Hello,
Could anyone in the know please advise me on the following subject:
On 13/11/03 a bus hit my car when my wife was driving the car.
My wife had stopped as she saw the bus approaching,the road was narrow but has passing places.My wife went to reverse into the passing place but the bus driver proceeded to carry on moving forward and signalled to my wife to stop where she was.As he got closer to the car he mounted a kerb with the front wheels and got partially past with the front of the bus but the rear wheels never made it onto the kerb and the following result is that he has dented and scratched the car from the front door to the rear bumper,but hasn't touched the front wing.This proves that with flared wheel arches on the car that the bus was at an angle when the impact took place.He also stopped and got out of the bus when the bus was halfway along the car, however my wife was unable to get out as his bus was still against the door when he stopped.
To cut a long story short,the bus company's insurance company have received a statement from the driver but have said they can take up to 12 weeks to admit liability.My insurance company have not been involved to date,but we have contacted them and told them.If I am to get them involved I will have to pay £600 excess to start with(I do have protected NCD)but after 14 yrs of No claims I dont see why I should have to outlay £600 when it wasn't our fault.
I am keen to get the car sorted out before all the salty spray from the roads start to rust the bare metal on the car.
What makes it worse is when my wife said to the driver "I will have to claim" he trembled, so she said "You won't lose your job will you" to which he replied "I have had a few knocks recently"!!!!.
The bus was also half-full with 7-10 year old school children!!!
Thanks for any advice given and sorry for the long thread!
Regards
Dean

Dean,
I had a similar incident about 2 months ago, a bear barrel fell off an approaching lorry and mullered my front bumper, lorry driver gave me his name and company details, who I contacted straight away, they did however admit liability fairly quickly.
However I contacted my insurance just to let them know really and they reminded me about the legal cover on my policy, and said to contact them as they would chase for me and this would not affect my no claims.
They were very keen to "do" the third party but as they had already agreed to get everything sorted at thier cost there was no need to get the legal people involved.
If you don't have the legal cover on your policy, start the ball rolling with a solicitors letter (cost about £30, which you can probably claim back) telling them to get their fingers out, tell them you want a response withing 14 days or you will take them to small claims court.
Write to their MD telling how disgusted you are at the way his company is treating you, mention the papers and what a wonderful tool the internet is for relaying this type of behavoiur.
Good luck, and I hope you get it sorted soon, but I know how frustrating it is..

Ian..

Claim off your own insurance, that way you get your car back in a reasonable time, your company will recover the outlay. As for the excess, this is one of the incoveniences of having an accident, but if you have legal cover they will recover this for you.

simb

Thanks for the comments,they are very useful and I will certainly use the threat of bad publicity hopefully with good effect.
Kind Regards
Dean

You can claim back all your expenses as uninsured loss from the Bus Companies insurance providing they admit or are proven to being at fault :)

You should also be able to get a courtesy car also paid for by them.

Hi Karen,
Emma has been on the phone to the insurance company again today and we have give next week as a deadline for them to get their ass in gear or we will take it further.Surprising how they become more obliging when they realise your serious;)
Dean

Ive not used them myself but if your fully comp and not at fault, what about those companies like Car Crash Line. They do everything for you and liase between the insurers, sort you out with a loan car and recover your uninsured losses too.

A call to them wouldn't hurt afterall.

Karen x

Karen
The most important thing for me is to get the car back as good as new with as little downtime as possible.(Not that I'm impatient or anything:D)
That is some good advice and thanks,at the moment Emma is snapping at their heels(She was driving at the time,unfortunately,but fortunate for the bus driver;) ).I will phone them when I get really p*ssed off,but I am avoiding it at the moment in case I have to explain a few words they might not understand!!:D
Hopefully see you at the next meet,bring those toy's;):D:p
Dean x

I already did a great photo of Goon I think with a vibe :D Sure, see you at next meet, and take care til then.

Dean, sorry to hear of the fight with the bus. Firstly, under current civil law, the bus company, or more correctly their insurers or claims handling people have 3 months "investigation" time before they are obliged to either accept or decline liability. Taking the matter to any court before this, or involving a solicitor, will not get the claim settled any quicker. Also from professional expirience bus companies are in general notoriously difficult to deal with & get an admission of liability out of.

My advise to you is as you have comprehensive cover use your own insurerance to a) get the car sorted asap & b) avoid the un-necessary hassle & delay that you will otherwise get.

Stay away from firms like Car Crash Line & other "Accident Management Companies", unless they are approved by your own insurer, as for the most part they are not well thought of, have "hidden" charges and inflate the costs of claims where-ever they can. These firms are one of the reasons that everyone's premiums, including yours and mine, keep going up to pay for the increase in claims costs.

Best of luck with whatever you decide.

I stand corrected - you are quite right. It's the same with the legal compesation no win no fee lawyers advertising on TV isn't it. Sorry, I didn't think till I read your reasoning. :)

Thanks for the recent replies.Some very good info Izzy.
I have another option if things don't go according to plan,and hopefully I will know by friday of this week.
Kind Regards
Dean

No worries guys, glad to be of help....

:)

Just do like I did and buy their domain names and ransom them ;) Seriously though will type more in the morning when im more sober