Off Topic Need some advice following the accident

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Off Topic Need some advice following the accident

Your video link plays just fine.

Firstly, condolences. This is absolutely not your fault, and could have happened to anyone. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Doesn't matter about insurance opinion.

Vehicle carrying a load has damaged your car.
You have a civil claim against the driver for your damage.
This is the case for any collision, but usually the risk is covered by an insurance company.
Insurance company saying not their responsibility, just moves it back to the driver of the other car.
Start a small claim in the county court.

Submit dashcam footage to the police, an insecure load is a serious offence.


That.

You have suffered a loss as a direct result of the action of another driver failing to secure their load properly. The driver of the van is liable for either the cost of repairing your car, or its current market value, whichever is the lesser, plus any other reasonable costs you incur.

Start by reporting it to the Police and give them a copy of your dashcam footage. If you don't already have their details, they may be able to help in tracing the driver of the car. It's an old van, so it's reasonably likely the driver is the registered keeper.

If your insurance policy includes legal cover, this would be a good time to make use of it.

Sadly I suspect pursuing this is going to involve quite a bit of hassle, but your dashcam footage should help a lot.

Looking at the aftermath pic, I'm thinking some panel beating & filler to repair the bonnet, a s/h replacement bumper and DRL, and some paint; doesn't look like a writeoff from where I'm sitting, unless there's more hidden damage.

From other stuff you've posted, I'm betting you could do this yourself, though I don't see for a minute why you should have to.

@typecastboy, what do you think this would cost to repair, if you were to use your normal contacts?

There's some useful information on this page.
 
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get a no win no fee to get on to it

I'm not a fan of these so-called 'claims management' operations; they're basically feeding off other folks misery and generally pile on a whole load of unnecessary costs, most of which end up in their pocket. This pushes up the cost of insurance for all of us, for no real benefit (unless you're a no win-no fee lawyer).

That said, this would seem to be the sort of case they'd take on.

If it were me, and the other driver had stopped and exchanged details, I'd find out the cost of repairing it using a decent aftermarket bodyshop & s/h parts, and ask the other party for that. They may be a reasonable person, and amenable to just settling this without involving third parties and piling on the costs. It may not be the officially recommended way of doing things, but in minor damage only incidents, it happens more often that you might think.

Most folks are reasonable people who want to do the right thing, but are quite rightly nervous about the other party making unjustifiable claims if they admit anything.
 
Legally the driver is at fault with an insecure load and should be reported to Police. Check your policy T&Cs, typical insurance company trying to wriggle out. As you have dashcam footage that is gold dust. Make sure you download it and keep it safe. If you're insurance is not going to cover it, take the driver to court .You have the VRM of the van, the police will prosecute once they see the footage. If you make a legal claim, your solicitor will contact the police to release the details of the registered keeper of the van. The police should also contact the registered keeper with a V72 form (Notice of Intended Prosecution).

As for the damage. I would chuck the bonnet and the bumper. There are often silver ones on eBay. If you are able to get them in colour and it's a lottery as to whether they are available at the time, you should pick up a bonnet for less than £150, a bumper around the same amount and a DRL is about £30. If you have to buy in another colour, I would recommend buying white bumper and bonnet and taking them to a bodyshop to have painted to the correct colour. As it's silver you may have a blending problem so better to take the car with either the new parts on, or withe new parts for them to put on. I would expect to pay about £300 for bonnet, bumper and blending for cash. Shop around.

If they want to write it off, let them and then buy it back from them. You'll be quids in.
 
When you say the insurance company told you they insure the vehicle and not the load which insurance company told you? are you talking about, yours or the vans ?

The truth it they insure the driver, the driver is in charge of the vehicle including anything attached to it. Talk to your own insurance company and get the damage assessed, then let them deal with the claim. If the car is a right off you don’t have to accept what they offer you for it and can argue about the amount of pay out, don’t be fobbed off with any excuses, your insurance company should be on your side and look to reclaim your losses for you.

If you phone the other sides insurance company then yes you’ll get fobbed off with stupid excuses like they don’t insure the load (which actually they do, and especially on a van policy)
 
...you should pick up a bonnet for less than £150, a bumper around the same amount and a DRL is about £30. If you have to buy in another colour, I would recommend buying white bumper and bonnet and taking them to a bodyshop to have painted to the correct colour. As it's silver you may have a blending problem so better to take the car with either the new parts on, or withe new parts for them to put on. I would expect to pay about £300 for bonnet, bumper and blending for cash. Shop around.

So if I've understood what you're saying, parts, paint & labour about £600-£700 all in for cash. That's certainly in line with what I'd expect.

The cost of an insurance job with new parts would likely make this a writeoff on an older 500, but it would definitely be one that's worth buying back.

the police will prosecute once they see the footage

Police involvement in damage only accidents is very hit or miss and depends on the policy of the police force responsible. Some won't take further action unless someone is injured or there is clear evidence of dangerous driving; others will persecute motorists at every opportunity.

If someone is injured, it's a different matter. Had the load gone through a windscreen and killed someone, the driver of the van would almost certainly be prosecuted for causing death by careless driving and would be lucky to escape a custodial sentence.

Having watched the dashcam footage again, I'm just glad noone was hurt.

What I've seen of this thread so far is making me seriously consider buying a dashcam.
 
