A private hire taxi drove into my car today

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

JtB

Prepare a way for the Lord
Location
North Hampshire
Sorry to hear that.

Its situations like these where I find the legal cover option on car insurance very useful.

You can just pass everything over to them and let them handle it.
 

Crankarm

Guru
Location
Nr Cambridge
Well blow me down if he's not insured, an illegal or there is something not right .........

Did you get a pic of him and his passengers as next they will all claim against you for multiple injuries as you drove into him :tongue:. You could have been targetted by one of those insurance fraud gangs. They will claim there were 10 people in the taxi and all are seriously injured as evidenced by dodgy medical reports from corrupt quacks and lawyers.
 

bauldbairn

New Member
Location
Falkirk
Sounds dodgy! I'd have taken his photo anyway - as Crankarm says this could be a scam in the making.
I had a taxi recently claim I'd hit them in a company vehicle - four other taxi drivers witnessed it. B) What they didn't know was that a car load of work colleagues and several workmates from an old company were in the immediate vacinity and witnessed nothing!!!!!!! I insisted that I took photo's of the scene/damage etc,etc(and no damage to my vehicle?). I reported it to the insurance company call centre and they said this type of thing was becoming increasingly common. My company insurance said in their opinion the taxi drivers were at it(not those exact words) and refused to pay up. :sad:

Good luck - glad you weren't injured.
 

Shaun

Founder
Moderator
That sounds well iffy!!!

Good job you had your wits about you though, and defo report it to the police. Sounds like a scam to me too, and if it's "doing the rounds" amongst the local private hire drivers it's likely the police will have come across it before.

Let us know what happens.

Cheers,
Shaun B)
 

PBancroft

Senior Member
Location
Winchester
Wow, talk about fight or flight response. Know's he's in the wrong so rather than face up to it he legs it. What a great human being.
 

swee'pea99

Legendary Member
Bummer. Reminds me of something a friend told me about all the hire companies in California removing all signage from their vehicles, on account of jallopies full of latinos cruising the highways looking to crash into them and make massive claims for whiplash (and related emotional distress) knowing that such claims would always - however groundless - be settled out of court, on account of contesting them would always be more costly.
 

Proto

Legendary Member
I've heard stories of several identical taxis 'sharing' one licence plate and one insurance policy. Much cheaper than taxing and insuring them all.
 
Worth checking to see if a CCTV camera covers the junction which will back your case.

May actually be a tricky one to prove as you were both pulling out onto a main road. If I were him I would say I pulled out and You drove into me. Basically the right of way is with the one who pulled out first, so he can just claim it was him.
 

Archie_tect

De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
Location
Northumberland
If the damage is just to paint and a dent [even with a crease] use a company called 'Chips Away' which should have a franchise near you. We had an incident with a taxi where we ended up paying for our dent and respray to a door panel. Only cost £80 to fix compared to paying excess and claim. Thoroughly good work, straightforward company and reliable. No, I don't have any connection to them!!!

The taxi claimed on our insurance claiming whiplash + £1600 repair for a cracked headlight and bumper... told our insurance it was a scam but they just paid out as it 'wasn't worth fighting'. Hopeless.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Many of them are a mare.......... one reversed into me as I was pulling into a car park. Wouldn't give his details, reported it, contacted police and the council (private licensing) nada....he was insured but my insurance company were rubbish at sorting it.....I lost out.

Similar happened to a friend also - again lost out. I wouldn't ever trust many private hire companies - deffo try and stop them driving off and get the police in attendance.

Ar$es the lot..............:angry:
 

bauldbairn

New Member
Location
Falkirk
[QUOTE 1095043"]
Update for anyone who's interested-

I spoke to our insurance company yesterday. My witness didn't see the actual collision, just aftermath. So the only "independent" witnesses are the taxi passengers, who struck some deal with the driver and are lying. Our insurance company have got a damage assessor to look at the taxi and there's no obvious damage.

So this lying taxi driver has cost us a £100 excess and £160 through loss of no claims bonus.
[/quote]

Sorry to hear you lost out - time to fit "Muvi's" in our cars too then? :angry:
 

Crankarm

Guru
Location
Nr Cambridge
It can get to you when you hear about all the scams being perpetrated now and how little is done to fight them. Far easier to let it go and let the honest guy take the hit (excuse the pun). I carry a camera in the car now just like when I used to cycle.

User - I would complain to the insurance ombudsman, what have you got to lose?
 
Top Bottom