RAC Driver in Accident Suggests Not Making a Claim

MarkMas

MarkMas

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An RAC employee drove his official orange RAC van into a friend of mine's (crappy old) car today, and I was rather surprised that the RAC man suggested he might pay for the (slight) repairs himself, without my friend having to make an insurance claim. Presumably all RAC guys have full insurance cover for their driving, so you would think he would just fill in some claims paperwork. But I'm now wondering if maybe the employees have an excess that they have to cover personally. Anyone have any ideas on this?
 
CatmanV2

CatmanV2

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I suspect it 's far more likely he didn't want his boss to find out. I had a DPD driver drive into my porch and simply drive away. Fortunately my neighbour took a photo and when confronted he fessed up.

I can't believe he didn't know he hadn't hit it, so it only makes sense he didn't want the grief

C
 
Navcorr

Navcorr

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How much damage was done? I'd assume reasonably light and nobody was injured. As long as your friend's car gets repaired properly, can I ask, why would your friend be concerned by the third party's insurance excess? The RAC chap is hardly going to be his new best friend. Whether their drivers are self-insured or covered by an RAC policy it's not your friend's problem. I agree with Catman - the driver will get stick at his depot & possibly a black mark on his employment record.
 
allandwf

allandwf

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I had the opposite, reversed a van I was driving straight into the side of a big white panel van. "forget it mate all good" and off he drove!
 
Wack61

Wack61

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5pm one evening going round a roundabout under the M60 2 artic tractor units , no trailers on , lights change they both go for the same lane and end up with the back wheels tangled up ,

**** me , I'm going to be here for an hour , but no , there was a bit of reversing , a bit of jiggling and they managed to extract themselves , then the best bit , they both just drove off, nobody got out, no exchanging of details , it was knocking off time and not their trucks
 
MarkMas

MarkMas

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8,987
Navcorr said:
How much damage was done? I'd assume reasonably light and nobody was injured. As long as your friend's car gets repaired properly, can I ask, why would your friend be concerned by the third party's insurance excess?
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Light damage: bumper and probably radiator. Maybe £100-500. Car is probably worth £750.

For something small and where the other driver admits fault, I prefer to just choose my repairer and send them the bill.

Someone once drove into me when I was parked and insisted on going through insurance - meant that it took six weeks elapsed and two weeks off the road for my car to get a bad paint job. Plus, now every time I renew my insurance I have to go through the palaver of 'Yes there was a claim, but you can see on your system it is logged as 'no fault' so there should be no effect on my premium."
 
rockits

rockits

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9,180
I don't trust insurance as far as a could kick them so I would try to avoid going through insurance as well if I could. If the govt or regulators pulled their heads from out of their a4ses they would see their are just as crooked as the banks. Just IMHO of course.

I don't blame the guy. Worth sorting out directly without involving insurance although I suspect he might be infringing any employment contact by not disclosing it to his employer.

I don't tend to trust many people these days. Sad but there are reasons and mostly valid in my experience. Most don't surprise me by not surprising me. I wish some would sometimes or at least more often than they do.
 
Navcorr

Navcorr

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CatmanV2 said:
Until the other drive decides they've changed their mind...

C
Click to expand...

Again, fair point. Hopefully, there were witnesses. We've a couple of cameras installed now which came about due to having to settle a non-fault 50:50. In France in a car park without adequate CCTV. It still grates :angry:
 
CatmanV2

CatmanV2

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48,885
Navcorr said:
Again, fair point. Hopefully, there were witnesses. We've a couple of cameras installed now which came about due to having to settle a non-fault 50:50. In France in a car park without adequate CCTV. It still grates :angry:
Click to expand...

Oh aye. I got knocked off a bike on a roundabout once by a **** that thought turning right from the left hand lane was ok.

Bike (Triumph Speed Triple) was covered because 'fortunately' it was stolen while in the care of the recovery company. None of the kit was because 'a roundabout is an inherently risky environment'

C
 
GeoffCapes

GeoffCapes

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14,000
Same thing happened to me. The RAC guy was unloading my 4200 at Giallo, and he didn't put the hand brake on and damaged the bumper. He paid the £750 repair bill rather than put it through their insurance.
 
Scaf

Scaf

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Lots of companies ask employees to cover some of the excess, but don't forget the driver would have to report it to his insurance company and it could affect his premium, an accident is an accident regardless of whose policy pays.
 
Navcorr

Navcorr

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3,839
All the more reason to be more careful n'est pas? Genuine accidents obviously occur - I think whether I'd agree to avoid insurance would depend on the other person's attitude. Regardless of inconvenience or costs.
 
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