Car accident

Hi Julien,

Funny you should ask this, i had a minor one over the weekend .
First you should have the accident claim form (which is apparently mandatory to be carried at all times)
Second i think depending on the type of insurance, you need to file the claim.
if you intend to report it, then you have to go to the Police station and lodge a complaint.
The cops told me that resolution of accident cases in courts can take 3 to 4 years. So best would be to settle it out of court.

I hope some of the others can come up with better and more precise answers to your question, i would be keen to know te exact process myself!

Cheers,
Musheer

Hi Julien,

We had a very bad experience with a dangerous driver in the North. For reasons known only to himself, he was doing 90 kph on a 40 kph road in the middle of the day and his pick-up truck rammed our stationary vehicle, crushing the rear and sending it across the road and into 3 friends who were waiting to be collected on the pavement on the other side. One was left with her leg in a leg-cast for the remainder of her holiday.

The police turned up but were more interested in reducing their own paperwork and were insistent that we should just use an insurance claim rather than prosecute, arguing that it would take years, the injured parties were tourists - "so don't they have insurance?" (!?!) - we wouldn't have our car during that time, it was easier, blah, blah, blah. Foolish ex-pats that we were, we conceded to their wishes (demands?). We subsequently found out that if anyone has been injured then the police should have made a formal investigation. They must have forgotten this part...

If anyone ever has the mis-fortune to be in a similar situation, our advice is please ignore such nonsense. If it's dangerous driving you should prosecute. The insurance situation will be exactly the same. We still had to pay both our excess, the costs of temporary hire-car and medical bills and our claim is still unresolved some 6 months later. The only difference is that you will remove a dangerous driver from our streets and make the roads safer for all. In our ignorance, we didn't, and we still regret it.

Stay safe everyone.

umm, pretty tedious and lengthy, i guess guys replied mostly the first part.

ok, i try the second one:

2) if someone is injured.
   i should call the ambulance. 114 (Samu-local hospital)
   if i doubt about the accident, i call the Police Information Room-999


i hope to see u all someday folks, i got my pre-retirement now

cheers,
islander.

Julien wrote:

Hi everybody,

I was wondering it this morning ... What's the procedure if someone has a car accident ?

1) if no one is injured

The "claim's" form should be in your car at all times.If there are no injured parties or severe damages, then you settle on the spot, so to speak.Exchange phone numbers, insurance etc...

2) if someone is injured or in the case of severe damages

This becomes a police case.Call the police and an ambulance IMMEDIATELY.
From there, you still have to go through all the insurance paperwork, but you need to give a statement at the nearest Police Station.
If your vehicle is damaged, you have to call towing services to tow your car to the police station.Make sure you leave NOTHING in your car when it's being left at the police station premises.
Beware though, you might get a nasty surprise when you collect your car the next day;there might be stuff missing..


In case you damage Govt property (rails etc) then that's another hassle.
Thanks,

Julien

One other thing - if there is no injury and one party agrees that they are at fault, then it can be processed through the insurance companies or between the two parties. No police required.

However, given that the accident form says in bold letters 'Do not accept responsibility' or something similar, then in reality, this never or very rarely happens, even if it is blatantly obvious who was at fault. This form is clearly designed to ensure that people are kept in jobs at the insurance companies by maintaining a steady flow of inefficient paperwork for years on end.

If fault is not agreed, you have to go to the police and make a report. Both parties end up paying their excess and you can wait 2-4 years before the case is settled and you may get your excess back if the other guy was at fault.

This is particularly annoying when the other party is clearly to blame and there is not a scratch on his car, but yours is buggered! You end up paying the excess on your insurance, when it was his fault. Life's a b*t*h.