Insurance didn't pay

Aquatronixjenny

Hi Everyone.

I'm after some advice for a friend of mine. They had a small car accident about 2 years ago which was her fault, they admitted liability and passed all information over to their insurance company to deal with.

They didn't hear anything, assumed everything was sorted out as according to their renewal they lost their no claims etc. Anyway, about 2 weeks ago they had a letter from the other party's solicitor saying that the garage was chasing for the repair bill as it hadn't been paid? My friend phoned her insurance company immediately and they assured her that all bills that had been presented had been paid in full.

My friend wrote back to the other party's solicitor telling them that it was dealt with via the insurance and that all bills had been paid.

This morning, they received a small claims court action against them for a hefty garage bill that the other party had to pay! They phoned their insurers who said that they had never seen this particular bill, it wasn't presented to them at the time. My friend is at a loss as to what to do, this must fall on the insurance companies surely? They are worried about getting a black mark against their name for something they didn't even know about?

Any advice would be welcome, they have responded to the claims court with basically what I outlined above but is there anything else they should be doing?

PNPSUKNET

pass all letters to the insurance, dont reply

alistair.long

yeap, give the letter to the insurance to sort it out, the insurance will have to get solicitors to sort it out.

Aquatronixjenny

But she has to reply to the small claims court... right? As it says on the paperwork that if they don't reply within 14 days they will be found guilty!

Its just a bit confusing as I guess the small claims should have been taken out against the insurance company and not them personally. I'm trying to advise them how to proceed and to try and avoid any court costs as to be honest they can't afford this and its not their fault.

dogbot

Your friend should have passed the first letter to her insurers immediately and should not have replied her self. She needs to pass everything to her insurers unanswered and they will deal with it and get the ccj removed.

The claim is and has always been against your friend not the insurer. Insurers provide indemnity to parties being claimed against, but the action is always in the claimant's and defendant's names.

Indemnity is the basic principle of all liability insurance. The policy is an agreement between insurer an policyholder to transfer the risk of such legal action to the insurer, but the third party (i.e. The claimant) is not party to the contract, so the legal action remains against your friend - the insurer just stands in the way.

Policies will clearly state that the insurer takes over and handles the claim, the conditions require policyholders to pass everything over to insurer to deal with: they know what they are doing (for the most part - claims deps make mistakes and there are often delays but then it is their fault and problem, not yours!)

First she needs to call her insurer's claims dep and alert them to what has happened and get the address.

Next, post everything to them recorded delivery.

Finally, call them every few days to chase.

Quentin

It's not a question of guilt or innocence!

You should not reply to the court, but pass the papers on to your insurer to deal with (as will be set out in the policy conditions).

You aren't advising them correctly if you have told them to contact the court! (And the papers are correctly taken out against the car owner not the insurer! Though the insurer will sort it out and pay up if necessary)

Aquatronixjenny

Thanks for your replies everyone. She has replied to the court and has also passed everything onto her insurers. Its the first time anyone has seen this garage bill! Hopefully the insurers will step in and sort everything out for her, and hopefully they will cover any court costs too. Not sure if she has legal cover or not.

She is very grateful for your replies as she was so worried about this and just didn't know where to start! Think she will be joining the forum too now!

Quentin

There is nothing to worry about!

She shouldn't try to do anything more, but follow the advice here and pass all future communications on to her insurer.

Issuing the summons doesn't mean that a court hearing will follow, (both parties will want to avoid this), and will be months away should it come to this.

alistair.long

what was her reply to the court? she should not have replied to the court as it would have been the solicitors that would have done it, if for some reason the solicitors didnt act and you got a default judgement, that could be overturned.

So let your solicitors know the reply to the court when 1 is appointed.

In fairness if the amount they are claiming is less then £3000 then your insurance are better off paying them as the costs in defending a case will be about £3000 and the cost their solicitor will claim is going to be about £5000. So they can pay £3000 now or £11,000 if the court decide.