Car accident - What to do?

Quixotic

Quixotic

Senior Member
Joined
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What can you do if you are involved in the car accident and the person who's fault it is has no insurance and you only have 3rd Party?
 
Write him a polite letter of demand, asking for the full amount of the damage

However, even if you only have third party, your insurance will try and recover the money for you
 
chrisc said:
Write him a polite letter of demand, asking for the full amount of the damage

However, even if you only have third party, your insurance will try and recover the money for you
Click to expand...
Ok. Did not realise insurance company would help in this way.
 
Yeah your insurer should go after him for you.

But him being uninsured you are unlikely to win short term and will need to cover repairs.

Maybe one day you’ll get something back.
 
chrisc said:
Write him a polite letter of demand, asking for the full amount of the damage

However, even if you only have third party, your insurance will try and recover the money for you
Click to expand...
How does that work, is it in the T&C's that they are obliged to do that and if so to what degree?
 
airborne said:
How does that work, is it in the T&C's that they are obliged to do that and if so to what degree?
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They are not obliged to do so in any way, they might agree to assist you with a letter of demand, they might not. They'll definitely not spend money pursuing the matter like appoint a lawyer or issuing summons. Don't get your hopes up. It was your choice to only take out 3rd party cover, now you have to deal with it. Sorry, not trying to be a d__s but those are the facts.
 
Who the hell only gets 3rd party insurance, you and that uninsured driver deserve each other. Goodluck it’s going to be a long fruitless journey for both of you.
 
You pay for damages you could try pursue claims against the other driver, but chances are you'll get no where
 
you
are
stuffed

the only course of action is to now try and sue that person for damages... and we all know a lawyer is going to cost you R2,000 per hour just to say hello would you like a coffee.

the difference between 3rd party and fully comprehensive insurance really is a few hundred Rand per month. I'm sure you spend more than that on booze, takeaways, cigarettes, prozzies, meth, etc...

the only thing you can take from this is to now buy new running shoes and learn from this.

I hope the car isn't badly damaged
 
Lupus said:
You pay for damages you could try pursue claims against the other driver, but chances are you'll get no where
Click to expand...
From previous experience, most people without insurance are reckless drivers with old, tough cars that usually walk away with less damage. Most of them are difficult to trace, let alone try to sue. The guy I was involved in an accident with was drunk, had no license (both drivers and car), and had no insurance. My insurance paid out after writing off the car. They tried to trace him for like 6 months, and they ended up closing the case. Plot twist, Several months after the accident, I accidentally logged into the Tracker app, and low and behold, the car was roaming around Tembisa. Don't even ask why my tracker was still active after so long.
 
Stinkbeaver said:
From previous experience, most people without insurance are reckless drivers with old, tough cars that usually walk away with less damage. Most of them are difficult to trace, let alone try to sue. The guy I was involved in an accident with was drunk, had no license (both drivers and car), and had no insurance. My insurance paid out after writing off the car. They tried to trace him for like 6 months, and they ended up closing the case. Plot twist, Several months after the accident, I accidentally logged into the Tracker app, and low and behold, the car was roaming around Tembisa. Don't even ask why my tracker was still active after so long.
Click to expand...
How did your tracker get in his car?
 
Lupus said:
How did your tracker get in his car?
Click to expand...
Tracker still active, even after writing off the car,
once had access to somebody else work Sim card, and he recently sold his citi golf, and the car was now driving around some tiny village in the eastern cape.

also is there any reliable way to check if your car still has an active tracker on it? besides going around to the tracking companies and asking ,
like type in your VIN number and they will phone you back to verify that yes indeed there is a tracker, and to verify your ownership details, appointment to have it removed/upgraded ect...
 
Stinkbeaver said:
From previous experience, most people without insurance are reckless drivers with old, tough cars that usually walk away with less damage. Most of them are difficult to trace, let alone try to sue. The guy I was involved in an accident with was drunk, had no license (both drivers and car), and had no insurance. My insurance paid out after writing off the car. They tried to trace him for like 6 months, and they ended up closing the case. Plot twist, Several months after the accident, I accidentally logged into the Tracker app, and low and behold, the car was roaming around Tembisa. Don't even ask why my tracker was still active after so long.
Click to expand...

Happens more than you know ... car gets written off and someone buys it from a lot and do a "code3" repair ... you spot these "repaired" cars from a mile away.
 
Lupus said:
How did your tracker get in his car?
Click to expand...
Tracker was on my car. When I had the accident, the insurance wrote the car off. I contacted Tracker and told them to cancel the contract since the car was gone. I don't know if things move slowly with them or what, but my account was still active when I logged on. I think my insurer sold my car to a scrapyard or something, and they rebuilt it and sold it off. As for the guy who caused the accident, I don't know how they were tracing him, as the only thing that I got out of that guy was his ID number. I only got an email from them months later telling me they had been trying to trace him.
 
Stinkbeaver said:
Tracker was on my car. When I had the accident, the insurance wrote the car off. I contacted Tracker and told them to cancel the contract since the car was gone. I don't know if things move slowly with them or what, but my account was still active when I logged on. I think my insurer sold my car to a scrapyard or something, and they rebuilt it and sold it off. As for the guy who caused the accident, I don't know how they were tracing him, as the only thing that I got out of that guy was his ID number. I only got an email from them months later telling me they had been trying to trace him.
Click to expand...
Oh i see my bad :-)
 
Good on you for having third party cover instead of zero cover. It should be a minimum.

Unfortunately this is one of the risks of only having third party cover, especially on South African roads where there are a high amount of uninsured drivers.

Your best bet is to attempt recovery as per previous posts but it is unlikely that you’ll succeed. Therefore start researching the most economical way to repair the car properly. I hope the damage isn’t too great or costly.
 
Wife was in an accident recently. We also have only thrid party insurance. Car was not worth repairing so sold it off to a friend who is going to fix it and give it to his daughter.
Have to pay for a new car now .
 
Reading this has me worried. I have only 3rd party but it's for a car that almost 30 years old. Few places are willing to insure that.
 
Wow, shocking the amount of people who only have 3rd party insurance here. Any reason for this?
 
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