Rear Ended .. Again!

[Hazell B]

Trundling along the M18 this afternoon, my partner's Discovery suddenly went bang and shot about all over the three lanes before he got control back and got us to the hard shoulder. I thought we'd had a puncture.

Even as we slowed I was looking into the rear to make sure my dogs were fine, when I realised a silver bonnet, somewhat askew, was almost touching our back end. We'd been hit by the new version of White Van Man, Silver "Resale Value is Better" Van Man.

Luckily for us, as he'd belted our vehicle his van had pretty much exploded all over a Merc (new :p : ) in the left hand lane, so it's owner also stopped with us. It was driven by an accountant, which is the next best thing to a lawyer.

The van driver's excuses included that he was looking in his mirror ready to pass us, that he doesn't tailgate and that WE came from nowhere.

Um. See you in court, matey ;)

Oh, and the police didn't turn up. We called them of course, then waited an hour or so in the cold. When Mick eventually got them back on the phone, they claimed they had been looking for us but we couldn't be found .... yet the RAC man came within minutes from exactly the same information :mark: I shouldn't complain, it's a whole three miles of dead staright motorway and we were the only three vehicles on it's hard shoulder, so we were almost invisble!

[allycat228]

are you both allright? or just p****d off

[Drew]

I would have thought that the next best thing to a lawyer would be a boxer?

Did you get a look at the van's speedometre?

[MrJan]

Hazell I've got to admit that I saw this thread title and wondered whether it was suitable for a family forum ;) :D

Hope all are okay, assume that as you are venting on the forum that everything is tickety......... oh wait.....hope you are okay :cheese:

[schmenke]

Hazell I've got to admit that I saw this thread title and wondered whether it was suitable for a family forum ;) :D ...

Umm, truth be told, I too figured this was yet another thread detailing Hazell's Saturday night exploits with Mick... :mark: Sorry... :erm:


Seriously, I do hope that you, Mick and the canines are fine.

[Hondo]

Check the van driver's cell phone records. Wouldn't surprise me if he was playing with his phone instead of driving.

[Mark]

Check the van driver's cell phone records. Wouldn't surprise me if he was playing with his phone instead of driving.

Now that's exactly what I was just going to post!

What's the damage? And has the silver van man admitted responsibility?

Both times I got hit from behind, I went though a local firm of solicitors who dealt with everything for me. Probably just as well as BMW man changed his story afterwards to say that I'd reversed into him :mark:

[Donney]

I hope all of you are fine, and good luck in the dealings with that silve van driver.

[Daniel]

Surely if he was tailgating whoever was driving would have noticed before he hit you? :confused:

[Azumanga Davo]

Oh, and the police didn't turn up. We called them of course, then waited an hour or so in the cold. When Mick eventually got them back on the phone, they claimed they had been looking for us but we couldn't be found .... yet the RAC man came within minutes from exactly the same information :mark: I shouldn't complain, it's a whole three miles of dead staright motorway and we were the only three vehicles on it's hard shoulder, so we were almost invisble!

Blimey, give them a break. They only just got up to solving your robberies... :p :

[Hazell B]

What's the damage? And has the silver van man admitted responsibility?



Sorry, forgot to say out of the four of us (myself, partner Mick and two dogs) there's only three slightly sore necks. Not at all serious when you consider it was motorway speeds and two heavy vehicles.

Damage is our Discovery's written off and the van is too according to our insurance company - but they've not had written conformation yet. It seems it was a company van that was on hire, so it's actually three insurance companies versus our one.

However, being both canny and bloody angry, I got a full confession out of van man while the other witness was within earshot. I also rang his firm next day and they said he was 100% at fault too. To be fair he'd been driving at well over 80 (he admitted that) so wasn't exactly tailgating us, but he had driven far too close before looking in his mirror to pull out and pass. When I say too close, I mean underneath our rear bumper .....

One word on insurance replacement cars.
We had a large 4x4, so they wanted to send us a small Micra or similar while ours is written off but uncollected. We said no as we have a charity event tomorrow that requires a load of stock being taken down south. So, they rang back and offered a Mondeo estate. No, we need a Discovery or medium sized van we said. Jeez, it's not rocket science :mark: Volvo estate? No. Freelander? NO!
Long story short, it's taken over a dozen calls from the car company to get a vehicle sorted out. At one point they thought a Discovery was smaller than a Rav 4 :rolleyes:
Anyway, they eventually worked out that the van we first suggested was a sensible idea and sent one.

So, if any of you are ever in the same situation, I would urge you to just say no to whatever they first offer if it's not as suitable as you'd like. You might even get a better vehicle :up:

[Mark]

Ah I see what happened as it has almost happened to me. You misjudge the speed of the vehicle you are overtaking and spend too long checking it is safe to overtake and before you know it you are running into the back of them.

[Hazell B]

This is turning out to be a messy accident claim .....

The insurers for the guy who hit us rang me yesterday, but were very, very vague about who they were exactly. They wanted to know who took our written off vehicle, who our solicitors are, what exactly we're claiming for and all sorts. I asked to be put on to a manager there and finally got the truth - they were trying to get me to admit we can sort this out without legal help. As the van man is 100% at fault, his insurers want us to simply take a cheque directly from them rather than via a set of lawyers. It will take less time, they said.

Seriously, how stupid do they think I am?

If I go with their plan, I'm stuck with paying any legal costs I run up and can't turn down their first offer without legal help. It's saving them cash, not me. It's also annoying that it will save them whatever a lawyer costs (I guess about £100-150 an hour plus VAT) but won't increase my offer a penny. Where, exactly is the benefit to me?

I wonder how many people fall for this near scam? :mark:

Be warned ...... it might be you next time!

[Mark]

Yes. Don't do it. They will promise to send you a cheque then give you all sorts of excuses as to why they don't then they will refuse to pay. Best to get the professionals on them as soon as possible. After all if it is not your fault why should you be doing all the leg work.