My youngest son parked zed in the street. Gets out of car and walks for thirty seconds. Old honda civic smashes into rear of zed causing massive damage to both cars. Middle aged woman driver is blind drunk, not insured and is renting (and probably on welfare). This deadbeat driver is escorted to hospital for observation and a blood sample. Cops confirm driver is DUI and offer to help with attendance in court for recovering costs. The silly bitch driving made the mistake of throwing wild abuse at the cops and paramedics at the scene of the accident. My insurance looks like covering the first $5k for repairs but cost could be more than this. Anyone been through trying to get blood from a stone? Constructive advice would be appreciated. Cheers
I don't get it If you have comprehensive insurance, which appears to be the case since your insurance Co is willing to payout the first 5k, then it should be their responsibility to take this woman to court and not yours. Why are they only paying out the first 5k, is it because they're declaring it as a write off? If that is the case then perhaps your insurance company has a buy back scheme. A friend of my fathers has an old Range Rover that was insured for 12k, it was damaged by hale and it was written off by the insurance Co. He got his payout and then bought it back for 2k and now drives it around with the hale damage.
even if she had comprehensive insurance her insurance company would not support her as all insurances are void if you are caught DUI. I had a drink driver run into my cortina whilst being chased by the police. I was told I would able to appear in court to recover my costs (I didn't have comprehensive for a shitty cortina) and I would be informed when the hearing was. Somehow it got pushed through the next day and I wasn't informed of the court hearing so I was only left with getting my pound of flesh through the small claims court. After a 6 month wait to go to court I was awarded an $800 payout from the DUI driver but in order to get this $800 it was left up to me to obtain it from him so he just refused to pay it. My next avenue would have been to a small debts court and another 6 month wait just to be told that the he is bankrupt or is on the dole . If this is the case then you have to get your own debt collector to chase him up and they can't take what they call as essential items such as clothing, tvs, videos etc. (As if a bloody video is essential living item).
I had a drunk run into my parked car years ago..... took her to court and they gave her an order to pay $3500 but she had no money so they ordered her to pay $20 a week (whoopee). She made ONE payment and that was it. I just cut my losses and wore it. I didn't find out until much later that I could have bankrupted her; I wish I knew that at the time because she just walked away without any consequences. If you bankrupt them they can't get a loan or credit card, sign a contract, enter into a lease agreement and a whole lot of other stuff that will bugger up their life for the next 7 years. Doesn't get you any money but gives them some consequences for their actions. Courts are "toothless tigers". They only work if the person is going to do the right thing anyway, and if that is the case you generally aren't in court to start with.
your insurance if u have full insurance and know who the other party is which u do then ur insurance should pay in full. As regardless if she is DUI its got nothing to do, that just means that her insurance wont pay for her damage but will pay for yours. With ur situation cos she has no insurance it is up to your insurance company to chase the money. and pay u first Did she have third party????
your insurance if u have full insurance and know who the other party is which u do then ur insurance should pay in full. As regardless if she is DUI its got nothing to do, that just means that her insurance wont pay for her damage but will pay for yours. With ur situation cos she has no insurance it is up to your insurance company to chase the money. and pay u first that is why u pay insurance. did she have third party????
I had similar prob, though not quite as extensive or dramatic... 6 days after getting my girl a tradie backed into her in a kfc carpark. me & a friend were in the car at the time so i got his details and he admitted it was his fault. everything was going fine, we were communicating back & forth etc, until he saw the bill at which point he decided i didn't exist & refused to lodge a claim with his insurance company. all the info was then passed onto my insurance company who tried, unsuccessfully, for 4 months to get the tight arse to pay. eventually they just said they'd wear it & paid for all the repairs. this had no adverse effects on my premium, in fact it dropped by about $80 when i renewed it. bottom line is your insurance should cover all costs & its then up to them to chase up the individual responsible. best of luck with it all. cheers, tim.
Ouch John - which Z is it??? Sorry I can't help with getting blood from a stone. The only time I've had occasion to (Canowindra 2 years ago) the stone ran away and hid without owning up. Sounds like your Z is significantly worse off than mine was though. Commiserations, RZM.
Update (long)..>> Received a phone call from my insurer this afternoon. They have accepted my claim and I have contacted one of the approved smash repairers. The repairer will arrange for a flatbed to take the zed to their works to enable a quote for repairs. Zed is not drivable as rear drivers side wheel and quarter panel are very bent. Looks like it will be picked up from my place sometime next week. The insurer has also advised that they will take responsibility for the recovery of the full cost of repairs from the other driver (deadbeat) who caused the accident. I would hope the end result is recovery of the full cost for repairs or at the very least bankrupcy for the deadbeat. Other information for those interested is as follows: a) The car is only insured for third party property (it is not comprehensive). Since the other driver is uninsured then the insurer will meet the costs up to $5k. Interestingly, there is NO excess amount in the policy but I will need to confirm this. b) My understanding for this claim is that if the cost of repairs exceed $5k then I make up the amount above $5k. Should the insurer recover the full amount then they will refund my contribution. Again, I need to confirm this if the quote for repairs exceeds $5k, will know the amount next week. c) The zed that was hit was one of my stock grey slicktops (I have many CZ32's all of which are in excellent condition - err....well all but one of them). My son Leon is a bit pissed with his brother but a smile was had when I gave Leon the keys to the black zed but he will need to be careful (it's a missile). The other son, Mark, is once again grounded as I am begining to run out of zeds. They have a habit of getting very bent when in his care. Admittedly, this time it was not his fault but with his luck I'm exercising prudent avoidance. d) With so many cars I choose to take my chances and have them only comprehensively insured at just $152/year each. Frankly, my insurer has so far been very reasonable and I have nothing to say but good stuff for the moment. My insurer is GIO. If you are interested I can post updates that may help other owners who find themselves in a similar position. Please indicate if I should do this otherwise I will not waste forum space with further details. Cheers
Definately keep us updated John........>> If the lessons you learn as you go down the path of repairing your car can help a fellow zed owner then it is worth all the faorum space we can give it. After all, that is what we are here for. PS, Sorry to hear about your misfortune, but happy to hear that Mark wasn't hurt or at fault. Some times you just can't help bad luck.
