General ****** !!!

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General ****** !!!

Yorky

New member
Joined
Jan 9, 2006
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117
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Location
Dewsbury & Brid
I'm totally gutted. Driving home from the East Coast yesterday evening in the Stilo with Mum and Sister. Passed through Walkington near Beverley heading towards North Cave i catch up with 3 other cars and slow down to 50 ish mph. For those of you who know the road it's a good unrestricted "A" road with good surfaces and visibilty.The car in front is trying to pass the other 2 and keeps building up speed and then braking. My mum comments about it and why does he keep braking when yet again his brake lights come on only this time and without any warning he has made an emergency stop !! Not expecting this and being too late to react sees me sliding in to the back of the car in front. He doesn't stop but carries on driving with me in pursuit flashing my remaining headlight. (the other 2 cars have driven off in to the distance.) It eventually pulls over and out jumps a young male driver and female passenger. "what are you playing at making an emrgency stop in the middle of no where" says i. "the car in front swerved to miss a deer and i reacted by making an emergency stop." says the driver. I get a pen and paper to swap details and the driver asks why i want his details. I tell him 'cos he was driving to which he tells me it's his girlfriends car and i need her details. I get both occupants details and phone numbers and the girl believes her insurance covers her but not sure about the driver. He says "he'll have to check" his insurance. Hmmm. Sounds a bit dodgy to me. My car is still driveable but the front end is mashed and bonnet looks out of line with the offside wing. Bloody wonderful.
 
I feel for you man - must be feeling like crap..

But have to agree - sounds like you were driving too close to his a$$. Drive like me - a semi-trailer could fit between mine and the car in front :p
 
Thats not good to here there are some idiots on the road but sounds like you didnt leave enough distance. We all very often dont take into account many factors of the road and the other people on it. All we can do is learn from it to avoid the same thing happening again.
 
How much room is how much room ? I genuinely believed there was plenty of space between him and me, probably at least 5 car lengths. I think the constant braking by him put me off and when he did his final braking manouvere i was lulled in to a false sense of security of " Jeez, he's braking again." The split second difference between braking to slow down and braking for an emergency stop resulted in the rear end shunt. Call it fate but the end result was always going to happen wether it was me or some other unlucky punter. The Deer ? Probabaly munching on grass planning for another night out visiting friends in other fields !!
 
hate to say this but normally a rear end shunt is usually put down as the following drivers fault irrespective of what the first car's doing. Try and claim but i don't think you have much chance.
 
Your one chance here is proving that the lad in front was not competant to be driving. Sounds to me they sped away in the hope of making enough distance to allow them to swap over. If he has no licence/insurance then you may have a case. Worth contesting however slim.
 
Report it to the police so that they have to check his licence and insurance, your insurance company can then contact the police for their findings which might help you.

It does sound like you were too close BUT you don't say whether YOU saw the deer or other vehicles brake, swerve, etc
is he lying about the deer? if so why?
 
Can i just say that if he is youngish, do you meen like 17-20, then he shouldnt be driving anyone elses car apart from his own. Because this is illegal, and i think you might also have to have your licence for 3 years before you can drive someone elses vehicle as well :confused:. I know that i have to wait until im 21 before i can drive anyone elses car.

His insurance shouldnt cover him to use another car, i am covered to use my dads vans but under his business insurance, and the pool cars at work (anything less then 2000cc until i am 21), and nowhere on my insurance policy does it state anything that i drive other then my own car.

This is somthing to think about. Have you heard anything from him since ?
 
Can i just say that if he is youngish, do you meen like 17-20, then he shouldnt be driving anyone elses car apart from his own. Because this is illegal

Not technically true, it will all depend on his insurance policy, he may well be able to drive other cars, also he may be on his girlfriends policy, we don't know.
 
Report it to the police so that they have to check his licence and insurance, your insurance company can then contact the police for their findings which might help you.
This might not be the best idea.

I'd be inclined to bluff it first.

Contact the guy and explain you want to see his insurance in detail. Make it clear that you'll need to contact the police if they're not in order. If they're 100% (read it carefully) then back off but if not then be prepared to be offered compensation ;)

You haven't said if you have fully comp and if you intend to claim on your own insurance as a last resort? Remember you're on a dodgy wicket here and if it all goes wrong you (your insurance) could end up paying for the damage to both cars :(
 
Sounds mad, but as Argo said, you best hope is the guy don't actually covered by any insurance and pay out from his own pocket.
Deer or not, if the matter pass to the insurance company, you have no chance at all.
 
if, for the sake of argument he shares my insurance company, he can drive any car 3rd party up to a value of 45k that is not a van or pick up at any age as long as it is insured anyway, however maybe thats a slim chance? I would be inclined to say as you hit him from behind, it would not be in your interested to pursue it through insurance, as they generally rule that any following car must leave room to stop safely should the car in front stop suddenly, you may be hit with a huge insurance premium to compensate for your insurance repairing 2 cars.
 
I had a similar occurrence happen to me many years ago I was working nights at that time and an African girl had driven into my car that was parked out side my home ..she wasn't waring any shoes had no driving licence or insurance ..and promised to pay for all the damage ..it took me months of chasing her to finally get the money out of here and that was when I lost it ..totally flipped and told her I was going to the police ..I had a witness as my next door neighbour had seen her do it and actually knocked my door ..but was a very close call in the end ..as Dave has said its your word against theirs bit of a bitch when ****e like this happens :(
 
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