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

[stevenl]

13 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

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.

You should have objected, and if that did not work change companies.

 

Because yes, what I indicated is SOP. Now you may always find an exception somewhere, but that does not change the basics.

[Orton Rd]

5 hours 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.

Our guy did go against us, they are often agents having no interest as they deal with several companies. Ours said he thought we were guilty as the other party was over taking and we cut him up. He urged the Mrs to sign guilty but added- 'don't tell the company I said that' As it turned out he was wrong as the other party later admitted he never saw our car, and you cannot over take something you cannot see. I am just about to write to the insurance company to complain about him. Many times the other party has no insurance, instead of them being punished they like to claim off the one who has, guilty in law or not.

Edited May 31, 2019 by Orton Rd

[eisfeld]

9 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Our guy did go against us, they are often agents having no interest as they deal with several companies. Ours said he thought we were guilty as the other party was over taking and we cut him up. He urged the Mrs to sign guilty but added- 'don't tell the company I said that' As it turned out he was wrong as the other party later admitted he never saw our car, and you cannot over take something you cannot see. I am just about to write to the insurance company to complain about him. Many times the other party has no insurance, instead of them being punished they like to claim off the one who has, guilty in law or not.

So he was aware of the risk that he faced by saying that. What incentive did he have to push in this direction? I would definitely report his behaviour to the insurance company.

[Orton Rd]

I guess saving time, he wanted to be off to the next accident, plenty of them after all.

[KhaoYai]

16 hours ago, impulse said:

 

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.

 

Yes, I think that's another bit of 'Thainess' - never thought through properly. It would be very easy to check you have other cover when you go for annual registration and therefore excuse you the compulsory insurance.

 

Your cover reminds me of an interesting point with all classes of insurance. When I insured my bike I amazed at the variations in cover for different liabilities.  I might not have noticed if the broker hadn't laid it out so clearly. They provided me with quotes from several insurers - listing the cover in columns indicating the premium, damage to own vehicle, damage to 3rd party vehicles, personal medical, 3rd party medical etc. Some of the policies gave good cover on all sections others stood out as being very poor and that didn't seem to depend on the premium so much.  One in particular stood out - the cover was good in all sections except for 3rd party medical.  I can't remember the amount - something like 50,000 but I do remember thinking that if I was at fault in an accident where the 3rd party was injured, I could end up being sued for their medical costs.

 

I wonder how many of us check exactly what's covered and for how much in our insurance? Insurance companies the world over are experts at burying such things in the small print.

[stevenl]

10 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

Yes, I think that's another bit of 'Thainess' - never thought through properly. It would be very easy to check you have other cover when you go for annual registration and therefore excuse you the compulsory insurance.

 

Your cover reminds me of an interesting point with all classes of insurance. When I insured my bike I amazed at the variations in cover for different liabilities.  I might not have noticed if the broker hadn't laid it out so clearly. They provided me with quotes from several insurers - listing the cover in columns indicating the premium, damage to own vehicle, damage to 3rd party vehicles, personal medical, 3rd party medical etc. Some of the policies gave good cover on all sections others stood out as being very poor and that didn't seem to depend on the premium so much.  One in particular stood out - the cover was good in all sections except for 3rd party medical.  I can't remember the amount - something like 50,000 but I do remember thinking that if I was at fault in an accident where the 3rd party was injured, I could end up being sued for their medical costs.

 

I wonder how many of us check exactly what's covered and for how much in our insurance? Insurance companies the world over are experts at burying such things in the small print.

"Insurance companies the world over are experts at burying such things in the small print."

Here, and in every country I know, the covered amounts are always clearly printed on the policy cover page.

[rvaviator]

Very true, but undertaking does not always mean reckless driving.

Many countries in the world allow understating - Define recklessly driving in Thailand or other parts of Asia :-) ... By Northern Europe standard that would mean 80% of all driving in Thailand ... Adapt and blend in ...


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[rvaviator]

Well the poster DID purchase a car camera off LaZaDa ,so next time he will be
prepared ,so he did take my advice.
 
NamLaew, You could not have possibly thought that I was telling him to buy a camera,
for an accident that had already happened !,that would just be stupid to think that........
regards worgeordie

Tardis ? :-)


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[evadgib]

15 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

I guess saving time, he wanted to be off to the next accident, plenty of them after all.

