Samlor hit my car - police want me to pay...

[Davo369]

1 hour ago, FritsSikkink said:

You have every chance of winning if you refuse to roll over.

Absolutely agree with you,

 I was in so much pain sitting in a police station trying to get this sorted out. I had peaple telling me you have no chance of Winning a case with a thai. But lesson learnt. 

[NanLaew]

1 hour ago, edgarfriendly said:

so......

 

recommended insurers?

 

im with tokio marine but never had any reason to utilize. fingers crossed!!

Going a bit off topic here as there's already plenty insurance recommendations in the dedicated Insurance thread.

 

https://forum.thaivisa.com/forum/121-insurance-in-thailand/

 

Had a great 10 or 12 years with AXA. Only one prang, diligently handled after a shaky start due to the same police interference that's been mentioned in this thread and elsewhere. Signed-off with NCB 100% intact.

 

Now with Roojai who did everything online, including the discount for the above NCB.

[stevenl]

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

You're talking saleng.

 

I'm talking samlor.

 

Maybe the OP needs to clarify?

Do a search online. OP is talking samlor, same as I am. You're confusding the issue.

[UASCB500BIKER]

NEVER NEVER, go too the police station. Mate did cops  said you pay $300,000B  or Go to jail NOW !!!! SCAM,,,,,,, fight she claimed Brain injury, bill from private hospital,,,No proof of BILL,,, SCAM ....HE pay ...

[cranki]

4 hours ago, stevenl said:

A samlor is a motorbike with a sidecar.

Sorry to have to quote you again...but your almost right....except it's not a motorbike with a sidecar :-)

[sandrabbit]

11 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Do a search online. OP is talking samlor, same as I am. You're confusding the issue.

This seems to be a regional thing, in Rayong a motor bike with a sidecar is a saleng and a samlor has two front wheels like the old ice cream carts. It gets confusing when expats move here from other areas who then use the same description as you do. 

[richard_smith237]

Aww gawd... the usual ThaiVisa argument over irrelevant semantics... 

 

Selang = Side Car

Samlor = 3 Wheels

 

In this case they are both the same thing...  and one of them hit the op, it's unlikely it had insurance as a 3 wheeled vehicle and for road tax purposes if it had any at all, it would have been taxed as a motorcycle. 

[churchill]

In my case I had an accident , no damage to my car but Thai driver crashed into a pole .. My insurer , lawyer and me considered Thai driver at fault .. I had 1st class insurance the Thai , I assume , had no insurance ..

 

The problem is that my insurance would pay for his damage if it was my fault .. So my insurer pushed me to go to court to prove I was not at fault  .

 

But It transpired that the police invented and made up a story to back up the Thai and I was given a choice in court of pleading guilty and facing a small fine , I think from memory 500 baht , or pleading not guilty and letting the judge decide and if guilty possibly having a stronger sentence and a threat of perhaps some nights in jail .

 

As I pleaded guilty my insurer fully paid all the Thai repairs ....

 

If I was faced with the same situation again , if it was possible to settle with the other party quickly without police and courts , I would say the accident was my fault at the beginning and let my insurer pay and not have to be involved with lawyers , court cases and corrupt police .

[stevenl]

44 minutes ago, cranki said:

Sorry to have to quote you again...but your almost right....except it's not a motorbike with a sidecar ????

Sigh

[Benmart]

23 hours ago, worgeordie said:

I would advise you to get car camera, if someone crashes into you

it explains everything, you even get discount from insurance co.

if you have one.

regards worgeordie

I bought a carcam and it came in handy when an uninsured, unlicensed and unintelligent Chinese tourist clipped my sideview mirror and went down on his scooter. The insurance rep handled everything and I didn't have to do or say much with the police at the station. The Chinese man was in a pickle for not having a driver's license. Sure was nice to let the insurance rep handle it all.

[marcusarelus]

So how much does the saleng/samlor driver want 200 or 300 baht?

[simon43]

You're talking saleng.

I'm talking samlor.

Maybe the OP needs to clarify?

 

Good question.  Looking at Google photos, I would say it is a saleng ==> a motorbike modified with an extra wheel and flat area to carry goods and/or 20 family members....

 

I have no idea how much the guy wants for being drunk and driving into my car on my side of the road - that will become clear at the meeting.  As I am a 'volunteer' in Thailand with no employment, I will happily plead poverty and suggest that the guy is probably richer than me and therefore he should be paying me ????

