Car HIT By Drunken Driver in Car Park

[UK26]

Hi,

 

today someone hit my BMW causing damage to it. (parked in a car park)

 

I tried to prevent the driver from leaving the car park but he started to turn nasty.

 

Anyway, i called the police and he was then stopped about 15 minutes later

 

However....

 

He was then arrested for

 

1. Failing to Stop at RTA
   
2. Driving when over the drink drive limit
   
3. Public Order Offence.
   

The police advised me that his insurance will be void as he was over the drink driving limit and his insurance company may try and refuse to pay for the damage.

Is this true? its out of order if it is and affect my insurance.

[colin11]

I might be wrong, but i read somewhere that they still have to pay for the damage to your car, they just wont pay for his to be repaird

[UK26]

Hope So, as its around £2k worth of damage... Police are not allowed to give me his details as he was arrested for two offenses

[BankFodder]

I might be wrong, but i read somewhere that they still have to pay for the damage to your car, they just wont pay for his to be repaird

 

Correct

[SabreSheep]

There is a a not very well known section of the data protection act you might want to explore.

 

Section 35

Disclosures required by law or made in connection with legal proceedings etc.

 

(1)Personal data are exempt from the non-disclosure provisions where the disclosure is required by or under any enactment, by any rule of law or by the order of a court.

 

(2)Personal data are exempt from the non-disclosure provisions where the disclosure is necessary—

 

(a)for the purpose of, or in connection with, any legal proceedings (including prospective legal proceedings), or

 

(b)for the purpose of obtaining legal advice,

 

or is otherwise necessary for the purposes of establishing, exercising or defending legal rights.

 

references

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/29/section/35

[CrappoMan]

The insurer will pay for yours and anyone else's claim, but will refuse any claim he makes for his own car.

The insurer will then go after him to reimburse them for the value of any claims made against him.

[SabreSheep]

The problem op has is op does not have the drivers details to pass onto the insurer as the police will not release the info to the op.

[UK26]

I have the drivers REG number and that's it. The police said give the insurance company the crime ref

[CrappoMan]

Doesn't the OP have the registration no. ?

And isn't failure to provide insurance details after an accident an offence in itself ? If it is, the police should make sure he complies. If not, the OP needs to speak to the duty inspector at the station to get the details to pass on to his insurer.

[UK26]

I will give my insurance company a call in the morning and see what they say

[king12345]

You can get his insurance details for £4 here:

 

http://stayinsured.askmid.com/roadside.html

 

Link on the right end side of the page

[SabreSheep]

You can get his insurance details for £4 here:

 

http://stayinsured.askmid.com/roadside.html

 

Link on the right end side of the page

 

+1

[UK26]

ASKmid is not working at the moment. the Offender who thought it would be fun to drink and drive reg

 

number is [edited] (MERCEDES-BENZ ML - Color BLACK) Anyone in the Essex Area see this car be careful.

Edited March 8, 2015 by honeybee13
Reg details removed.

[honeybee13]

ASKmid is not working at the moment. the Offender who thought it would be fun to drink and drive reg

 

number is [edited] (MERCEDES-BENZ ML - Color BLACK) Anyone in the Essex Area see this car be careful.

 

UK26, I've removed the registration details you posted. I can't think it's a good idea to make this information public.

 

HB

[Aretnap]

The police advised me that his insurance will be void as he was over the drink driving limit and his insurance company may try and refuse to pay for the damage.

Is this true? its out of order if it is and affect my insurance.

No, the police were talking rubbish. Section 148 of the Road Traffic Act specifically makes certain types of exclusion in insurance policies void, at least as far as the compulsory third party section of the policy goes.

 

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/148

 

Drunkenness comes under "the physical or mental condition of the persons driving the vehicle", so even if his insurance did have a clause to say that it was invalid if he was over the drink drive limit, his insurer would still have to pay for the damage to your car. They might subsequently send him the bill for the the money they paid out to you - but that would be his problem, not yours.

[UK26]

thanks everyone. I will call my insurance company at 8am this morning to make the claim and post the outcome here asap

[Aretnap]

And isn't failure to provide insurance details after an accident an offence in itself ?

Only if the accident caused injury. In a damage only accident the only information you're required to provide at the scene if your name and address, the name and address of the vehicle owner (if different), and the vehicle registration number.

 

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/170

 

There's separate legislation requiring you to give your insurance details if/when a claim is actually made against you.

 

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/154

 

However as above in practice it doesn't really matter because if the OP has the registration number he can easily get the insurance details from AskMID. Or his insurance company can do it for him if he goes through them.

[mch1991]

Insurance companies will have to pay out on third party claims, regardless of whether the driver was under the influence. His insurance would probably be void in the respect that any claims damage to his vehicle will be rejected.

 

What generally happens is, the insurance company will pay third party claims, and then recover the costs through the county court against the policy holder as they are deemed to be in breach of the terms and conditions of the insurance policy.

 

I'm glad he was caught, it's a shame that some people still choose to drink and drive.

[UK26]

Well i phoned my insurance company at 8am this morning. by 9:01am the BMW Repair Centre was on the phone asking me to bring my car down to them for an estimate for repair.

[Conniff]

That's good. Keep us informed.

[UK26]

Well just had my insurance renewal quote and its jumped up by £200 despite having protected no claims.

 

Discussed with my insurance company and they said until they have recovered all the money from the other party it goes down on my policy as my fault.

 

Despite the other person being in court 10/04/2015 for the offenses. he admitted to the police he had hit me.

 

What is the Fu**ing point in having car insurance as they insurance companies never are the ones to loss out. its always the customer who is not at fault.

[2ltr16valve]

Had similar pal. Got hit while I was parked in parking space. Other driver admitted fault and all costs were recovered. Even so, the following year i was priced out the market so had to sell my car !

Modern day Robery

[dx100uk]

yes gotta admit the same

old car was hit by a stolen dumper truck

 

 

cost me £700

never saw the claim money even through MID

 

 

next renew was 3 times the previous year.

 

 

dx

[Aretnap]

Recovery of costs from the other party's insurer is a completely separate process to criminal proceedings and it usually takes a lot longer - months rather than weeks.

 

Ask your insurer what the renewal quote would be if it was recorded as a non-fault accident and ask them to confirm that they'll refund you the difference in premium if/when they do make full recovery from the other side.

 

Then shop around and see if you can find a cheaper quote, and ask your new insurer the same questions. Bear in mind that if you change insurer you will have to do some chasing up yourself when the claim is settled because your old insurer wn't automatically tell your new one that they've recovered their money.

 

It's a bit late now, but you'd probably have been better off going directly to the third party's insurer rather than making a claim on your own policy - that way your own insurer would have had no outlay to begin with and it would have been recorded as no fault from the outset.

[JoeyJoeC]

Why did you make a claim on your own insurance? Should have claimed on their insurance. That is why it went up!