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As others have said, the van is at fault, and the policy in place on the vehicle will have no choice but to indemnify the damage (either by way or repair, or write off).

I presume you've the details of the vans insurer? If so contact them directly and ask them to deal with your claim as a third party. You will however have no complaint rights via the FOS should things go wrong.

So the other alternative would be to go through your own comprehensive policy and your insurer should be looking to recover their outlay from the vans insurer. You'll potentially have to pay your excess and either get this back directly from the van insurer, or if you've legal cover then get them involved to recover all uninsured losses.

As mentioned by jrkitching avoid any Accident Management companies at all costs. They're scum of the industry to be honest, inflating costs and in turn premiums for everyone. More importantly if you're placed into a credit hire or credit repair contract this can easily leave you with a financial liability should costs be deemed unreasonable by the fault insurer upon the credit hire / repair bills being submitted to them! (n)
 
So this happened today, no I didn't hit another car in a nut shell the insurance says write off or we pay for repair, how did it happen a unsecured load flew off a van and hit our car, insurance says they insure the car not the load it was carrying so I can't claim against the other party even though I have dash cam footage. #Typecastboy

This link might work https://youtu.be/6DUiGByVSzQ
So sorry this happened to you!! Thank god you got the footage though! I’m still amazed people still DONT use dashcams hope you get this sorted & thank god your both ok!!
 
As for the damage. I would chuck the bonnet and the bumper. There are often silver ones on eBay. If you are able to get them in colour and it's a lottery as to whether they are available at the time, you should pick up a bonnet for less than £150, a bumper around the same amount and a DRL is about £30. If you have to buy in another colour, I would recommend buying white bumper and bonnet and taking them to a bodyshop to have painted to the correct colour. As it's silver you may have a blending problem so better to take the car with either the new parts on, or withe new parts for them to put on. I would expect to pay about £300 for bonnet, bumper and blending for cash. Shop around.

If they want to write it off, let them and then buy it back from them. You'll be quids in.
I can see on Ebay used genuine bumpers and what looks OEM equivalent, which seem cheaper and with holes and without, whats your thoughts genuine original or pattern part? The holes(in bumper) do I need it with or without or does it not matter?
Do you think the wing to bumper fixings might need replacing, I've manage to clip it back in place but should have removed the DRL will look at it tomorrow, the light has punched a tiny hole in the washer bottle but simple to fill as its right at the top.

The guy has offered £500 cash in the mean time if I do't want to go via the insurance which is looking less likely all round
 
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The pattern non OEM bumpers are actually ok and fit well but they don’t have the rubber skirt on the bottom.

The non OEM bonnets are absolute rubbish. Do not be tempted. They are light and twist and warp when you open the bonnet.

You may need the wing to bumper brackets but you won’t really know until you take the bumper off. They are only a tenner each anyway.

The holes in the bumper are for the tabs of the bottom chrome strips. If your car has them then you should get the one with the holes. Sorry from memory I can’t remember what trim level your car is but if it’s a pop then you need the one without the holes.

There may well be some silver cars out there breaking but you rarely find mint front bumpers so it might be worth getting a pattern bumper but an original bonnet and getting them painted.

I certainly wouldn’t expect the entire thing to cost more than £600-£700 top whack depending on whether you can get them in colour. If you can you will save a good £200-300.
 
John202020 if you need a DRL I have spares! Just let me know

Will do I've repaired the broken headlight brackets with Epoxy, all the tabs are off the drl and it's cracked that said I reckon I can salvage it, two brackets I can glue back on I believe the other is trashed but even so I think I can make up a new fixing
 
The pattern non OEM bumpers are actually ok and fit well but they don’t have the rubber skirt on the bottom.

The non OEM bonnets are absolute rubbish. Do not be tempted. They are light and twist and warp when you open the bonnet.

You may need the wing to bumper brackets but you won’t really know until you take the bumper off. They are only a tenner each anyway.

The holes in the bumper are for the tabs of the bottom chrome strips. If your car has them then you should get the one with the holes. Sorry from memory I can’t remember what trim level your car is but if it’s a pop then you need the one without the holes.

There may well be some silver cars out there breaking but you rarely find mint front bumpers so it might be worth getting a pattern bumper but an original bonnet and getting them painted.

I certainly wouldn’t expect the entire thing to cost more than £600-£700 top whack depending on whether you can get them in colour. If you can you will save a good £200-300.

So I've fixed the headlight brackets the two right ones were off, the drl has lost all and but reckon I can fix it, yes part of the bumper to wing fixing is broken and there is no bolt that side(snapped out years ago) so non oem bumper genuine bonnet I can transfer all the bits from the original bumpers as they all survived bar one fixing on the silver trim but I have it and maybe able to fix it or double sided tape
 

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Yes, double sided tape and/or a pound shop 2 part resin glue will hold them more secure. Put some tape over the ends and in the middle to hold it firm while the glue goes off.

So a no holes non oem bumper, the pic is for reference as it was before last week end will look for a genuine bonnet, where can I get a bumper to wing fixing? Think my dad has a pop rivet gun( I was taking my mum and dad food when the incedient happened as he's has been diagnosed with Lukemia at 85
 
Better news today other parties insurance will pay either repair write off or keep car and settle they said, I said I think it will go the keep car and settle route given its age in the mean time they're providing a courtesy car as technically I can't drive ours due to the missing light making it not road legal .
 
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