Neighbour hit my car-now he's suing me!

lisyloo

can he (my neighbour) make a claim to both his own insurers (or mine had I had some) and the MIB for the same accident?

No he can't claim twice, but what can happen is that his insurers can pay up and THEN go after the 3rd party to recoup their losses.

Also, wouldn't his insurers baulk at paying out £3000 on a car worth so little?

Definitely.
His financial losses cannot exceed the value of the car.
If the repairs cost more than the car (or even slightly less) then it wouldn't get repaired it would get written off and he'd get a very low value back.
That's why I'm confident he hasn't lost £3000.
His case does not stand up to scrutiny which is why it won't do well in court. A court wouldn't take kindly to it either.

it's at the end of the 75 yard private drive and in no way part of the highway though it's shared by the residents - does this make it public?

It's not a public road but it can still be a "public place".
For example a supermarket car park is private land but a place with many memeber of the public and it's therefore a "public place" and you'd be expected to behave accordingly.
Yours doesn't sound like it has general access to the public.

this could be why he's trying to claim it happened on the road

Sounds spot on to me.

Maybe a silly question. But do you have a garage. If so then I would suggest you start using it.

bylromarha

Sue him back for £3000, citing time wasted and stress caused by his false allegations.