Accidentally uninsured

supersadie

Can anyone tell me the correct position. Someone ran into me in a car park. No witnesses. They were at fault and said they 'hadn't seen me' on the spot. Now changed the story and said I was at fault and ran into them. We exchanged insurance info but I don't want to claim for my damage as excess fairly high. When I contacted my insurer it transpired that my insurance hadn't been transferred to the new car when I bought it, although I'd had a quote from them and thought I'd changed over. Stupid oversight on my part, it seems, rectified immediately I knew. The other side are still wanting to pursue a claim with me but I believe liability is theirs. When do I stand in light of the fact that car was technically uninsured on the day and I believe they are to blame anyway? Thanks

Quentin

Presumably your insurer won't help, so you may need legal assistance to refute the third party.

You need to put in your claim to the third party insurer. If they accept full liability then you being uninsured will be irrelevant.

InsideInsurance

How long had you had the car at the point of the accident? Was it bought new or used? If used, who did you buy it from (dealer, private sale etc)?

What were the circumstances of the accident itself? How long ago was the accident? Have you enquired with the car park owners if there is CCTV that covers the accident and if there is if you can get a copy of the video?

These sorts of car park accidents without witnesses or CCTV are always difficult to resolve - even if there is CCTV it is often such low quality it doesnt always help. As such many end up being a 50/50 settlement with each side paying 50% of the others claim.

Part of this is a commercial decision on behalf of the insurers (the cost of court isnt worth it basically) but in certain circumstances it can be worth continuing to argue and go to court if necessary.

Without insurance you are basically on your own in defending/ pursuing the case. It isnt overly difficult to do but certainly can be daunting if you've never done anything like it before.

Have you spoken to the TPI yet?

supersadie

No CCTV. No witnesses. I haven't spoken to the TPI because I didn't want to pursue my own claim. I sent a quote for my body repair work to the broker service company who seem to be working for both sides - not sure...

Can I just do nothing? What happens if I do?

forgotmyname

Be careful. What if they push it and find you were uninsured they may report you.

Its going to cost you to fight this, And if you lose it could be costly.

It maybe best to bite the bullet and offer to repair their car. But if they have injury claims its going to be very very expensive.

You need good legal advice. If you can would be good if you can update us on how you stand legally and what happens.

I know someone on here and someone on another forum i use both had minor accidents and the bill came to £6000 and £9000.
Because they were uninsured they had to pay that.

And that was a small bump, If injury claims pop up then it could be double or treble that.

supersadie

There was no injury - it was a tiny collision but body work is always expensive. They had damage to their bumper and I had damage to my wheel arch. That was it. We were only doing about 5 miles an hour.

Why would I have to pay anything when I wasn't liable? Not sure I get the logic. Anyone with legal know how have a view?

Quentin

supersadie wrote: »

.....Why would I have to pay anything when I wasn't liable?....

The problem you have is both parties tell different stories, there are no witnesses, so how is anyone to know who is to blame?

In cases like this, the liability often ends up being split.

Norman_Castle

^Planning a spamming?

supersadie

So does that mean it would have been better for me to claim on their insurance for my damage instead of not pursuing it?

maginot

supersadie wrote: »

There was no injury - it was a tiny collision but body work is always expensive. They had damage to their bumper and I had damage to my wheel arch. That was it. We were only doing about 5 miles an hour.

Why would I have to pay anything when I wasn't liable? Not sure I get the logic. Anyone with legal know how have a view?

As mentioned, liability is not decided by you. Unfortunately few people are willing to take responsibility for their own actions these days.

The insurance company for the other party may decide that their customer was to blame after hearing the facts from both sides. However if you both dispute it may be settled 50/50 (how do the insurance company know who is telling the truth?).

It will be more difficult for you by having no insurance, if it does go to court and costs start to mount, you have a lot more to lose and therefore more likely to lie about the accident.

Quentin

supersadie wrote: »

So does that mean it would have been better for me to claim on their insurance for my damage instead of not pursuing it?

Yes.

Why would anyone exchange their insurance details then pay for damage they assert was caused by the third party?