Deciding whether to claim

[Hammer]

I had an accident with a lorry going round a roundabout. I'm sure it was his fault but the insurance companies have not decided that yet, and I reckon they might go 50-50 as there were no witnesses.

No damage to my car or the lorry, but I had a bike on a carrier on the back which had its rear wheel bent.
I have not specifically claimed for the damage to the bike because my excess is �125 and it won't cost anywhere near that to repair it myself, but my question is, if the other driver is found to be to blame, can I change my mind and get him to cover the cost of repairing the bike?

[Ethel]

You can sue him for the excess or the cost of repair to the bike, certainly.

If you have legal expense insurance that should cover the legal costs of suing him.

[gouldc]

If his insurance company admit full liability (ie not 50/50), then as Ethel states, if you have legal expenses cover via your insurer, they will claim this back for you.

To be honest though, if it does go 100% in your fabour, you could just ring them yourselves - they'd most likely be happy enough to settle directly.

Roundabout collisions are nightmares - inevitably they end up 50/50 in the absence of witness evidence.

[Hammer]

I don�t hold out much hope of getting him to accept 100% of the blame to be honest, but I don�t think it�s worth losing any sleep over. Given that the front of his vehicle hit the back of mine, or rather the bike on the back of mine, and I was in his blind spot (on his right hand side and his vehicle is left hand drive), do you think this would make it more likely that it�s his fault?

Regards,
Chris.

[spaced]

as previoulsy stated, if he agrees that its his liability, then he would rather pay for the damage without invoving insurers, losing his NCB and increasing his claims history.

[Hammer]

Ah, but it was an Italian driver who spoke no English, and I speak no Italian, so we just exchanged details and went on our way. I assumed that as he was a professional driver he would notify his insurers 'just in case', so I did the same. No chance of contacting him directly unfortunately.

[gouldc]

Ah wonderful - these claims drag on for ages (sorry) as you've got to go through some extraordinary steps to try and find out who the insurance handling agent for his insurers are i nthe UK.

They then pass correspondence back and forth, etc.

Up to you, but honestly, it'll be more hassle than it's worth and will take months