Car insurance wants £26,260.00.

iEKOS

Parking_Trouble wrote: »

The FOS make this clear on their website

Very very interesting.

That put a smile on my face. There is hope. A small one but there is.

This was not intentional as mentioned before. I have nothing to gain from having the car on my name. It has not been offset on tax or anything like that.

Also, the letter from a solicitors firm is addressed to both me and my dad. Can they chase both of us?

Caz3121

iEKOS wrote: »

At the time, both parents lived with me and the car was at one address. My dad mainly drove the car. I have a repair shop down the road from where we live and I walk there and back.

When your parents moved was the car insurance changed to his new address or was it left at your address?

Parking_Trouble

iEKOS wrote: »

Very very interesting.

That put a smile on my face. There is hope. A small one but there is.

This was not intentional as mentioned before. I have nothing to gain from having the car on my name. It has not been offset on tax or anything like that.

Also, the letter from a solicitors firm is addressed to both me and my dad. Can they chase both of us?

Yes, they can chase both of you and hope they can get the money from one or both of you.

The letter just sounds like a bully boy threat at the moment. Stay calm and push back on them. The court will expect both parties to have tried all they can to reach an agreement before it lands in court.

Get your official compliant sent to the the insurance company (send it "signed for" so you have a record and ask them to get their solicitor to back off until the complaint has been dealt with.

Also do the dummy quote to see what the Insurer would allow. It is important to know if they would have issued a policy with your Dad as the policyholder and you as the registered keeper (RK). The RK and the Owner are two different roles so the vehicle can be registered to someone who is not the owner.

Also ask for a breakdown of the claim and the specific grounds for asking you to pay the claim. Most insurers these days do the minimum to challenge the claim themselves, especially where personal injury claims are involved. There be may items in the claim you can reduce or eliminate.

I am surprised it is already passed to the solicitor - I would expect the insurer to ask for payment or a payment plan before handing to solicitor and threatening court action.

You must consider getting expert advice from a solicitor or Citizens Advice.

Don't ignore the situation or you will end up with a CCJ.
Well worth putting up a fight by the sound of it.

dogtired_3

You have a claim against you for £26,000. Unless you're rich it might lead to bankruptcy, loss of your house etc.

Rather than spending time here, go see a solicitor. If you've only got one offering to work for you for £500 shop around.

As for not getting legal representation, the old saying goes, the man/woman that represents themselves has a fool for a client.

Ignore people that give legal advice in forums but haven't actually passed a legal exam in their life.

Bangton

The owner and registered keeper is important as most companies will not insure someone on a car which does not belong to them -whether it belongs to a family member or not. The only exclusion to this is to avoid fronted risk when a driver is under the age of 25 or if the company have specifically been made aware of it and it has been agreed via their underwriters (for a specific circumstance). Oh and if the car belongs to a spouse or partner.

I don't want to upset you OP but I suspect the complaint will be rejected. It is YOUR FATHER's responsibility to ensure his insurance details are correct. They cannot take ownership because he asked your sister to fill in some forms online for him. Even if they did, what about the fact he will have received the documents confirming the insurance and the details around it.

The insurers have clearly voided your father's policy at this point (ie cancelled as if it never existed) on the basis that they wouldn't have provided insurance for your father on a car he does not own in the first instance. This is why the insurers are now requiring you to pay up.

I would never say never but lest we forgot where such sums are involved the insurer aren't going to want to cover that loss either. Putting myself in the shoes of a claims handler I'm not sure I could believe that someone could buy a car and forget who was the legal owner. Surely you receive car tax reminders in your name for example?

I am sorry to be blunt but I have worked with insurance companies and the FOS in the past both in professional and personal life and my gut feeling is that this will be rejected. It doesn't mean I'm right but the insurance have given you ample opportunity to give correct details as the question will have appeared online at the time of the quote (I reiterate it is not their responsibility if your father/you did not complete this) AND in the docs they sent out to confirm the insurance. This is what the FOS will be looking for...

In terms of the amount owed, insurers do tend to demand the amount by a certain date, however like any debt/fine etc the next step if you are unable to pay would be to look at your income etc and work towards a payment plan. They can chase both your father and yourself as the policy was in his name (giving him a share of the responsibility) and the car is in your name/as well as you being a named driver (giving you a share of the responsibility)

dacouch

It would be helpful if my earlier questions could be answered eg

Who actually paid for the car originally?

Whose name is the receipt in?

How long has the OP owned the car and when did they pass their test?

huckster

I think the OP needs to start an FOS complaint as soon as possible. Better to have the matter considered by the FOS, rather than wait for the courts to get involved. If the OP receives a court claim before the FOS get involved, then the FOS will not be interested.

Not sure this is a case of fronting. Just sloppy handling of their Insurance arrangements by the OP.

Parking_Trouble

huckster wrote: »

I think the OP needs to start an FOS complaint as soon as possible. Better to have the matter considered by the FOS, rather than wait for the courts to get involved. If the OP receives a court claim before the FOS get involved, then the FOS will not be interested.

Not sure this is a case of fronting. Just sloppy handling of their Insurance arrangements by the OP.

I agree with this.

The facts we derive from the OP's posts so far is the following

Owner - OP's Father - it was a gift
RK - The OP
Policyholder - The OP's father
Named Driver - The OP

Sounds like the only item not disclosed correctly is the RK. The insurer is assuming the Owner is the RK. You can see the insurers point of view but here appears to be a logical reason for the RK to be different - albeit due to an error.

Clear evidence that the OPs Father is the main driver would surely sway the FOS.

My family have two cars.

I am the owner and RK of both. One is insured in my wife's name with me as named driver and me as the main driver. The other is insured in my name, wife named drives and also main driver and son as named driver. All insured through LV= and got great prices on this years renewal after I got them requoted online.

That is why I think OP has a case - but depends what the insurer would have allowed and whether the FOS are going to be sympathetic.

Might be different for a spouse but perhaps a close family relation at the same address is considered the same.

Bangton

huckster wrote: »

I think the OP needs to start an FOS complaint as soon as possible. Better to have the matter considered by the FOS, rather than wait for the courts to get involved. If the OP receives a court claim before the FOS get involved, then the FOS will not be interested.

Not sure this is a case of fronting. Just sloppy handling of their Insurance arrangements by the OP.

The OP needs to have complained to the insurer before taking the matter to the FOS. They are interested only when the insurer has failed to respond within 8 weeks of a complaint OR where the insurer has issued a final response..

Again, slopping handling is not the fault of the insurer who would have declined cover based on the actual facts of this case (the ph not being the owner and reg keeper).

Would anyone seriously pick up a bill for almost £27k because of someone else's sloppy handling...insurers are no different

vaio

Bangton wrote: »

The OP needs to have complained to the insurer before taking the matter to the FOS. They are interested only when the insurer has failed to respond within 8 weeks of a complaint OR where the insurer has issued a final response.......

I'd have thought that if the OP gets their finger out and reads the FOS links and does a complaint to the insurer then under the "treat the punters fairly" ethos the insurer would be honour bound to suspend legal proceedings until the FOS had adjudicated.

Bangton wrote: »

..........Again, slopping handling is not the fault of the insurer who would have declined cover based on the actual facts of this case (the ph not being the owner and reg keeper).

Would anyone seriously pick up a bill for almost £27k because of someone else's sloppy handling...insurers are no different

Is this knowledge or schadenfreudeic guess work? and that's before you consider the fact that the OP has assured us that the father is the owner