Just received a County Court Money Claim regarding a car accident

pking1601

I have just walked through the door to find a nice brown envelope on the floor containing County Court Money Claim papers regarding a car accident, if you can call it that, that my wife had in October 2014. Although It was a very low speed collision with a taxi, my wife said it happened very quickly. No damage to our car, a faint scuff to the taxi, passenger got out as she saw my wife was shocked and asked if she was OK. Details were exchanged and my wife reported the incident to our insurers. We haven't heard a thing but now get this, clearly from a no win, no fee company but from the passenger claiming £6k! Of course its too late to speak to our insurers and have to wait for Monday. My wife is a worrier and rang our insurers after a month and no claim had been made to date.


We have been given 14 days to reply to the Court Papers. I have quickly read lots of bits online who say speak to your insurers but will be probably asked to send everything to them. My wife is worried sick by this and in tears.

The medical report enclosed is absolutely laughable when read. The passenger's own GP says there was nothing wrong with her and she should take paracetamol but this other GP disagrees and makes out the lady needs to be rebuilt like 6 Million Dollar Man. What makes it worse is we are in Kent but GP who did the report is from Bradford!


Anyone else had the same thing?

Donnakou

I am not qualified, but as far as I am aware, rta's normally are processed through the Claims Portal. Thereby the claim should be sent to your insurers, read your car insurance documents. Yes, any accident should be reported, no matter what, to your insurers just in case. You should receive a CNF Claim Notification Form. Check out the Justice Website for protocol and procedure. Check any home or car insurance you have to see if you are covered for legal expenses insurance and speak to them. They will give you advice and you should copy the papers received to them. There is a deadline from the CCMCC to reply to the claim. Brainstorm every detail of the incident onto paper, even weather conditions, mood you were in before the incident, what you had done that day so you give a clear and concise recall of that day, which makes you a believable witness defendant. It may be you are dealing with a serial claimant and they will end up paying all expenses if you end up at Court. The truth will prevail.

Donnakou

Also, IF the injuries are so life changing for the Claimant, you will not pay the £6,000 and I doubt quantum would be that sum if the incident were so minor as you say. Your insurers may instruct their own expert report and get the Claimants hospital and medical records if the injuries seem so severe. The Courts frown on fraud in these Claims at the moment and fines are high if the facts are proven to be falsified.

Donnakou

Sorry, didnt make that clear, your Insurance pays the damages, your premiums will go a lot higher though.

pking1601

Thanks for your replies Donnakou.


Monday seems a long time away. Everything I read online for similar situations is that the Insurers will deal with it but It really annoys me as you can smell the !!!!!!!! for miles when you read the paperwork. But why send it to us and not our insurers. Bullying tactics? I don't even know at the moment whether the insurers have had any contact or correspondence themselves. We haven't heard a thing from our insurers and it happened 4 months ago.


You can say it's my wife's fault in the 1st place as she had the "accident" and accepted liability. My wife can't really recall how it happened, it just did. They were in a line of traffic, crawling along, whether she was daydreaming or just didn't notice the car in front brake suddenly, who knows, it happens. But we are honest people but you cant help feeling we are going to get penalised in some way in the end. Plus its not pleasant reading these court papers and supporting documents. They are very harsh, clearly written in a way to alarm you. The medical report is an absolute joke. Any Tom !!!!!! or Harry could have written it.

OnanTheBarbarian

Don't fret about this.

Your insurers will already be aware of the claim, but you need to get the papers to them so they can pass them onto their lawyers to deal.

Your wife is being sued as she was the party at fault, but it is your insurers who will deal with the litigation and will ultimately pay the claim.

Get the address (either postal or email) where you can send these papers to your insurers and then dog them daily on the phone until they confirm the papers are with the lawyers. Once that is done, just forget about it as you won't get any more paperwork once the lawyers go on record on your (your insurer's behalf).

Donnakou

If you did not have any repair work done to your car and you can take pictures of your car to show that there is no damage, this proves there was no significant incident, if the taxi driver did not get hurt and the passenger did then they should claim off his insurance whose insurers would in turn claim from yours.

OnanTheBarbarian

Donnakou wrote: »

If you did not have any repair work done to your car and you can take pictures of your car to show that there is no damage, this proves there was no significant incident, if the taxi driver did not get hurt and the passenger did then they should claim off his insurance whose insurers would in turn claim from yours.

Ignore this, it is completely wrong

dacouch

OnanTheBarbarian wrote: »

Ignore this, it is completely wrong

Especially as there's almost certainly another claim coming from the taxi driver for damage to the vehicle and injury.

It would be very very unusual for a taxi driver not to make an injury claim

Aretnap

You pay your insurance company good money precisely so that when things like this happen, it's their problem, not yours. So I suggest you follow Onan's advice - pass it onto your insurers and don't worry about it further (other than by chasing them up to make certain that they've received them and are dealing with them).

Your insurers will make the decision on whether to defend the claim or to pay. Don't be upset if they decide to pay - it's their money, not yours, which they're handing over. As far as your future premiums go, if they've already paid for the damage to the car it won't make much difference. The fact that you've had a fault claim is more important than the amount it was settled for (many insurers don't even ask the amount), so it makes little difference to you whether your insurer ends up paying a hundred quid to have the taxi driver's bumper touched up, or six grand for a dubious personal injury claim.

pking1601

Thanks for all the replies. Its really appreciated it as I'm letting my wife read them as this has really upset her.
I suppose its the society we live in now to a certain extent. You see the adverts on the telly all the time but you don't think it will happen to you. And its not nice that it has. Plus it makes you think if the insurance companies have to deal with this sort of thing on a daily basis, no wonder they try and pass on the cost by way of higher premiums to everyone.
Even the government court papers are pretty intimidating to read and the fact you are only given 14 days to reply. What if I had received these whilst away on a 2 week holiday.
The medical report is a work of fiction from start to finish and is just laughable even to my untrained eye. I can't believe the stuff that's in it, contradicting itself going from that the lady needs a full body rebuild to no long term lasting effects expected and just pop an ibuprofen if required.
But it is what it is at the end of the day.
Roll on tomorrow when we can talk to someone which hopefully will put my wife's mind more at rest.