[Closed] Car hit by drunk driver - advice please

Ring your insurers.

They will tell you who the other driver is insured with from a check on the MID database. Alternatively the Police might tell you the insurer, and from there, just call their claims dept and quote the vehicle reg.

If you want to see if it is insured yourself, (if they're casual about Drink Driving, they might not have it, may not even have a licence) you can use askMID by a search on the registration.

You can then decide to claim directly from them. It may take longer as often drunken drivers not prompt if reporting to their insurers (if they ever do) but eventually they will deal with you as "Road Traffic Act" insurer, if not contractual, as long as you can "identify" the driver, ie you have his name.

Alternatively, you can use your own insurer, and recover excess and other uninsured losses like injury, earnings, car hire at a later date.

I had the same stationary hit from behind, never recovered full neck mobility (I notice it when driving through acute angle corners) and possibly a bit of nerve damage.
The effects can last for ages or be permanent, get your neck checked out.

Sorry to hear that as been there and had the initial hassle.

Tgis was several years ago so may be smoother now, however we were hit in exactly the same circumstances apart from after initially getting out to deal with the incident the other driver then fled the scene. He was drunk, clearly and no doubt panicked.
We had his license plate but nothing else. Went to police with details and was given a crime number.
Informed insurance who collected my car.
The pain was the fact the other party never reported it, why would they, so his insurance disputed at first.

My insurance did go up too.

Most I ever heard on the other party was a statement I had to give to police. After that nothing. Tbh I didn’t chase.

What do I need to do now?

I will ring my insurance

There you go. That's what you're paying them for.

The impact led to quite a sharp pain in neck and lower back

Take this up with your insurers also.

I was taken roughly from behind by a large Polish gentleman a few years ago, and similarly injured. I used the services of one of the least-dodgy sounding no-win no-fee ambulance chasers amongst the ten thousand cold-callers I then proceeded to receive; they sent me to some chiropractor or osteopath or other; he assessed me, gave me a knowing wink and told me he'd do me a "good report"; the insurance came back with a compensation offer I was advised to reject; I did so and got a better offer I was advised to take; I took the offer minus the Penn & Teller ta-da! reveal at the end where fully a third of it disappeared in fees before I saw any sight of it.

Oh, and,

In 30 years of driving and numerous collisions over the years, not once have I ever swapped insurance details in either direction at the roadside. Don't sweat that, it's not information anyone knows offhand and there's no legal requirement to carry it in the UK.

I was taken roughly from behind by a large Polish gentleman a few years ago

The effects can last for ages or be permanent, get your neck checked out.

100% this. But be very careful about what you do next – try not to be tempted by a nice wodge in your back pocket as (as mentioned above) the effects can be permanent and may not be even diagnosed in the first instance. My wife was involved in a collision 13 years ago and got a full and final payment at the time of several thousand pounds which we thought was great. All that money and much more besides has been spent in the following years on physio/chiro work then last year she had an almost total breakdown lasting several months which resulted in several trips to private hospitals + x-rays etc where she was told surgery may be required (at a reasonably high risk of complications). Fortunately she slowly recovered from the relapse without the need for surgery but it will inevitably be needed at a point in the future.

So what I am saying is look at all the options available to you and don't just go for a nice big one-off payment.

I was hit from behind by a van 18 years ago. My neck has never fully recovered. See someone about it and expect physio. Keep the bills as part of the claim. As for blame and cover, that will be sorted by your insurers.

Like folks say, get in touch with your insurers with the vehicle and driver information you have. They should handle it all. If you have a MB then the dealerships usually hand out MB claim cards. The folks on the other end of that line are very helpful and sort everything out for you. Though I’m sure there’s a deal of extra costs along the line that come from somewhere.

expect nothing much from the police. They might ask you for your details and a witness statement.

Some years ago my SO was driving taking a right turn on green at a crossroads and someone jumped the red and hit the car from the left. They gave false details at the scene. Our insurers then didn’t have much to go on other than the registration mark. Their vehicle was uninsured it turned out. Everyone else gets to pay and our premiums went up somewhat.

MB??

I have given my statement to the police but have not as yet received a reference number as such. Car is booked in for assessment and any repairs that are needed and insurers are providing like for like hire car. I have legal cover apparently so insurers are getting their company to give me a call in a day or two to discuss injuries. I assume its quite difficult to get to see a GP at the moment though? I'll chat with them and find out what the options are and points noted about the longer term impacts.

Thanks

The insurers sent me to one of their assessors not my GP. I should've contested the settlement.