Legal Proceedings against you when your insurers delay payment

sguk13

I was involved in a car accident in July, which unfortunately was my fault. I hold a protected NCD fully comprehensive policy with Quote Me Happy and contacted them from the scene to report the incident.
All details were exchanged with the other party and the police that attended provided an incident number and declared that as far as they were concerned it was an accident only incident and would not be taking the incident further.
Things progressed and within one month I received a settlement from Quote Me Happy after my car was declared a total loss.
2 months after the incident, I received a letter from the other party's insurers to say that my insurers hadn't settled the matter within an acceptable time, so unless payment was made within the next 7 days they would start legal proceedings against me!!
I had never heard of this and was naturally worried about the consquences. I finally managed to get a message through by email to my insurers who replied saying that they had been in contact with the other insurer and told them not to contact me direct again as they were dealing with the matter. They apologised for the distress and assured me they had things in hand.
Yesterday I received another letter from the other party's insurers to say that my insurer still hadn't settled and to take this letter as formal notification of legal proceedings unless the claim was settled in 7 days.
I have again emailed my insurers and am awaiting a reply.
I had no idea that if your insurers didn't pay out that legal action could be taken against you. It seems unfair as I have no control over their actions and when we entered into the policy, they agreed to take on the liability should I have an accident. Isn't that what we pay insurance for?
Can anyone offer me advice as to what to do next?
Am I likely to go to court? If so, will I be liable for fees etc? If I were to settle the amount myself would I be able to claim the money back from my insurers? Should I even do that?
Please help. I'm at a loss as to what to do next and don't seem to be getting anywhere with my insurance company.

BertTheRaccoon

Contact your insurers and tell them proceedings have been issued & served upon you due to their delay in dealing.

Ask them for instructions on where you need to send them the court papers so they can have their appointed lawyers deal on your and their behalf.

Get the name of the person you speak with. Send the papers by recorded delivery and call them every day until they confirm the papers have been received and sent to their lawyers.

Tell them if a judgment is entered against you, you will be seeking financial redress from them

InsideInsurance

It is unlikely court proceedings will be issued.

Legally it is you that is liable for the accident, as you admit, as you have insurance your insurers negotiate and pay the bill on your behalf.

Some third party organisations like to keep the pressure on by sending fairly hollow threats to the likes of you so that you keep the pressure on your insurers. Rarely would proceedings be issued by another insurer for anything that happened only 2 months ago as its a small track case and so the insurer has to fund their own barrister that can easily exceed the value of the repairs they are trying to recoup.

Forward the letter to your insurers again and let them deal with it. If you actually receive a court claims form then you should follow the advice of BertTheRaccoon

If it does go to court then your insurers will both represent you and deal with it. As it is simply a matter of quantum not liability it is unlikely you'd need to even attend

magpiecottage

I had one of these a couple of years ago after I was involved in an accident.

I copied it and forwarded it to my insurers asking if they could confirm it had been received and dealt with.

They e-mailed to say that, in fact, the matter had already been settled.