Hit by a L Licence (Victoria) Holder Driving without L Signs and Supervision

DelhiBelly on 08/10/2015 - 11:03

Hello All,

Posting on behalf of a work colleague… This morning his car got hit by another car which failed to give way. My friend’s car is a 2010 Holden Sedan (appox current value 13K - 14K). It got damaged on the Driver side door, right panel and rear-right side door.

The other car suffered damage to front and side. It was being driven by a young female who refused to co-operate and exchange details. So, police was called. Later discovered that she holds a Learner’s license (Victoria), but was driving without the L signs and without any supervision. There was a school girl passenger in the car too. Police took details of both drivers and prepared a report. My colleague holds a full licence and has a full comprehensive car insurance with RACV. He will launch the claim today.

Please advise if there could be any complications because of the other driver being a Learner’s licence holder and driving without supervision.

Automotive

Comments

  • drdolphin on 08/10/2015 - 11:16
    +14

    The complications wont be for your colleague. His insurance will contact her and ask for her insurers details. If she doesn't have insurance, they will bill her personally.

    The lack of L plates and a supervisor is a police issue, so wont effect the insurance although he should contact the police and get a copy of their report, and supply it to his insurers. She will no doubt be charged and fined/have her L plates suspended. I expect that even if she is insured, as she was driving without supervision, her insurance company will refuse to cover so it will be up to RACV to make her pay or take her to court.

    As your colleague is insured, he is fine and should just leave the insurers to worry about the details (that's what you pay them for) but should make sure they get a copy of the police report so they know the full details.

    • brazen00 on 08/10/2015 - 13:22
      +5

      So far, this is the best advice. Contact insurer. Continue with life.

      Don't listen to any of the misinformation below. He got the other driver's info. There is a police report. There should be no excess nor should it affect premiums.

  • fruit on 08/10/2015 - 11:16
    +2

    Call your insurance company. Seriously they know this stuff and you pay them to do this.

  • nocure on 08/10/2015 - 11:17
    +7

    Is your friend ok?

    • DelhiBelly on 08/10/2015 - 11:49
      +1

      Yes, luckily no one was hurt. My colleague said, he felt bad for the school aged girl passenger in other car who looked quite shaken. The female driver was also quite distressed and that's why he didn't push too hard to exchange details, etc.

      • [Deactivated] on 08/10/2015 - 12:55

        Seriously? If it was me I would hav thrown the book at her and made her shake while she wited for the police. I would have also informed her that my insurance would be contacting her insurance, and that if she wasn't insured I would be coming after her personally. She broke the law. It is people like her that make our roads dangerous. No pussy footing around this one.

        • GaryQ on 09/10/2015 - 10:22
          -1

          And a good spanking just to make sure she learns her lesson

  • cypher67 on 08/10/2015 - 11:27

    Just make sure you are raising against her 3rd party compulsory and not his own insurance, otherwise he will take the hit on premiums, dont just get her to pay his excess no matter what. Should be a fairly slam dunk in terms of getting it paid out, I wouldnt stress at all. She broke multiple laws and was in the wrong, he should start rubbing his neck around now.

    • try2bhelpful on 08/10/2015 - 11:37
      +1

      http://www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au/living-in-victoria/tran…

      "When you register your car, part of the cost is the Transport Accident Charge (TAC charge or TAC Premium). This is Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance. Transport accident charges are used to pay for treatment and support services for people injured in transport accidents but does not cover damage to cars. For more information on the transport accident charge, visit the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) website."

    • Baysew on 08/10/2015 - 11:48
      +3

      Just make sure you are raising against her 3rd party compulsory and not his own insurance,

      Should read -

      Just make sure you are raising against her insurance and not his own insurance, (if she is insured)

    • bdl on 08/10/2015 - 12:04

      https://youtu.be/HlvUFQwCylE?t=73

    • Diji1 on 08/10/2015 - 12:55
      +1

      Er … without being an expert it sounds like the young woman will have zero coverage from CTP due to the fact that she was driving illicitly to start with not to mention that it sounds like the accident is solely her fault.

      So she will be sued rather than her insurance.

      What a dumbo.

    • brazen00 on 08/10/2015 - 13:09
      +3

      I'm not sure where your info comes from cypher67. He should absolutely raise against his own insurance. That's what they are there for. It only becomes an issue if you are at fault. Not at fault claims should not cause any excess to be payable, nor should they impact premiums.

      Also, why raise with CTP? It sounds more like a property claim, and the CTP insurer will have zero interest in that.

  • abovethelimit on 08/10/2015 - 11:52
    +12

    Happened to me last year, L plate driver displaying P Plates and his younger brother in the front seat with no supervision. Called the cops straight away and notified the insurance company about this. Within a week they got the police reports etc and have asked me not to worry about paying the excess. Last I heard is that, it was his parents car and their insurance refused to cover them due to negligence and my insurance company sent them a 12K bill. No complications at your friend's end and insurance will take care of everything. Ask him to take care and get a hire car if his policy includes that option.

