Vehicle Insurance

[Shady 0]

OK, so we havent had to use our Insurance yet (luckily) and hope we never do lol. But I have always wondered. When people say if both parties are insured yours & their insurance companies will do the work (eg fight each other for the $). But what if both parties are insured by the same company? Then what? Do they fight themselves? Or do they just fight the parties until one caves and admits fault?

[cliffdunedin 8]

I don't really understand your Q Shady, but are assuming you are meaning "when neither party claims they are liable" if so, you have witnesses, police reports, road rules and sometimes common sense all comes into play who's liable and insurance will pay.

[Driftit 2078]

The insurance company will investigate the case as normal. They still need to find who is at fault.

[Shady 0]

Yeah I get that. But I mean basically if both parties have the same company as their insurance provider. So they dont have 2 companies dealing with it. I think #2 basically answered it? If one insurance co they just go by reports.

[tmase 19]

When people say if both parties are insured yours & their insurance companies will do the work (eg fight each other for the $).

I know this isn't what you're asking but this is my experience;

Don't assume that if both parties are fully insured you won't have to get involved in their fight. I have just come out of an 18 month process that started when my fully insured car was rear ended by another person who is fully insured but wouldn't admit liability. The two insurance companies couldn't agree on liability so we all had to go to disputes tribunal. Countless adjournments later they found 100% in my favour, that the other party was at fault.

The advantage of being fully insured was that we didn't have to wait for the tribunal ruling to get paid as my insurance company had accepted my version of events and had paid my agreed value fully and refunded my excess. I did, however get an additional payment from my insurer after the tribunal ruling came through.

The hassle is that even though everyone was insured, myself, my partner, the other party, witnesses and reps from both insurance companies still had to take time off to attend hearings.

Maybe this isn't a surprise to everyone, but it was to me, that I had to attend hearings etc even though everyone had comprehensive insurance in what was a relatively simple case of failing to maintain a safe stopping distance.

Anyway slightly off topic, sorry

[my_e36 43]

This I don't understand, how can someone NOT (admit) at fault when he/she crash into someone else?

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2132]

This I don't understand, how can someone NOT (admit) at fault when he/she crash into someone else?

to avoid having their premiums go up. worth fighting for, especially if you are young.

For example, just today i almost wrote off the work car as some cock pulled out of a side street on petone esplanade in front of me, them turning left, couldn't even deal with one direction of traffic lol. clearly their fault right? my car was loaded up with a trailer on the back full of heavy IT gear. but then they could argue i was overloaded (marginally maybe?) and should have been able to stop in time? could have gotten hairy with no witnesses in either vehicle. good job i pulled into the parking bay thing on the left hand side instead of taking his bumper off.

To answer Malcolms question, if you have full insurance, your insurance company always pays for your car to start with to get you back on the road ASAP. They then go through the proceedings to recover the funds off the other parties insurance company. Of course, if both parties are by the same company, then they need to determine who's at fault so they can put the right persons excess up refund appropriate person thier excess etc. Ordinarily, you wouldn't have to go to court over an insurance dispute, but in most cases you are your insurance companies witness, and its in your own best intrests to go anyways, as if you/your company wins, you get refunded your excess etc.

Fun world of commercial law. lol

[tmase 19]

This I don't understand, how can someone NOT (admit) at fault when he/she crash into someone else?

Rear ended us in traffic, but told their insurance company that we had pulled out from the kerb in front of them. The fact the they hit the rear left of my car instead of square on or the rear right, and they were towing a trailer apparently didn't factor into it. My insurance company told us that a claims adjuster from the other guys insurance was the driving force behind all the legal nonsense. All very stressful. In hindsight I should have called the cops when it happened, but as no-one was injured and both cars were drivable I didn't bother.

Edited August 15, 2012 by tmase

[my_e36 43]

Rear ended us in traffic, but told their insurance company that we had pulled out from the kerb in front of them. The fact the they hit the rear left of my car instead of square on or the rear right

When all done and dusted, maybe you should call them in for fraud.

In hindsight I should have called the cops when it happened, but as no-one was injured and both cars were drivable I didn't bother.

Back where I came from (Hong Kong), police attend EVERY crash, big or small, even in private car park, as long as you call them. Sometimes I wish our police has this sort of man-power to do this.

[Allanw 1071]

When all done and dusted, maybe you should call them in for fraud.

Back where I came from (Hong Kong), police attend EVERY crash, big or small, even in private car park, as long as you call them. Sometimes I wish our police has this sort of man-power to do this.

If you know it's not your fault, ALWAYS call the cops. If you know it IS your fault, may be wise not to!

There's money involved - people will lie. I had a lady hit me head-on on a country road. She admitted liability on site, and I had stopped when she hit me. She was running late for work, I STILL got to my appointment on time, AFTER sorting out accident details. I have photos of my work van and it's tyre prints less than 100mm from the bank on my side of the road. I have photos of her skid marks starting ON my side of the road at the apex of the corner, less than 1 metre from MY outside edge of the road, and my work insurance (LUMLEY INSURANCE - USELESS) said it was a narrow gravel road, and it was 50/50 blame. Even after I showed them the photos showing I could have driven a car (sideways!) around her car after our offset frontal impact. I tried calling the cops, but as it was I had to drive 20 minutes in a bent van to get coverage (remote bush area).

So your tax dollars paid the $3000 excess because LUMLEY are useless - you see, either the other party paid the reapir cost, or the hospital I work at pys the excess. Who was more likely to pay anything????? I fought for 2 months, but it was all time wasting, and there was no cost to me. I declared the whole thing to AMI (my private insurance) who listed it as a no-fault accident in a work car and it makes no difference to me.

If I could have gotten a cop to the scene (in VERY remote Northland) it would have been easy to claim the other party was 100% to blame.

SO, unless you're happy to take the blame, GET THE COPS OUT to an accident.

[euroriffic 607]

My mate was in the exact same scenario afew years ago. Round a tight blind corner lady was on his side, he went right into small ditch and she still hit him. She wouldn't admit liability so went to court and because he was only 17 and she was 40 odd he ended up being blamed for it and having to pay. And again I don't think the cops were called as was only minor damage so no proper investigation was done which would of gotten him out of it I'd say.

[cliffdunedin 8]

If you know it's not your fault, ALWAYS call the cops. If you know it IS your fault, may be wise not to!

I agree ^^ A couple of years ago, a Maui Campervan crashed into the side of my car by driving through a red light, because of the language barrier (them being Spanish) i called the cops, the tourists admitted fault, cop talked to some witnesses and i thought that was that so waited to hear from their Insurance co, about a month later they disputed they were at fault but because of the police statement had no legs to stand on... and had to pay the crazy insurance excess and get my car sorted.