Advice please: sister crashed (Aberdeen) and insurance Q

[tonto83]

Hi guys,

Hopefully somebody can help.  First may I explain that I am from and live in the Rep. of Ireland.  My sister is currently working in Aberdeen, Scotland.  Last Sunday week she was driving through a junction and hit side on by an ambulance which flipped her over.

She was driving a polo which did its job and she walked quite sore but overall not too bad considering the severity of the smash.   As neither myself or my sister are from the uk we don't really know how the insurance system works.  Police have taken her statement and as much as said that the ambulance driver was at fault.  They've also taken a detailed statement from a driver behind her to back her up.

Her car was taken away by a recovery truck and is in a storage area.  My question is what happens next?  Does she get a quote to fix the car which will definately be much higher than the value of the car ie write off.  Does she get her insurance company to assess the damage to her car or does she need to contact the ambulance drivers insurance company?

We've been a bit preoccupied trying to make sure my sis is ok so now we are looking at the car.  At the end of the day all she is looking for is the price of her car approx 3k and other small bills ie recovery/storage costs sorted.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks,

Paul

[Dave J]

Hi Paul,
She simply needs to contact her insurance company to report the accident (you must do this regardless of who's fault it is), and they will take it from there.
If liability has been admitted by the ambulance driver, then their insurance co should pay out, and there is no detriment to your sister's NCB.

Hope this helps, and glad to hear she is ok,
Cheers,
Dave

[tonto83]

Thanks for that Dave,

Yes she contacted her insurance company the day after accident but hadn't heard anything since.  I'll tell her to get back onto them and see what's happening.

Thanks again

[Scottymon]

Crickey, yeah glad she walked from that, was it a 6n2, built like little tanks them.
Was the ambulance on blues?

As said it'll be easy if OP has admitted liability.

[tonto83]

Ye they're a great little car, thankfully they're well built.  Ambulance was responding to a call, as soon as my sis heard the siron she looked in the mirror and then hit immediately in the rear section of the passenger side.

Poor ol ambulance driver was in shock as well.  Thankfully everyone was ok.

Now to try and find another car for my sis

[Jakesangel]

Assuming she has fully comprehensive insurance then yes her insurance company should take care of it. Equally if the vehicle has been taken to a storage facility by recovery people then your sisters insurance company will want to move it to one of their own storage facilities as soon as possible in order to avoid further storage costs. However, if your sister only has third party fire and theft cover then the her insurers will not get involved as you wouldnt actually have accidental damage cover and therefore would not be covered for the damage caused to her vehicle and would need to claim directly from the Ambulance's insurance company.

To be honest it would be much easier to use one of the  Accident Management Companies advertised on T.V or internet and get them to deal with everything for you including any injuries potentially sustained.

Hope your sister is ok and this helps a bit  and good luck with everything