My life

Skidding on ice

Last Christmas was good for my wife because of all the snow days that she had off school.  The roads were absolutely covered with ice and snow and driving anywhere was just too dangerous.  It was made even worse because the councils were short on the salt and grit to clear the roads.  You would have thought that this year they would be prepared for the snow, but as the AA reports they still rely on last minute deliveries instead of having a stock pile ready.

Last night the weather was quite bad and snow had covered every road.  Even the main road near my parents had been covered.  I had been to my parents to as my uncle had been to visit and it was the only change to see him over the holidays.  I set off home at half 11 and everything was ice, it was like driving on an ice skating rink.  I was very careful but obviously not careful enough as I managed to hit a car.  It was parked and I had skidded for about 20 meters before hitting it.  I just completely lost all control.  My brakes were on fully and I tried to turn but nothing happened I just went into a straight line.  I got off lightly as there was no damage to either car but I did tell the owners about what had happened.

At the time I wasn’t worried, but now thinking about it, will anything happen about it?  I know there was no damage, I only tapped the other car, but not everyone is honest.    I could end up having to pay my excess if they claim for anything which I will not be happy about.

It is sad that we live in a time where people are ready to claim for anything and if you are honest to admit to a slight knock you end up worried about people claiming against your car insurance.  A quick search on the internet and you can find companies that let you calculate how much you can claim for personal injury, without any assessment of injury.  Lawyers for personal injury claims are everywhere, its big business with many in the legal profession spe******ing in it.

At least there was no one in the car to claim for injury, my main worry is even though I have protected my no claims bonus, I know making a claim will cause the quote for my car insurance to go up next year.  It is likely that my quote will go up anyway with the news that because of injury claims insurers are losing money.