If I ever felt i was being stitched up as described I'd have no qualms in contacting the insurance underwriters with whatever supporting evidence was available & watch as it rolls downhill.

[phetpeter]

You tell them simply that it is in the hands of the insurance company and you will say no more. If the police are unhappy to take it to court. That's what no1 insurance is all about.

[JimmyJ]

Apparently based on posts here there are 3 classes of motor vehicle insurance in Thailand?

 

And how are they defined?

[jackdd]

2 hours ago, JimmyJ said:

Apparently based on posts here there are 3 classes of motor vehicle insurance in Thailand?

 

And how are they defined?

Actually four classes (and a few sub classes), the exact details vary according to your contract:

- Compulsary insurance, pays just for medical costs with quite low limits (30k if at fault, 80k for other parties, 300k in case of death, for details see http://www.rvp.co.th/), this is the insurance which every vehicle should have, without having this you can't pay tax for your vehicle.

- 3rd class insurance pays for 3rd party property damage and adds some more medical cost coverage

- 2nd class insurance, same as third class, but also pays in case of theft, fire or similar things

- 1st class insurance, same as second class insurance, but also pays for damage to your own vehicle (if the other party is at fault they pay for your vehicle and try to get their money back from the party at fault) and usually includes bail bond

Edited June 1, 2019 by jackdd

[simon43]

Right, here's an update:

 

I went to the police station this morning with the insurance agent and a good Thai friend.  The samlor driver also attended with his wife and 2 little kids, (only he was riding the samlor at the time of the accident).

 

The police concluded that:

- The samlor driver was 100% at fault and I was 0% at fault.

- The samlor driver had been drunk

- He had no motorcycle helmet

- He had no driving licence

- He had no road tax (por ror bor)

- He had no insurance (not sure if you can even insure these things).

 

The police officer told him that if he made him pay all the fines for not having all these documents, then he'd be out of pocket by several thousand baht, (which he didn't have because he seemed sh*t poor, although rich enough to buy Lao...)

 

He had about 17 stitches in his leg which was cut during the accident, with almost no blood loss (I saw his cut immediately after the accident happened and didn't do anything to stem blood loss because there was almost none).

 

The police decided not to take any action against the samlor guy, who under the circumstances was happy to not pay any fines and he did not ask for any money.  We amicably concluded the meeting, signed the police report and I went to the repair shop with my insurance agent so that the repair guys could check what they needed to order etc.

 

All in all, a happy result.  However, on previous occasions with minor accidents in Phuket, the police have immediately demanded money from me ????

 

 

[NokNokJoke]

The Sam lor was a trike style, or Skylab type?

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[Seth1a2a]

1 hour ago, simon43 said:

All in all, a happy result.  However, on previous occasions with minor accidents in Phuket, the police have immediately demanded money from me ????

 

Great rebound on a bad situation.  All down hill from here so enjoy the ride.

 

Those dash cams really come in handy. One guy recorded a derelict  who was waiting at a stop sign.

Driver slowed down quick enough not to hit the guy when he tried to dive under his car to fake an accident. Surely there were witnesses there ready to step and and ream the guy......

[Ratt Thai]

On 5/29/2019 at 5:23 PM, stevenl said:

Undertaking is legal in Thailand.

nope, it is illegal, 

only if a vehicle is signalling to turn right, and only then, its allowed to undertake.

[jackdd]

35 minutes ago, Ratt Thai said:

nope, it is illegal, 

only if a vehicle is signalling to turn right, and only then, its allowed to undertake.

You are wrong, undertaking is legal in Thailand (undertaking on the hard shoulder is of course illegal)

Edited June 1, 2019 by jackdd

[stevenl]

10 hours ago, Ratt Thai said:

nope, it is illegal, 

only if a vehicle is signalling to turn right, and only then, its allowed to undertake.

Nonsense.

[KhaoYai]

On 6/1/2019 at 12:50 AM, stevenl said:

"Insurance companies the world over are experts at burying such things in the small print."

Here, and in every country I know, the covered amounts are always clearly printed on the policy cover page.

Just checked my 3 policies in the UK and yes, the amount of cover is there but not on A page - 10 to 50 PAGES.  How many of us see that when getting a quote?  I received quotes from several brokers, only one listed each company and what they covered for all different liabilities and listed them clearly.

[KhaoYai]

On 6/1/2019 at 2:10 PM, Ratt Thai said:

nope, it is illegal, 

only if a vehicle is signalling to turn right, and only then, its allowed to undertake.

