Crunch......bugger

[craig_the_german]

Hi all,

This afternoon while picking my son up from school, my wife's car was hit from behind in the school carpark....bugger.

As she was stationary, the insurance company have assured us that she was not at fault. She managed to get the rego number of the vehicle that hit her, the driver's name, the drivers license number and mobile phone number.

Unfortunately, without the driver's home address to provide the insurance company, we have been told we will have to pay the $600 excess.

Having contacted the other party, they seem not to willing to provide the missing details.

Is there anywhere I can look to find the missing pieces? I'm not too happy about paying $600 excess simply because they won't provide a mailing address.

Without an address, I can't even send the boys around

[cjay]

I had this happen to me, I contacted the police with the rego of the drunken cock who hit me in a parking lot. The drunk went on to almost kill a family of four... Anyway, I made a report to the police and they gave the insurance company all the details

[Garenio]

That's a bit crap for the other party to not be suitably co-operative.

What's particularly handy, is to obtain a claims form for your current insurer of choice so you know exactly what details to get at the scene of some driving fail.

[The_Hawk]

That's a bit rich form the insurance company since you have name, rego, license number and phone number. Surely they can do the rest themselves. What company is it anyway?

For future reference, I highly recommend snapping a quick photo of the drivers license as well as the surrounds and the damage to BOTH vehicles. Pretty much every phone has a half decent camera these days (although night time can be a bit hit and miss with the low light an all). Then you have all possible details including a general layout of the space the accident happened the damage as it was right then (in case they hit something else on the way home).

[Blitzen]

Just ring up white pages directory assist. If there mobile number is listed with them, they should be able to provide the address. I have done this a couple of times... Or you could just ring consumer affairs and make a complaint...

[Corey_R]

I agree with the suggestion to log an "incident report" with the Police. Provide all the details you can to them, and then get the incident number and provide that to the insurance company.

The other thing it's always recommended to ask when you are in an accident is who THEIR insurance company is.
There's no requirement that you actually go through YOUR insurance company. You could always just go straight to theirs.

[WABIT]

yeah Police FTW
dom

[craig_the_german]

Hi everyone thanks for the advice.

I did ring the other party last night who has refused any further information. The fact my wife was able to get any details at all is amazing as the other party couldn't understand why they couldn't drive off and give no details at all.

An update. My wife said she was suffering from a head ache last night (no smart comments please )but that head ache continued this morning so I took her to the Chiropractor who confirmed she had 1st and 2nd vertebrae out of alignment...consistent with having been hit from behind in a car accident and will require further treatment.

On that information we headed to the local police station to make an incident report but of course there is no crime in our area at weekends and the station was closed.

I guess I'll take Monday off and sort out the quote at the panel beaters, the police report and sort out the insurance company.

[Phalynx]

Unfortunately, without the driver's home address to provide the insurance company, we have been told we will have to pay the $600 excess.

Having contacted the other party, they seem not to willing to provide the missing details.

Let the insurance company chase the other party for the missing details - this is their job and you have given them enough to go by (provided the other details are correct). Also, refuse to pay the excess if they have advised you they deem the other party 'at fault'. Ask for it in writing - there can't be two people at fault.

I had a very similar situation with AAMI - eventually took it to the FSO and they sorted it quick smart. Be careful what the call centre person tells you verbally. Get it all in writing. The excess shouldn't be paid until the repairs are complete so you have time to begin what is normally a long process.

[The_Hawk]

The other thing it's always recommended to ask when you are in an accident is who THEIR insurance company is.
There's no requirement that you actually go through YOUR insurance company. You could always just go straight to theirs.

That's nice in theory, but not so much in practice. You pay your premium so you don't have to chase the other party, use it. I tried that after my first car was hit while I was stopped at a set of lights... At first the other insurer was great, then a couple of weeks in they just said "nup, you're not insured with us." and refused to do anything further. 12 months and a lawyer later I got a cheque

I'm not saying it can't work, just that it might be pain and effort you don't want, especially if you have your own insurer.

edit: to be fair, I have all of 17/18 at the time so maybe they just thought they could write me off, maybe being older it works better.??