car insurance claim taking too long!!

hitauni

hi everyone im new to this but hope someone can help!!

so i had a fiesta and my brother borrowed it one evening, hes fully comp so it was ok. someone hit him and took responsibility at the scene. mr xx was driving his girlfriends car (she was in the passenger seat)
he said he wanted to go out of insurance...fine by me so i got 2 quotes for damage, rang him with a £400.00 quote willing to negotiate but got a ton of verbal abuse.
so i went to my insurance company who looked into it and confirmed what i thought...HE WASNT INSURED TO DRIVE HER CAR!!
anyway, my insurers at the time (swinton) passed it on to drive assist who persued the claim. they got back to me quite quickly saying they had also recieved a barrage of abuse from him and he now tried to claim he wasnt driving, she was. he also claimed he had paid me for the damage already but had no proof of it!!!
so they passed it over to solicitors prodow and mackay. they took ages to get in touch with me but eventually they did and told me they too had a very heated call wih him and also got a lot of abusive language from him. he had asked them for my address so he could come and 'sort it out himself!' and he told them he would make it as hard for me as he could, and also claimed he was on benefits and unemployed!
luckily my brother had since seen him driving a company van and on the back was his name as co-owner! so i gave this info to my solicitors.
months passed and i rang again and they told me i needed to write to the courts to ask for my address to be taken off the third partys court documents so he didnt see it, so i did this...more time passed...
i rang them again and they said my request had been sent they were waiting for a reply from the judge and then it will all be sorted and ill get the full amaount £406.00.......more time passed...
i rang again and was told they were just going to ring me!!! funny that! the judge had accepted my request to remove my address but had reviewed mr xx claim that he couldnt afford the full amount and were satisfied he could afford to pay me £5 a week!! my solicitor said they were going to fight this decision so were waiting for a court date now. also in the time being, my brother had seen mr xx driving a porsche, SERIOUSLY!, and noted he had changed the name of his company and had a new van with his name removed from the back (convinient) my solicitors told me that the girlfriends insurers now claimed he WAS insured to drive her car for some reason, but would not pay out because of some other reason (all told to me in legal jargon which he said he couldnt really explain to someone??) and the judge had agreed this and tho he knows the judge is wrong on that desicion he cant rule against him being a lowly solicitor (actual words he used!!)
he also informed me that because my quote was now 2 YEARS OLD the judge wouldnt accept it and would offer a lower amount even tho its not my fault its taken this long so he would have to ask for a lower amount and try to get me £30 a week. as with all calls to them he said we'll be in touch as soon as we know more.
that was about 5 months ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
is there like an ombidsman or someone i can go to above their heads to get this sorted quicker and find out what the hell is going on??
sorry its so long but i needed to explain everything.
NOTES: I am a single mum on benefits.
The fiesta was scrapped the following year as mot was too much, but i have photos of damage.
My premiums didnt rise thankfully!
PLEASE HELP ME BEFORE I RING THEM AGAIN!!
thank you.xx

dacouch

If there was an Insurance policy on the car, your solicitors could have just claimed directly off of that irrespective of whether he was a named driver.

Surely they would be aware of the relevant law eg the Road Traffic Act

paddedjohn

You say that your brother was fully comp so was ok to drive your car, contrary to popular belief, comprehensive insurance doesnt automatically give you cover on other vehicles. Why didnt you get your own insurance to sort it out? why hasnt the other party been done for driving without insurance?

hitauni

at the time the girlfriends insurers said he wasnt insured to drive her carpso wouldnt pay out. they changed thier mind when it went to solicitors but my solicitor said they had some reason for not paying out and the judge accepted that and even tho he knows the judge is wrong on that decision they cant go against him?? my brother being allowed/insured to drive my car has never come into question but all parties concerned know he was driving so i assume it is ok. i did go through my insurers who passed it on to drive assist (thier claim company) and they then passed it on to solicitors because he refused to pay.they told me he would only get done for driving without insurance if i reported it to the police but this was about 4 months after the incident and we had no witnesses.

Quentin

paddedjohn wrote: »

... Why didnt you get your own insurance to sort it out? ....

The op's insurer is not involved as at the time of the incident the car was being driven on another tp policy (the brother's doc cover) which is why this was 'sold on' to a claim handler

forgotmyname

Yeah he had fully comp on his car, BUT only 3rd party on your car. Remember that in the future. Anyone that drives your car who is not listed on your policy is probably only 3rd party cover.

Its a pass the buck thing, Your insurance were not interested not you driving and the other driver was not on your policy.

Brothers insurance dont have to pay out for your car so they are not bothered either.

I presume its a cheap car so not a lot of value in it for them, No hire car provided to rack the charges up. Or personal injury to help them push onwards.

BertTheRaccoon

I am struggling to comprehend here why Proddow Mackay have been trying to chase this idiot around to personally settle the judgment amount when either:

a) He was insured under a Driving Other Cars extension on his own policy or

b) The girlfriend's insurer has RTA insurer status here as they insure the car which hit you and you are able to identify the driver.

It is difficult to advise further here without knowing more specifics, which are only likely to be contained within the solicitor's file of papers. There is a possibility the solicitors could have mucked up and not served notice of the proceedings on the girlfriend's insurers, so they could be refusing to satisfy the judgment as RTA insurer because of this. Or they have not explained to the court that there is an insurer who will pick up the tab for any judgment, so not to get involved with the Defendant's sob story about how he can only afford £1 a week for the rest of his miserable life.