TheTallGuy
Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire
The UK system has the benefit that those who are at fault in accidents will see their insurance costs rise, which is an incentive to safer driving & those with a clean sheet aren't penalised for the actions of others. This stems from the old English common law premise that a person is responsible & liable for the effects of their own actions on third parties, hence they must insure against their liability.A different approach here, we have government/tax payer supplied ACC cover which would cover all of those medical and care costs, in that poor lads situation, so even if the plonker was fully insured it wouldn't have come out of plonkers cover anyways.
Any damage to vehicles is covered by the insurance on the vehicle, some insurance company will go after the 3rd party if they have 3rd party insurance or the means to pay but not often. I've been the at fault party, I offered to pay the other persons excess myself, but their insurance covered their repairs, they never contacted me to collect the excess either, so while I was at fault it finished up costing me nothing.