Third party claiming 6 months after incident?

PieMistress

DH reversed into a stationary (company) vehicle in january. Damage was hardly visible so after swapping details went separate ways. Told insurer who said they had received notification from,the third party about the incident but nothing further. Next we heard three months later was our insurers telling is they had closed the file as a claim had not been put in.

Roll forward three more months. So six months from incident and we receive a letter (to our old address as have moved) from the third party solicitors telling us to pay for the damage or they will take us to court?!!! The damage inspection report was done nearly six months after the incident?

Any advice?

Ultrasonic

Tell your insurance company and see what they say.

Guest101

Yes, dont handle yourself. Your insurance can deal with this. Probably hoping for a few quid quickly

arcon5

The fact 6 months has passed certainly doesn't relieve you (your insurer) of their liability - but if the report was only produced 6 months after it certainly gives you grounds to dispute it if you don't agree with it - unless of course the car has been in storage for the last 6 months making it much more difficult.

PieMistress

Will give them a call first thing. It was a vehicle that is red and is driven every day delivering letters so it won't have been in storage! The fact they haven't inspected the vehicle for six months is outrageous as anything could have been done to it on that time. The letter from their solicitor also has lots of spelling and grammatical errors and just doesn't read very well.

Ultrasonic

PieMistress wrote: »

The letter from their solicitor also has lots of spelling and grammatical errors and just doesn't read very well.

Sounds bogus then, but still tell your insurance company. They are potentially lisble, not you, though I can't see them paying out a penny in this case! Out of curiosity, how much money are they trying to claim?

PieMistress

Its,from a proper solicitor company and its for about £600

PieMistress

We are with a different Insurer now so guess I will also need to tell them?

smashingyour...

PieMistress wrote: »

Its,from a proper solicitor company and its for about £600

They'll probably just pay out, it'll cost them more to fight it.

Johno100

PieMistress wrote: »

We are with a different Insurer now so guess I will also need to tell them?

No it will be the insurers at the time of the accident, they were insuring the risk at the time of the incident.

I am sure someone else will be able to advise on the implications for your No Claims Bonus in such circumstances.

PieMistress

I appreciate all the replies, thanks