What to do? I have been deliberately hit by a UTE...Please Help!

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10-11-2010, 10:57 AM
dc2r-0636

im with just car aswell. you get covered for up $2k ? or something like that. your insurance pays you and gets ur car fixed. then they chase down his insurance for the money, you have 7 years to claim lol
10-11-2010, 11:12 AM
IEVAQ8

dude, dont make it hard for urself....
pm me and i will give u my panel beaters number, all u gotta do is drop the car off and he will give u a hire care, anbd he will take care of the whole lot....
y should u go get quotes and go out of ur way when its not ur fault....
10-11-2010, 11:25 AM
jdm_b16a

Quote:

Originally Posted by Engin09

do exactly that, get a case, take it to court and in front of a judge explain the same thing you have on here and you should win and he will be obliged to pay etc.

Unless you have independent, 3rd party witnesses to back up your side of the events, it will be your word against his, and you therefore have NO case. Any solicitor will tell you that.

I have been in this situation, I had Comprehensive Insurance, and I exchanged details with the other party, but when my car was put in to be fixed, and a claim made, the other party changed their story (they were at fault and had agreed to that), and my insurer did nothing to help me, saying it was my word against theirs, and I had no witnesses.

Needles to say I cancelled my Insurer and went elsewhere.

Peter
10-11-2010, 11:25 AM
KonnecXion

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc2r-0636

im with just car aswell. you get covered for up $2k ? or something like that. your insurance pays you and gets ur car fixed. then they chase down his insurance for the money, you have 7 years to claim lol

The thing is, I have not done anything wrong.... I don't want to claim myself for someone who deliberately struck me. This is the easy way out, but I didn't know I had 2k cover for my own vehicle too. but thanks for the suggestion!!
10-11-2010, 11:27 AM
KonnecXion

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdm_b16a

Unless you have independent, 3rd party witnesses to back up your side of the events, it will be your word against his, and you therefore have NO case. Any solicitor will tell you that.

I have been in this situation, I had Comprehensive Insurance, and I exchanged details with the other party, but when my car was put in to be fixed, and a claim made, the other party changed their story (they were at fault and had agreed to that), and my insurer did nothing to help me, saying it was my word against theirs, and I had no witnesses.

Needles to say I cancelled my Insurer and went elsewhere.

Peter

Even when you had full insurance? Wow thats shit... but I will not go down without a fight for something I didn't do.

Well my case is a little different, if it was my fault why did he not report it? and I think it the damages speak for themselves.
10-11-2010, 11:34 AM
jdm_b16a

Quote:

Originally Posted by KonnecXion

The thing is, I have not done anything wrong.... I don't want to claim myself for someone who deliberately struck me. This is the easy way out, but I didn't know I had 2k cover for my own vehicle too. but thanks for the suggestion!!

You should have learnt one valuable lesson from all this - never engage another driver in any sort of car nonsense, because you will come off second-best, and end up with a whole mess of trouble, which is exactly what you have. There are so many idiots out there that don't give a crap about you and your ride, be it an S2000 or a VW Beetle or whatever.

The law is a very strange animal and most people profess to know something about it but have no real experience with it. The first thing you realise about our judicial system, the courts and what happens in them, is that even if you are RIGHT, you aren't necessarily in a court of law. If you have spent thousands of dollars on a good solicitor you may get somewhere; if you don't, then forget it.

My advice, having been tied up in our court system a couple of times - save/borrow the $$$, get your car fixed, and move on. The money you would spend on a solicitor will easily cover the cost of repairs to your car. Even if you decide to chase this guy, he can just ignore you, your life will get caught up in letter writing, etc and in the end, you will give up in frustration.

Sorry, but that is the reality of the situation. I know I'm being very negative and pessimistic, but as I said, I've been there.

Peter
10-11-2010, 11:50 AM
jdm_b16a

Quote:

Originally Posted by KonnecXion

... a driver of a black ute decided to deliberately run me off because I merged into his lane late... He intentionally sped up and tried to avoid letting me in, but I managed to squeeze through...

So he felt aggrieved because you merged in front of him. He was probably forced to brake by your action, and so thought your move a bit dangerous.

Drivers speed up like in your situation all the time. It's a male thing about giving up road space, protecting your position in the traffic - it happens all the time.

Why didn't you just back off at this point in time?

So you forced your way in front of him. Not a good move! If you were him, you would probably be angry too! But that doesn't condone his action of hitting you even though he did exactly to you what you did to him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KonnecXion

He honked the hell out of me and then went to overtake me from the lane beside me and merged into me, deliberately that struck the front right fender of my s2k.

So you can see already in a court of law (if you ever get there) his solicitor will say you provoked him. His hitting you was an accident caused by your forcing the issue. You can't prove it was delibrate. And by your own admission, you merged "late". How fast were you going? Were you speeding?

Quote:

Originally Posted by KonnecXion

So we did the usual thing, exchange details of both driver.

You should have grabbed some licence plate numbers or stopped another vehicle who may have been a witness. I know this is all very hard when you are in shock from an accident.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KonnecXion

Now the whole day I have been trying to get this guy to call his insurance company to report the incident so I could get my car repaired. He is insured with RACV and I am insured third party + fire & theft. So automatically I knew my insurance company will not do anything to support me. And his insurance company won't help me for obvious reasons.

Not true. Even with 3rd party (which is a No Fault Policy) you can ask for assistance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KonnecXion

I have spoken to his and mine insurer about this, and they cannot help. My own insurer has filed this report and I have reported this to a police constable.
I was suggested by the officer to obtain 3 car quotes and write a letter of demand to his insurer (RACV) and then to the driver. If that gets ignored, then I have a case.

