A white van went into the back of my wife's car, while she was waiting to turn left. He gave her his insurance details. I called his insurer, asked for an English speaker, and gave them the license plate number. They arranged for our car to be taken to a garage for repair, the bills for medical checks to be sent to them. The repairing garage gave us a replacement car for the duration of repairs - we had to pay for the damage waiver on that car. Possibly we could have got the insurer to pay for that as well - just didn't think about it at the time.

It was a very simple, painless process. Except for the crash itself, of course.

Hi there

Thanks for your reply.
You really had to pay the deductible though? I wouldn't have thought so if the accident is caused by someone else no?

You are at fault partially even if rear ended just because you were there. That's how it was explained to me by a Swiss friend.

No. I didn't have to pay the deductible.

I had to pay the for the damage waiver insurance for the replacement car. Otherwise, if I'd have had an accident in that, I'd have had to pay the first CHF500 of a claim. By buying the DWI, I would only have had to pay CHF50. Just like when you hire a car.

I can't believe that......

My car was parked in a blue zone along with about 5 other cars.

Ah ok so. I wouldn't go for a replacement car whilst mine is being fixed so looks like I won't have to pay anything.
It works out well that i'm going on holidays shortly but also anxious to get things sorted before then.

My car was hit by a cow - and got dented by the bell. I claimed on my insurance for animal damage (Tierschaden) - I didn't have to pay a penny.

Additionally I had a wing mirror knocked off my parked car - no note - and I claimed under park damage. Again no excess

I hate getting rear ended.

I was waiting for that

Didn't know you were a car.

And they got your car instead?

Those b*stards

No Sada, "rear ended" also alludes to someone, well, using the tradesman's entrance.

Did they sue the farmer?

You won't have to pay anything.

If you want to sort out things quickly and if your insurance has a help point, call them and setup a meeting, no need to wait, they could even have a repair shop and do it really quick.

My insurer (Zürich) does all for you and really fast.

In this case - why bother your insurer? It's the at-fault driver who's insurance will cough up. In my incident, my insurer were informed, but the repairs, etc. were all handled by the other party.

Don't believe it, it's not true.

If you have full insurance then it's your insurance company's job to sort it out so why not bother them?

I got rear ended, called Zurich, they took the car away next day, it came back all fixed and shiny (even valeted). No paperwork (except the police did send them an accident report) , no hassle, no bills. I don't know or care who paid.

I think that would only be the case if the other party could prove that you were incorrectly or badly parked - e.g. your car was partially outside the marked zone.

From what it sounds like, this should be a simple job to get repairs done and the car fixed, with no problem from the insurers.

I've been involved in several insurance claims, including one for a car, and never had a problem. To be honest it is a joy to deal with CH insurance companies as they seem to accept your claim with little hassle and actually pay out for the replacement value from new rather than haggling and trying to get out of paying.

When my car was totalled (my fault), I actually got a fair price for my car - I estimated a value of 40,000-45,000 CHF and actually got 42,500 CHF. Can't say fairer than that IMO. Once all the paper work was sorted out (which did take a couple of months because of waiting for the police report) the money was in my account the next day.

What I find annoying in these situations is that your car could be recorded as having been involved in an accident - although I'm not 100% sure of this in parking damage. This means there's a risk that the resale value is adversely affected. Something you never really get compensation for.