car Insurance company threatening to cancel my policy

goody23

Quentin wrote: »

If you don't comply with them, then although they will deal with the the third party, they could not just cancel your policy (bad enough for you, as no other mainstream insurer will want you so you will be stuck paying a high premium to an insurer happy to have "difficult" clients on their books), but could void the policy, and come after you to reimburse them all their costs paid out over this incident.

Thanks quentin looks like i have to comply..

chanz4

why not just pay for the guys wall? Your 100% liable, even the fos wont side with you. Everytime I get in a car I ensure its in neutral.

HappyMJ

Am I the only one who starts the car with my foot on the clutch? I got into that habit years ago. What sort of starter motor can cause a car to jump so far with the handbrake on. The handbrake was on and your foot on the brake as well. No. Oh well. Your fault I'm afraid.

How could it the the walls fault? Did it jump out in front of you?

antrobus

HappyMJ wrote: »

Am I the only one who starts the car with my foot on the clutch? I got into that habit years ago.

No, I do the same. It must have been the way I was taught all those years ago. But apparently not everybody does

goody23 wrote: »

Soon as i started the car it shot forward and hit a wall opposite the garage..the idiot had left the car in gear and put the handbrake down to fix it but forgot to put it back before he gave me the keys. Anyway the owner of the wall put in a claim for it on my insurance, of which i denied liability..

Well I can quite understand why the owner of the wall might feel impelled to claim against your insurance, on the grounds that it was your car that hit his wall, as opposed to it being the other way round.

Given the circumstances, I don't think that you have any basis for denying liability as far as the owner of the wall is concerned. You might or might not have grounds for arguing that the "idiot" who left the car in gear was really at fault, but that's a separate claim for you to pursue against the "idiot" concerned, and has nothing to with the owner of the wall who deserves to have it reinstated to the condition it was in before you gave it a good whack.

thenudeone

Whatever the circumstances, Insurance companies are entitled to ask for you to send documents such as drivers licence or MOT, to check that you were complying with the law. So you should send these in even if you think you were not to blame.

They will decide whether they think it's worth defending the claim or not. Since they are paying for any damage, that's entirely their choice. That's what you agree to when you take out the policy. But AFAIK you don't have to agree liability, they will just let the other party know that their decision is to pay the claim. They can still pay out even if you disagree. You don't have the right to refuse to allow them to pay a claim just because you disagree; because if the other party sued you, it's your insurance company that would have to pay the legal fees, costs, and compensation on top, if the case was lost.

vax2002

You turned the key.. next time make sure ANY vehicle you attempt to start is out of gear.
Yes you are 100% liable for the damage and the accident.
And Damned lucky nobody was in the way...

vax2002

HappyMJ wrote: »

Am I the only one who starts the car with my foot on the clutch? I got into that habit years ago. What sort of starter motor can cause a car to jump so far with the handbrake on. The handbrake was on and your foot on the brake as well. No. Oh well. Your fault I'm afraid.

How could it the the walls fault? Did it jump out in front of you?

nope I do it, it causes less strain on the battery, the starter motor, flywheel and clutch as you only turn the engine over with the starter and not a cold gearbox .

mcjordi

vax2002 wrote: »

nope I do it, it causes less strain on the battery, the starter motor, flywheel and clutch as you only turn the engine over with the starter and not a cold gearbox .

thats what i always do..

But OP your 100% liable..