Sometimes Yuo Just Have To Say No!

[ray23]

People are so funny, a friend that lives up by Nung Bua Lampo had an accident on his motorcycle a 1100 CC sport bike T boned a honda wave, she turned in front of him, he laid the bike down but hit her anyway. Her bike not bad damage the bike he was riding medium damage if he was not an excellent mechainc, but he is so no big bucks involved. Injuries to both parties to tell the truth I think he had the more signicant soft tissue injury to his shoulder. Her cuts a bruises but for her that meant that she stayed in the hospital for a bit. In the States she would not have been admitted.

He is completly licenced lights on, helmet, bike registered and properly insured. Her none the previous. Witnesses available stating she was at fault and eventually she admitted her mistake of turning in front of him.

He was sweating blood as this was his first time through this in Thailand, I gave him my favorite lady attornies name. With all the horror stories of cops here in Thailand he knew he was going to get nailed. My advice fight don't lay down for it. Others pay the lady and move on.

Well sure enough she showed with a demand for 100K. Ray Ria made a call to the Police station for him. He took the position of I wasn't wrong and she was very lucky that he was demanding money from her. He stood his ground and sure enough he paid nothing.

Truth is he could have filed suit agianst her and won, but in the end if all you have is a uncollectable judgement you've won nothing but a piece of paper, Same as everywhere not just Thailand.

In my experience with these Issan cops, is that I have always been treated fairly. So my suggestion is if your wrong and you know it pay up. If your not say no and tell them you prefer to go to court. Your vehicle will remain in impund but so will thiers. Your going to pay 20k for a filing fee and and then attorney fees, but they have to 10k to file answer and pay thier attorney. The Police only resolve these things if there is an agreement by both parties.

When it comes to brass tacks most Thai's will fold if you stand up, they simply can't afford to take the chance, of spending that money and possibly losing.

The assumption is we are rich and by Thai standards most of us are, but there are Thai's in my neighborhood that could by and sell me ten times a day. When things go wrong for them they don't just throw, go away money at the problem. Why should we ?

Don't misunderstand wht I'm saying if your wrong pay up and try to keep the losses down, but if your right don't follow the rumor mill and give up the go away money. Believe me all the Thai's expect you to do just that. If you stand up for yourself you stand a very good chance on being treated fairly.

[oxymoron]

People are so funny, a friend that lives up by Nung Bua Lampo had an accident on his motorcycle a 1100 CC sport bike T boned a honda wave, she turned in front of him, he laid the bike down but hit her anyway. Her bike not bad damage the bike he was riding medium damage if he was not an excellent mechainc, but he is so no big bucks involved. Injuries to both parties to tell the truth I think he had the more signicant soft tissue injury to his shoulder. Her cuts a bruises but for her that meant that she stayed in the hospital for a bit. In the States she would not have been admitted.

He is completly licenced lights on, helmet, bike registered and properly insured. Her none the previous. Witnesses available stating she was at fault and eventually she admitted her mistake of turning in front of him.

He was sweating blood as this was his first time through this in Thailand, I gave him my favorite lady attornies name. With all the horror stories of cops here in Thailand he knew he was going to get nailed. My advice fight don't lay down for it. Others pay the lady and move on.

Well sure enough she showed with a demand for 100K. Ray Ria made a call to the Police station for him. He took the position of I wasn't wrong and she was very lucky that he was demanding money from her. He stood his ground and sure enough he paid nothing.

Truth is he could have filed suit agianst her and won, but in the end if all you have is a uncollectable judgement you've won nothing but a piece of paper, Same as everywhere not just Thailand.

In my experience with these Issan cops, is that I have always been treated fairly. So my suggestion is if your wrong and you know it pay up. If your not say no and tell them you prefer to go to court. Your vehicle will remain in impund but so will thiers. Your going to pay 20k for a filing fee and and then attorney fees, but they have to 10k to file answer and pay thier attorney. The Police only resolve these things if there is an agreement by both parties.

When it comes to brass tacks most Thai's will fold if you stand up, they simply can't afford to take the chance, of spending that money and possibly losing.

The assumption is we are rich and by Thai standards most of us are, but there are Thai's in my neighborhood that could by and sell me ten times a day. When things go wrong for them they don't just throw, go away money at the problem. Why should we ?

Don't misunderstand wht I'm saying if your wrong pay up and try to keep the losses down, but if your right don't follow the rumor mill and give up the go away money. Believe me all the Thai's expect you to do just that. If you stand up for yourself you stand a very good chance on being treated fairly.

Ray good post ,good advice but I think it is more pertinent to people who are NOT insured.

You said your mate is fully insured. Why should he worry. Why should he get a lawyer or someone involved to debate the issue with the Police.

My approach would be the same here as it is any where I am in the world. Name, Rank and Serial No. no admission of liability, and the details of my Insurance. Then of course a full report to my Insurance company. From then on it's the Insurance Companies problem, thats what I pay them for.

[ray23]

Good Point, but I think that kind of depends oh where your at, for Example if your in Udon proper the insurance company can in fact respond to the scene , if your out in the sticks that may not always be true.

The other aspect is time depends on how fast you want to get things done.

I know in the accident that I had the insurance companies did in fact pay off eventually, but in the first week when all the interviews were being done. they were no where to be found. Also keep in mind that in this instance we are talking about the liabilty coverage on a motorcycle not a car. If you have first rate insurance on a car your going to get a lot better service then you are on a policy that costs less the 200 baht a year. I have never found first rate inurance for a bike as you find for cars. It would be nice and it would be a very different game for the bike riders.

The bike insurance will only pay for injuries on a third party claim as I understand it.

It's just not the same and your going to be pretty much on your on.

[kenk3z]

Good post with good advice!

A more troublesome situation might be when you are in the wrong, but the compensation request is excessive.

Do you have any advice in such a situation? I can't think of anything at the moment, so how about if he had turned in front of her and done 20K damage to her bike and 20K in private doctor's bills. She comes back and requests 100K. What now?

kenk3z

[torrenova]

A significant point in this story is that she was only admitted to hospital as a westerner was involved. She would certainly no have admitted herself and had to pay her own bills if it had been another Thai.

It is dispicable that this goes on but it is not going to change until they actively prosecute people for not having insurance and that requires non corrupt police and a proper system. Not going to happen in my lifetime.

[ray23]

Ok two thing a 100K seems to be the magic number to country folk, you would be amazed at how many farrangs would fork over the money to avoid the unknown. It has nothing to do with reality. even if I was wring in something like this I would make them prove up damages, not just pick a number out of the wish list.

The second aspect the guy demanded criminal prosecution for drivers license ect, if the things were not resloved. Worked out nicely for him. You can't issue a citation, but you can darn sure use it to your advantage.

The sad aspect of this is if the other driver had insurance the guy could recover some of his costs. As it stood thier was nothing to recover that from.