reclaim car insurance payments

skylinelover

Hi folks,

This is my very first post so i hope i make it clear and concise.

2006, i wrote of my mothers car in an accident. I was a driver with no licence, no insurance and did not have permission to drive the car.

I was prosecuted for Dangerous Driving, driving otherwise in accordance and no insurance. I was not prosecuted for TWOC.

My mothers preferred insurers basically sent a letter stating they would only pay out if they could then reclaim their costs from me. At the time i agreed to pay them approx £5000 at £100 pm.

I have now paid approx £3000 towards this.

My question, Are they entitled to take this money from me? Do i have any leg to stand on with regards to ceasing these payments and reclaiming my money?

My thinking is My mother has paid a premium to insure her car, it was effectivley stolen and they pursue myself for the cost of writing off the car. Would they be able to enforce this?

Thank you in advance.

Hannah_10

Why do you want to avoid paying? If times are hard you should renegotiate the payment to what you can truly afford.

skylinelover

My thinking is,

If some random person had stolen the car, had it written off would the insurance company be able to pursue them for the money? if so then fair enough but surely that defeats the purpose of paying an insurance premium.

Hannah_10

Right so, it's not that you can't pay, it's that you don't want to?

skylinelover

technically i have enough money to pay although it will be extremely tight.

All i want to know is, am i legally able to refuse any more payments and claim back what i have paid?

BTW thank you hannah.

_Persephone

skylinelover wrote: »

My thinking is,

If some random person had stolen the car, had it written off would the insurance company be able to pursue them for the money? if so then fair enough but surely that defeats the purpose of paying an insurance premium.

Yes, but TWOCing is different to theft, and you have already mentioned TWOC.

Doubt you'll be able to reclaim it back as you have admitted liability by offering payment.

skylinelover

Could you point me in a direction to even look into it?

Any other advice greatly appreciated!

_Persephone

If a random person had stolen the car and been caught, it is possible that a civil came could have been brought against them to recover the costs. You could try posting this question in the insurance forum on here, as there may be some experts floating around there. I work in Insurance, but not the claims part, sorry!

BigCraigJohn

Consumer action group.
With all due respect MSE will help with dealing with consumer debts and reducing yout bills but I can pretty much guarantee nobody on here could offer any more than opinion and this is a pretty specialist thing.

My opinion is that the insurance are probably in the wrong. Logic tells what probably should of happened is that you were prosecuted for taking the car, your mums insurance pay out as the car was stolen and you took the punishment and answered to your mum.

skylinelover

ok, thank you!

dtaylor84

skylinelover wrote: »

My thinking is,

If some random person had stolen the car, had it written off would the insurance company be able to pursue them for the money? if so then fair enough but surely that defeats the purpose of paying an insurance premium.

You damaged the car, your mother is entitled to recover the costs of repairing it from you. She will have subrogated that right to the insurance company, who pay to fix the car and recover the cost from you.

You mention that you weren't charged with TWOC, some car policies exclude situations where the car is taken by a family member, or only pay out if the driver is charged with TWOC, etc.

Ultimately, you caused the damage and you agreed to pay. You haven't got a leg to stand on.