Uninsured Driver Claim on my policy

olly300

kaya wrote: »

there was a programme on telly about insurance fraud, apparently accident details are being faked and people who have never had an accident are also targets, i would report your sister and her friend for TWOC , lets be realistic about things , thats what they did and they know it , i would also contact the relevent authorities regarding insurance fraud-despite the actions of your sister and her friend if there was no damage to any vehicle or party then demanding 14k from you is fraudulant to say the very least , i would also be hoping that your sisters friend has a spare 14k you can sue her for if it all goes belly up

Just because there are no visible scraps on the OP car doesn't mean they:
1. Didn't cause damage to the other car, AND
2. Didn't injury/cause a health scare with a passenger or a driver in the other car.

The other driver or their passenger could be pregnant and/or have a medical condition where such an accident could have made an ambulance attendance vital.

I actually know people where shock and stress often makes them have a health crisis resulting in them having to either go to A&E or hospitalisation. They aren't all entitled to disability badges or don't want them.

Also a former accountant of mine was heavily pregnant, had someone drive into the back of her and had to be taken by ambulance to A&E.

If the person also worked, had to take time off due to the accident and has a high paying job/is self-employed then not only would there be the NHS fees and solicitors fees but an amount to repay them for loss of earnings.

olly300

shreddy wrote: »

On a side note did the driver have any insurance of her own which provided cover to drive other cars?

If you read the posts you would see that the driver had a license but didn't drive (so no insurance) and is back in South Africa. This means the only people worth pursuing are the 2 passengers if they are convicted of TWOC.

The OP should contact the FOS helpline and speak to them about how to make a complaint about the unfair policy wording after reporting his sister and her 2 friends to the police.

Other insurers make it clear that if you report the matter to the police then you as the policy holder aren't liable as you didn't commit the offence.

I've reported the Admiral Group in the past about some unfair policy wording but in my case it was to the FSA and didn't involve any accidents.

pendulum

Your insurer would have contacted you about this claim, sooner than now. Has your sister been hiding mail hoping it will all go away?

You should be asking the insurer for the exact details of the claim... everything they know.

Obviously if what you have said is true and not made up, then your sister has been lying about the extent of the damage as well as withholding the truth from you. The insurer wouldn't have paid £14k including NHS fees unless something pretty significant happened for which there is some evidence.

thenudeone

raskazz wrote: »

If the vehicle genuninely was taken without consent by the "friend" then they are not entitled to do this.

Which is spot on, and seems to have passed some of the other posters by.

If your car is stolen (or technically TWOC'd) and the driver causes damage or injury which the insurance company is obliged to pay for, the insurance company CANNOT reclaim any costs from you.

However, the OP has created a great deal of doubt about the situation by telling the insurers who the driver was without having reported the car as having been TWOC'd to the police, even when it was clear that this is what had occurred, although he did inform the insurers of the TWOC as soon as he became aware of it.

The insurers now suspect that the OP has allowed someone else to use the car without insurance. They have been forced to pay out £££s due to a little-known part of the RTA 1988, and wish to reclaim this from the OP. This is going to be a messy fight, and the OP needs to get legal advice fast, IMO.

Try using any legal cover you might have with trade union membership, house insurance etc.

Happychappy

I don't know what you think the police will do with your report? a woman called Kate who lives in South Africa...................end of story. This will go nowhere, and if you think the police will contact south Africa to make inquiries :rotfl: doesn't happen, no enquiries will be made or authorised, tens of thousands of known criminals commit offences and return to their home countries, only extremely serious cases are followed up internationally, and a car park scrape doesn't even register.

I'm afraid you as the owner of the car are stuck with it, by all means let the insurance company take you to court to reclaim their costs, and then you can have your day in court (civil) and this will test how believable your story is by the judge ? lesson learned, don't trust females :eek:

dtaylor84

Happychappy wrote: »

I don't know what you think the police will do with your report?

You're missing the point. If the car was taken without consent the insurance may cover the claim (ignoring EUI group policies having a clause excluding cover for TWOC by family members). The point is not to have the driver prosecuted, but to get a crime reference number.

However, it may well be moot (as the sister was involved) and too late anyway.

caezar

Hello Guys,

Thank you all for your advice.

I was unable to login yesterday but I have read your messages intently today and I have gotten a sense of what to do. I have had a sit down with my sister and she has repeated her story. She sincerely believes no one was hurt (there were three children in the third party car during the incident and they were all laughing and in high spirits when they left). There was no call for an ambulance at the scene either. If there was any impact to their health due to the incident, then it must have been felt/realised after they left the scene. At this point, I am inclined to believe my sister. She may have been irresponsible in failing to tell me of the incident as soon as it happened but she would not continue to lie to me at this point considering the seriousness of the situation.

I will be contacting the insurance company as soon as I get back. I will be asking for full details of the incident, a breakdown of costs and payments and all information they obtained during the course of their investigations. I will not dispute the NHS Costs or indeed any of the payments made to the third party if my insurance company has conducted a fair investigation into the matter. I will however dispute liability as regardless of the validity of the claim, the car was taken without my consent and from what I have read here on this forum, I do not believe I should be held liable for the costs.

Before I contact the insurance company, I will enlist a lawyer to comb through the policy wording and to assist me in making sure this does not hit the fan. I will also be filing a formal report with the police (something I realise now, I should have done a lot sooner).

One again, I thank you all for your assistance so far. I will be sure to keep this thread going with updates on the progress of what is beginning to look like a long legal battle with the insurance company.

dacouch

Make sure your lawyer or any other advisers are aware that Elephant have the exclusion in cover for theft by a family member, Elephant may use this as an arguement so it's best to prepare them for it as they may find a work around

raskazz

caezar wrote: »

She may have been irresponsible in failing to tell me of the incident as soon as it happened but she would not continue to lie to me at this point considering the seriousness of the situation.

Why did she think that it was acceptable for her friend to take the car? Is your sister aware that she is also potentially facing a charge of taking without consent?

magpiecottage

I think it is worth making a complaint to Elephant that it is being unfair.

Regardless of the terms of the policy and that the OP's sister was in the vehicle, the driver was not the sister and they did not have permission.

It is also unrealistic to expect somebody to lock up their car keys when they are in their own home.

Put in the complaint now (ideally by fax to 0870 013 1179). They have 8 weeks to respond to it. If the response is unsatisfactory or takes more than 8 weeks you can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service (free).

If Elephant reject the complaint go to the Financial Ombudsman Service IMMEDIATELY (you need to download the form and snail mail it). This is because you will then be in a race to get FOS to accept it for investigation before Elephant get it to court.