[aliland]

Sorry for this, but I need to rant a little. Yesterday my husband got his his car knocked. No one was was hurt, so its just paperwork right? The guy who knocked us was uninsured . We pay for this, but when my husband asked his insurance, they said he must get a police number. If he reports the guy, he will have a huge fine plus other problems . My husband doesn't want to give this person hard times. But I feel anoyed why did we pay insurance?

 

[concertina]

Sorry for this, but I need to rant a little. Yesterday my husband got his his car knocked. No one was was hurt, so its just paperwork right? The guy who knocked us was uninsured . We pay for this, but when my husband asked his insurance, they said he must get a police number. If he reports the guy, he will have a huge fine plus other problems . My husband doesn't want to give this person hard times. But I feel anoyed why did we pay insurance?

hi Aliland,I did mention the fact that quite a large number of people in Greece are running their cars without insurance on the roads in an earlier posting,thats illegal and there are heavy fines to be paid if caught.Imagine if damage had been done to your or your husbands body and you need money to put yourself right or your car was a right-off.I have seen people sobbing over the fact that the guilty driver was not insured,Im horrified to hear of people being so irresponsible as to get behind a wheel without insurance,if they cant afford the insurance dont drive.I would have reported them so as to protect other people,Im glad to hear both of you were not injured but I do think its your duty to report this to the police.He has to have a fine and other problems.

 

[aliland]

Yes, I'm feeling less annoyed now. I just don't understand why my husband was unwilling to report the incident. We live in a city with cheap reliable buses, so there is absolutely no excuse for driving uninsured, we would never do this, I'm annoyed enough we pay extra to cover being hit by uninsured people, but then not to use it. OK, people are having hard times, but why is this an excuse for such reckless behaviour?

 

[ratzakli]

Hi Aliland

I'm genuinely sorry for your troubles but I have to agree with the insurance company about this - they need to have some sort of independent proof that the accident actually happened otherwise they could face a flood of people all trying to claim for imaginary accidents. The police report provides that proof.

However, I also have to agree with you - if the other driver is unwilling to pay for the repairs, your husband should have reported the incident. In fact, I think he should report it in any case. It might cause the other driver problems with the police but, let's face it, he should have had insurance in the first place.

What if it had been a lot more serious than a bit of damage to the car's bodywork? What if you or your husband had ended up needing medical treatment? That can be very expensive and, without insurance, it would be you either having to find the money or having to live with the consequences.

 

[ratzakli]

Sorry - I've just read Concertina's reply and I seem to have repeated a lot of what she said. At least we both seem to agree.

 

[aliland]

Thanks a lot for your sympathy (OK, I know it seems a bit trivial, that's why I said rant, not problem) I totally agree with the insurance company too - if they can't recoup some loss, the primium goes up for the rest of us. I totally agree with the garage refusing to do any work before they are paid too. I get my husband not wanting to make anyone else's life hard, it just that I disagree - we have struggled in the past to find insurance money, but we took buses until we could - accidents do happen, and driving insurance is not optional. My husband was worried that the police might take this other guys license- but I feel we all have a right not to share the roads with such irresponsible drivers.
I'm not, can I point out, commenting on Greeks in general- last year, someone bumped our parked car in the early hours of the morning with no witnesses. He was knocking on doors a few hours later to find us - he was insured.