On our last night in France around midday I pulled up outside a camp site half on half off the road, there's a wide pavement then grass verge then the wall to front gardens, went to check if they had space wife was in the car, came back a car had pulled in between the caravan and the wall and parked on the grass verge, I pulled out into the road and went down the camp site drive.
Next day we were just leaving for the ferry when the owner stopped me with some women claiming I had put a scratch down the side of her car the previous day with my caravan outside, checked the back of my van and their is a slight mark on the bottom back corner fibre glass not cracked or dented and thinking about it later that could of been done anywhere, now the stupid bit, they didn't speak any English and my French is very limited, gave them a copy of my camping card international and my car insurance policy no. didn't bother looking at the car damage as we were in a panic about missing the ferry.
Got my Bro in law to phone the camp site owner (who is a charming honest lady my friend has kept his caravan on their site for years) yesterday, from what she described the car newish Merc has a scratch along the side and the owner his getting estimates to pass to my insurer, seems strange A)they didn't come in the camp site straight away, B) I didn't notice any collision when I pulled off the verge, C) there's no damage to my van apart from the mark I mentioned earlier.
What should I do Monday ? notify car insurance ? notify caravan club red pennant ? any advice would be much appreciated.
Inform your car insurance co. giving them the facts that you have posted here. The way you describe it the car could easily have hit your caravan as it parked. I suggest you make that clear to your insurance. I would say you acted correctly, given the circumstances.
It would have helped if you had got the other drivers details, but I'm sure your ins. will accept that language probs. prevented that. Insurance cert no. on French cars is displayed at bottom right of windscreen.
As Tentz says, it could just as easily be that the car scraped your van as they were parking it. As you weren't there, you don't know what, if anything happened whilst they were parking. Make your insurance company aware of this.
Hope you get it all sorted out quickly. Rotten thing to happen at the end of your holiday.
Thanks for the reply's, one other thing should the worst happen, am I covered for this ? I have fully comp car insurance and caravan club caravan insurance and taken out red pennant for the holiday.
Personally I would keep quiet. If the other party never contacts your insurance company then no issue. If they do contact your insurance company, the insurance company will let you know about it.
If you contact your insurance company, as far as they are concerned there is a claim in progress and you loose your NCD until either the claim is settled in your favour or the claim gets dropped for some other reason. If you notify the insurance company and start a claim then you immediately lose your NCD. If the other party does not follow it up then you will not get it reinstated until the case is deemed closed.
If you keep quiet & your ins. co. is contacted they will be aware you gave your details to the other party in an alledged minor RTA & that you failed to inform your ins. I would have thought as far as you are concerned, the other driver hit your caravan when they parked(if you had hit their car when you moved off, you would certainly have heard a bang..right?)I cannot see how you will lose your NCB on this.
I should add that yes, you are covered. Your fully comp car ins. covers any damage/injury to a third party by your caravan while it is being towed by your car.
There are a couple of things you could have done to help your case. I hate to be part of the SHUDDA brigade, but if it helps somone in similar circumstances in future...
1- Placing both vehicles side by side to check that the scrape marks line up. I know of one allegation that was instantly disproved as the two vehicles could not have made contact where the scrape was.
2- Paint transfer at point of contact helps to prove which vehicles collided
3- If the other car is covered in scratches, it adds weight to the theory that the driver is generally careless, and therfore the damage may have been caused elsewhere.
I am very suspicious about this allegation, why were you not approached by the French driver immediately afterwards? It sounds like this collision wasn't witnessed and they are assuming it must be you that caused it. In future take lots and lots of photographs of both vehicles before leaving and pass them on to your insurance company so they have some evidence to fight your case.
For what little it is worth I've seen this happen. A caravan pulls away and scrapes a vehicle alongside it (or a wall etc). The back of the van swings further than expected on low speed amanouevres and if the contact is slight the driver of the towing vehicle doesn't stand much chance of noticing it.
Sounds like you've done the decent thing, but it's worth asking, since you were parked first did the car driver leave you sufficient room to pull out? Obviously not since most car drivers don't take into account how a caravan swings. Therefore I'd suggest the car driver has to accept some of the blame for pulling up alongside a stationery caravan in such a position as to cause contact when the caravan moves away.
Thanks for reply's, informed ins co today also got a letter from French ins co, his damage is on the right side to match mine, so if he got back in his car he would not have noticed, I think its possible I collided when I pulled away but didn't here anything, has sailor put he could be partly at fault.
Quote: Originally posted by russi on 22/8/2010I thought you were supposed to inform your insurance co strait away if your involved in an accident ?
another thing, just been out to the van and there's a ding in the awning rail 2" long above the other mark, don't know how I missed that.
Yes, but if you beleive you were not involved in an accident then it is a different situation altogether.
Until a claim is settled, both parties lose their NCD. Once the claim is settled, any NCD that had been disallowed on a policy renewal will be refunded...supposedly.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: caravan bump France
