MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT - recovery of damage to your car
If you are insured, then hopefully your insurer will arrange quick repairs for you and you will not have to have recourse to a page like this one!
If you are uninsured, then it may become a long drawn battle with the other driver.
If you are involved in an accident you will have to take some steps to protect yourself as much as possible to make a recovery from a driver who caused the accident.
Here are some tips for your action at the accident scene -
- Obviously you will want to make sure that you have the name, address, home and work phone numbers of the other driver, note the registration number of the other vehicle as well as the make and model of the vehicle
- Did the other party have any witnesses in the vehicle or did any one see how the accident happened? Make sure that you get their contact details
- Take particular note of the conversation that your have with the other driver. When an accident occurs you will most likely find that the other driver will make some very damaging admissions shortly after the accident.
It is almost certain that a driver at faulty will say something like "Look I'm really sorry. I just did not see you at all. The children were just making so much noise in the car" or perhaps "Look I'm really late for an appointment and I just wasn't concentrating on my driving".
These are admissions of negligence and may be useful in a later court case. Make sure that you make notes of the conversations and what happened in the accident. If you make your notes of these details within a day or so of the accident, you will be able to use them in later court proceedings and it will probably 'sink the other party' if they dispute the accident.
How to make a claim against the other party
If the other party is insured, then you have more chance of recovering your damage. You may find the other party simply gives your details of the insurance policy for you to chase. This is not your job and you should not waste your time. It is the obligation of the faulty party to chase his / her insurer.
Any claim for damages or compensation has two components to it. A claim for vehicle damage is the same. The next page will tell about these components. Just click "Next" below, please.
