v. lucky escape from Lorry -repair help required????

[tupolev]

Picked up my S2 only 3 weeks ago and today.... BANG.... Belgian Lorry (RHD) pulls into me, while I'm cruising in the middle lane of the M25 @60mph (still running in) His wheels hit me & I lose wing mirror and suffer 2 patches of scuffing/scratches to wheel arches (not deep though) Guess it could have been worse (ie decapitation under the middle of the truck)

Have got lorry drivers details but I'm not sure on if I should put in an insurance claim even though I was completely innocent. If I lose my no claims bonus I'd have to sell the car.

Not being an expert (no previous crashes) has anyone got any ideas on how an insurance company would treat this? As a side note has anyone experienced the cost of fixing a wing mirror and two A4 sized patches of scuffing? -i'm tempted to pay for the repairs myself so if anyone can recommend somewhere reliable in london I'd be grateful.


thanks

Tupolev

[smeagol]

I could stand corrected on this, but as far as I know you have to report it to your insurance company as an accident and then they chase up whos fault it was. If it is found to be the lorry drivers then his insurance pay for the damage and you do not lose anything from your no claims bonus because you haven't claimed. I also believe (and its this bit I'm not so sure on) that if you are found to be the guilty party, then you can opt to pay for the damage yourself and not lose your no claims.

A friend of mine has had his car written off, and he did not lose any no claims because it was clearly not his fault.

Hope this helps

[Sparks]

Be careful,

Exactly the same happened to me, and the lorry driver claimed I was speeding, and came from no-where, so he couldn't possibly have seen me (yeah right, he just didn't look). My insurance company just rolled over and said 'no fault' and I lost my NCB. I thought about fighting, but that would have been even more expensive.

Good luck.

[CJN]

If you took out the legal cover with the insurance policy, don't worry about the legal bit of fighting your corner cos you're covered - been there bought the teeshirt. If you really have been running it in as suggested by Lotus then I assume you've not been 'gunning it'. From what I understand the engine management software that Lotus have in place on the S2 allows them to download info such as number of racing starts, redline encounters & so on. If he claims you were speeding Lotus may be able to confirm that you weren't??!? Do you have any witnesses?
I've owned my S1 for nearly eight months now & tend to drive on busy or fast roads with headlights on so that numbskulls have a better chance of seeing me, even though I've got a Norfolk Mustard car. With the Elise being so weeny I'm also very careful going past large vehicles, the faster you get past them the better I think.

As the previous message said, bang a claim in & if they say it's your fault you can always pay for the repairs & avoid a claim.

CJ

[MattC]

Hi Tup,
I have been in a near-identical situation (Dutch Audi estate on the M20, but otherwise the same!).

My advice is to make contact with the lorry owner driver straight away in a courteous fashion, to try and establish whether they are owning up. Chances are they will, as they can claim on comapny insurance. Then, if you've paid for your legal cover, your InsCo SHOULD direct their lawyers to chase the culprits for you and sort out all the paperwork etc. Sounds good so far...
The problem I encountered was that to get my car repaired, I had to make a claim - they would only pay for work by an Approved Repairer. So I then had to wait for the lawyers to chase up the other side's InsCO before the claim could be declared Not My Fault. And yes, you've guessed it, I wanted to renew my insurance before all this was sorted out, so I had a FAULT claim on my record! My CURRENT InsCO promised to renew my policy with an intact NCB - very kind of them? Hmmm...
Now, had the other lot put up a fight, and my InsCo failed to win the argument for me, I would have liked the option to get the car fixed whereever. But I never had that option.
And my InsCos lawyers took FOREVER to chase up the other party, thus prolonging things to the advantage of my InsCo.(I would NEVER employ these solicitors on any private matter, they were THAT bad..)

So generally a PITA, despite the other side being completely co-operative.

Someone said:

quote:
... I also believe (and its this bit I'm not so sure on) that if you are found to be the guilty party, then you can opt to pay for the damage yourself and not lose your no claims.

I'm not sure this is the case at all. And if it is, in my case I would still have had to pay Approved Repair Centre rates, so I might well have made the claim anyway!
I guess if your car is driveable without the repairs, you might be better to put them off. If you can bear driving a brand-new, damaged car...
Also, if the lorry-owner denies blame, you MIGHT be better off not informing your InsCo - things will be complicated then, way out of my depth...

Good luck...

[Nightmare]

If you do decide to end up doing it yourself (and I think all the advice above is good - especially Matts) then...

firstly, did you know there is a very well documented and on-going problem with the S2 wing mirrors? they just fall off some cars! Lotus are quite happy to pay for a replacement as its their fault (all documented on the lotuscars website) - obviously Im only telling you this for information and no other reason at all!

re: scuff damage...could you take a picture and stick it on a server somewhere so I could look? two of my best friends are 'mobile bodywork repair specialists' and could tell you preceisely what is involved and what it will cost (which means you have an idea before getting it done yourself or getting stiffed by a typical garage)

good luck whatever

Night

[timh]

can only echo what sparks said, Be careful,
quote - "Exactly the same happened to me, and the lorry driver claimed I was speeding, and came from no-where, so he couldn't possibly have seen me (yeah right, he just didn't look). My insurance company just rolled over and said 'no fault' and I lost my NCB",

A few years ago I had an accident when a tractor and trailer pulled right across my path from the other side of the road, the driver was in his 70's, It was clearly his fault, it almost went to court, I went to see my solicitor who told me to own up to speeding down the road as I was driving a 309 GTi at the time and quote "must have been doing a fair wack", I was also told that given the choice between a 70 year old driving a tractor and a man in his twenties driving a 309 GTi, the judges wouldn't have too much to decide between, I would loose. I wasn't speeding but as I was in a fast car I didn't have a leg to stand on, I lost my NCB. I'm now a few years older and a lot wiser, they wouldn't get away with it now, be very careful, when push comes to shove the insurance companies will always look after themselves first.

[tupolev]

Thanks for the all the comments… After speaking to the insurance company (without giving enough details away to be identified), I’ve decided to sort out the repairs myself ( c.£200-300 after speaking to a lotus dealer and a lot less than risking my NCB) I will try to get the haulage company to settle it as the lorry driver admitted it was his fault at the time (unlikely he would stick to that story though so I’m not too hopeful.) After seeing the scuffing in the daylight this morning there was minimal contact and is barely noticeable. Guess I should be grateful my girlfriend still has her head and the damage wasn’t too bad.


Thanks & regards to all, Tupolev

[Trunkie]

I'm still fighting my case with my insurance company after an accident in April this year. And to be fair they're cooperating, if a little slowly. Basically my Audi A3 was written off by a young girl pulling out in front of me on a black spotted junction. We both gave details to the police but it turns out the info she gave is not entirely correct! My insurance company are currently investigating the situation and the last I heard she was going to recive a court summons. Basically my insco is 11K out of pocket for the car, plus the out of pocket costs I'm also trying to claim, plus the legal fees. The main PITA is that all this is currently going against me as my insco has had to pay out. My insurace on the Elise is pretty hefty, probably 60% more than if I hadn't lost my NCB. Myu insco say I can reclaim the out of pocket costs and increase in premium back once(if) they recoup the costs from this girl...

[dragstar]

good luck mate