Help, confused re claim on motor insurance

jodieg1982

My OH had an accident last September that he was found at fault for. He was insured with Gladiator. His van was a write off, so claimed and bought a new van.
We have just had a small claims court / county court claim for the third parties insurance layout that her insurers paid for the damage to her car, her excess, telephone and postal costs and personal injury.
Do we contact our insureres from the time of the accident? and why hasn't her insurance company claimed from our insurance at the time?
I'm confused and worried as she's claiming for upwards of £5k

forgotmyname

Your insurance maybe slow at paying them so giving them a nudge by sending you the bill hoping you pass in onto them to speed things up.

Take copies and pass it onto your insurer at that time.

OnanTheBarbarian

Take copies or scan the documents you have received, phone the insurers you were covered with at the time and get the address and claim ref from them so you can post the all of the papers to them without delay.

I would recommend sending them recorded delivery so there is a good chance the papers will get there.

Phone them every day after you have sent them to make sure they actually do something with them (they need to pass the papers onto their panel solicitors immediately so the solicitors can go on record at the court and file a response to prevent judgment being entered against your other half)

This should then be the last you hear about the matter as they will eventually agree a settlement with the other party & pay up. All future communications will go to the solicitors your insurers appoint.

The proceedings are issued against your other half as he was the responsible party, but your insurers settle the claim. So don't worry, all standard procedure.

jodieg1982

Thanks, i'm just a bit confused. We were insured with Gladiator but everything was done through Ageas and Murcury Claims. They've never contacted us to say that the third party is claiming on the insurance - is that normal? I also have no idea where OH has put any of his old documents, can we just ring Gladiator customer services and take it from there?

Aretnap

Indeed, if your insurer doesn't pay (which could be because they're disputing liability,mid spouting the amount of the claim, or because they're just plain dragging their feet) then the only way the other party can force them to pay is by going to court. The claim is made against your OH because ulimately liability for the accident rests with him - they can't sue his insurer because nobody is claiming that his insurer damaged the other guy's car. But this is just a legal nicety - if it does actually go to court it will still be your OH's insurer who put their hand in their pockets, your OH won't have to pay anything personally. And it's unlikely that it actually will go to court - his insurer will likely pay up or come to an agreement with them before it gets that far.

Your OH should call his insurer (the one he was insured with at the time of the accident) first thing in the morning, let them know that he's received the court papers and forward them to the address they give him. It's probably also a good idea to chase them up in a few days and make sure they're dealing with them,

OnanTheBarbarian

Yeah just call them, they should be able to trace you through postcode, vehicle reg etc.

The third party crew have probably been in touch with them directly from the early days, which will be why you have not known about the third party claim as they have not needed to involve you so far. Odds are either they have not been able to agree settlement amount, or more likely your insurers are lazy specimens with a silly backlog and the other side have grown bored of getting no response, so need to strong arm them with court proceedings to get the job done. Again, pretty standard procedure sadly.

jodieg1982

Thankyou all so much for your advice, I was going out of my mind with worry. Wish they'd think what they're doing to people! Might actually sleep properly tonight :-)

jodieg1982

Posted the court papers to insurance on 30th April recorded delivery. They still have not been received, have checked royal mail and it states your item is being processed by us. It should have been there Friday. I took copies, should I try sending the copies? Just want to get this sorted so I don't have to bother with it anymore ��

OnanTheBarbarian

Have you got access to a scanner? Scan & email them.

jodieg1982

Ok, will do. Thanks ��

OnanTheBarbarian

Just make sure you get a correct email address for them and quote the claim ref number in the subject line so they can quickly identify/ allocate it