What to do in case of an accident

[carboy]

Can someone post a primer on what to do in case of an
accident?

I am looking for these kind of questions to be answered.
- You are involved in an accident. What should you do?
(for eg. note down the other other cars Registration Number,
try to get his phone number etc)
- If accident was totally your fault - but both of you have
insurance, the other party has full insurance (i.e. not
just 3rd party) - whose insurance pays for his damage?
- Do people try to extort money - what do you do in this
case?
- What if hit a pedestrian? What should you do?
- any more questions you can think of.

[herculesksp]

I had requested GTO to do a related thread in the advice section on how to go about claiming insurance in various situations. The use of taking photos in accidents etc. Maybe he could add this also to his to-do list.

[Deepz]

The answer to 'what to do if you hit pedestrian?' even I would like to know. After reading the recent incidents about mob mentality, its quite freaky. I mean if you try to help the injured, and the mob attacks you.. I wish I had a can of pepper spray man, if attacked unnecessarily, i'd love to spray all the faces of those just attacking because they have no work in life! Atleast they might back off and the injured can be taken to the hospital.

[rpripr]

Originally Posted by carboy

Can someone post a primer on what to do in case of an
accident?

I am looking for these kind of questions to be answered.
- You are involved in an accident. What should you do?
(for eg. note down the other other cars Registration Number,
try to get his phone number etc)
- If accident was totally your fault - but both of you have
insurance, the other party has full insurance (i.e. not
just 3rd party) - whose insurance pays for his damage?
- Do people try to extort money - what do you do in this
case?
- What if hit a pedestrian? What should you do?
- any more questions you can think of.

Call up your car insurance company or your dealer. They will normally tell you what to do.

Normally you have to take the vehicle to the authorised dealers, they give you an estimate which the insurance surveyor will check and try to reduce.

Also most of the private insurance companies in India don't insist on a FIR if there is no person injury. They know the ways of the police. However the public insurance companies ask for a FIR report.

Also unlike the west, here your insurance company bears the cost and ultimately you get affected as your premium goes up. It does not matter whose fault it was.

You can always file a FIR. The other party then has to go to the court and pay a measly amount of approx 2.5 K to clear the case. If possible, you settle with the owner of the other vehicle, so that your total outgo is reduced.

After an accident, keep the car locked and roll up the windows as you have all sort of people coming to you. Some are genuinely very helpful.

[mithun]

And, always remember that the bigger vehicle WILL always be responsible for the accident irrespective of whose fault....

[sabret00the]

Originally Posted by mithun

And, always remember that the bigger vehicle WILL always be responsible for the accident irrespective of whose fault....

kindly elaborate on what u exactly mean?

[dadu]

Originally Posted by sabret00the

kindly elaborate on what u exactly mean?

He's talking about public mentality in India, general perception, you can read about it as experienced by one of us here (Speeding auto rams my car, auto gangs pounce)

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by dadu

He's talking about public mentality in India, general perception, you can read about it as experienced by one of us here (Speeding auto rams my car, auto gangs pounce)

No, not public mentality, the LAW.
The LAW implies that the bigger vehicle is at fault. i.e. Guilty unless proven innocent.
For example, lets say you are going in your car. A bike or an auto etc., jumps the red light. You hit him and he dies. You have to pay 50,000 compensation, and a case will be registered against you for "Reckless and dangerous driving".
After that the court will decide whether you are innocent.

[dadu]

This is a case of death in which the other person is held responsible for proving he was not at fault, since the other person has already sufferred. What if both were cars or trucks or bikes.

Otherwise if its an accident with no physical damage, its the police report and the RTO report which defines who is at fault and then the case in the courts, if you want to pursue it.

[tsk1979]

Have you every heard of a bike and car accident in which the bike guy was forced to pay compensation to the car guy? There are members in this forum who have had accidents and have been harassed in court of law just because their vehicle was bigger and sustained less damage.

[dadu]

okay let me narrate this experience from one of my friends, probably it will be the first one you would have "heard of"

My friend was driving his car,normal speed and suddenly a small child comes running from across in front of his car.

He brakes but still hits the child, pushing him 2-3 ft away. In the meantime the mother comes running from across and my friend also gets out scared and to see what happenned to the child.

A huge crowd gathers but the mother instantly apologises to my friend, saying that it was her fault, the child let go of a her hand and ran across.

Very rare case like this, but happens. The child was okay with minor bruises.

Like I said it all depends on the police/RTO report in the court of law too, since that is looked upon as an evidence to the whole incident. And you know how expert is our police and RTO officials in writing these reports and making a judgement - which is in fact not their job, their job is to investigate and collect evidence only, but like you rightly said big vehicle is at fault always in their eyes also. Are they trained to do these investigation, ask a newly joined cop and you will know what 'latth maar' training they go through, pathetic situation.

[bigman]

What is the point in having 3rd party insurance if everyone claims on their own insurance ?

Has anyone ever managed to get money out the other parties insurer ?

In normal circumstance you would swop insurer details and let the insurer deal with the mess. But we cannot have that in India, first thing to do is protect yourself from the mobs who want to take out their PMT tensions etc on the driver of the biggest vehicle involved.

[Jomz]

Originally Posted by rpripr

You can always file a FIR. The other party then has to go to the court and pay a measly amount of approx 2.5 K to clear the case. If possible, you settle with the owner of the other vehicle, so that your total outgo is reduced.

Once settled make sure that you get the settlement thingy in writing.. Normal plain paper will do... With the signature of both the guys driving the vehicles.. and 2 witneeses. try to explain the extent of damage in the letter and Mention that there were no 3rd party damages in the letter.
This letter worked for me With a nationalized insurance company without making FIR...

[sabret00the]

I met with an accident today...a Bolero rammed into my car from the left hand side at high speed with I was turning the car...a huge crowd had gathered and they wrote down the number of the bolero on a piece of paper but somehow I lost it...I have insurance from a private insurance company(not maruti insurance)...my insurance company has a tie up with a Maruti Authorised Service Station where I can get cashless fascility but not with my dealer's service center...my car is currently at my dealer's workshop...shud it make sense to move to the other M.A.S.S. and avail the cashless fascility as there has been considerable damages and I believe a huge bill would be generated.the other workshop is a huge fascility near my house and is pretty reputed too...I havent filed a FIR/MCR yet...I'm at a loss...plz advice...

[xinome]

i will tell you guys what i will get in touch with my insurance friend and will let you know all the details by tomorrow after noon whats say!

by the way i had 2 accidents both on my right side because of drunk auto drivers. who said my car looked invicible to them in the night what an excuse, cant they see the crystalvision headlights.