Reclaim Time/Inconvience post Car/Bicycle Crash

Dangermac

Interesting. In post 1, you only had minor cuts and a little soreness

with only minor cuts and bruises, and a little soreness for a week, I'm not wanting to jump onto the massive PI claim bandwagon, so solicitors aren't interested.

By post 11, your conditions seems to have significantly deteriorated

That's on top of the actual injuries I suffered which is affecting how I interact with my kids due to movement limiting injuries.

I would recommend that you seek urgent medical assistance, as this rapid deterioration is not good.

With regards to your claim for inconvenience and time, I think you will struggle to achieve this. There is no ombudsman that you can approach, because you are claiming from the 3rd party insurers.

I would recommend that you pursue the losses that you are eligible to pursue. As for looking to change case law, good luck in your search for a suitable firm of solicitors. The SRA website should be able to provide you with a nationwide list of firms.

DM

InsideInsurance

The insurers represent their clients not you, how are they being anything but professional for wanting to get their client's version of events?

Would you be happy if your insurers registered a fault claim against you and paid out just because someone called up and said you'd caused them losses? There'd be another thread on here bad mouthing the insurers I am guessing.

lisyloo

I guess a big part of it is I know that the way the company is behaving is causing a day to day impact on my work, my home life, because of the level of stress it's causing me,

Don't take this the wrong way please.
But it seems to me that you have caused all this impact.
All you need to do is write a "letter before action" basically saying if they don't pay within X days your going to the small claims court.
One letter that's all.

Don't take this the wrong way, but YOU have caused the impact by handling it the wrong way and expecting these people to be on your side.
They are the insurance company of the driver and have no obigation to you unless you can prove it.
Phoning them up and asking them nicely is a waste of time, so it's your actions and incorrect expectations that have caused you all this stress.
All you need is letter that's all (I'd recommend recorded delivery which I believe is an extra 75p).

No you cannot claim for money you might have earned had you not chosen to make fruitless phone call. Firstly that was your choice to spend the time (ineffectively) that way but also you can only claim provable actual losses, so for example a letter from your employer saying "we deducted X because of your time off related to the accident".

Don't shoot the messenger if you don't like the message, but the stress is your own making for expecting a company you do not represent you to "do right" by you.

Quentin

lisyloo wrote: »

(I'd recommend recorded delivery which I believe is an extra 75p)......

A poor recommendation.

Recorded delivery (actually called "signed for", and actually costing an extra £1.10) is of no extra value than getting a free certificate of posting and can be detrimental.


Proof of posting is accepted by the courts.


But use signed for and you allow the recipient a way out (they can refuse to sign and thereby prove they never received the item!), and if signed for, anyone can sign, not just the recipient!

Quentin

lisyloo wrote: »

All you need to do is write a "letter before action" basically saying if they don't pay within X days your going to the small claims court.
One letter that's all......

This is far too simplistic advice.


What is the OP to do when this "letter before action" is ignored?

rudekid48

OP, have you actually submitted any claim to the drivers insurer? By this I don't mean just phoning them to try and get them to accept liability but actually submitted anything with a written repair estimate etc?

lisyloo

Recorded delivery (actually called "signed for", and actually costing an extra £1.10) is of no extra value than getting a free certificate of posting and can be detrimental.

I disagree.
Proof of posting, proves posting.
Proof of delivery proves receipt and usually there is a signature that you can look at on-line.

An insurance comapny will not refuse to take their post - there could be a cheque in it !!!

But if I was paranoid, then I'd fax and email (with receipts also).

What is the OP to do when this "letter before action" is ignored?

Decide whether they want to spend (£40 or what is it now) for going to court.
Better than wasting ages fretting and calling the insurer and having it impact their ilfe.
What do you suggest? - that they fret and let it stress them out?
This doesn't seem like a good idea to me.
Whatever they decide they should just do it and get on with it, not spend hours trying to negotiate with a party who has no onus to help them.

They cannot try charging for time that they have inadvisedly decided to spend on fruitlesss activities and fretting. The OP's response is his responsibility.

Quentin

lisyloo wrote: »

What do you suggest?.....

Taking legal action should be the last resort, and only after getting proper advice on the chances of winning.


The first thing to do is put in a written claim to the third party (or their insurers) stating that she holds them responsible for the incident as was agreed at the time and listing her expenses incurred as well as a quote for the repairs.


As the injury seems to have got worse, then get to the doctor/hospital for treatment and speak again to a PI specialist solicitor to see if a claim for injury is now worthwhile.

Zelfer

lisyloo wrote: »

Don't take this the wrong way please.
But it seems to me that you have caused all this impact.
All you need to do is write a "letter before action" basically saying if they don't pay within X days your going to the small claims court.
One letter that's all.

Don't take this the wrong way, but YOU have caused the impact by handling it the wrong way and expecting these people to be on your side.
They are the insurance company of the driver and have no obigation to you unless you can prove it.
Phoning them up and asking them nicely is a waste of time, so it's your actions and incorrect expectations that have caused you all this stress.
All you need is letter that's all (I'd recommend recorded delivery which I believe is an extra 75p).

No you cannot claim for money you might have earned had you not chosen to make fruitless phone call. Firstly that was your choice to spend the time (ineffectively) that way but also you can only claim provable actual losses, so for example a letter from your employer saying "we deducted X because of your time off related to the accident".

Don't shoot the messenger if you don't like the message, but the stress is your own making for expecting a company you do not represent you to "do right" by you.

Don't worry, not taking it the wrong way - I'm enjoying the debate in here, since there isn't case law for the recompense of time - Perhaps if there was, the client of the insured would have picked up the phone ( or responded to the numerous emails, calls, letters from his insurer) and admitted liability to the insurance company as he did to the coppers the day of the accident, and again a month later when he was spoken to again when a formal statement was taken. He's personally texted me about it since - why not his insurer! He thinks he's going to make it go away by ignoring it.


Yes, my injuries have got worse, but that's simple PI and being dealt with and out of scope of this discussion.


So, perhaps if the driver knew that his insurance quote was going to go up because he's not answered the phone ( or perhaps if he knew his insurance was going to be voided), he'd do the "Right thing".


I'm not holding his insurer responsible for my wasted time. I'm holding him.


And since his insurer is covering him to "return me to the state as if the accident didn't happen", it is unfortunately his insurer's bill to foot.


Yes, I've submitted a RTA Notice of Claim form (On paper) to the driver and insurer ( did this 2 days after accident), and it's been signed for by both. I understand that the RTA Notice of Claim process allows 1 month for resolution, or 6 - 9 months out of process.


For me, the claim is all down to proportionality of legal costs.
1) Damage to equipment - £300
2) PI - Maybe £300/£400.
3) My Time (if I was able to reclaim them)- Maybe £400?
3) Expected Legal Fees - £2000 + Expenses of ~£500.


Seriously - How is that Proportionate? It's only driving up everyone his and everyone else's insurance costs, and the only people who win are the solicitors.


And that just wastes yet more of my time while it's being addressed.


Looking forward to the responses.

Quentin

lisyloo wrote: »

I disagree.
Proof of posting, proves posting.
Proof of delivery proves receipt and usually there is a signature that you can look at on-line......

Sending a letter using "signed for" does not = proof of delivery.


In fact it can be used as proof of none delivery - if the postie doesn't bother to get a signature which is widely reported, or the recipient chooses not to accept.


Whereas all the courts require over posting documents is proof of posting.


(The courts themselves do not use signed for!)