Your insurance premiums and company are interesting ..... I had not thought that the common insurers (GIO or AAMI, or NRMA etc etc) would insure imports. I should (obviously) reconsider this assumption and compare their prices to the "Shannons" companies. I am certainly interested in how this turns out. With, what is it now, 5 Zeds (greedy) and at least 3 drivers ...... you are probably going to experience a lot more, more often, than than the rest of us. That still doesn't "make good" for you. I hope it all works out for you. cheers, Peter
He only insures them for third party, fire and theft ...>> That's why the premiums are cheap and they only pay up to $5k until they get money out of the responsible party.
exactly the same for me with RACQ/SHANNONS .... and i had every possible discount with racq .. and had never previously insured with shannons, nor did i know of the forum at that time to pick up any special offers from shannons !!
Further information (long)...>> Today I received a cheque for $5k from my insurer GIO. It is the maximum available for settlement of a third party property claim and it may just be enough to make the repairs. 3 April 2005 - Uninsured drunk hits my parked zed. 4 April 2005 - I advise GIO of accident and claim is accepted. Fortunately, I have all the pre-requisite details of the bitch that hit me. GIO give me the names of authorised reapairers in Canberra. 15 April 2005 - Take car to a GIO authorised repairer (I had to arrange for tray-top tow as I learnt the repairer was just not interested in sending a truck to pick zed up from my place). Unfortunately, I wasted two weeks thinking repairer was arranging for tow. 17 April 2005 - Repairer rings to say zed is a write-off and to get it out of his workshop asap. 20 April 2005 - I take zed to a real repairer who knows how to fix zeds (just 300m from the the GIO repairer). 22 April 2005 - I ring GIO to find out what to do next and they tell me to wait as paperwork is in progress. So, I decided to wait. 29 April 2005 - I ring GIO to find Assessor has not forwarded any paperwork. I decide to wait again. 6 May 2005 - I ring GIO and still no paperwork but this time I decide to do something about it. So, I write a stinging email to GIO HQ and all members of the GIO Board (it isn't difficult to work out their email addresses using the details in the Annual Report). I recall using the "f**cking" word eigth times in a single sentence and the word "arseholes" four times in the next sentance. I also threaten to send a copy of the email to the insurance Ombudsman. 9 May 2005 - I get a call from the Assessor wanting to know where the zed is. WTF, I use those above words again only very loudly into the mobile phone and the Assessor understands the situation perfectly (my work colleagues stopped work to listen to the conversation, they had no choice!). It appears the first Assessor left GIO and the paperwork was never done. Also, this new Assessor tells me that my email is famous throughout GIO as they have never seen the work "f$%king" used so fluently so many times in a single sentance. 12 May 2005 - Assesser rings me to tell me the car is a definitely a write off and he will arrange for full payment of $5k for my repairs. There will be no deduction for excess. 20 May 2005 - I ring Assesor to ask "where's the cheque!" Assessor says he will expedite delivery of the cheque (I have the Assessors mobile number!) 25 May 2005 - I get a call from GIO financial controller asking where to send the cheque. I loose it and tell him that my f#&king address hasn't changed from the last twenty times I've given them my address. Every time you ring GIO you have to confirm your identity and providing your address details is always requested. 30 May 2005 - Cheque arrives for $5k, at last!!! Lessons learnt. a) GIO is a great company to have a policy with if you like sometimes dealing with idiots. Although dealing with idiots can have it's advantages. b) The policy cost me $152 and given they eventually coughed up $5k I'm feeling like I have had good value from GIO. c) Don't take any shit from your insurance company! Be patient and keep hassling them, and when necessary write a stinging email to your insurer when action is needed to fix a situation. Send or threaten to send a copy of your correspondance to the insurance Ombudsman. d) Send a thank you when the cheque is cleared. I will send an email thanking them for the cheque in a few days. So, I'm now trying to get the zed fixed. Waiting for parts to arrive from TTZED. New rear sub frame, straighten chassis, new quarter panel, new rim, new tyre, lots of panel beating and also need to paint half the zed. Hopefully, $5k is enough at mates rates. I will tally the total cost for repairs and then add some extra for the shit I've had to go through. If the total cost of repairs exceeds $5k (and I guarantee it will!) then I will send a copy of all receipts to GIO who will pursue their $5k and my additional costs from the arsehole who started this. My aim is to firstly fix the zed and then to send the perpetrator (arsehole) into bankrupcy, if at all possible using the resources of GIO. Sorry for the long post but thought it might help some of you contemplating third party property insurance. At least with GIO I got back $5k and they do all of the legal stuff. Cheers
Re: Further information (long)...>> Mate, a problem shared is a problem halved. We all feel your pain. Good luck with your endeavours, and keep us posted.
Really sorry to hear you had to go through all that just to arrive at the end so long after the start of it all. Especially when the outcome was going to be pretty easy to figure out (5k payout) No excuse for a filthy drunk driver, I really HATE the bastards, almost as much as transport companies!
It just shows that persistance......>> And a few subtle threats can pay off. Good luck with all the repairs.
