Accident involving a foreign lorry: ensuring that the owners pay for damage

Last week my car was hit by a foreign lorry while I was parked by the roadside. How can I ensure that the foreign owners of the lorry pay for the damage caused and can I simply pass his details to my insurance company?

Your own insurers will of course be seeking to recover their outlay for repairs (if you are comprehensively insured) from the foreign insurer.

However they will not normally include your uninsured losses (such as loss of use, any personal injury or the additional costs incurred by you as a result of the accident. If you have legal expenses insurance, your legal representatives should be able to establish the identity of the UK handling agents of any European Union insurer by contacting the Green Card department of the Motor Insurers' Bureau.

If you do not have legal expenses insurance or are dissatisfied with the limited service many legal expenses insurer's provide, you may wish to consider Lawcover's Hindsight policy which for a small outlay enables you to avoid the risk of possibly substantial legal fees of recovering your uninsured losses even after the accident has taken place and has the added advantage of offering you all the benefits of full Lawcover coverage for a year thereafter.

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