igual

Someone crashed into my car today in a carpark, and has left a huge dent in the bumper. Luckily they left there details, but after talking to him on the phone, it appears that he may not have insurance. He is willing to pay for damages, but when mentioned that it may need a whole new bumper, he suddenly became reluctant to repair it that much! I replyed that I obviously want the car as new, as it is a brand new car, and I dont want a slap dash job done on it. We dont want anymore than that, just want it back to how it was before this afternoon!
My question is, does anyone know what I can do if this guy does refuse to repair it to its original state, what are my rights? I have a feeling this won't be straight forward, and could be a pain in the bottom!

any advice anyone?

soapy©

well if he left his address, u could go round and kick the shit out of him lmao
sorry to hear about your car mate. not sure how u stand, but best of luck trying to get him to get it back to the way it was.

soapy
oh and happy new year to u and fiona

spalen

- If he doesnt have insurance he's committed a crime, he probably does just wants to not affect claims etc .Depends if was a 3 wheeled yellow van that hit you.

- If its a new car youve got I'd ring my insurance and get them involved, they'll go after him and recover from him. You dont want to muck about with that kinda thing.

Siren & Brian

You get your car fixed through your insurance and then they chance him for the money.

bondipom

Yep. That is what happened with me. I just passed the persons details to the NRMA. I went to a garage, they photographed the damage uploaded them to the NRMA website. A few days later the repairs were approved and I took the car in.

Repairs took a over a week but the garage lent me a car for the days the repairs were overdue.

I got a call a couple of months later to clarify the details but it was a somple process.

G'Day

Driving an uninsured vehicle in Oz is a criminal offense. I would sic my insurance company on him as they are notorious for wringing blood out of even the hardest rock ;-)

Wol

I'm not sure that the legal minimum insurance covers property damage. IIRC it is legal to drive with just the green slip but that only covers injury.

Is this correct?

G'Day

Rog,

Yes, that is the Third Party insurance and you are correct in that this is the minimum insurance required.

However, your insurance can still make someone pay up even if they are not comprehensively covered. This happened to a friend of mine who had the bad luck not to have comprehensive insurance when she was struck by another (insured) vehicle. The driver of said vehicle had been into a couple of similar bang-ups previously and refused to take responsibility yet again, blaming it all on her. Innocent as she was she could not prove it and since she didn't have a huge insurance company fighting on her behalf she was taken to the cleaners. Had to pay for the damage to his car out of own pocket.

This is Vic that I am refering to, however, so maybe we are just a tad more advanced in this regards than the other states

G'Day

Very offensive and completely uncalled for. As I understood it the vehicle was "uninsured" not "had only third party insurance". To drive an UNINSURED vehicle in oz IS a criminal offence!

igual

thanks for your replys everyone!
Lots of useful advice, we do have fully comp insurance but if we claim through ours, will it not increase our premium next year if we claim?

thanks again everyone, and happy new year!

igual

Bondipom,
did the person not have fully comp insurance either who crashed into you? can you just give the name and telephone number of the other person, as he isn't disclosing any insurance details. Is this enough detail for my insurance company to chase? Did it put your insurance up the next year? It would be so much easier to sort it out the way you did it!
Fiona

bondipom

I have no idea what insurance the other person had. I just got their driving license number, their address and registration plate. The registration plate should be enough for the insurance company to chase. With my policy I believe my premium only increases if I am at fault. The bloke who went into me was at fault and my premium did not increase.

Each company works in a different way. Someone I work with dropped their vehicle off to AAMI who arranged the repairs.

Good luck.

G'Day

Fiona,

Unless you have a "no-fault" clause in your policy chances are that it will affect your premiums even if it wasn't your fault. Check your insurance out first before making the claim.