[Fairynuff]

23 hours ago, Briggsy said:

But reckless driving is not.

It is for some people

[thailand49]

8 hours ago, stevenl said:

"Samlors are waived from road tax and insurance requirements so good luck with that one."

No, they're not. But for yearly registration the sidecar has to be detached, because with sidecar it is an illegal contraption.

True they need to be detached prior to inspection and everything must be in working order. But that is a Farang that has one for a Thai the police has taken it upon themselves, so good of them, to turn a blind eye to them since they know the majority of them are owned by the poor and need them for work so they aren't ever stopped it is rare I have one and they are neat been waived through a number of checkpoints because I look like a Thai.

[thailand49]

9 hours ago, jingjai9 said:

I had a motorcycle hit my car many years ago. It was explained to me by my Thai colleagues that neither of us wanted the accident to happen, but it did. My first obligation was to make sure the motorcyclist was OK. Then because I had the larger, stronger vehicle it was my obligation to pay him. Make whatever judgement you want, but that is what I was told. If you look at it this way you may be able to understand the logic of the police.

 

Sometimes it is easier to pay and write it off. It depends on what is asked of you. I paid the motorcyclist 5000 bath and he signed a notarized statement assuring me the incident was over and he would take no action in the future. My colleagues told me I would be better off in the long run avoiding stress and a long dragged out procedure by simpling paying. One colleague intimated that she had had a very similiar experience.

 

As a final note, when the motorcyle hit my car it was on my side of the road.

 

I am only trying to add food for thought. I

 

 

Not making a judgment but your Thai colleagues are ignorant! If I was there when they said it I would have told them right to their face, of course, doing it smiling which is how it should be done. I've heard this before from a Thai and said what if the accident happens with two same side motorbikes for example now what? 

See their way is This is Thailand but the reason you study and obtain a license so you obey the law and that in the end how you determine who is right and who is wrong. 

It doesn't matter what your friends or police think as long as the rule of law is applied.

To each his own if paying is easier due to the small amount where does it stop which is the problem now.  

I once told the police representing my cousin who was hit by a motorbike walking told by the police something very similar. I responded if I took a gun and held you up for money and said it will make you feel better how would you feel?

Stand put people!  Don't pay!

[oxysong]

Insurance guy every time,they may try to keep vehicle for a time,but will give up     guaranteed

[KhaoYai]

8 hours ago, stevenl said:

 

Your solution was easy though: change companies.

I did, they have centralised, shared claims records now, much as we have in the UK and some of them are starting to use them.

[richard_smith237]

2 hours ago, churchill said:

In my case I had an accident , no damage to my car but Thai driver crashed into a pole .. My insurer , lawyer and me considered Thai driver at fault .. I had 1st class insurance the Thai , I assume , had no insurance ..

 

The problem is that my insurance would pay for his damage if it was my fault .. So my insurer pushed me to go to court to prove I was not at fault  .

 

But It transpired that the police invented and made up a story to back up the Thai and I was given a choice in court of pleading guilty and facing a small fine , I think from memory 500 baht , or pleading not guilty and letting the judge decide and if guilty possibly having a stronger sentence and a threat of perhaps some nights in jail .

 

As I pleaded guilty my insurer fully paid all the Thai repairs ....

 

If I was faced with the same situation again , if it was possible to settle with the other party quickly without police and courts , I would say the accident was my fault at the beginning and let my insurer pay and not have to be involved with lawyers , court cases and corrupt police .

 

A dash-cam resolves most of the issues involving any ambiguity regarding fault.

 

Its too late now, but as you said, if faced with the same situation you will have Dash-Cam evidence, won't you???? 

 

[KhaoYai]

8 hours ago, Vacuum said:

One reason is that you can't get a 1 class insurance if you have an older car, I think the limit is 15 year old or more.

Some insurers won't give 1st class if a vehicle is over 5 years old (new customers) - I had to change companies to get 1st class insurance when my bike was 4 years 11 months old. The original insurer told me 5 years, I pointed out that it wasn't there yet but I was told, with typical 'Thainess' that it was near enough.

 

So yes, I agree that some might not be able to get 1st class but 2nd or even 3rd class is a hell of a lot better than the very basic compulsory insurance.

[KhaoYai]

8 hours ago, stevenl said:

"I even had to pay more for my bike insurance because the previous owner had made a claim. "

Which has no relevance to my statement.

The relevance is that the previous owner who held the policy originally and made the claim (when he was hit by another bike) would also have had his policy loaded because of the claim. That is why I say it has not been my experience because even though he was not at fault, the premium increased.

