Car Insurance and Drink Driving

sharonfrancis

Hello - I am sorry for long message but I am very very worried and wanted to include all the facts:

Very stupidly my partner was involved in a rta with a Hackney Cab and was found to be over the drink driving limit (44mg) in August 2007 (I was not going out with him at time)

The vehicle belonged to him, it was taxed and mot'd and he was insured (3rd party).
Fast forward the summer 2009 (I was 6months pregnant at time) he receives a letter from the insurers saying he owes 16K for the other vehicle to be fixed, legal fees, hospital fees, personal injury etc. They said he had signed an indemnity which basically said he would be willing to pay. He did not know what he was signing and was petrified.
We appointed a solicitor who has spent the last 2 years writing to them / calls etc. They have on numerous occasions demanded he pay the full amount with 30 days or they will sue us- none of the threats have actually resulted in a court summons.
We also went to see the CAB - the chap we saw spoke to his partner who worked as an underwriter for an insurance company. She said that because the company had taken the premium for the rest of the year they would not have pursued getting the 14K as this was deemed unprofessional.
We have received another demand recently so my partner went to see our solicitor today. He has advised that we "sack" him. The phone calls and visits were costing us money and they were not actually amounting to much. He then said to let the insurers "find" my partner which could bide us some time. Now I am against this - I would rather get things dealt with now. I am thinking of writing a letter to the insurers explaining our current situation to them - my partner has just been made redundant (no redundancy payout received), he is taking a temporary job from Monday and will be earning 1K a month. and we are in no situation to pay them any money - we are a young family, struggling to make ends meet. He has already had to write to his credit cards / loan company and ask to be put on a payment programme because he is just not coping.... and to ask them what they plan to do. If they want to take us to to court then we are in no position to pay.

I think my questions are:
Should I write letter or let them find him?
If it went to court would they have a leg to stand on given our current finanical situation? Would a judge look favourably to us?
What does the idemnity mean?
Shoudl they have taken the yearly premium after the accident?
Would you advise bankcruptcy? (he has personal debt of about 15K)

There is a chance my partner's sitaution could change in a couple of years - he has an interview for a trainee engineer position in a couple of weeks. in a couple of years he could be on good money. I would rather we dealt with this now not sting us in a couple of years when in fact our lives could be a bit more comfortable.

By the way we have no assets - live in rented accommodation, have a £600 escort. The only thing we own that is of any monetary value is a VW campervan which is worth 3K but is in my name. We are not married.

I would welcome your thoughts please.

Many thanks in advance
Sharon

sharonfrancis

I have also found this on the internet - the last couple of sentances are rather interesting!!
If I have an accident and I was over the drink drive limit will my car insurance be invalid and void?

Many people are under the false impression that if they have an accident while over the legal drink drive limit their car insurance policy will become completely invalid and void. This is untrue.
All insurance companies are obligated to cover the costs incurred to any third parties that the insured is liable for under the The Road Traffic Act 1988, regardless of whether the insured was over the legal limit.
An insurance policy may have a drink and drugs clause whereby in the event of any claim the insured was convicted of an offence relating to drink or drugs their fully comprehensive status will be invalid (not the entire policy). This means they cant claim for any loss or damage incurred to themselves. However, a third party can still claim off a drink drivers insurance policy for any loss or damage incurred to them. The clause usually also states that the insurance company reserve the right to recover the cost of the settlement of any such claim off the insured. However in practice this right is rarely exercised as it is simply not cost effective.

robpw2

So this has been going on for three years ...why haven't they taken him to court yet ?
why does your solicitor not want to help you ... ?

robpw2

sharonfrancis wrote: »

I have also found this on the internet - the last couple of sentances are rather interesting!!
If I have an accident and I was over the drink drive limit will my car insurance be invalid and void?

Many people are under the false impression that if they have an accident while over the legal drink drive limit their car insurance policy will become completely invalid and void. This is untrue.
All insurance companies are obligated to cover the costs incurred to any third parties that the insured is liable for under the The Road Traffic Act 1988, regardless of whether the insured was over the legal limit.
An insurance policy may have a drink and drugs clause whereby in the event of any claim the insured was convicted of an offence relating to drink or drugs their fully comprehensive status will be invalid (not the entire policy). This means they cant claim for any loss or damage incurred to themselves. However, a third party can still claim off a drink drivers insurance policy for any loss or damage incurred to them. The clause usually also states that the insurance company reserve the right to recover the cost of the settlement of any such claim off the insured. However in practice this right is rarely exercised as it is simply not cost effective.

just because in practice they don't do it does not mean thy cannot or will not .. 16k is an awful lot of money to just write off

useless_git_requires_wife

Solicitors and insurance companies............a pretty toxic combination.

They are chancing their arm by the sounds of it.

It's very unlikely they would ever take your partner to court.

sharonfrancis

thanks for prompt responses so far

I think the solicitor sees it as a waste of money on our part to him (he seems like a genuine chap!). They simply just keep throwing idle threats our way but not actually following it up with a court summons. So I think he sees us paying him to receive their letters as a bit of a waste of time. He has said if it does ever go to court he would happily represent us
I really dont know why they have taken us to court......so far

what do you think about letter idea?

robpw2

i take it from your wanting to write a letter the insuracne company do not know where your oh lives and only have his solicitors address?

sharonfrancis

Well they have his parents address on file. He does not reside there now. should we be worried about them taking their assets? Should I write to them giving them "our" address? We are not married so dont know if it affects me or not?!
Yes they were corresponding direct with our sols

robpw2

sharonfrancis wrote: »

Well they have his parents address on file. He does not reside there now. should we be worried about them taking their assets? Should I write to them giving them "our" address? We are not married so dont know if it affects me or not?!
Yes they were corresponding direct with our sols

if they go to court and appoint a baliff , the baliff can seize goods to the value of the debt and you would have to proove that items were yours , receipts etc

sharonfrancis

So should we write to them, telling them he has changed address and give them the blurb about not affording bill and to do their worst so to spk? We do not have any assets - only VW Camper but the logbook is in my name. Same as car is in my name. That is all we own.

robpw2

sharonfrancis wrote: »

So should we write to them, telling them he has changed address and give them the blurb about not affording bill and to do their worst so to spk? We do not have any assets - only VW Camper but the logbook is in my name. Same as car is in my name. That is all we own.

they can take your tv, microwave , books clothing , computers, laptops etc
your oh should write to them its his mess .. if you feel his only option is br then he needs to get all his finances together and i suggest he speaks to one of the debt charities