Hit by an uninsured driver!

JMartin

Back in September my car was hit from behind whilst stationary at a juntion. There was a bit of damage to my car and my insurance company duly arranged to have it fixed.

Because I believe myself to be a careful driver I didn't pay the extra for the hire car cover as I believed that if I hit someone it would be my own stupid fault and I'd pay for the hire car and if someone hit me the cost of hire would be covered by their insurance...cost several hundred pounds to hire a car whilst my car was in the garage for roughly a month.

My two kids were also in the car and we had to replace their car seats...few hundred pounds for new car seats.

Excess on policy of £200...again maximum for same reasons as no hire car cover.

After a lot of toing anf froing and the driver ignoring all communication with my insurer it turns out he wasn't insured. He was driving a company car from a hire car firm that he works for...he wasn't insured to drive the car but the car itself is insured.

The insurance company have now advised me that they intend to take him to court to recover losses amounting to the best part of £4,000 (insurers and mine). They have also advised that the chances of me getting any of my money back are extremely slim.

So, after reading all of that my questions are:

What other avenues of getting my money back have I? The money I lost was a month's salary payment...had I not just moved house and made a profit from the move I wouldn't have had the money to cover this. Is there some sort of criminal damages fund to cover this sort of thing?

Also, is it likely that he will be prosecuted in a criminal capacity? He was obviously breaking the law and I would feel even more agrieved if he got away with this without even so much as the 6 points on his licence.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and had a positive outcome?

Throbbe

I'm not sure of the limit these days, but I'd be looking at taking him through small claims court for your uninsured losses. Might be worth seeing if the insurance co recover their money first, as that would give a very good indication of how likely you are to be successful.

asea

I was hit (I'm a cyclist) by a car that was hired (and therefore insured) but driven by somebody other than the insured.

My solicitor advised me that there is a fund which is allocated for people who suffer damages as a result of uninsured drivers. It is maintained by the insurance companies but I'm afraid I don't remember what it is called (will ask my solicitor for you!)

Good Luck!

JMartin

Thank you both. The court action is a joint action to recover both mine and the insurers losses. They suggest that if he couldn't afford to be insured he's likely not able to afford any fine. I think I'm right in saying that the insurers losses would be recovered before mine through any payment plan that was imposed?

Asea...did you get any money from the fund? Presumably your bike was ruined and you were out of pocket at least for the cost of repair or replacement?

movilogo

If one has comprehensive insurance (with legal cover), why he personally has to sue the uninsured driver for loss recovery?

Isn't the insurer's job to do it?

Andyr11

asea wrote: »

I was hit (I'm a cyclist) by a car that was hired (and therefore insured) but driven by somebody other than the insured.

My solicitor advised me that there is a fund which is allocated for people who suffer damages as a result of uninsured drivers. It is maintained by the insurance companies but I'm afraid I don't remember what it is called (will ask my solicitor for you!)

Good Luck!

I believe that this is the fund you are referring to. Its where all our £35 go to when we pay for an uninsured driver.

missk_ensington

I dont know much about this, however if you're interested in the possible law enforecement and what a court might say....

My friend was caught a few weeks back driving
1) Uninsured
2)Without a driving licence
3) Drink driving
4) Speeding.

His sentence?

A 16 month ban (reduced to 12 if he does a course) and a £550 fine.

Since he's been driving with no insurance for 4 years and his annual premium would be over £1000 for a young bloke, £550 is nothing when he's saved over £4000 in insurance costs.

Although I am absolutely enraged by what he's done and I have drummed it inot him about how he's lucky he didn;t kill some poor girl walking back frmo a ight out, or someone walking their dog..... I fully understand why some people have no insurance given the cost of premiums and the penalty for not having it.

JMartin

missk_ensington wrote: »

Although I am absolutely enraged by what he's done and I have drummed it inot him about how he's lucky he didn;t kill some poor girl walking back frmo a ight out, or someone walking their dog..... I fully understand why some people have no insurance given the cost of premiums and the penalty for not having it.

I see what you're saying...premiums are high and the penalties are too low...same as why would someone go to work when benefits are worth more than wages...it's to do with morals...pure and simple....some people have them and others, sadly, don't.

laurz121

I've no idea if you'll be able to do this or not but have you considered speaking to the company that he works for? Aren't they breaking the law by allowing an ininsured driver to drive their vehicles? I know of a few people who have been prosecuted for letting their uninsured friends drive their cars so i'd assume it's the same thing.

The threat of bad publicity might make them cough up the money as it was their fault that this idiot was illegally on the road in their vehicle in the first place.

JMartin

laurz121 wrote: »

I've no idea if you'll be able to do this or not but have you considered speaking to the company that he works for? Aren't they breaking the law by allowing an ininsured driver to drive their vehicles? I know of a few people who have been prosecuted for letting their uninsured friends drive their cars so i'd assume it's the same thing.

The threat of bad publicity might make them cough up the money as it was their fault that this idiot was illegally on the road in their vehicle in the first place.

They say it was his responsibilty and they want nothing more to do with it. They say he knew he wasn't insured and was told that he had to arrange insurance...I presume therefore that they have indemnified themselves from any blame.

Thanks for the thought though...they're a very small localised company whose owners couldn't care less about me being hit by one of their cars so I doubt they care about negative publicity.

Do you think it would be worth contacting the police if the court case doesn't have a positive result?

Astaroth

Throbbe wrote: »

I'm not sure of the limit these days, but I'd be looking at taking him through small claims court for your uninsured losses. Might be worth seeing if the insurance co recover their money first, as that would give a very good indication of how likely you are to be successful.

You cannot do this.... your insurers issue court proceedings in your name as is their right. You can only take someone to court once for a single incident so as you will have already sued him (ie your insurers suing for their losses) you couldnt sue him a second time for your uninsured losses.

The fund set up is called the Motor Insurers Beauraux (MIB) and is a bit of a misnoma as it is a very small fund used to administer farming claims out to different insurers who have to pay for the losses even though they arent the insurers of the vehicle based on their market share.

It has been too long since I worked in claims to remember the differences between the uninsured drivers agreement and the untraced drivers agreement. For one of them you can only claim for personal injury, for the other both injury and uninsured losses but in neither case can your insurers reclaim their own costs and therefore counts as a fault claim. For both there is also an "excess" that is deducted from the settlement figure.