Motor Car accident today, what next.

T

TheQueen

Guest
I was involved in a car accident today.
Fairly serious and would imagine the car is a write off.
What happens now?
Not clear yet whose fault it is. I believe it was the others drivers and there were witnesses but tbh I don't hugely care, am just relieved were are all ok.
Any idea of how long I will be waiting to hear?
My insurance company is organising a car rental for me in the morning.
I presume too, if the car is written off, I will be offered less than current value of car?
Any help appreciated, have never been involved in an accident before.
 
As long as it takes the insurance company to investigate the accident and determine who was at fault.

Why would you presume you would get less than the current value? You will obviously get the market value which may differ from your expectation, taking into account the spec of the car, the NCT mileage, etc.

You have made a claim under your own comprehensive insurance policy so your own insurer will take care of handing the claim and if the other driver is at fault they will pursue their insurer to reimburse the money paid out.
 
Presume was probably the wrong word. I am just anxious as I can't see the car not being written off and I need a car of similar size due to the size of my family.
Is asking how long this takes similar to asking how long is a piece of a string?
 
TheQueen said:
Is asking how long this takes similar to asking how long is a piece of a string?
Click to expand...

Probably but shouldn't take too long if you have comprehensive. If you are going to get a second-hand car if your car is a write-off you could start looking at sites like www.carzone.ie but don't do anything until you have the money in your hand.

You could also have a read of the key posts here.
 
Be prepared to haggle over the car value if you don't think you're getting a good deal from the insurer. Make sure you know what the value should be, and take into account mileage etc. Use carzone & Autotrader to search for a similar car and mileage and you'll have a good idea. If there were extra's in the car over and above the norm, argue this as well. You will want to be reasonable, but firm too.
 
Hi theQueen I have some first hand recent experience of crashing when it was my fault...I have fully comprehensive insurance.

it took 10 days for the assessor to call out and inspect the damage done to both cars. I guess this is dependant on who your insurance company are. It took the assessor a few days to write up the report and submit it to my insurance company & copied to the 3rd party's insurance company.

In this case where I was at fault, my insurance company coughed up. Even though I believe and with a fully qualified mechanic looking at it, there was no way the damage was near the amount paid out to fix both cars - this could be crucial when looking for insurance next time around.

YOur insurance company will give you a car for the number of days specified in your policy - maybe you know someone in a garage who could loan/give you a pool/demo car for a few days ?

check your policy excess also for the amount you may have to pay. Temporary car insurance is not available (should your own insurance expire while matters are sorted).

My advice is to chase, chase & chase up EVERYTHING. Yes it is a bit of a headache - but if I didn"t do it, it would have dragged on even longer. It took nearly 3 months for mine to be sorted out because I has to deal with my insurance company who had moved to the UK

Good luck
Pete
 
Car might not necessarily be a write off. My mother had an accident in the bad weather, car slipped off the road, hit a tree, all engine etc. shunted a good 6" into the car. Value of car was around €6000. Cost of repairs was €5600. Insurance company refused to wirte it off and agreed to repairs instead. Luckily the garage mum deals with offered to take in the car as trade in as the repairs would be done from insurance company and offeed her a decent deal. Mum would never have felt safe in the car again knowing it had been in a major accident.

Glad you are OK though, these things are scary.....if the car is written off though you should get current market value i belive.
 
Had some first hand experience where it wasn't my fault. My learning was to make sure you ring up the other drivers insurance company yourself to ensure that it had been reported to them. In my case, after a couple of weeks of chasing this chancer whose lorry hit me, I rang the company (Gardai had got his insurance details at the time of the crash) and he hadn't even rang them
 
I had an accident 2 weeks ago, the Insurance Comp are calling it a write off and selling the wreck to a salvage company. They are paying me the difference between the value of the car and what the salvage company are paying. I have to get the rest from the salvage company, is this normal?
 
yep. Some may arrange the salvage on your behalf and then pay the total amount. But others will do it that way!
 
my advice is to check carzone, make a printout of a car thats closest to yours, eg year / mileage/ nct / spec. and use that as a guidline. this is what the assessor will do. I had an accident last year9 not , i had the car 3 weeks when it happened, i had a receipt saying i payed €13000 for the car, the assessor had a printout of one similar but certainly not equivilant to mine that was for sale in a garage on the naas road that was priced at €11000 also if there is tax left on your car, you are entitled to be re imbursed for that.
 
i wasnt at fault, i argued with the insurance company, the car they were refering to had 20000 more miles than mine , was a far lower spec, was an import and a horrible colour, i argued that the car i had was what i wanted to be replaced like for like, we ended up settling for €12000, and i got €1200 for damages to laptop and iphone, Remember assessors are independent to the insurance company, they are paid a commission on what they save the insurance company. so the less the insurance company pay you the more money they make. ie if you submit a claim for €13000 and the insurance company pay out €10000, the assessor is paid a commission on €3000.
 
Thanks Legend, there is good value out there in 2nd hand cars at the moment so I can't argue too much about what they have valued my car at. My tax is €445 and there's 11.5 months left, they put an extra €250 on the value for that. I'd always assumed that anything the insurance comp could get for a wreck would be between them and the buyer.
 
as far as i know you can get a refund on the car tax, what is left that is because the car is now off the road, look into that.
 
rgar said:
as far as i know you can get a refund on the car tax, what is left that is because the car is now off the road, look into that.
Click to expand...

See here for details:

10Q. Can I apply for a motor tax refund? 10A. Yes. You can apply for a refund on your motor tax if your vehicle has been:
  • Scrapped or destroyed by an Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF)
  • Stolen and not been found
  • Sent out of Ireland permanently, e.g. sold abroad
  • Not used in a public place because you are absent from Ireland for business, educational reasons or with the Defence Forces.
  • Not used in a public place because of owner illness or injury.
There must be a full three calendar months of unexpired tax remaining on the disc for a refund application to be considered. All applications for a refund must be made to your local Motor Tax Office, irrespective of whether you taxed online or in a Motor Tax Office. In order to apply for a refund you need to complete an RF120 form. This form must be witnessed and stamped by a member of An Garda Siochana. This form is available at your local motor tax office or can be got on our homepage under the link 'Motor Tax Forms'.
 
They say I can't get the tax back because the salvage guy is going to put the car back on the road.

They gave me a name and mobile number for him, haven't called him yet, could be salt of the earth but what happens if I hand whatever documentation he needs and I never hear from him again?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top