Question: My wife drives a Honda Civic, which is insured on the same policy as mine. On February 5, while driving along the Spanish Town leg of Highway 2000, she saw a friend whose car had run off the road. She stopped, parked on the soft shoulder and went to give assistance. I also went to the scene after receiving a call from her.

While there in the bushes (where our friend's car was), we heard tyres screeching and heard the noise of a collision. We ran up to the road and saw a group of persons and another Honda Civic. It lay on the top of the car my wife had parked.

The car was written off by my insurers. I was told to claim my excess and loss of use from the third party's insurers. I have done so, but the company refuses to pay. They say that their client's car was hit by another vehicle and did not cause the accident. Nobody at the accident scene saw that car. What are my options?

- justpaul15@hotmail.com

Answer: You have four options:

1) Ask your insurers to negotiate the settlement of your claim for the loss of use and deductible (or excess) with the third party's insurer;

2) Retain the services of a motor-claims specialist to obtain settlement on your behalf;

3) Use the information I have provided in this article to try to persuade the third party's insurers to pay;

4) Retain the services of an attorney.

Since there are things for and against each of these choices, I will discuss each and leave you to make the decision.

Seek Insurer's Intervention

You, and your insurers to a lesser degree, have a stake in the outcome of the recovery efforts. If your insurers do not recover the pre-accident value of your vehicle - the sum of the amount your insurers paid you, plus the deductible - from the third party's insurers, you will end up paying higher premiums. You, on the other hand, will be out of pocket for the loss-of-use expenses and deductible.

Insurers are in business to make money. Once they have made a claim payment, that amount has to be recovered from somewhere - either the person who caused the accident in the case of an at-fault collision, or the policyholder.

Motor insurers give themselves the right to take action against the party at fault. Their contracts say: "We can take over and conduct the defence of any claim and take proceedings at our own expense and for our own benefit to recover our any payment we have made".

Policyholders must cooperate

Action is taken in the policyholder's name. Policyholders "must cooperate with us on any matter".

Since non-life (general) insurance contracts do not last more than 12 months, insurers can always increase premiums where the recovery efforts fail.

Did your insurers ask you to seek recovery directly from the third party's insurers? If they did so, it would be most unusual. They are experts at making recoveries. How the accident took place, the terms of the contract I have cited above, plus the fact a payment was made to you, are some of the other things which should have influenced the decision regarding who made the recovery.

Options 2) and 4) involve finding the money to pay for professional help.

During these 'hard' times, it is, for most of us, about getting more for less. They would, therefore, not be at the top of the list.

Since your insurers have the skills, experience and resources - and no fees would be charged - Options 1) and 3) would be the better bets, with your insurers being the favourite.

I do not agree that the car that struck the car your wife had parked on the soft shoulder was not liable.

If someone hits you from behind, it is virtually never your fault, regardless of why you stopped. A basic rule of the road requires a vehicle to be able to stop safely if traffic is stopped ahead of it. If it cannot stop safely, the driver is not driving safely.

If one car's front end is damaged and the other's rear end is, there can't be much argument about who struck who.

Similarly, if one vehicle ends up after an accident on the top of another which was parked, there should be no question about which car hit the other. Of course, the driver of the car that hit yours may have a claim against a third car that pushed his car into yours. But that doesn't change his or her responsibility for damage to your car.

Even if you do not know the rules of the road, there is no good reason why you should not take on the starring role of David and win the battle against one of the Goliaths of New Kingston. All you have to do is enter "Liability and rear-end auto accidents" in your Web browser in order to prepare.

Cedric E. Stephens provides independent information and free advice on the management of risks and insurance. Email: aegis@cwjamaica.com or SMS text message to: 812-7233.