Car Accident - what to do?

Finance, Taxes, Banking, Insurance and Retirement
1
on saturday, while i was driving on the road, some car coming out of a building park decided not to stop while entering the road, and clipped me on the rear left side. i felt the rear end jumping and it sounded to me as if the back side was totally gone, but luckily (!) it hit the wheel leaving scratches on the rim and scratched the rear bumper. and her front number plate fell off. more luckily, no one was hurt; we filled out the accident protocol form, and continued our ways.

it was saturday evening, so, only 'emergency' lines were available for the insurance company. i'll contact them on monday morning. but before i do, i would like to ask whether there are stuff to consider. i checked a few threads here and google'd around, but was not sure, so, decided to bother the helpful people of ef ;-)

she's at fault (from understanding of the both parties), and we've written in the form what happened. i guess, turning left from a sidewalk onto a road and hitting left rear side of another car is rather explanatory, unless one is in a court drama tv show.

from the outside, it looks like a few scratches (and some paint removal from the bumper), but i would definitely like to get it checked, whether anything else cracked or broke, especially around the tank area. and due to the impact, i believe at least some wheel alignment should be done. the repairs would hopefully be minor, but 'diminished value' could be an issue, too.

from a search, i see that she should contact her insurance company, who would then contact me before i get the repairs done at a garage. but i am not sure that anything will happen before i call people, so, what is the right procedure in this case?

- i call the other driver's insurance company and report the incident?

- they send an expert to get it checked, and we agree on a garage?

- how to arrange for the garage? replacement car? claims?

2
Report the accident to your insurance company and let them take it from there. They should arrange everything, including the garage you should take your car to (if that's restricted in your policy conditions). You should not contact the other driver's insurance company.

3
are you sure? i managed to reach my insurance's hotline, and they told me that it is not them whom i should call, although she did not sound very sure herself.

i guess, we'll see tomorrow morning after some calls

4
Indeed, you need to call the other person's insurance, providing they didn't do it first!

A few years ago my back bumper got rear-ended by a guy who broke too slowly at a red light. We filled in the relevant paperwork, and the next day I called HIS insurance.

Then I went to a garage, and the mechanics took up from there, dealing with the insurance (pictures, cost estimates, etc).

5
@fatih.erol

I don't really think you can go very wrong by calling both, as long as you remain polite and apologetic if they tell you you're calling them in the wrong sequence.

Yes, start again with your own insurance company. Sometimes (you could check this on your policy and especially on any correspondence you have from them) the insured person is allocated to a specific person in the insurance company... often according to the geographical area in which you live. Therefore, if the helpline doesn't give you clear instructions you feel you can believe, then it'd be worth your while to try to ask (perhaps in a separate call) who is "your" person in insurance company.

And after every call to him/her, mail them confirming that this is what you understood the next steps to be.

6
I always went straight to the other drivers insurance & got paid out quickly. I only had 3rd party insurance cover.

7
Had a similar thing on Friday, my car parked, someone else drove into it. It's very clear who's at fault. He rang his insurance company and sent me the claim number so I can now go to a garage and get the repairs done. No need to contact my insurers I believe

8
C.Y.A. ...... call your insurers, just in case all is not as it seems.

9
Often the insurance of the driver at fault will send an expert when the car is in the car repair (of your choice, usually) to assess the damage, agree on the work to be done and approximate cost. Not giving the insurance the opportunity to do that may be an expensive omission.

So do call them. Always. And make sure you get a reference number so you can prove later on you did.

10
so, as also suggested here, i first called my insurance, who suggested to call the other insurance.

i called the other party's insurance on monday, and explained the situation. apparently, their client had not called them yet, so, they opened a case, gave me the number and asked me which garage i wanted to visit, and told me to give them this number. so, i went to the garage, gave them the number. they gave me a courtesy car. a couple of emails from the insurance about the expert assigned to my case, and a few days later the garage called me to pick up my car. i signed a few documents (one apparently confirming that i got the car repaired at a garage instead of getting monetary compensation), and that is that. luckily not much fuss.

thanks all for suggestions.

and have a nice week.

11
Do you have collision insurance also, or only third party. I ask because i find it a bit strange that your company asks you to call another. Normally the should handle it, no?

12
Its just easier as Swiss insurance just pay up, most people have an excess so that would need to be paid if your own insurers pay.

13
I think SVA is saying that his own insurance company should handle the claim process through the other driver's insurance, as opposed to him having to deal direct with them;and his own insurance paying him out from his own policy.

This system is probably more familiar for Brit expats, but obviously the wheels turn differently here (often in the opposite direction)

14
i have the collision insurance as well, but i did not cause the crash. the other side is guilty which is agreed by both drivers, so, the other driver's liability insurance should pay for the damage they caused to the my vehicle (and her own casco should pay for her own car's damage).

the contact with my own insurance was to make sure that they are aware in case the other insurance does not accept total guilt and does not want to pay full.

...

and true that i should not have to call the other insurance, the other driver should have arranged that. (apparently, my insurance did not want to do that as well )

15
In the case that you want your car to be repaired follow these simple steps :

1- choose garage that you want him to repair your car ( any garage in Switzerland )

2- hand him the accident paper that you filled it up with the other party.

3- sometimes you will be lucky enough .. the garage will give you car till your damaged car is repaid ( at least that what happen with me ).

4- The garage will repair your car and you don ́t need to call any person , or any insurance ( in some case the other party insurance will like to see the damage on your car and for that they would like to take some selfies with it.

5-Your garage will call you to give you back your car ( repaired )

6- your car now is in the street again and ready for the next accident

16
Be careful, if the repairs get done & the other insurance refuses to pay, you might up end out having to pay for the repairs yourself if you don't have full cover. Get approval from the other insurance first, the garage will also charge for the hire car.

17
I find that surprising that the insurance company doesn't want to get involved. If it isn't sorted out right, then the costs come back to them, and insurance companies are very keen to get other people to pay if they can...