 

That's the relevance to your statement of:

 

'If no money or insurance own insurance company will pay but recoup from guilty party. And if also then no money, that is problem for insurance company, not for OP.'

 

Whilst with some insurers, you may be correct, with the one I had, you were not correct.

[rumak]

put two sam lors together and you have a hok lor ?   and don't forget sip lor

 

try to avoid   in lors

[nycjoe]

We were making a turn and were hit by a 15 year old motorcycle driver with no insurance or license and because we have class a insurance were

charged with the accident. Listen to your agent and refer all players to him. Don’t b cowed. Be dirsct with all parties and just let your agent take care of it. He has been down this road before. 

 

[myjawe]

17 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

 

Are you bored Simon ?? Why did you even bother to write this OP ?

You've been in this area long enough and read TVF for long enough.

You know the answer already and even state it in your OP ????

 

But let us know how it turns out for sure...

 

Not a land rover ? 5555+

No dashcam ? 555555+

Still asking this kind of questions after 20 years in the country ? 55555+ 

Simon43 is a champion forever...

 

[eisfeld]

On 5/29/2019 at 8:51 AM, Orton Rd said:

let the insurance man deal with it, unfortunately he might go against you as well

The insurance guy will never go against his own client. Why would he? If he'd say it was your fault then the insurance can't recover anything. If they instead succeed in making the other party at fault then they can at least try to recover their costs from them.

[impulse]

17 hours ago, Vacuum said:

On 5/29/2019 at 4:56 AM, KhaoYai said:

A hell of a lot of vehicles in Thailand, especially older vehicles (mainly driven by Thais), only have the compulsory insurance

One reason is that you can't get a 1 class insurance if you have an older car, I think the limit is 15 year old or more.

 

I couldn't get 1st class insurance on my 25 year old pickup truck, but I had pretty high liability limits.  I think 3 million baht per person and 10 million baht per accident.  And if I wrecked or lost my truck, I could easily replace it out of pocket.

 

Even for an old car, there's a lot of options besides compulsory, which only covers a few tens of thousand baht. 

 

Strangely, even with that coverage, I still had to prove I had the compulsory insurance each time I renewed the registration.

 

[impulse]

28 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

The insurance guy will never go against his own client. Why would he? If he'd say it was your fault then the insurance can't recover anything. If they instead succeed in making the other party at fault then they can at least try to recover their costs from them.

 

You're assumption is that the insurance guy's actions are in the best interest of his company.   That's not always the case.

 

Edit:  And sometimes, all parties have the same insurance company.  Then, they have to decide whose rates they want to jack up. 

 

[NanLaew]

5 hours ago, nycjoe said:

We were making a turn and were hit by a 15 year old motorcycle driver with no insurance or license and because we have class a insurance were

charged with the accident. Listen to your agent and refer all players to him. Don’t b cowed. Be dirsct with all parties and just let your agent take care of it. He has been down this road before. 

 

Have you met one of our good members Orton Rd yet? He's got some fresh experience with caring agents.

 

18 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

The insurance guy will never go against his own client. Why would he? If he'd say it was your fault then the insurance can't recover anything. If they instead succeed in making the other party at fault then they can at least try to recover their costs from them.

You really need to chat with member Orton Rd as well.

[eisfeld]

4 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

You're assumption is that the insurance guy's actions are in favor of his company.   That's not always the case.

 

Right. Of course there's a chance that he might work against his own company, maybe he knows the other guy etc. But chances are this wont be the case. Would be a risky thing for him to do also. And I bet the performance of these guys is tracked very closely. I have never heard of an insurance guy working against his client. In all my personal and close friends experience, the insurance agents always did a pretty good job I have to say. All cases were 1st class.

[eisfeld]

1 minute ago, NanLaew said:

Have you met one of our good members Orton Rd yet? He's got some fresh experience with caring agents.

 

You really need to chat with member Orton Rd as well.

Got a link to a thread/post?

[stevenl]

13 hours ago, thailand49 said:

True they need to be detached prior to inspection and everything must be in working order. But that is a Farang that has one for a Thai the police has taken it upon themselves, so good of them, to turn a blind eye to them since they know the majority of them are owned by the poor and need them for work so they aren't ever stopped it is rare I have one and they are neat been waived through a number of checkpoints because I look like a Thai.

Yes, they, the salengs/samlors, are waved through, but also inspected. Also for Thai, so detached once a year.