I'm sure I read another post where someone stated that it depends on how many lanes there are as to whether undertaking in legal or not.

[overherebc]

4 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

I'm sure I read another post where someone stated that it depends on how many lanes there are as to whether undertaking in legal or not.

If the road has two lanes each way it's ok. If it's a normal one lane each way it's not legal.

[stevenl]

4 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

Just checked my 3 policies in the UK and yes, the amount of cover is there but not on A page - 10 to 50 PAGES.  How many of us see that when getting a quote?  I received quotes from several brokers, only one listed each company and what they covered for all different liabilities and listed them clearly.

That is the broker doing the quote, not the company.

[NanLaew]

On 6/1/2019 at 4:32 AM, evadgib said:

If I ever felt i was being stitched up as described I'd have no qualms in contacting the insurance underwriters with whatever supporting evidence was available & watch as it rolls downhill.

Report the bad experiences to the Thailand insurance ombudsman. I have heard and read that they are quite effective in resolving disputes.

[evadgib]

2 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Report the bad experiences to the Thailand insurance ombudsman. I have heard and read that they are quite effective in resolving disputes.

The underwriters aren't in Thailand ????

[NanLaew]

On 5/31/2019 at 12:32 PM, eisfeld said:

So he was aware of the risk that he faced by saying that. What incentive did he have to push in this direction? I would definitely report his behaviour to the insurance company.

In Orton Rd's instance, I think his agent was in thrall of the local cops and keeping a low profile while the cops seems intent on finding his wife guilty at all costs (she was the driver) so they could ask for more money. The police traditionally get a cut of any deal, regardless of who is wrong or right. Most accidents where there's evidence of both parties being fully insured, even if there are dead bodies, the cops aren't interested. However, when the insured car driver collides with someone on 2 (or 3 ) wheels, then the cops get stuck right in as it's one of the few times in traffic accidents where they can get some cash for doing nothing.

[NanLaew]

9 minutes ago, evadgib said:

The underwriters aren't in Thailand ????

Ombudsman. An independent legal authority appointed by Thai government for the oversight of the insurance business in Thailand regardless of where the insurance company's underwriters are.

 

All Thai insurance companies, even the ones that are in-country offices of multinational, foreign owned insurance companies, are Thai companies and are bound to Thai insurance laws and regulations.

[Kasane]

On ‎5‎/‎30‎/‎2019 at 12:15 AM, Orton Rd said:

who the Police, we did ask for a well known lawyer that you see mentioned on here how much legal fees would be. 6k an hour to start and 200k to start at court, plus VAT, not really a goer.

More expensive than lawyers back home. Called price gouging, I would say.

[NanLaew]

On 6/1/2019 at 12:34 PM, simon43 said:

All in all, a happy result.  However, on previous occasions with minor accidents in Phuket, the police have immediately demanded money from me

Good final outcome but the car hits motorcycle accident (or vice versa) will still be fair game when the cops are concerned.

[Janner1]

On 5/29/2019 at 10:56 AM, KhaoYai said:

I decided to put it down to experience - compared to him I am reasonabbly well off and didn't want to make his life any harder than it already was.

WHY? 

This driver took it upon himself to put the lives and livelihood of every other road user in his vicinity wherever he drives his taxi, he also does the same to his passengers.

No disrespect to you but you should have hit him hard for all expenses and compensation and then just maybe the rest of these morons who are more interested in cutting corners than protecting all of those people who daily trust him.

He thinks he is being clever by driving like a fully paid up idiot and intentionally not gaining the proper insurance..

so make an example of him and every other clown who behaves in this way.

[Orton Rd]

On 6/4/2019 at 3:21 AM, NanLaew said:

In Orton Rd's instance, I think his agent was in thrall of the local cops and keeping a low profile while the cops seems intent on finding his wife guilty at all costs (she was the driver) so they could ask for more money. The police traditionally get a cut of any deal, regardless of who is wrong or right. Most accidents where there's evidence of both parties being fully insured, even if there are dead bodies, the cops aren't interested. However, when the insured car driver collides with someone on 2 (or 3 ) wheels, then the cops get stuck right in as it's one of the few times in traffic accidents where they can get some cash for doing nothing.

Strangely after 2 months since the accident no call to go in and pay a fine, I am wondering if there is a time limit to it. All the insurance stuff was signed off a month since, maybe just lazy Police.