Advice Needed - third-party insurer stalling !!

DougalButler

Hello all !

I have an ongoing problem following an accident my car was involved in at the start of September this year. My neighbour knocked on my door one afternoon to tell me that both his car and my car had been involved in a ‘hit and run accident'. He had heard a large bang and came out of his house to see a red car driving away from the scene of the accident. As we live in a quiet cul-de-sac there was no possibility that any other car had been involved other than the red car.

Both his car and my own car suffered extensive damage from the accident. Following the accident my neighbour and I found a red car parked locally with extensive damage consistent with being involved in our accident. Pieces of the red car were retrieved from the scene of our accident, and these matched the paintwork and damaged area of the car we had found. I took pictures of both my car, my neighbours car and the red car we had found.

Both my neighbour and I reported the incident to the Police immediately by telephone and subsequently completed the Accident Self Reporting Forms with the Police.

2 weeks later my neighbour informed me that the Insurance Company of the red car had admitted liability for causing damage to his car. This was repaired at the full cost of the third-party. My car was quite old and I was only insured third-party, fire and theft but I did have Motor Legal Cover. I gave all relevant details to my solicitor who has been dealing with the third-party insurer.

The problem I have is that the third-party has not admitted or informed their insurance company of colliding with my car, but only my neighbours. I have a written statement from my neighbour confirming what he saw, photos of all of the cars involved and pieces of the red car retrieved from the crash site. The photos clearly show red paint matching the third-party’s car on my bumper from the accident. My neighbours car and my own were parked 15 yards apart on the same side of the road at the time of the accident - what is clear is that the driver collided with my neighbours car first and then my car. It's madness that they are denying involvement in my accident too, and they are clearly trying to save their own insurance going sky high.

The third-party’s insurer has had an engineer inspect my vehicle, and this has confirmed it as a write off. He has valued my car as being worth £900. After my solicitors involvement they then made an offer to settle for this figure then reneged on it. This was because they wanted a copy of the Police Report for the accident. As the Police didn’t attend the scene of the accident there is no Police Report. My solicitor has stated time and again that this does not exist but the third-party is insistent on holding things up unnecessarily by asking for it. BTW My solicitor has reported problems contacting the third-party's insurer who are refusing to answer calls and delaying replying to her e-mails.

How should I best proceed/what are my chances of success here ? - should I instruct my solicitor to serve notice before action on the third-party now or ask my solicitor to put pressure on the third-party’s insurer to settle based on the strong evidence I have ?

Thank you for any advice you can give

Quentin

As you have a solicitor (presumably appointed by your insurer, so will know the ropes) just leave it to him to pursue this - though no harm in giving him a prod, and asking how long he will wait before taking legal action!

AndrewSmith

The other thing to do to prompt them into action is go to an accident management company and get them to provide you a replacement hire car chargeable to the third party insurer, if yours is not legally drivable or roadworthy. With the cost of this mounting they will soon hurry up and settle your claim.

What was the damage to your car and did it leave it unroadworthy?

chanz4

AndrewSmith wrote: »

The other thing to do to prompt them into action is go to an accident management company and get them to provide you a replacement hire car chargeable to the third party insurer, if yours is not legally drivable or roadworthy. With the cost of this mounting they will soon hurry up and settle your claim.

What was the damage to your car and did it leave it unroadworthy?

This could also cause issues, as some insurance companys take accident management bills to court as not mitigating costs

paddedjohn

Since the other driver has admitted causing the damage, i would be asking why the police arent doing him/her for leaving the scene of an accident.

AndrewSmith

chanz4 wrote: »

This could also cause issues, as some insurance companys take accident management bills to court as not mitigating costs

Yes but they can only do this if the third party has failed to mitigate. In this case where, if the OP vehicle is unroadworthy, they would not be able to claim he had not mitigated as he has attempted to manage without credit hire for this time, and the at fault insurer has not made an offer of a like for like replacement vehicle. in fact the at fault insurer would not be able to challenge on these grounds as the OP has made every effort to get the claim settled quickly therefore has demonstrated his willingness to mitigate. It is the at fault insurer that has since withdrawn their settlement offer and now delay proceedings, therefore leaving the OP in a situation where he is clearly disadvantaged by the actions of their insured. They would not have a hope in hell of a challenge on the grounds of mitigation.

With the value of the OP vehicle being relatively low they could dispute credit hire on grounds of impecuniosity however the onus is on the at fault insurer to prove this, not the OP to disprove it. Besides this close to Christmas it would be unreasonable to expect the OP to replace the vehicle himself without affecting his normal standard of living.

I know only too well how insurers deal with credit hire as for over 3 years it was my job to investigate and defend such claims.

InsideInsurance

There is nothing to say the OPs vehicle isnt road worthy. A relatively minor dent in a wing can easily exceed the threshold to write off a £900 car at insurance company prices and certainly wouldn't make it unroadworthy.

You need to speak to your solicitors on how to accelerate the matter, though to be honest under 3 months is not a particularly long time in claims terms.

DougalButler

I was offered a loan car at the time of the accident by my insurance company's driver assist program - however, as the third-party had originally informed my neighbour that the car had been stolen (before finally admitting that its wasn't stolen and admitting liability to colliding with my neighbours car, 2 weeks later) they then said i couldn't have a loan car.

I have now disposed of my car on the instruction of my solicitor who said that i could do this as the third-partys insurer's engineer had already inspected it, and valued it.

I have now bought a new car following the accident as it was obvious that my original vehicle was a write-off, even before the third-party's engineer inspected it. I was only third party, fire and theft, but had motor legal protection hence my solicitor's involvement.

It is really frustrating as I have lots of evidence of the third-party's involvement in my accident - witness statement, photo's of his car/my car, paint of the same colour as the third-party's car on my bumper. How he has the nerve not to admit it in the face of all this evidence is amazing !

chanz4

you have disposed of what would be insurance property on a payout, not a good move as they will now deduct salvage value from your payout

DougalButler

They had already deducted £85 for a salvage fee for the vehicle from the amount the Engineer valued the car at, so this won't have any effect on things.

Quentin

Even straight forward cases where there is no dispute often take longer than 3 months to be finalised, so as advised earlier, be a little patient and leave it to your solicitor to sort out!

Don't beat yourself up about the evidence - people try it on (and are encouraged to do so!). If it is as compelling as you say, then it will get sorted in your favour, but it all takes time!

For the future, (if you are unhappy about the delay), then consider comp insurance, as you may find little or no difference in the cost over your current third party cover. Then you would get paid out quickly without this hassle (though still have to chase the third party for your uninsured losses)