ok so here is the stroy so far. i was driving down a side road (doing the speed limit {30}) when a car came out of a side road and performed a u turn. i thought he was joining my lane of traffic and that he was just going to cut me up. i slowed a little but not a lot because i thought he was going to speed up (as you do). when he carried out his monuver and had to stop because he could'nt clear the kerb. i therfor hit him from the side and it has know written off my car. i rang the insurance company, there and then as i had the number. the police attended and gave me permission to drive home but that was it. the impact has damaged my entire front bumper, passenger side lights and bonnet. the insurance company gave me a free courtesy car for 7 days which is due to run out on monday. when this car goes i will have no way of getting to and from work as it is in the middle of nowere. i have been pestering the insurance company everyday to find out what is going on and they are basically saying there is nothing that they can do because of the cercumstances of the accident??? this means they have to get in touch with the other persons insurance company who intern have to get in touch with him, to find out if accepts the blaim or not??? meanwile i am stuck because i have no way of getting to work what the hell am i supposed to do???

 

p.s i am third party fire and theft.

From what you have said, the accident looks as though it was your fault (you stated that you hit him). You are insured TPFT which means that only the other person's vehicle will be repaired. Unless there is some mitigating factor which makes the insurers think that the other party is to blame, I guess you either have to fix your car or buy another one. I don't see too much hope that you will get any other result.

SHARK! 

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For every positive action, there's an equal and opposite government plan.

but this guy stoped in front of me before i had chance to do anything. he could only have looked once and there was no reason to pull out in front of me, as there was no cars coming he could of waited. how do i know if sombody is going to do a u turn in front of me???

I'm not stating who was MORALLY wrong, just the way that the insurer is likely to view it unless there were independent witnesses. This is how the disgusting little oiks who defraud insurers work every day. They pull out on another driver and BANG - there goes your no claims discount.

In this case (and don't get upset with me here) an insurer will simply say that YOU hit HIM and that's the end of it. You should have been driving at a speed that would have allowed you to anticipate the other driver's folly.

As I said to you earlier - the difference between reality and the insurance world are completely at odds. I sympathise - really (and anyone knowing SHARK! will be surprised here) but the situation is one that the insurance world sees every day.

SHARK! 

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For every positive action, there's an equal and opposite government plan.

The other thing to bear in mind is that you only have third party cover - if you were comp the Insurers would just deal with the damage. Thats why Comp costs more!!!

As far as liability goes you may be ok, I would certainly take your case on!

However it may take many months to get resolved Im afraid

thanks guys. i am so *** off with this at the moment. i was doing the speed limit for that road which was 30. i just wish that i didn't feel like i was in the wrong when i clearly was'nt. unfortunatly there was no witnesses so no chance of that. i am now having to fork out £200 on a crap car that will just about get me from home to work. at least i can get there and back. with regards to taxi's and lost hours will i be able to claim these back? i hav kept all of my recipts. as this is the first accident i have had i dont no how these procedures work. would appreciate some help on this??

Just a little note in addition to the other threads:

Your insurer/claims department must believe that you have a good case and relatively good chance of success as they wouldn't have given you a courtesy car; especially as TPFT. They usually only do this where their chance to recover the monies from the other party is 51%+ (unless you have paid an additional premium to guarantee a courtesy car without conditions etc.)

Shark, however, is right. You didn't stop, and YOU hit the OTHER party. If you can see someone doing a manoeuvre in a road, why could you not stop in time, or even at all!! You 'slowed a little'... quite frankly this isn't good enough and the right/wrongs of the other driver is irrelevant; I certainly wouldn't honour a claim or sanction a courtesy car if this information was given to me.