Bizarre accident

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FlashSA

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On my way to work yesterday morning in my Ford Ranger T6 double cab, I saw one of my staff in his single cab Ranger T6 join the highway just behind me (both vehicles are business vehicles owned and insured by my company). We both took the offramp to join the highway which leads to the office (NEX). To pass slow traffic in the right lane I changed to the right lane but then I noticed all the cars up ahead starting to break so I did the same and eventually we came to a complete stop.

In my mirror I saw a car come flying at me and then violently change to the left lane narrowly missing my vehicle and carrying on in the non stationery left lane (only the right lane was stopped). I thought that that was a close call when I heard tyre screeching and in my mirror a millisecond before I was hit in the back, I noticed it was a white Ford Ranger.

Turns out staff member was not looking ahead and when the car in front ducked out from hitting me, staff member had no braking distance left and went into the back of me. My Ranger has 13k on and the quote is R37k. His has only 5k mileage on and the quote is R50k.

I got out of the vehicle and could only shake my head at the damage. I checked his vehicle for radiator leakage and then told him to meet me at the office. He was stressing because he thought I was going to kill him there and then but I just Woosa'ed all the way to the office.

The even better part is that insurance is going to want 2x excesses from us because it was only our 2 vehicles involved. What are the chances of 2 of our vehicles being involved in an accident together? If it was not our company vehicles involved I might actually see the funny side.....
 
Firstly, I just noticed where you stay. Great place to stay in (I know it well)

What happened is that uncommon. I've seen claims where wife hit husband car. Two claims are registered and two excesses are required. It is quite technical why this so, but it is the way insurance works. But don't want to spoil it for you, but you will not get the excess back. Unless your employee is willing to pay for yours. Again, it is your company's insurance, so the company needs to pay the excesses. At the end, you will be paying yourself. I hope it makes sense.
 
creeper said:
Firstly, I just noticed where you stay. Great place to stay in (I know it well)

What happened is that uncommon. I've seen claims where wife hit husband car. Two claims are registered and two excesses are required. It is quite technical why this so, but it is the way insurance works. But don't want to spoil it for you, but you will not get the excess back. Unless your employee is willing to pay for yours. Again, it is your company's insurance, so the company needs to pay the excesses. At the end, you will be paying yourself. I hope it makes sense.
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Yeah, Gonubie is awesome apart from the evening traffic...

I hear you. I am part of the family business and the oke that hit me is an employee. He has already been informed that he is liable for both excesses which amounts to R3000 per vehicle. There is no ways our/my company is going to pay a cent of the excesses due to his carelessness.

I will bet my first born that we are in for a big premium increase later this year after these 2 claims :(
 
FlashSA said:
Yeah, Gonubie is awesome apart from the evening traffic...

I hear you. I am part of the family business and the oke that hit me is an employee. He has already been informed that he is liable for both excesses which amounts to R3000 per vehicle. There is no ways our/my company is going to pay a cent of the excesses due to his carelessness.

I will bet my first born that we are in for a big premium increase later this year after these 2 claims :(
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Umm, based on what you said he might not really have been at fault? And unless it's in his employment contract, don't see how you can force him to pay the excess?
 
Heard about the roadworks and the washed away Gonubie road.

Unless you claim often, the increase won't be that bad. You can also argue that your loss ratio is still low and the risk profile hasn't changed. That is, if you don't claim often.

Also. Business insurance tends to be higher premiums compared to personal insurance, so I doubt the increase will be that high as the risk is already build into the premium.
 
Splinter said:
Umm, based on what you said he might not really have been at fault? And unless it's in his employment contract, don't see how you can force him to pay the excess?
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The law is very clear - if you hit into the back of someone then you are at fault.
 
Splinter said:
Umm, based on what you said he might not really have been at fault? And unless it's in his employment contract, don't see how you can force him to pay the excess?
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Doesn't have to be in the contract. It can be part of the company's policy as well.
 
FlashSA said:
The law is very clear - if you hit into the back of someone then you are at fault.
Click to expand...

Oh ok - so, based on what you said, you know he wasn't really at fault - yet you are going to screw your employee over just because the "law is clear" on this point. And I still want to know whether the employment contract or any other legal document makes him liable for the excess?
 
One of my mates had one even worse than this.

He had an early morning switcheroo taking someone to the airport as I remember and didn't quite pay attention when he reverse his Nissan Patrol right into his BMW F800 standing parked behind it but out of view.

The bike just fell off the stand and hit the wall and didn't go down entirely so he was able to fix it for just a little over what the excess would have been and the car didn't suffer anything serious so no insurance was required.

Needless to say I still rag him about it today.
 
