car accident, advice?

[dean0820]

g'day guys.
having been away from australia for so long i'm a bit clueless as to what to do so your advice would be very much appreciated.
the other day i was hit from behind while stopped at a red light.
i am not insured (long story, but my disgust at the insurance company after an electric pole fell on my car last year made me tardy in getting my new car insured).
the driver at fault is with allianz, i called to check, but i can't make a claim, only he can.
at the accident he was apologetic and gave me his details.
i said i'd give him a few days to organize a claim.
but today on the phone he was a bit of a dick, hadn't done a thing, and tried saying my car didn't seem damaged, etc.
he knows full well i suffered minor damage to the rear bumper.
all i want is for him to make a claim and get my car repaired.
i've reported the accident at crashreport.com.
i have a bit of a stiff neck and chipped tooth (my teeth banged together) but don't want to get into injury claims and stuff, just get my car fixed.
what should i do next? i don't have an insurance company to turn to.
any advice welcome.
cheers.

ps. this is actually the second time this has happened, the first time i did nothing....yet.

[Ferrins]

Repair the bumper with the money you saved on insurance and move on. I got hit by a truck in the same manner that you have discribed and a tail light was cracked. I chased and chased and got no where.

[MegaWatty]

Get a quote then send a Letter of demand. The sooner the better!

[Yossarian]

Sue.

[Dave]

hunt him down in a vigilante esque manner

[MegaWatty]

Sue.

Bitch.

[TourFit]

Yeah I think I boofed her once too...

MW is right. She's a bitch.

[Hux]

Yep a letter of demand with 2 quotes for repairs. CC a copy to Allianz as his insurer.

[markTHEblake]

the other day i was hit from behind while stopped at a red light.

I have been in this exact situation, a bit embarrassing really. The mighty EH belted 3 cars, wrote off one, and did about $20k damage all up (in 1991). Total cost to me was under $1000 and that included my court costs, fine and repairs. Made in Australia beats asian junk every time.

Car 1 simply served a personal handwritten demand on me, i handballed it to my insurer, no forms. He received a writeoff payout for more than he thought the car was worth, about 3 days after the accident. The guy looked like Kpac -hmmm.

If you had comphrensive insurance you simply make a claim with your insurer, they will pay you off instantly, If they determine fault with the driver (lay down misere for a rear ender) they will take him to the cleaners. Whether he pays them or not, it will never be your problem.

As you do not have comprehensive insurers, get a quote, and serve a personally written letter of demand on him. If he has insurance it should not be a problem as I experienced myself.


i said i'd give him a few days to organize a claim.that is the reason nothing has been done. Until you make a formal demand upon him, he has no claim to make. And the longer you wait the harder it will be for you.

[Daves]

Yep, get stuck in. My wife's car was rear-ended a few years ago in a Shopping centre car park by a young bird on her P plates. She admitted liability, plenty of witnesses etc, exchanged insurance details etc. About week later she changed her tune and started claiming that the wife had backed into her. Reality was that she realised that she could have lost her license I think. Anyway, the wife got stressed, but the insurance company assessors/investigators were very supportive and shot lots of holes in the other parties story (it simply did not add up to the photographic evidence). Put the ball in their court as quickly as you can.

[Grunt]

Actually going to pick up the wife's car today after having an accident before Xmas, when she was on the phone to the insurers the guy that hit her rang. He wanted her to say the accident happened a day after than it did. He had not renewed his insurance. While he was speaking I put him on Speaker phone and while he was telling me to lie the insurer was listening on the other line. They told us not to worry as they now have a nice piece of evidence that he was trying to defraud them

[Veefore]

I have been in this exact situation, a bit embarrassing really. The mighty EH belted 3 cars, wrote off one, and did about $20k damage all up (in 1991). Total cost to me was under $1000 and that included my court costs, fine and repairs. Made in Australia beats asian junk every time.

Car 1 simply served a personal handwritten demand on me, i handballed it to my insurer, no forms. He received a writeoff payout for more than he thought the car was worth, about 3 days after the accident. The guy looked like Kpac -hmmm.

If you had comphrensive insurance you simply make a claim with your insurer, they will pay you off instantly, If they determine fault with the driver (lay down misere for a rear ender) they will take him to the cleaners. Whether he pays them or not, it will never be your problem.

As you do not have comprehensive insurers, get a quote, and serve a personally written letter of demand on him. If he has insurance it should not be a problem as I experienced myself.

that is the reason nothing has been done. Until you make a formal demand upon him, he has no claim to make. And the longer you wait the harder it will be for you.


What MTB said. Basically he can't do anything with his insurers until he receives a written claim from you.

MTB, have you ever seen the video of the crash test with the 2010 Chevy head on with the 1950's chevy. 2010 driver would have walked away with some possible minor bruising from the airbag. 1950's Chevy driver was impaled by the steering wheel, both legs were severed and the head of the dummy was caved in. In a minor fender bender the old cars bent less and were cheaper to fix but in a real accident the bent and broke in bad places than almost always caused death or dismemberment. The big difference between the old and new cars is that the new cars fold and crush at the ends while the passenger cell stays intact. In the old cars the passenger cell folds and collapses while the ends stay intact. One of my mate got rear ended in his EJ and it actually bend the frame rails under the drivers/passengers seat area. He couldn't open the door to get out.

In this day and age of comprehensive insurance cost to fix after a bingle is almost irrelevant, especially compared to medical expenses.

Edit: I still love old cars though. :)

[rubin]

My Brother works for an insurance company (wont say who, but they ARE paying out for the floods) and he suggested exactly what MTB said. He has nothing to answer for until you send him a letter of demand. You will need at least 2 seperate quotes, and be prepared for the insurance company to ask you to get a quote from someone they recognise as well.

If the company pays out on the repairs claim, he suggested that then you would have grounds to recover dental and medical costs as well..... if you wanted to go that way.

[Hux]

What MTB said. Basically he can't do anything with his insurers until he receives a written claim from you.

MTB, have you ever seen the video of the crash test with the 2010 Chevy head on with the 1950's chevy. 2010 driver would have walked away with some possible minor bruising from the airbag. 1950's Chevy driver was impaled by the steering wheel, both legs were severed and the head of the dummy was caved in. In a minor fender bender the old cars bent less and were cheaper to fix but in a real accident the bent and broke in bad places than almost always caused death or dismemberment. The big difference between the old and new cars is that the new cars fold and crush at the ends while the passenger cell stays intact. In the old cars the passenger cell folds and collapses while the ends stay intact. One of my mate got rear ended in his EJ and it actually bend the frame rails under the drivers/passengers seat area. He couldn't open the door to get out.

In this day and age of comprehensive insurance cost to fix after a bingle is almost irrelevant, especially compared to medical expenses.

Edit: I still love old cars though. :)


Yep modern engineering is buckets loads safer than old iron BUT might is right.... 3tonne of Landcruiser head on against 1tonne of Hyundai is nearly always going to go the heavyweights way.

Road toll is significantly lower due to many factors but the better safety of cars is a biggy in it...plus speed cameras of course :-)

Love looking at old iron but driving it just doesn't live up to it.

[dean0820]

thanks for all your comments gentlemen, i am grateful.