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European Accident Statement


Laurier

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Hi

I have been carrying the European Accident Statement with me in the car since 2008 and, thankfully, never needed it.

The link for this was given to me on the Forum together with some very useful basic insurance information.

Does anyone know if this has been updated?

Tks

Laurier
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Thanks SD for the form.

Has anyone had experience of filling in one of these at an accident?

It seems that you both fill in the one form, both sign it and each have a copy so presumably you have to really have the carbonated copies.

I wonder how it works in practice. I just can't imagine it being that easy to agree, or get one party to put on the form that they drove into the other, etc.

Having just had a car accident in the UK, I am talking from personal experience and just wonder how I would have agreed and completed this form with the courier driver who did a u-turn and came straight back into me.

Laurier
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That's why it's called "Constat a l'amiable"...in order to find an amicable way of filling the document in the first place.

Parties are represented by drivers A & B which each put their own versions of events with a little sketch clearly showing where cars were at time of collision. When each party have completed their bit, they date and sign and each keep a copy as the document comes in 2 sheets.
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Unfortunately 'amiable' may not be a word which trips easily off the lips in the aftermath of an accident !

Just for the record it's not obligatory to fill one in after an accident nor sign it even if the other party does and tries to bully you into it by saying it is law. It isn't.

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Our daughter was foolish enough to brake for an amber traffic light in Spain, on a fast road, and a German drove into the rear of our Mini which she was driving. The Mini came off rather worse than his Merc.

The German completed the Accident Statement and left in a hurry to catch a ferry, leaving our daughter, rather shaken, sitting there. We were very upset about this.

I was even more upset when our Spanish insurers told me that all the claim documents would have to be sent to Germany via a Spanish court in order to make a claim through the German courts, and that this could take a year or more.

I recovered the Accident Statement from our insurers and sent it to the German's insurers, with a repair estimate and a covering letter in english.

I received a cheque for the full amount of the repair a couple of weeks later.

I have a feeling that german insurance companies may be slightly more efficient than spanish (or even french) ones, but the Accident Statement was probably indispensible on that occasion.

 

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ONLY SIGN A CONSTAT IF BOTH PARTIES SIGN at the same time. If the other party refuses, you must inform the insurers and the gendarmes will intervene and take individual statements. One signature can be taken as an admission of fault.
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