Date:         Sat, 20 Mar 2004 02:14:49 -0500
Reply-To:     Jonathan Farrugia <jfarrugi@UMICH.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jonathan Farrugia <jfarrugi@UMICH.EDU>
Subject:      auto accidents in europe? fish
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

i was having a discussion with a friend about auto insurance and accidents
involving insurance claims.  my friend then began to explain their
understanding of auto insurance accident claims in europe to me.  they
were saying for example if i was in europe driving my vanagon and i was
involved in an accident that the standard way to handle the situation of
an non-injury accident would be this.  the two parties would get out
insurance supplied forms that they are supposed to keep in their glove
boxes.  each would then write down their version of events and submit it
to the insurance company in order to make a claim.  in this scenario there
are no police or others called, i guess its just kind of a self service
deal.

i will contrast this with what is the general flow of things in my
location (michigan) in the united states.  after the accident the police
are contacted.  usually between the time that the accident happens and the
police arrive some witnesses make themselves available, this a best case
scenario of course.  after the police arrive they take each of the
involved parties aside and get their version of the story.  the police
will often also take statements from any available witnesses, and analyze
the accident scene for evidence such as tire marks and such.  after all
this is done then the accident scene is cleaned up and tow trucks are
called if needed.  then in a couple days time the police write up the
official report of what happened citing blame and issuing tickets if
tickets are not issued at the scene.  the insurance companies then use
this official police report to work out the details of who or who's
insurance company pays what to cover the costs of the accident and
subsequent auto repairs.

if some one could elaborate on the process used in europe to record and
make claims when one is involved in non-injury accidents i would be
interested to hear about it in case i am ever in a accident in on my
future european vanagon tour :).  also any opinions on how well the
european system works would be interesting to hear.  as an additional note
i believe my friend was saying that this european system is in use in all
countries in the european union except in england and possibly one other
country.

jonathan