Third parties falsely claiming others are at fault can seriously drive insurance premiums for everyone and damage the risk management and claims reputation for all fleet operators, in addition to transport, haulage and logistics firms. And who in the fleet operating business hasn’t had a changing lanes scenario whereby each side says the other moved into their lane? In the absence of conclusive evidence, a court (should it even get that far), would have to rule it 50/50. Hence insurers usually settle on that basis ahead of time. But with dash cams, it doesn’t have to be this way
We have long extolled the virtues of dash cams being the first line of defence in protecting clients against the attempts of a third party trying to rewrite the narrative of an incident. Whilst there’s inevitably a cost attached to setting wagons up with cameras, the cost should really be viewed as an investment. An investment in keeping future premiums down and the client’s reputation, up.
This was perfectly demonstrated in a recent case where bizarrely, not one but two of our haulage clients were involved in an incident when a saloon car attempted to change lanes without looking. The vehicle collided with our first client; was pushed sideways in front of the cab and eventually spun off into our second client in the opposite carriageway.
The car driver initially laid fault with our first client, claiming the wagon attempted to move into its lane. Fortunately, both of our clients’ vehicles were fitted with dash cams, which provided more than enough evidence to prove the car driver as being the at-fault party. You can see the value of having such footage in the clip here.
We’re representing both clients to get their repair costs and any additional uninsured losses covered by the third-party insurer. These claims are now almost concluded – less than a month after the incident! Without the dash cam footage, we inevitably would’ve had a protracted liability dispute running into several months, if not years. As for the financial consequences? It’s hard to say exactly at this stage, but it wouldn’t be unheard of for an incident like this to reach six figures. We could’ve been in for at least a proportion of a very large claim, including hire and injury if it wasn’t for the footage. There is considerable damage to the oncoming HGV and we could’ve even had a liability dispute between two of our clients!
Joe Fay, Claims Manager at C&C says: “HGV’s often get an unfavourable outcome on liability disputes. Being the larger vehicle, they’re often regarded as at fault for incidents, in the absence of evidence to support their version of events. This scenario perfectly conveys how our clients have benefitted from categorical evidence proving the car driver was liable for the incident. Only footage can untangle incidents like this involving multiple vehicles, so definitively and quickly. Dash cams really are the best tool a client can give a broker to protect their claims experience and therefore their renewal premiums.”
Malcolm Cooke, MD of C&C says: “The trading environment is already challenging enough for many haulage firms out there, and being financially penalised for third-party behaviour, is something they can do without. But as this incident perfectly demonstrates, it’s easily avoidable. We’ve long been committed to risk management and driving claims cost savings for our clients. The use of dash cams is low-hanging fruit when it comes to reducing the opportunities for reputational damage, protecting fleet claims experience, and helping keep premiums down. Dash cams are the single best tool in helping clients protect themselves. We’ll continue to encourage all our transport and fleet operating clients to invest in defending themselves this way.”
