What happens if hit by uninsured driver?

movilogo

If I have fully comprehensive insurance what will happen to me? Shall I get compensation for my damage?
Also, what happens in case of head on collision when both drivers have comprehensive insurance?
A friend of mine told in this case insurance companies ask to settle each other's claim!

mattymoo

Lots of questions.
There is an organisation, funded by a levy on all motor insurance companies, called the MIB - Motor Insurers Bureau. See www.mib.org.uk
They are a fund of last resort and will compensate victims of untraced / uninsured drivers.
It is a complex process where the progress of the claim is often down to how co-operative the uninsured driver is - normally not very.
You would claim for the damage to your car on your comprehensive policy. If you are injured, you would claim that from the MIB.

Head on collisions split in to two types. One where a driver is overtaking and in the wrong lane. The other is the country lane type collision. I think you are asking about the second.

In the absence of witnesses these claims normally settle with an apportionment of liability - 50/50. If both are comprehensive, each insurer deals with the repairs to their policyholders vehicle and then reclaims 50% of the cost from other drivers insurer.
If both are TPFT then they each claim against the others insurer and recover 50% of outlay.

Years ago this type of claim was dealt with under the "Knock for Knock" agreement where insurers simply did not pursue each other for their outlay. Then internet and phone based insurers came on the market. They cherry pick their policyholders - no convictions, no accidents, safe unmodified cars etc. They felt that the swings and roundabouts of the K4K agreement would never swing in their favour so they opted out. The agreement finally ended around 1993.

Astaroth

Your insurance company would pay out for the damages to your vehicle and attempt recovery of their losses from the driver of the vehicle... if you have legal expenses cover they would (or appointed solicitors) would attempt to get back your uninsured losses from the other driver too.

If they are unable to make a recovery of your uninsured losses then the MIB's uninsured loss agreement comes into play. I cannot remember the differences now between the uninsured and untraced agreements but I believe the uninsured means that you can only claim for personal injury claims against the MIB and the excess/ hire car etc are just things you will lose. If it isnt the case then there is still a £300 "excess" which gets deducted from any settlement paid by the MIB

Liability is a fairly complicated area of law.... for all accidents you have to judge what percentage each party was responsible for the accident... simple cases are 100/0 where one party is fully responsible for for the incident but you also get the classic narrow lane collision which is settled on a 50/50 where both parties are equally responsible.

After liability has been established each insurer will settle the other parties claim (both insured and uninsured losses) to the proportion that their client is liable. For example on the 50/50 each insurer would settle 50% of the other parties claim, on an 70/20/10 against their client the insurer would have to settle 70% of both the other 2 parties losses but could recover 20% of their clients claim from TP1 and 10% from TP2