1 year on and suddenly a request for £2.5K

djheath

Help!

I had a small car accident in sept 2007 with a lady on a small residential road. There was limited damage as it was a slow accident. Some damage to her door and my front wing was damaged. I accidentally went into her when she wasn't signaling. I didn't admit full liability as she wasn't signaling and I should have waited before performing my maneuver, so wanted a verdict of shared liability.

At the time, my insurance fixed my car within days, I paid the excess and thought all was done and dusted. Today I have just received a county court judgment from the womens solicitors asking for payment of £2600 for damages to her car within 14 days!!

Firstly, surely, my insurance should have paid the women by now? I assumed she won the claim and her car has been fixed and paid? Secondly, what happens now? I am trying to get hold of my insurance company, Churchill, but they are putting me through to Direct line for some reason and are saying nothing has been done about the claim since November 2007!

I dont understand how this could come so out of the blue? The solicitors the women are using are one of these where there is blame there is a claim jobbies and I feel I am being royally taking to the cleaners for such a minor accident! I feel like a criminal. Not happy at all!

Has anyone got any advice?

geri1965_2

Your insurers should be dealing with it. Judgement is obtained automatically if proceedings were issued and no one has responded. I'm assuming you didn't get a summons (now called a claim form) previously? Really, you need to get your insurers to sort it out, and pronto - otherwise they can enforce the judgement, which basically means sending bailiffs (that's normally a last resort).

djheath

I ve spoken to my insurance company and they said they hadn't had any dealings with the claim since nov 2007 so its very strange that this has come out of the blue.

I am sending them the court claim and seeing what they will do with it.

fingers crossed all wil be sorted.

geri1965_2

To be honest it's surprisingly common. I often get judgements without the original proceedings ever being received, so who knows where the solicitors send them to.

djheath

geri1965 wrote: »

To be honest it's surprisingly common. I often get judgements without the original proceedings ever being received, so who knows where the solicitors send them to.

I think I am getting my technical terms mixed up. This is a claim form from a court - is that a summons? Its not something saying I have to attend court yet and there is no date saying I have to attend court, it just says I have to pay money for damages and I have the right to dispute these claims.

Its all very confusing and scary that's all I know!

Its in the post to my insurance company now and I have written a letter to the court to say my insurance company will be dealing with it. Is there anything else I can do?

Atermis

churchill = direct line btw.

geri1965_2

djheath wrote: »

I think I am getting my technical terms mixed up. This is a claim form from a court - is that a summons? Its not something saying I have to attend court yet and there is no date saying I have to attend court, it just says I have to pay money for damages and I have the right to dispute these claims.

Ah, OK. Yes, that's the first step in proceedings - as you've passed it to your insurers they will now instruct solicitors to either defend it or settle it, depending what they think is best.

SandC

Same thing happened to me years ago, I think I was with Churchill too. I dont know what people do this, the one I received was for a couple of hundred quid in 'costs' so the original claim for the cars had been settled already. I too had a shock but once I'd forwarded it on I never heard anything again. The only problem I had was it was noted on my credit record so flagged up when I went to get my first mortgage a couple of years later. A letter of explanation to the lender was enough to sort that side out.

Steve1981

Atermis wrote: »

churchill = direct line btw.

Churchill does not = direct line at all. thhy are both part of the RBS group but both underwrite their own policies. that would be like saying Greenflag = Natwest