Car insurance - uninsured motorcyclist

bubblybaby4

Help, can i have some advice.. sorry its a long one,

My daughters boyfriend Adam was out on a motorbike, taking it on a test drive after working on it, with no insurance..... Prat i know!!!, a car came towards him on the wrong side of the road, he moved right over to the verge where he slid on ice and slid under a car. The female driver got out of the car shouted at him and drove off leaving him with a broken pelvis, hip and shoulder... A driver coming the other way stopped and helped him by calling the ambulance etc etc... She offered to be a witness as she had seen what had happened and that Adam had tried to avoid this women and also the fact that she left the scene.

Later on he was summoned to court, or he could plead guilty by post which he did which meant he got a fine, and lost his licence. and he has been paying the driver compensation.... there was a niggly suspicion in my mind because everyone kept saying about the male driver and that Mr.... had been driving.... I told Adam that he was to make sure that it was noted that Mrs.... was driving not Mr..... but he's a little dippy to say the least and has just accepted that he got what he deserved and had just been paying his compensation to the driver every month for the last 2 years.

He was made redundant in October last year, informed the jobcentre that he couldnt continue paying this money because he is only on the basic jobseekers allowance... they said that was ok, they would inform the court and that they cant get blood out of a stone so not to worry about until he started work again.

He has just recieve a letter from the insurance company saying that as he hasnt paid anything for the last 5 months that they were taking him to court... he has just phoned them to explain... and i told him to clarify who has made the insurance claim and he was told that Mr was driving and he has made the claim...... they also said that his wife is not on his insurance as a named driver He informed them that that was not right and that he has a witness in the form of this woman who helped him..... What can he do now... ive told him to see Citizens advice.... If this man is claiming surely it is fraud but where do we go from here

nunnygirl

Firstly, can I say I hope Adam is better now, insurance or no insurance it's not nice to hear about a motorcycle rider having an accident, expecially when it's not his fault.

Secondly, as long as he has a witness that is prepared to say that it was a woman driving the car that caused the accident I can't see why there should be a problem.

You say that the woman is not on the blokes insurance as a named driver, she shouldn't have been driving the car at the time of the accident and this is possibly the reason she left the scene.

Has there not been any interaction with the police as to why they left the scene? It's a criminal offence to leave the scene of an accident you have been involved in.

bubblybaby4

Hi, thanks for that

The police have only really been interested in coming down hard on Adam, which i accept and so does he.... but no-one really wants to hear that she was driving...

I think he is now pretty worried as they are now threatening to take him to court for non payment.... I offered to give him the money to pay off the £900.00 that is outstanding but the insurance company today told him that just because he pays that off doesnt stop them claiming more off him later.... It all seems wrong somewhere down the line... he has now informed Mr..... insurance company that Mrs..... was driving and they are looking into it.... guess it would be classed as fraud thou prob not lol

nunnygirl

It will be classed as fraud if it turns out that she was driving! He will be in deep doo-doo then!

What else can they claim from him? If it has been set out by the court that he only pays so much, than that is all he has to pay. (Or so I am under the impression of anyway!)

Tell him not to be worried about not paying, at the end of the day he's not the one in the wrong. He's done everything he can, and he's in the same boat as a lot of other people in Britain at the moment!

You need to think about putting a complaint into the police that they are not listening to his side of the story. They are always too keen to come down hard on bikers, no matter what they have done!!

If, god forbid, Adam were to have died in that accident, would he be so willing to claim it was him driving the car.......somehow I think not!!

LadyIndecisive

From looking at these posts it does not appear that the court has set out what the bike rider must pay to the third party insurers - it is the insurance company. This I assume is just the repair costs.

What they are trying to warn him of is that the third party repair costs may not be the full extent of the third party claim.

If the bike rider does not pay he may end up with a summons to the civil court to pay the remaining repair costs and the car driver may add in a claim for personal injury or other losses.

With respect to the drivers named on the car policy I find it unusual that they would advise the bike rider of who was covered to drive or not drive.

nunnygirl

and he has been paying the driver compensation

From the first post. This will have been set by the court (I apologise if this is wrong as I have never had to deal with anything like this)


I hardly doubt that they would try and put in a claim for personal injury 2 years after the accident happened.

By the sounds of the OP, the car involved hasn't been damaged, Adam swerved to avoid their car and slid under another one...and they were in the wrong anyway, driving on the wrong side of the road.

dacouch

The people have three years to make an injury claim.

If you do prove the other driver was not driving and therefore defrauded then they are still entitled to money if your friend was at fault in the accident. It may involve another court case though

lisyloo

I hardly doubt that they would try and put in a claim for personal injury 2 years after the accident happened.

I wouldn't be so sure about that.
They have 3 years to claim.

My father-in-law hit a pedestrian about 3.5 years ago (pedestrian ran out and police said there was nothing the driver could have done).
Their solicitor kept arguing with the insurer for 3 years but never took it as far as court.
We could only got my FIL's excess refunded after the 3 year time limit passed.

By the sounds of the OP, the car involved hasn't been damaged

What are the claiming money for then?
In general claims fall into 2 categories:
insured costs e.g. car and contents
Uninsured losses e.g. time off work, personal injury

they are still entitled to money if your friend was at fault in the accident

It comes across as though Adam was not at fault but has to pay because he wasn't insured.
I don't mean any offence, but perhaps this is because he's not too bright and has no-one to fight his corner and is just being bullied here.
I'm a little confused, but is someone automatically liable if they have no insurance.
There is no dispute that driving without insurance is a bad idea, but does it make you automatically liable if someone drives into you on your side of the road?
I wonder if Adam is a bit of a victim and just isn't savvy enough to fight back.
No offence intended just trying to get to the bottom of it.

shelly

nunnygirl wrote: »

Tell him not to be worried about not paying, at the end of the day he's not the one in the wrong.

Of course he's in the wrong! He was riding uninsured!
Regardless of whether someone was on the wrong side of the road and whether that someone was a he or a she, he had no right being on the road.

dacouch

Being in an accident and being uninsured does not mean you cannot claim from the other person for your losses.

Judging by the circumstances of this accident, the involvement of the other insurers and the involvement of a court it indicates the accidented was "Deemed" to be his fault. If he does prove the drivers were incorrect he could still be liable for the repair costs to the vehicle. Any compensation for injuries may be recinded bearing in mind the lady may not have been driving

lisyloo

Of course he's in the wrong! He was riding uninsured!
Regardless of whether someone was on the wrong side of the road and whether that someone was a he or a she, he had no right being on the road.

So shelley, just to clarify, are you saying that an uninsured motorist is liable whatever happens regardless of who was at fault?
I honestly don't know the answer and would like clarification on it.

I have a feeling you aren't right, but I don't know for sure.