    No regrets for the L Plater for breaking the law, she will be in all kinds of shite with the cops. She will be fined around 1000$, have her license suspended and all sortsa legalities on top of the insurance costs. Should have thought about it before getting behind the wheel. Not worth it at all….. Some people!!!!!

  • DelhiBelly on 08/10/2015 - 12:11

    Thank you all for the guidance.. I've shared the forum link with my colleague and he is quite impressed and promises to sign-up to OzBargain.. He doesn't have rental car option in his insurance and reckons till his car is fixed, it will add an extra 2 hours to his daily commute to/from work.

    • toniyellow on 08/10/2015 - 12:47
      +1

      Not having a rental car option doesn't mean you can't claim for a rental car, it just means you have to do it yourself instead of letting insurance company handle it.

      There are some third party companies that will give you a car and seek reimbursement from the driver on your behalf - A discussion of people's experience here https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/206883

      Or you could hire one from a regular car rental yourself, then send a letter of demand directly to the driver to be reimbursed - as long as you keep the costs reasonable, you can do this.

      • Ughhh on 08/10/2015 - 13:19
        +1

        Or you could hire one from a regular car rental yourself, then send a letter of demand directly to the driver to be reimbursed - as long as you keep the costs reasonable, you can do this.

        She'll probably send you back a letter of FU or FO

    • Randxyz123 on 08/10/2015 - 14:15

      There is a repair place near my house that provides free rental cars if you aren't at fault. Tell your friend to call around.

  • indium on 08/10/2015 - 12:12
    +3

    Whether or not she had insurance or her parents did it won't matter since her insurance company won't deal with her since she was driving unlicensed.

    Your friend should contact his insurance company give them her details and have them cover the costs of being hit by an uninsured driver (eg. AAMI covers up to 5k) then the insurance company will seek the money from the uninsured driver and if it was more than the set amount for an uninsured driver they will pass on the extra to you once they receive the money.

    Your friend won't have to pay any excess.

    • Diji1 on 08/10/2015 - 12:59

      This ^

      If the OP's story is found to be how it went down "officially" then she has zero cover and is open to a life changing event where she will be sued to recover the damages she has caused.

      It's really not worth it driving without insurance - the risks are dire … I speak from the position of suing for damages in a major vehicle accident where, thankfully, the guy that caused my accident was covered by insurance. If he wasn't he'd presumably be paying off huge sums of money to cover my medical, loss of ability to earn and long term suffering. We are talking fairly large sums of money sohis life would have been ruined permanently to some extent by his own actions.

    • DelhiBelly on 08/10/2015 - 13:03

      What if the repair cost is more than 5K? Looking at the damage it will be an expansive repair if done rightly.

      • brazen00 on 08/10/2015 - 13:16
        +1

        It doesn't matter. His car is insured to the value agreed on the policy. I'm not sure where phew is getting their info from. There should be coverage and no excess, no problems.

        • indium on 08/10/2015 - 16:09
          +1

          Yep sorry you're right, was referring to third party insurance and didn't realise it was different for comprehensive. Looks like the insurance company will pay for damages without a limit and the friend won't have to pay any excess. The insurance company will seek the cost of damages behind the scenes and the friend won't have to deal with the uninsured driver.

  • Randxyz123 on 08/10/2015 - 14:13
    +1

    His car is insured he'll be fine. the L driver is pretty much f***ed.

    If the repair is over half the value of the car it'll be written off and she'll or he parents will have to pay up.

    She was driving unlicensed and uninsured. She must be completely stupid to drive unsupervised and fail to give her details. If she just gave your colleague her details she wouldn't risk getting a $700 fine for unlicensed driving and probably have her L's suspended…

    Anyway RACV have excellent customer service so tell your colleague to make a claim and drop their car at which ever repair shop they want because RACV pretty much has an agreement with everyone.

    • GaryQ on 09/10/2015 - 10:26
      -2

      Even if she gave her details on the spot, it would have been obvious she was holding a Learner's Permit, not a Licence. But yes - stamping your foot and making sure the Police had to be called was an amateur move

  • oscargamer on 08/10/2015 - 18:23
    -6

    there is some correct info above, but much more incorrect information.

    the L plater will not be insured, so to have any chance of the car being repaired without your friend paying for it, your friend must lodge a claim on their insurance nominating the offending driver.

    police will not be preparing a report.

    the L plater is not unlicenced.

    driving without insurance is not an offence (unfortunately)

    she will likely be sent 3 tickets. L plater with no accompanying driver, fail to display L plates and some fail to give way charge. she won't lose her licence.

  • DelhiBelly on 09/10/2015 - 13:45

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences on this topic. There is a lot of information above, some of which is contradictory.. So, I'll keep you posted on what happened in this case..

    So far my colleague has:

    • Informed his insurance (RACV) and lodged a no-fault claim.
    • He took the car to assessor earlier today, who will now prepare a quote and send to insurer.

    The next step is to wait for a confirmation and book the car for repairs next week. Estimated repair time is 5 days.

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