Insurance claim against a 3rd party

Dazza1979

I was in a collision some weeks ago ( the other persons fault ), my own policy is TPFT, i reported to them, which have appointed me a solicitor under legal expenses - they have made a claim against him, but my solicitor tells me that the other party's insures haven't any reply to the accident.

where does this leave me as my cars has been totalled ( written off )

thanks

mattymoo

Can you clarify with the solicitor what they mean. I could read it several ways from what you have written.

1) They have not replied to his letters.
2) They have replied but cannot deal because their policyholder has not informed them of the accident.
3) They have no defence to offer and will be dealing with your claim.

If it is 1 or 2 then your solicitor should be upping the stakes. A letter along the lines of "Unless you confirm you will be dealing with my clients claim within the next 14 days, we will commence legal procedings".

Dazza1979

mattymoo wrote: »

Can you clarify with the solicitor what they mean. I could read it several ways from what you have written.

1) They have not replied to his letters.
2) They have replied but cannot deal because their policyholder has not informed them of the accident.
3) They have no defence to offer and will be dealing with your claim.

If it is 1 or 2 then your solicitor should be upping the stakes. A letter along the lines of "Unless you confirm you will be dealing with my clients claim within the next 14 days, we will commence legal procedings".

Hi matty,

I think the situation is that he ( the other party ) hasn't responded to any of the letters of claim, sadly probably not in his interest to report or respond to it, as he was drink driving

a short email from my solictors...

I have just been speaking to the third party insureres who have advised
they still have not heard anything from their insured so they are going
to chase it up again with him.

I have put in my diary to chase it up with them in 10 days so hopefully
we will have good news.

I apologise for the delay with your claim and i will keep you informed
of any further developments.

mattymoo

Fraid you are a bit stuck.

Insurers do need their policyholders permission before dealing with claims from other persons (third parties). While the insurers will make the ultimate decision on how the claim is dealt with (pay or defend) they do need that initial co-operation from their policyholder. If you look at it the other way around, say you hit somebodies gate and they wanted £50 to fix it but went to your insurers instead of dealing with you. Insurers pay out £50 without your permission, you lose NCD and have a valid complaint against them.

Obviously this case is far more serious and like you say, the drink driving element probably means he is now banned from driving and couldn't give a stuff.

His insurers can do things to get the ball rolling though. They can get a copy of the police report (if criminal procedings have been concluded) and check the circumstances in that.
They could get a member of staff in a local office to visit the policyholder and find out what he is playing at. In my day, when we had an office in every major city this was an easy thing to arrange. Now with centralised offices / call centres the insurers would probably have to pay an external firm to do this hence their reluctance.

They could also inspect your vehicle and start discussions with you via your solicitor on a "without prejudice" basis. This basically says, if we discover our guy is responsible, then we think your vehicle is worth £xxx and this will be our offer. You can then negotiate the offer if you think it is too low. Saves time doing this in the long run. It is called agreeing the quantum (amount) of the claim while liability (whose at fault) is still disputed / unclear.

Finally, any injuries on your part or did he hit your parked car?

lisyloo

But surely he cannot simply ignore it forever.

If the insurance company are not able to act (without his permission) then surely the solicitor should start chasing the the 3rd party personally.
Then win a case.
If he still ignores then it's a case of sending the balliffs in or getting an "attachment of earnings" to get money directly taken out of his pay.

Obviously a great deal more hassle to go down this route but ultimately he can't ignore it.

Dazza1979

yes it was a head-on crash more details here..
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=422589pert.com/showthread.html?t=422589

had sustained some whiplash injuries but nothing serious though.

alteast i know more where i stand
thanks for replies

matty!

you seem to know the procedures have you worked in this sector yourself? :P

mattymoo

Still work in insurance but commercial stuff now. Dealt with claims in the early 90's.

Lisyloo - no he cannot ignore it for ever but by ignoring it he can cause total agro for everyone else involved including his own insurers who will have to pick up the increased costs involved.

Like I said earlier, best to try and start discussing vehicle values and an offer for injuries now to save time later. I'm guessing the car is incurring storage charges and his insurers will want to try and keep these as low as possible. If they inspect and make an offer (without prejudice) they can get your permission to store the vehicle at one of their recommended repairers at a lower cost.

Lisyloo - the solicitor is chasing the guy directly. Any summons will have his name on it, not the insurers. The insurers will pick up the cost at the end of the day but they cannot simply act without at least trying to get his agreement to do so because it could prejudice his rights. Remember how many threads we see on here where "my insurers paid the third party without my permission and now my NCD has been lost" etc.

One silver lining though - at least the guy was insured. Although the MIB does exist for claims against uninsured drivers, there are limits as to what you can claim.

EDIT - just read your other thread. No vehicle to inspect. Makes things a bit harder but if you have any recent photos, receipts etc they should be able to work out a pre-accident value.

Dazza1979

My solictor did arranged for the car to be inspected by an insurance assessor who stated it was beyond economical repair, they noted the damage and what the pre-accident vaule was, so hopefully they could go on the engineer's report.


thanks