Accident
Submitted: Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 10:16
ThreadID:
37840
Views:
3062
Replies:
10
FollowUps:
6
This Thread has been Archived
ThePunter
Has anybody experienced something similar before?
My son was driving along the
Monash freeway to work this morning when a truck tyre came across the road and hit his car. This was a ‘not at fault’ accident, but he can not identify the owner of the tyre. I am wondering if he will need to pay the excess as AAMI may say, as he can not identify the owner of the tyre, he may need to pay up.
Any advice on how to handle this would be welcome.
Reply By: Member - Andrew W (SA) - Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 10:20
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 10:20
AAMI are usually pretty good about things.
You'll just have to see, but reporting it to the Police with the precise time is important. If they wanted to (if it was a murder) you'd be sure that they'd look at the video footage and work out who it was.
Cheers
Andrew.
AnswerID:
195272
Follow Up By: ThePunter - Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 10:26
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 10:26
Thanks. That is a good point about the video. I will get him to ask them.
FollowupID:
453350
Reply By: Sand Man (SA) - Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 10:44
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 10:44
Mate,
I wouldn't put a lot of faith in an Insurance Company.
They will most likely say, he was partly at fault for being on the road.
The fact that they are unable to recover costs from another party may, or may not be a deciding factor on whether the excess should be paid.
AnswerID:
195282
Reply By: Neil & Pauline - Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 10:56
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 10:56
I am not sure that proving the owner of the tyre will help. My mother in law had a number plate (with metal plate attached) go through the front of her car. The insurance company advised that the "number plate was not sufficient evidence of identification of the the offending vehicle". The plate was still imbeded in the rocker cover when the car arrived at the repair
shop.Legal advise confirmed this.
We were thankful it was only car damage.
I have always wondered since what number plates are for!!!!
Neil
AnswerID:
195283
Follow Up By: Michael ( Moss Vale NSW) - Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 13:16
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 13:16
Neil. Thats the good thing about those plastic bumpers, if you hit them hard enough, they fall off, numberplate and all. Michael
FollowupID:
453372
Reply By: garrycol - Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 11:12
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 11:12
I am insured with AAMI and had a tree limb fall on my car in a government car
park - because no individual could be indentified I had to pay the excess - I protested that it was "not my fault" but it counted for nothing as the person responsible could not be identified - was considered an act of God and God does not count.
Interestingly the reason the trees had not been trimmed was because of greenie protests but the day after my accident all the trees in the car
park were trimmed. I could not take action against the owners of the car
park because it was an act of God and there owners were not considered negligent.
Bottom line is expect to have to pay the excess unless you can cough up a name.
Garry
AnswerID:
195284
Reply By: Pavo - Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 11:38
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 11:38
Just looked on AAMI's website and there is a matrix of the scenarios as to when you need to pay the excess and when you don't.
The only time you don't pay the excess is when you can provide the name and address of who was at fault or the rego number of their car. This was for NSW and ACT - I didn't check their policy for other states. Looks like it's not totally about fault/at fault, but rather if they can recover the cost of damage (and it says that too). I think AAMI have disclosed the necessary information.
And Neil - the post about the number plate in mother in law's engine - I hope she didn't get charged with theft!!! That's a great story.
AnswerID:
195289
Follow Up By: Leroy - Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 15:34
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 15:34
'it's not totally about fault/at fault, but rather if they can recover the cost of damage (and it says that too). I think AAMI have disclosed the necessary information'
That's exactly what it is about. I had an incident at an
intersection which wasn't my fault. The other party was insured with AAMI and unbeknown to them so was I. The other party put in a false claim against me and I had AAMI chasing me for the money. After 6 mths of telling them to read the statement in the claim very closely and look for anomalies (I didn’t want to make it easy for them) they still wanted to pursue me at all cost for damages. I told them to take me to court. After a few more months I decide then to tell them I was insured with them (you think they would do a check eh?) Anyway they then wanted me to put in a claim and pay my excess. I refused and told them to take me to court. Now of course there's no way they would now being insured with them also. In the end I eventually told them to look up the
intersection where the accident occurred in the Melways. They couldn't find it. They were relentless in pursuing me until they realised they couldn't get a cracker.
Leroy
FollowupID:
453408
Reply By: joc45 - Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 11:48
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 11:48
As my insurance co. pointed out to me some years ago, it's a "no-claim" bonus, not a "no-blame".
I suffered also having my excess increased after two "no-blame" accidents. Their response was that I had cost them $x in repairs in two years, and since they were unable to claim off anyone else, they had to impose the excess!
Gerry
AnswerID:
195291
Follow Up By: BenSpoon - Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 14:20
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 14:20
Spot on mate
I worked in insurace before and some people just couldnt get it.
No claim bonus. Its pretty straight forward.
You put a claim in, it goes down unless you have no claim bonus protection or something similar.
Even if you can provide the details of the at fault party, your NCB will still go down until your insurance company gets the cash back from them. In that time- maybe even a year if they do a runner or have to go thru courts or something, you will have to live with that lower NCB.
FollowupID:
453385
Reply By: Hairy - Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 13:03
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 13:03
Im insured with Shannons and my policy says I have to pay excess unless I identify the other party.
AnswerID:
195298
Reply By: Arkay - Adelaide - Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 13:42
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 13:42
Most insurance motor policies seem to work on a "no claim" rather than on a "no blame" basis. Where no claim means "we didn't have to pay out anything". If you claim and they cannot recover the full cost of repairs etc. from another party for whatever reason then at the very least you will have to pay the excess, and possibly lose some of your no claim bonus, depending......
See, you can't win.
AnswerID:
195305
Reply By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 15:27
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 15:27
I had 2 tyres slashed by vandals, and naturally couldn't identify the ratbags. AAMI would have enforced the excess, making a claim useless.
I now have taken their half-price insurance with an $1850 excess - self-insurance really, but saves $400 a year and my last claim was 20 years ago.
AnswerID:
195332
Follow Up By: Graham56 - Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 23:22
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 23:22
Well a while ago I backed over a motorcycle with my Patrol in a mcDs car
park,(lucky the guy was not on it)
I'm insured with AAMI, when I rang to inform them of my mishap the first question the guy on the other end asked was could we deny liabilitie. That made me laugh.
Graham
FollowupID:
453512
Follow Up By: The Landy - Wednesday, Sep 20, 2006 at 04:58
Wednesday, Sep 20, 2006 at 04:58
Hi Phil
I take a similar approach, higher excess, lower premium. Small damage is not claiming under insurance, so why pay for it? This way you are covered for write-off, loss, or major damage, and paying less for it.
FollowupID:
453529
Reply By: Troo Bloo - Wednesday, Sep 20, 2006 at 12:52
Wednesday, Sep 20, 2006 at 12:52
Punter
Had my extra cab hilux sr5 broken into couple of weeks ago, smashed window stero gone, and heaps of other stuff in car gone. Insurance company made me pay excess, because could not identify who broke in. I asked them would i break into my own car?
Troo Bloo
AnswerID:
195499