SA Accident Law

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kissingmybbgoodbye

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Any body here knows anything about SA accident law

Basically the following scenario

Someone drove into the side of our car at a parking lot, we just reversed out of our parking lot and our car was standing stationary, standing behind the other party, not currently reversing,actually on the way of driving forward and going to turn to the right. The other party started only to move when our car was standing still and drove backwards into the side of our car

Now the third party insurance claims the following

With the information in our disposal, we under the impression that both parties reversed and collide, and due to South African Accident Law, if both parties reversed, each party should bear its own cost,
 
well, imo the car that reversed into you is liable for the damage. Are there any witnesses?
If you are insured, your insurance will fix this mess for you. If you are not insured, you need to get to a very good lawyer to act on your behalf. Ask him/her to issue a summons immediately so theres no playing around by the other party. In the mean time get the repair costs so again, theres no time wasting.

your other option is to go to 'small claims court' . not sure whats the procedure there.

How bad is the damage ?
 
CaTcH21 said:
well, imo the car that reversed into you is liable for the damage. Are there any witnesses?
If you are insured, your insurance will fix this mess for you. If you are not insured, you need to get to a very good lawyer to act on your behalf. Ask him/her to issue a summons immediately so theres no playing around by the other party. In the mean time get the repair costs so again, theres no time wasting.

your other option is to go to 'small claims court' . not sure whats the procedure there.

How bad is the damage ?
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Got all the quotes allready, yes I am insured and contacted my insurance company as well which is outsurance, but I tried to avoid loosing my noclaim and paying excess.

Damage is about R20 000 (My car is a merc and one of the doors is badly damaged) so yeah small claims court is out of order
 
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moklet said:
Got all the quotes allready, yes I am insured and contacted my insurance company as well outsurance, but I tried to avoid loosing my noclaim and paying excess.
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Forget about it, you are going to lose way more money trying to sue and it's your word against theirs. You can't win. Unless you have a witness?
 
moklet said:
Got all the quotes allready, yes I am insured and contacted my insurance company as well outsurance, but I tried to avoid loosing my noclaim and paying excess.

Damage is about R20 000 (My car is a merc and one of the doors is badly damaged) so yeah small claims court is out of order
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R20k damn thats heavy. If you get your insurance to fix, whats your excess ?
and whats your no-claim return ?

Good luck with whatever decision you make !
 
Gnome said:
Forget about it, you are going to lose way more money trying to sue and it's your word against theirs. You can't win. Unless you have a witness?
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Well the 2 kids of our domestic were in the car. Are they relaible witnesses ? I ain't gone give up easy. I will keep their legal department busy for a long time even if it is just with useless stuff
 
CaTcH21 said:
R20k damn thats heavy. If you get your insurance to fix, whats your excess ?
and whats your no-claim return ?

Good luck with whatever decision you make !
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The excess is close to 3 grand, and next year we would get our noclaim bonus for three years which is i guess arround 2 to 3 grand as well, so yeah I stand to loose about 5 to 6 grand
 
moklet said:
Well the 2 kids of our domestic were in the car. Are they relaible witnesses ? I ain't gone give up easy. I will keep their legal department busy for a long time even if it is just with useless stuff
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Best talk to a lawyer but since she is in your employ I think it can be considered conflicting interests, especially since they were also in the car.

Also their insurance company will most likely be liable to pay (assuming they have 3rd party), so be prepared to face a insurance companies legal department if they decide to go that route.

Usually this kind of thing isn't worth the effort, lawyers are quite expensive (for example the law firm we use charges R1500 a hour).
 
Gnome said:
Best talk to a lawyer but since she is in your employ I think it can be considered conflicting interests, especially since they were also in the car.

Also their insurance company will most likely be liable to pay (assuming they have 3rd party), so be prepared to face a insurance companies legal department if they decide to go that route.

Usually this kind of thing isn't worth the effort, lawyers are quite expensive (for example the law firm we use charges R1500 a hour).
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agree, end of the day i feel using your insurance is your best option.
 
Accident

My car was also hit while stationary...

I was at a robot during peak time, bumper to bumper traffic. A taxi was on the island on my left. He decided he wanted to join my lane and knocked into my fender, there was a metro cop near by and he came to assist with the transfer of details and also reprimanded the taxi driver for his actions. The driver agreed he was responsible and confirmed he would pay. I opened a case at the police station and kept in contct with the taxi owner who wanted to come see my car, after a week he says that he is no longer responsible and would rather go to court. I went to police station and they said i should speak to metro and metro says i should speak to SAPS. If i have to do use my insurance i have to pay an access of R3500.00...what should i do?
 
SLK45 said:
My car was also hit while stationary...

I was at a robot during peak time, bumper to bumper traffic. A taxi was on the island on my left. He decided he wanted to join my lane and knocked into my fender, there was a metro cop near by and he came to assist with the transfer of details and also reprimanded the taxi driver for his actions. The driver agreed he was responsible and confirmed he would pay. I opened a case at the police station and kept in contct with the taxi owner who wanted to come see my car, after a week he says that he is no longer responsible and would rather go to court. I went to police station and they said i should speak to metro and metro says i should speak to SAPS. If i have to do use my insurance i have to pay an access of R3500.00...what should i do?
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just get your insurance to sort this out cos you will get nowhere with this. If you go to court, you will spend easily over R5000. So I suggest you get your car fixed at the repair center of your choice and pay the R3500.

Good luck man :)
 
well u have a cop as a witness. u have opened the case. you're in a good position.
 
bboy said:
well u have a cop as a witness. u have opened the case. you're in a good position.
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You can have a 1000 witnesses, end of the day the guy who bumped him cannot afford it, on top of it, he is a Taxi driver, everything is already in his favour.
 
i had a similar thing, my insurance company nailed the bastard that caused the accident
 
Pay your excess. You might even get it back after the insurance claims from the bastard.

Another idea, after your car had been repaired go look for a insurer that will give you R2000 or less excess.
 
Even better, ask your insurance company for an excess waiver policy. This allows you to have 1 accident every 12 months that you don't pay excess on.
 
Hi

Please kindly advise on the following issues regarding short term insurance. if I'm involved in a car accident but claim through my own insurance and they subsequently claimed from the guilty drivers insuarance and my excess was re-paid, is the accident still kept on my record as a claim? Shouldn't it also be reversed just like the excess?


Thank you very much in advance.
The
 
Nope it stays on your record as a claim because it was that... if they try increase your premiums because of it then you can fight them on it
 
Syf said:
Hi

Please kindly advise on the following issues regarding short term insurance. if I'm involved in a car accident but claim through my own insurance and they subsequently claimed from the guilty drivers insuarance and my excess was re-paid, is the accident still kept on my record as a claim? Shouldn't it also be reversed just like the excess?


Thank you very much in advance.
The
Click to expand...

It shows as a claim but a full recovery and decent insurers will not penalize you for this.
 
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