Splinter said:
Oh ok - so, based on what you said, you know he wasn't really at fault - yet you are going to screw your employee over just because the "law is clear" on this point. And I still want to know whether the employment contract or any other legal document makes him liable for the excess?
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Company policy is that the driver of the vehicle which is damaged will be liable for the excess unless it is proven that the driver of the other vehicle was at fault.

So in this case, driver did not maintain an adequate following distance and the result was that he drove into the back of another vehicle.

If I had not been there and he had driven into a strangers car - we would still be liable for the excess and he would be paying because as per road traffic rules, if you cause an accident by driving into the back of another vehicle, then you are at fault.

He has caused serious damage to 2 of our vehicles and is still in his notice months. He is lucky he is not fired!
 
FlashSA said:
..
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Excess is calculated per vehicle not per incident.

Not much you can do here except be glad no one got hurt and accept the financial hit with grace...

As a side note...its useful to try and look at the car *in front* of the car you're following through its windows. Gives you a couple more milliseconds reaction time. Minirant: The new gen styling of bakkies have tailgates higher than the avg eyeball high on the road. /safety fail.
 
I would question fault in this at all. He was following behind someone else who swerved at the last minute. I've had it happen to me many times and even though I've been paying attention I've only narrowly missed causing a huge accident. Be careful of passing on the excess, it could land you in a bit of a legal pickle
 
ToxicBunny said:
I would question fault in this at all. He was following behind someone else who swerved at the last minute. I've had it happen to me many times and even though I've been paying attention I've only narrowly missed causing a huge accident. Be careful of passing on the excess, it could land you in a bit of a legal pickle
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This. I have also been in this situation and only narrowly avoided being involved in an accident.

FlashSA said:
Company policy is that the driver of the vehicle which is damaged will be liable for the excess unless it is proven that the driver of the other vehicle was at fault.

So in this case, driver did not maintain an adequate following distance and the result was that he drove into the back of another vehicle.

If I had not been there and he had driven into a strangers car - we would still be liable for the excess and he would be paying because as per road traffic rules, if you cause an accident by driving into the back of another vehicle, then you are at fault.

He has caused serious damage to 2 of our vehicles and is still in his notice months. He is lucky he is not fired!
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Oh ok. Good for you. Personally, if I valued an employee I would not bully them into paying an excess (or two of them) by threatening to fire them.
 
Splinter said:
Oh ok. Good for you. Personally, if I valued an employee I would not bully them into paying an excess (or two of them) by threatening to fire them.
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I don't think you studied my initial post properly. I did not explode or swear or scream at the guy. When he apologised I said that it was called an accident because that is what it was.

That doesn't change the fact that damage has been caused and he has to now pay for his mistake \ accident. The guys who are saying I should go easy on him are clearly not business owners. My drivers are constantly damaging their vehicles and if the company absorbed all of the small repairs and for the bigger ones, the excesses, we would have to retrench a staff member or 2 in order to recoup the unnecessary cost.

In life, SH happens and we all make mistakes. But with that comes responsibility and we all need to pay for our mistakes!
 
FlashSA said:
I don't think you studied my initial post properly. I did not explode or swear or scream at the guy. When he apologised I said that it was called an accident because that is what it was.

That doesn't change the fact that damage has been caused and he has to now pay for his mistake \ accident. The guys who are saying I should go easy on him are clearly not business owners. My drivers are constantly damaging their vehicles and if the company absorbed all of the small repairs and for the bigger ones, the excesses, we would have to retrench a staff member or 2 in order to recoup the unnecessary cost.

In life, SH happens and we all make mistakes. But with that comes responsibility and we all need to pay for our mistakes!
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Umm, you clearly are not reading the actual responses to what you posted. Based on your own version of events, it is highly likely that he was not really responsible for the accident due to any negligence on his part (this has been said by a couple of posters; you have not attempted to refute this so I will now take it as "fact").

So, even though you were actually a witness to the fact he was not really responsible for the accident, you are hiding behind standard law and policies to force him to pay an excess for an accident you know he wasn't quite responsible for. Again, good on you mate.
 
He is responsible. This is not an act of God. He failed to stop the vehicle in a timely fashion and this resulted in an accident.

Can I ask you a question, Splinter? If you hit and kill a pedestrian they charge you. Why? The reason is because you are responsible for a death. You will be cleared if it is proven that you were not speeding or intoxicated, but you are charged nevertheless.

Things don't just happen. They are caused by human beings and their decisions or actions!
 
Rocket-Boy said:
That business doesnt happen to have anything with roof trusses does it?
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Nope, bet you are thinking of KC Roofing and their Rangers ;)

EDIT: or Inyathi Truss as they have 2 as well.
 
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