Can I go to small claims court?

Mrs_Arkwright

How frustrating.

The car crash we had a couple of weeks ago, it turns out the other driver wasn't insured. I can't believe it, I really thought, even though she was a cow, that she would have insurance, she was some high-ranking nurse type health professional whom I thought would have had the brains to use insurance.

So anyway, my question is, can I take her to small claims court to recover the money we had to pay out on our excess? I think I can, but would be grateful if anyone with advice or experience of this would give me their views.

I am so cheesed off.

lynzpower

I would have tohught so

Also are the police involved as she was driving without insurance?

Mrs_Arkwright

lynzpower wrote:

I would have tohught so

Also are the police involved as she was driving without insurance?

The insurance company have said they have contacted the police 'to see if she reported the accident'. I calmly told him that there was not a likelihood of this seeing as she was reluctant to give us her name and address, point blank refused to give us a telephone number or insurance details (now I know why) and then when we had managed to extract her name and address (only by calling the police) she flashed her work badge with her name on, gave us her address and !!!!!!ed off sharpish. I reported it at the time, but the police were not particularly interested, saying 'your insurance companies deal with it, not us' although I did manage to get a log number. The insurance company have basically said 'tough, you lose your money' - I asked them about the legal cover we have, as I have been advised previously by another customer service advisor that we could use that to claim back our losses, but the chap today said 'no you can't as she's not insured'. He said basically we are stuck with losing our money, but I really cannot accept that. How unfair is that, we pay our insurance and go by the law and are penalised, she doesn't and gets away with it.

Very cheesed off.

jaja_3

Mrs A - its very unfair:mad:

I know this is not the same thing, but just as a help of circumstance. My Mum got crashed into a few years back, she was left paralised with fear in the middle of a set traffice lights, police where called to remove her and the car but they 'culprets' sped off. She sustained injuries to her back etc and can now no longer drive.
This went to the special dept. that deals with bods who do hit n runs, or people with no insurance - she fought for four years through a solicitor and at the end of that received about 1.5K most of which went to the solicitor. the stress and upset she went through fighting took a larger toll on her health too.

Now, I really really hope you can do something to get your money back, and have some sort of prosecution brought against this muppet who it seems gets away with no insurance whilst the rest of us DFW have to pay it:mad:

Do what you can, but also know when to give it up - dont let it eat you up, you are worth far more.
Best of luck
jaja

lynzpower

god what a nightmare

have a look on your home contents - some pay out for legal , mine does.

Maybe speak to the DVLA

I do remember seeing an ad for a car insurance co that said "WE pay if you get an uninsured driver crash into you, others dont" but I wasnt really noticing as I dont have a car

wuckfit

might be worth contacting the police again, giving your log number and saying that the driver was un-insured.

don't know if the DVLA would be interested, but if she is an NHS professional, and was driving without insurance during work then that could be very serious. it might be worth paying her a visit to suggest that she cough up or else you'll report her to the head of her NHS trust.

a health professional told me once that drink-driving could potentially get you sacked for bringing the profession into disrepute, so driving without insurance may also be covered. if it was during the course of her duties then you'll be in a much stronger position to put the squeeze on her via her employer.

the fact that she flashed her badge would suggest that she was.

best of luck

Dr.Shoe_2

Assuming the accident was her fault, your insurance company will almost certainly be chasing her for the money they pay out to you or costs incurred as a result of the accident. You can claim for uninsured losses such as the excess, lost revenue (salary) and incidental expenses such as transport costs.

You should find that if the insurers are successful then you should not lose your no claims.

Mrs_Arkwright

Dr.Shoe wrote:

Assuming the accident was her fault, your insurance company will almost certainly be chasing her for the money they pay out to you or costs incurred as a result of the accident. You can claim for uninsured losses such as the excess, lost revenue (salary) and incidental expenses such as transport costs.

You should find that if the insurers are successful then you should not lose your no claims.

This is the thing though Dr, it most definitely was her fault. They have told me that if they are successful then we will get the money back, but today have also said that because she is uninsured it is unlikely they will be successful therefore I will lose the money. We are not talking much money here, only £250, but when you haven't got £250 to waste it's a lot. And I feel there are principles at stake, why should she get away with it?

It's so frustrating, isn't it, when you try your best to be a 'good citizen' and abide by the rules, even though it costs, and then some %$&^ comes along and ruins it for everyone else.

I guess I'll just have to wait a bit longer to see if the insurance company chase it further. If I do have to go to small claims, I can't see that I would lose - surely she would have to prove she was insured which she won't be able to do.

Grrrrr, why couldn't we have just had a straightforward honest muppet drive into us?!

wuckfit

it's not just the £250.

normally, when the other party's insurance pays up, you get your excess back. when you get your excess back, your No Claims Discount remains intact.
even if you get the £250 back off her, the NCD will be lost ( I think it's 2 years worth) . there is a body which covers losses due to uninsured drivers.

if you do take her to court, make sure you get the value of the lost NCD as well.

Mrs_Arkwright

wuckfit wrote:

it's not just the £250.

normally, when the other party's insurance pays up, you get your excess back. when you get your excess back, your No Claims Discount remains intact.
even if you get the £250 back off her, the NCD will be lost ( I think it's 2 years worth) . there is a body which covers losses due to uninsured drivers.

if you do take her to court, make sure you get the value of the lost NCD as well.

You're right, they've said we will lose 2 of our 3 years - how would I work out a value of that? I hadn't even thought of it. And I suppose I can claim for the cost of public transport used while I waited a week for them to provide a courtesy car. And the cost it will take to travel up to her town for a small claims hearing, as I believe they always do it in the defendant's town - she lives 90 miles away. And the cost of me and Mr A and my two witnesses having to take the day off work?

Will probably end up costing her more than if she'd insured her damn car in the first place Mr A is a plumber, and a day's wage for him is equal to the cost of a small island in the Caribbean

Oh, you have to laugh, or else you'd cry.

mrbadexample

No-one seems to have mentioned the Motor Insurers Bureau yet, which may be able to help in these sort of cases.

http://www.mib.org.uk/MIB/en/Default.htm

IIRC, they take the first £150 of any claim, so there might not be a lot left in this case. (It was £150 about 20 years ago so it's probably more now )