at the same time smiling broadly and shaking her head slowly from side to side

I contacted the father and suggested to him that he either admitted his daughter was driving with his knowledge and permission , in which case HIS insurer would be liable ( and put him in an awkward position) or he would have to report his daughter for TWOC , which he obviously didn’t wish to do .

Since the car which was hit was of low value , an agreement was reached and he came round with a cash settlement.

 

[markjay]

The police will not provide insurance details. Data protection and all that. Also, it's a damage only RTC with details exchanged (to whatever extent) therefore it is not a reportable/recorable accident. No police action required or taken. I doubt any Constabulary would even create an incident log.

The police will get involved if the other party refuse to provide their details, which is an offense.

So it depends on how the conversation went at the scene and what details were actually provided. Depending on the circumstances, it may or may not merit police intervention.

 

[Teego]

Keep it simple. Similar thing happened to my daughter. She pursued it as a no fault claim through her insurer saying she did not want to claim on her policy but wanted them to pursue the other party's insurer. It dragged on while he admitted it and then denied. Sorted eventually with threat of legal. But your "lad" will probably cave in much faster.
Your insurers will know who his insuers are.

 

[219]

The police will get involved if the other party refuse to provide their details, which is an offense.

So it depends on how the conversation went at the scene and what details were actually provided. Depending on the circumstances, it may or may not merit police intervention.

It is only a legal requirement to provide name and address, plus those of the vehicle owner , if different .

There is no legal requirement to provide insurance details , nor to invoke insurance .

 

[Jukie]

The police will get involved if the other party refuse to provide their details, which is an offence.

Correct and police would probably/hopefully start by contacting the offending driver and reminding him/her of their legal responsibility with the threat of prosecution rather than jumping straight in with a prosecution

So it depends on how the conversation went at the scene and what details were actually provided. Depending on the circumstances, it may or may not merit police intervention.

My understanding from the OP is that some details were exchanged, seemingly sufficient for our OP to make contact with the offending driver after then event. Therefore legal requirements are met.

 

[W1ghty]

The park car park is a problem , because insurance doesn't fully/at all cover when the accident isn't on the highway

 

[markjay]

It is only a legal requirement to provide name and address, plus those of the vehicle owner , if different .

There is no legal requirement to provide insurance details , nor to invoke insurance .

I agree, but for example the other party may have provided only his first name and mobile number, and refused to provide his full name, address, or confirm who owns the vehicle. Which is why I said it depended on the circumstances.

 

[Crazyfool]

Thanks all, very useful info. I was half tempted to pay to use the website above, but it makes sense that Mercedes/my insurance could easily find the info.

After the accident we conversed over text so I have written proof of his acceptance so hopefully that is enough. I think I am going to give him a call via my landline, he only has my mobile number, and even if I have to leave him a message, lay out my intentions.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Had a similar situation with our old 2002 transit van.

Young lad in a BMW ran into back of it (in snow) while it was parked up. Dented in one of the doors and marked bumper.

Got a number and an email address from him and he said he would pay repair cost.
From memory I think the contact details he gave us at this point was his gilfriends.

After speaking with repair garage he arranged (think it was his dad) they explained they were just doing a cheap (favour) repair to keep cost down. We said no and at that point they stepped aside as did not want to be stuck in the middle.

We explained to the lad it needs a repair to as before condition, not a cheap fix and cost is not our concern.

He then went silent mode so we asked for his insurance details, again silence.

We spoke to the police (after our own insurer) and told them the details (we had pictures of incident/ a lot of damage to his BMW) and that he was refusing to give us the details.

Within less than a day the police rang back with his full name, address and insurance details.

Contacted his insurance company with all the info.
They were surprised as there was no incident on file (which he is obliged to inform them of I think).

They sent an assessor out, he had a look, asked us after discussion if we wanted to keep the van and arrange our own repair which we agreed to.
A few days later we received the agreed amount which I think was around £1100.

Silly by the lad as if he had worked with us he could have had a much better outcome.

In summary the police in Stirling were certainly prepared to get us his details as he was refusing.

 

[219]

The park car park is a problem , because insurance doesn't fully/at all cover when the accident isn't on the highway

Unless there is a barrier controlling entrance , there is unrestricted public vehicular access , therefore RTA applies , and so does insurance .

There are very few circumstances where insurance is not valid .

 

[Crazyfool]

That’s good to know.
thanks

 

[LTD]

Crazyfool

Straight to your insurance company and let them sort it out

It’s what we all pay for ....

 

[jdrrco]

Crazyfool

Straight to your insurance company and let them sort it out

It’s what we all pay for ....

When we were in Israel for a week in March, someone grazed the CLS in the airport car park. Not fun to come back to. Repair cost was just under £1,100 with a specialist. Although it took some chasing due to Covidness, my insurers have coughed up and, in spite of NCD falling to just 2 years, my premium has only risen by £50.

All in all a real pain, but that's what insurance is there for.