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-   -   Mercedes got rear-ended! Claim from the other party's insurance? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/81532-mercedes-got-rear-ended-claim-other-partys-insurance.html)

Last night at around 1 am i was driving home from The Lalit near the internantional airport .

Right outside Atria mall (worli) my car was quite severely hit from behind by an Ford ikon . There was traffic outside the mall due to which i was driving quite slowly and the driver of the ikon either misjudged the distance between the cars or he got distracted .

So i went with the person to the police station and filed a TAR . also took all his insaurance and driving license details .

I dont want to lose my no claims bonus and i dont want to pay for depriciated value of the damaged parts . Is there a way in which i can claim from the insaurance of the car responisble for the accident ?

I am not an expert on this but from whatever I know the other car's insurer will pay only when the case is registered with the court and final verdict of the court is in your favour and the other party is held guilty.

Again I would say that I am not an expert on this subject matter.

get in touch with rjvora of this forum, he will guide you.

I think you are right. You have to go to court to get the money from the other person. Else, you have to use your insurance. I have done this a couple of times. The police discourage you saying, you need to get a lawyer, he needs to get a lawyer blah blah. Didn't have the time to pursue the case in court.

This is one area where India is lagging behind others. In U.S, I had to just get the insurance details of the other person and tell my insurance company. Simple, no police involved.

Normally, one would process the claim through ones insurance and give the details of the second party's insurer from where your insurer would claim the costs and restore the cliam. Thee depreciation costs etc need to claimed via legal recourse

The easiest/fastest way is to claim your insurance and have the ikon guy pay for the difference. Also, you need to calculate the NCB loss and ask him to pay the same.
I had a similar accident where my ikon banged another swift from behind. The traffic cop himself told us to either settle the issue or go to court. And we settled in the manner described above.

My car also was banged from behind once. What I realised from that episode is that you cannot claim from the other person's insurance without going to court.
As Jaguar has suggested the best way is to ask the fellow who hit your car to foot the bill (NCB of your insurance and the costs which cannot be claimed under insurance).
It's painful when your car gets damaged that way but with the kind of traffic in our country, this is something we have to be prepared for right from day one.

Slightly OT: Aren't you the same guy who had a problematic Fiesta and posted the same here and ask for suggestions? That was quite a long thread. As far as I remember you got Fiesta replaced and forgot to update team-bhp brothers of the same? :)

The Merc has taken the hit pretty neatly I must say!!

can't be too sure of that. the rear bumper usually just flexes inwards, and back out again as if nothing happened, and its usually the sheet metal which takes the impact

After one's been rear ended, apart from checking the damage to the exterior, check from the inside too. I was rear ended once, with no visible damage, but when I got home, I noticed that the metal on the inside of the boot had caved inwards, and the silencer mountings had gotten detatched

Monkey, the Merc's hardly damaged. I must say, it seems to have absorbed the impact rather well. A year or two back, a Lancer rear-ended my C after my driver panic-braked (thanks to the guy in front). While the Lancer's front end was all broken, I didn't even need to repaint my bumper. In fact, it is impossible to point out any damage at all.

Don't bother with claiming from the other guy's insurance. You do have to go to court and its a lengthy procedure. Too much effort for what is so obviously a small accident. Get a quote from Auto Hangar (or Pervez) and let them take care of the repairs + claims.

Dear Mad Monkey- I had an exactly a same situation at the very same spot. The E 270 I was in with my CEO was hit by a Zen. Truly respect Mercedes after that. The state of Zen was bad, coolant out, bonnet bent, grille broken, etc. The Merc was as good as yours. infact my CEO had a wonderful expression,He asked "Did something hit the car ?" He was talking on the phone, as it was slightly jerked, we did not even realise.The driver got off to access the damage. It was all fine.

Regarding your case, firstly what was the damage, as I can visibly not see one ?
You can extract If the person is willing to pay, other wise not. The legal way will give you a measly Rs.600 or 6000, third party claim, not sure of the amount after all the legal running about.

Yes as I recollect I had one more back end collision on the opposite side of your spot. When a swift hit me on, but nothing happened. It was a Premier Padmini with Solid steel bumpers :D

I wouldn't assume that the Merc has no damage. There is no significant visible damage but I would be concerned by the exhaust pipes. There are two of them and they may have taken the hit as well. Not sure how this would construe but I would get that checked.

Mad Monkey,

One month before my IKON which was parked safely at about 2-3 meters from the road got hit on the back rather badly by a drunken truck driver. The worst part is that the truck driver tried to escape with the truck and in the process took my entire rear right door with him, which was opened by my shocked friend sitting in the back. However the truck did not go long, before the locals rounded it.

This was one incident which taught me a lot about Insurance process, claims and registering cases.

• You can claim from the IKON's(Third Party's insurance), IF the damage suffered by your car is extensive & you have no/'third party insurance' & the IKON owner is not at all willing to cooperate and pay for your loses. Keep in mind that in the present Indian Judicial Scenario, the case will take atleast 1 year and you BOTH will have to spend time and energy into it. However one positive aspect is that, there is a good chance that you will get paid for the vehicle loses + personal loses( even your time lost because of the accident will get paid as per your income) provided you have a good lawyer. You will also have to pay from your pocket for the time being to get the vehicle out of the workshop if you have no/'third party'.
• You can claim from your insurance IF you have a 'full cover' insurance. If the IKON owner is ready to pay for the depreciation and no claim bonus loses, then its fine, or else you will have to bear it. The benefit of this method is that the entire repair process will be much faster.

For you to claim from the IKON's insurance you will have to register a case, hire a good lawyer, provide ample proof that 'HE' is wrong and wait for the court to rule in your favor, which will probably take one or more years, and during the anxious one year/more years you 'may' have to visit the court many times which in turn will affect your profession/incur losses in business.

My personal opinion is as this is not a big hit and IF you are going to the workshop to repair whatever minor damage your car has taken, contact YOUR insurance company for the claim and ask the IKON owner to pay your depreciation/no-claim loses. If he does not oblige, tell him that you may register a case in his name and inform him about the 'horrible' one year he is going to face. This may work on most cases. However even if it doesn't work, as yours is a minor incident, I would suggest you to save time.