No-Fault Accident and Insurance Claims

LSl138 on 15/04/2015 - 22:49
Last edited 20/04/2015 - 08:44

Hi guys,

I was involved in an accident where another driver rear-ended my car whilst my car was stopped. The other driver is admitting fault and has filed a claim with his insurance (NRMA). I have comprehensive car insurance with NRMA and have filed a claim under my insurance policy too.

I am a newbie in regards to accidents so I'm not sure how to proceed. Currently my car is at the panel beater's shop and I am waiting for somebody to call me. They've given me a rental car in the meantime and have told me I won't have to pay anything for the replacement car.

I have a couple of questions I hope you can help me with.

  1. I had some valuables in the boot at the time which got damaged and also have had to take 2 days off work because of a sore neck. Am I eligible to claim some money for the damaged goods and time off work?

  2. The car most likely will be a write off. However the agreed value for the vehicle is $8000. If the car is a write-off, will I only receive $8000? Will I need to fork out extra $$$ for insurance and registration for my new car?

Thanks guys.

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Comments

  • Randxyz123 on 15/04/2015 - 23:01
    +1

    Alright

    Am I eligible to claim some money for the damaged goods and time off work?

    I believe so - I'm not sure how getting compensated for taking time off work due to injury works…. Maybe through CTP insurance… (Ask your insurance company perhaps).

    As for the goods talk to your insurance company they should be covered.

    The car most likely will be a write off. However the agreed value for the vehicle is $8000. If the car is a write-off, will I only receive $8000?

    Yes.

    Will I need to fork out extra $$$ for insurance and registration for my new car?

    You haven't had to pay anything. This is why you get insurance.

    You might be able to get a refund on your rego and hopefully the rest of your insurance policy. When/if you get a new car you will need to take out a new policy, that might cost more or less depending on what car you purchase.

    Hope that helps

    • Sl138 on 15/04/2015 - 23:41

      Oops, I've just realised how silly second question was. Glad to know I might be able to get the refund on the rest of the rego/insurance though. I'll give them a call tomorrow. Thanks for your response!

      • Evil-Elmo on 16/04/2015 - 09:11

        In similar circumstances (rear ended while waiting at lights, same insurance company insuring both parties, car was a write off) we could not get a refund on the unused portion of our registration. There was about 10 mths rego left and we were explicitly told that this was now the property of the insurance company. This may differ from company to company though (this was with AAMI).

        We also weren't offered a rental car and hired one ourselves. The policy had a reduced hire car charge rate ($20 per day) which we were suggested to use. In hindsight we should have claimed this expense (no-one told us we could) but too late now.

        In our case, we'd also recently (about 3 months before) fitted new tyres (~$700 - bad luck) and the agreed value ended up being quite a bit less than the market value as I hadn't been checking to see how their agreed values at annual renewals were tracking with respect to the actual market. I did ask if we could claim the difference between the agreed value and the actual market value (we had no idea) but were laughed at (literally). In short, we ended up out of pocket quite a bit.

        The moral of the story for me was to make sure the agreed value is adequate to cover all these sorts of things.

    • pjetson on 16/04/2015 - 08:53
      +3

      You might be able to get a refund on your rego and hopefully the rest of your insurance policy

      When you make a claim on your policy and your vehicle is written off, your policy is terminated and there is no refund. You have to take out a new policy for a new car.

      The outcome may have been different if you had claimed only on the other driver's insurance (and not on your own), but you'd probably have needed to fight for everything.

      • Sl138 on 16/04/2015 - 19:23

        Sad to know but very informative. Thanks for your reply.

        Unfortunately it now looks like I'll lose quite a bit of money. :( Ah well. I guess everybody loses in car accidents.

  • WatchNerd on 16/04/2015 - 11:24

    What was in the boot?

    • swiggity swag on 16/04/2015 - 13:17

      A dead body

    • Sl138 on 16/04/2015 - 19:19

      My weekend bag which had a laptop in it and some fishing rods.

      • Randxyz123 on 17/04/2015 - 02:59

        You could potentially claim for those items through the at fault party's insurance. Is the laptop damaged ?

        • Sl138 on 18/04/2015 - 19:38

          Ah it only had a little ding so I thought it would be alright but now it doesn't work unless it's plugged in.

          How do I go about claiming it through the other party's insurance? Do I need to just call them up and quote their claim number and let them know or should I wait until they call me about my car?

  • pjetson on 18/04/2015 - 20:17

    You can't claim from both insurers. If you make a claim on your own insurer, you have to claim everything through them. Therefore, if your insurance does not cover things like a notebook in the boot, then you're out of luck. If you're claiming on the other party's insurance, you can claim for anything you like.

    • Sl138 on 18/04/2015 - 21:11

      Ah… So just to clarify…
      In this situation both parties lodged a claim with NRMA and we both have comprehensive car insurance. If I wanted to claim back on belongings and missed time from work then I shouldn't have lodged a claim on my policy?
      Sorry for the silly questions, I'm new to all of this.

      • Randxyz123 on 19/04/2015 - 11:12

        What you should do is call the NRMA today or monday and just ask about claiming for time off work and for your damaged laptop. Make sure you note that you weren't at fault and are claiming this from the other party.

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