Problem with third party not admitting liability....

alexjamesbrown

I had a Southern Gas Networks van run into the side of me on 2nd Feb 2010
(It was at a roundabout - he was turning right, i was turning left, he came over into my lane and scraped my car)

I had a witness, in the car behind.

The driver got out, said sorry, gave details of the yard he was based at.
I called the following day to report my claim.

Since then, it has been going back and forth "trying to establish" liability.

Claim forms were sent to the third party, that apparently weren't returned.

Every time i call my insurance (Tesco) they tell me they're waiting to hear back from the third party.
I've called the third party insurance myself (Royal Sun Alliance) who said, that if they hadn't heard from their client within 21 days, they'd settle without prejudice basis.

21 days later, I call tesco, who called the third party insurance, and now they say they've heard from their client, and are "making investigations"
I seem to be stuck in some kind of loop.
This is getting ridiculous - here we are 4 months after the accident, and it's still going on.

What can I do?
I just want my car repaired, and don't see why I should foot the bill.

Quentin

alexjamesbrown wrote: »

What can I do?
I just want my car repaired, and don't see why I should foot the bill.

Why haven't you had it repaired by your own insurer? (All you will have to pay will be your excess, which you can pursue the third party for, along with all your other uninsured losses).

alexjamesbrown

because my excess is £700 - which is likely to be higher than the cost of repair.

Quentin

In that case you obviously wouldn't want to make a claim off your own insurance anyway. (Why are they involved in sending claim forms to the third party?)

Have you sent in a quote for the repair to the third party? If not do so now, saying you hold their insured responsible, and ask that they agree to reimburse your costs. Also ask if they wish to inspect the damage.

Then you can at least get the repair done and fight it out with the third party.

adamc260

Insurers generally have 90 days to comment on liability (which is lower on BI cases through MOJ)

if he has changed lanes with an independent witness, i'd be inclined to agree with your version of events, they should just deal, RSA are useless as an insurance company.