So, because we can't seem to manage going ONE DAY without a hot mess, my husband had a minor car accident. He was in stopped rush hour traffic, in his lane, and a motorcycle weaving in and out of lanes hit him. Again, he was stopped. Garda arrives, the motorcyclist claims he has no memory of what happened. He is fine, mind you. The rear bumper of my screaming Japanese car is not. Tail light knocked out, as well. Garda took the report, everyone went on their way.
Husband immediately phones our insurance. They instruct him it's up to the motorcyclist's insurance to manage. They tell him to phone Garda to get that information. He phones Garda. Oh, turns out the motorcyclist was uninsured AND is also leaving on holidays for the next 10 days. They also informed him that *our* insurance should be doing this leg work.
Anyone have any experience in this area? I'm just shaking my head in disbelief at this point.
When it rains, it pours! That's pretty crappy that the motorcyclist doesn't have insurance. It's surprising he was allowed go on his way! Isn't that a pretty serious offence (not the minor accident, but driving without insurance).
I personally don't have any experience in this area (thankfully!). Maybe someone else here can offer up an opinion or advice. I hope your own insurance company can lead you in the right direction.
The good news is our documents and what not were all okay. They typically give the other driver 10 days to respond, but they are allowing him "a little more, because he's on holidays" (I misunderstood the initial information from my husband). So we shall see. Garda also said "Your car is drivable, right? What's the hurry?" Which is fair, I guess. Stateside one only has a certain timeframe to manage these sort of things, or they miss the boat. Soooo hopefully this is still resolved.
And yes, it is definitely pouring here. It can only get better (knock on wood... hope I didn't jinx myself).
Yes yes yes, everything can/will get better 🙂
Bit late for me to comment now but, Always exchange details of name address contact numbers and Insurance at the time of an incident where possible. Its easy with a car everything is sitting in the window. Where a driver is uninsured and provided you have Comprehensive insurance your company should be dealing with getting your repairs done.
Just for fun (but not funny!)...details of a car seized by the Gardai today...
"The car had no tax, insurance or NCT discs displayed. It had two different registration number plates on the back and front of the car and had no brakes. It also had different tyres on the four wheels."
All Mixed Up ! Car seized by Buncrana Traffic- disq driver no tax/Ins/nct 2 different reg no's ,no brakes/diff tyres pic.twitter.com/Cg7FbH2NxW
— An Garda SÃochána (@GardaTraffic) September 22, 2015
3 kids strapped into these makeshift seats, quiet as mice they were but garda spotted them 😉 . No CRW Seized pic.twitter.com/p4LRRJHUsU
— An Garda SÃochána (@GardaTraffic) September 22, 2015
And there was me being naive thinking people wouldn't be driving around without insurance 🙂
Holy cow! It's amazing, isn't it?!
We have yet to hear back from Garda, the uninsured motorcyclist is still MIA. Basically what happened is they went to exchange info, he claimed at the time he didn't have the newer insurance card on him, and he was being carted off on an ambulance so my husband just felt awful for him (though he seemed to have minor, if any, injuries), and it was said he would be in touch.
Soooo.... now it's been more than two weeks...
I believe we will follow up Monday. The car and our missing sea freight are the last two massive headaches to tackle. Provided nothing else crops up. I think I just jinxed myself.
megan, i am sorry you are going through all this crazy stuff! you sound like you have the same kind of luck as me! it always ends up ok though. eventually hang in there! 🙂
Thanks, Susan! Would you believe we are *still* waiting for any response from Garda?! We've called last week and this week both. Both times the officer we were trying to reach was out and never returned our call. Hoping next week we manage to get somewhere, but it's feeling more and more like a lost cause.
I might be missing something here but.. Why are you waiting for the Gard? You have an accident, you give your insurance the details and you get your car into a garage they approve and it gets fixed. The "ins and outs" should be dealt with by the insurance company (if they are any good)