Motor accidents and your personal injury claim |
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| Introduction |
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| Motor accidents are notoriously difficult to prove because in law, they are treated exactly the same way as any other accident. That is, the injured party needs to establish that the accident is someone else's fault (or partly their fault). |
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| By law all drivers must have at least third party insurance cover. This means that their insurers will pick up the bill if the driver causes an accident and injury to any other party (including any passengers, whether related to the driver or not). First however, you need to establish two matters: |
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- Liability, or fault;
- Contribution of fault (how much).
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| Liability |
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| Unless you have been lucky enough (relatively speaking) to have been in a straight forward rear end collision, liability can be difficult to prove, especially if there were no witnesses. Generally speaking, accidents on roundabouts are deemed as 50:50. Accidents at traffic lights often require a witness (or an admission of guilt), the same as lane-change accidents. |
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| Contribution of fault |
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| Contribution of fault is a little easier to prove, once liability of some sort has been established. The usual procedure is that the claimant seeks out three independent repair estimates which are supported by an automotive engineer's report - the cost of which can be added to the claim. |
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| Claimable items are: |
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- Loss of use of car (per day);
- Loss of income (proven by wage slips);
- Alternative transport costs (keep your receipts and tickets);
- Loss of personal belongings (receipts needed and ideally photos too);
- Cost of telephone calls (to insurance companies, recovery services, repairers).
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| If you are unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident with an uninsured driver, or with a driver who doesn't stop after the accident, then your claim is likely to be covered by a special agreement covered by the Motor Insurers' Bureau. |
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| If you are involved in a road traffic accident: |
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- If a third party, or their property has been injured or damaged, you must stop and give your name and address (and the name and address of the owner of the vehicle if not you) and your registration number, and insurance details if you have them, to any other parties involved;
- If the above happens and you don’t stop, report to the police within 24 hours (or, just stop);
- Jot down the make, colour and model of any other vehicles involved, together with their number plate;
- Note any damage to other vehicles involved – take photos if possible;
- Make a note of the other drivers' and witness’ names and addresses;
- Do not make any admissions about liability;
- Draw a sketch of the accident scene and where the vehicles ended up (if possible go back later and take some proper measurements);
- Write down your version of events;
- Notify your insurers;
- Use properly written template letters to help you.
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