County Court claim re: accident last year

simon69c

Hoping someone here may be able to help me...

Today I received a county court claim for about £1000 from a solicitor on behalf of someone who I assume is the husband or boyfriend of someone I was involved in a low speed rear end shunt with in February last year during the really icy conditions (the driver of the other car was female). Now the incident itself was dealt with through insurance at the time and I thought that had been the end of it - that was until I got this thing through the post. The particulars of claim say the claimant is claiming for "Credit Hire", which I can only guess is for a hire car while their car was being repaired (though it does seem rather high at ~£870).

I was just wondering why this would have been claimed off me directly rather than through my insurer? I don't have legal cover with my policy unfortunately, but I'm hoping that doesn't mean they won't actually pay for this - I would have thought this should have been covered by the original claim on my insurance?

I'll be calling my insurer tomorrow to find out what their take on all this is, but thought I would see if anyone had any ideas here in case there is something I should know.

Thanks in advance.

Crabman

Be aware that your insurer is duty bound to pay any Judgement against you (if things were to get that far) - inform your insurer of the development asap and say you'll forward the papers to them immediately (use a secure postal method).

You will have 14 days from the (assumed) date of service of court papers to file an acknowledgement of service. If you indicate that you intend to file a defence, the time limit increases to 28 days but it's vital either you or your insurer respond to the court within 14 days otherwise you risk a default judgement.

simon69c

Thanks Crabman - I suspected it would just be a case of informing my insurer and forwarding it on, but good to have the reassurance - I'll be onto them as soon as their office opens this morning!

Is there any particular reason the other party's solicitor took this claim out against me personally rather than just going direct to my insurer? I just hope this isn't treated separately on my insurance and is just treated as part of my original claim.

Oh and apologies if this should have been posted in the Insurance forum - didn't actually spot it when I posted here originally! (Mods please move if appropriate)

Pitlanepiglet

The claim will always be issued against you individually (with a few exceptions) so don't worry about that although your insurers will deal with it fully at no direct cost to you.

Pass it to your insurers ASAP and they will deal with it. Credit hire is a hot potato at the moment the costs of it, as you can see are huge.

If you are not disputing liability then there won't be any need for you to go to court if it gets that far. The insurers are probably querying the amount being claimed for the credit hire. They may run it as far as a court hearing but as it will be on "quantum" (value) only, you won't need to attend at all.

Just keep an eye on it all now and again and keep a careful eye on your post, it isn't unusual for the insurers and their lawyers not to act quickly enough and for judgment to be issued. If judgment is issued you push for it to be set aside ASAP (which should happen with no problem) and it will then be removed from the register.

It will be counted as part of the original claim.

SPANIEL36

isnt it a bit strange that the origonal 3rd party (the female driver) isnt claiming this credit hire?


sorry if it seems a silly question

Pitlanepiglet

SPANIEL36 wrote: »

isnt it a bit strange that the origonal 3rd party (the female driver) isnt claiming this credit hire?


sorry if it seems a silly question

The claimant will be the owner/insurer of the car so if it's husband/boyfriends car the claim will be in his name.