At this stage this is all you can do. Fingers crossed and hope for the best. But without some sort of incentive the other guy will probably do nothing. If he hires a solicitor to defend himself, are you prepared to do likewise. Do you want to know what a solicitor charges per hour?

Peter
10-11-2010, 11:56 AM
KonnecXion

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdm_b16a

You should have learnt one valuable lesson from all this - never engage another driver in any sort of car nonsense, because you will come off second-best, and end up with a whole mess of trouble, which is exactly what you have. There are so many idiots out there that don't give a crap about you and your ride, be it an S2000 or a VW Beetle or whatever.

The law is a very strange animal and most people profess to know something about it but have no real experience with it. The first thing you realise about our judicial system, the courts and what happens in them, is that even if you are RIGHT, you aren't necessarily in a court of law. If you have spent thousands of dollars on a good solicitor you may get somewhere; if you don't, then forget it.

My advice, having been tied up in our court system a couple of times - save/borrow the $$$, get your car fixed, and move on. The money you would spend on a solicitor will easily cover the cost of repairs to your car. Even if you decide to chase this guy, he can just ignore you, your life will get caught up in letter writing, etc and in the end, you will give up in frustration.

Sorry, but that is the reality of the situation. I know I'm being very negative and pessimistic, but as I said, I've been there.

Peter

Thank you for your suggestion and I understand what you mean. However, I have never intended to engage another driver in any sort of nonsense nor if this was the reason for the incident. The guy just unleashed his road rage, and deliberately cut me off but he didn't think he would hit my vehicle.I don't know. The right thing to do is to get out of the vehicle and exchange details. I know how it is with the law and I only intend to represent myself, I have been through the system for speeding terms etc and I understand what you mean.

I am sure as heck the guy would not be bothered with a lawyer at all if he couldn't even make a phone call to put through a claim. He is simply just being a d**head about it and testing to see what I can do. There is absolute no damage to his car. My car will need a front fender, respray and alignment which is not cheap to fix.
10-11-2010, 12:17 PM
KonnecXion

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdm_b16a

So he felt aggrieved because you merged in front of him. He was probably forced to brake by your action, and so thought your move a bit dangerous.

Drivers speed up like in your situation all the time. It's a male thing about giving up road space, protecting your position in the traffic - it happens all the time.

Why didn't you just back off at this point in time?

So you forced your way in front of him. Not a good move! If you were him, you would probably be angry too! But that doesn't condone his action of hitting you even though he did exactly to you what you did to him.

So you can see already in a court of law (if you ever get there) his solicitor will say you provoked him. His hitting you was an accident caused by your forcing the issue. You can't prove it was delibrate. And by your own admission, you merged "late". How fast were you going? Were you speeding?

You should have grabbed some licence plate numbers or stopped another vehicle who may have been a witness. I know this is all very hard when you are in shock from an accident.

Not true. Even with 3rd party (which is a No Fault Policy) you can ask for assistance.

At this stage this is all you can do. Fingers crossed and hope for the best. But without some sort of incentive the other guy will probably do nothing. If he hires a solicitor to defend himself, are you prepared to do likewise. Do you want to know what a solicitor charges per hour?

Peter

1. I was making my merge slowly, he was speeding up making the situation much more dangerous, I was about 40km-50km/h when I was merging in so I did back off, and I had my indicators flashing for awhile. He was just trying to be a prick and close the gap. Male thing or not, it is ethically wrong. It made it very difficult for me to merge in, I ran out of road space in my lane otherwise I would let him past, even if he is not entitled to do that, he could have avoided it my lane ending, but he just wanted to push me out and NOT let me in. If i wanted to be a prick I would have just merged in right away, but I did it slowly, he just didn't want to give me a tad chance of letting me in.

2. Yes I do admit I merged late, even if he was provoked it does not allow him to run me off the second time by cutting me out and actually hitting me. My actions were not deliberate, and he could avoided the late braking if he didn't speed up to close this gap. It really is a fine line, and he could say if I didn't merge into his lane he wouldn't acted as such, but if I really didn't have the space, then how would I actually be able to get in? He just sped up to close the gap or he was already speeding when there were more than 1 car space to fit in. I doubt any of this will be brought to court as he knows his actions were deliberate, he just don't want to care until he is asked by someone with more authority to fix my car.

My point is that he was aggravated and took my actions personal. Turned it into road rage and knocked me out. He avoided an accident at the start and caused one himself because of his negligent driving. If his solicitor wants to argue this point then he will need to prove that I deliberately provoked him to cause an accident.
3. Yeah I missed the witness details, I was in complete shock when this all happened
4. I've called twice to my own insurance company and asked for assistance but they have disappointed me with no proper answer.
10-11-2010, 12:35 PM
m3ntAL_l2

ring ur insurance again... i was with racv too - 3rd party

and when a ute reversed into me, he did not have any insurance but because i was not at fault and got all the details of the other driver, racv was able to pay my repairing up to $5000 upfront - no excess fee and then they will go chase it up the other person

so call them up and ask if that is in ur contract, u dont have to make an claim, this is easier than sending a letter of demand with all ur personal details on it
10-11-2010, 12:49 PM
jdm_b16a

I hope you sort it all out in your favour. There is nothing worse than having your car damaged by unthinking actions of another driver.

Peter
10-11-2010, 12:57 PM
EvolElmo

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdm_b16a

So you can see already in a court of law (if you ever get there) his solicitor will say you provoked him. His hitting you was an accident caused by your forcing the issue. You can't prove it was delibrate. And by your own admission, you merged "late". How fast were you going? Were you speeding?

You should have grabbed some licence plate numbers or stopped another vehicle who may have been a witness. I know this is all very hard when you are in shock from an accident.

:lol: Armchair lawyers. Every forum has at least one.

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