Major insurance stress

Cavygirl

I had an own fault accident in July 2016 where I bumped into a parked car in the work car park. I reported it immediately. I didn't claim for the damage to my car. I have contacted my insurance on numerous occasions and on each occasion I have been told not to worry and assured that the payment would be sent. My understanding is that it was sorted .
I have recently received a court claim form from the other side that they will take me to court for payment. I have spoken with each side - My insurance are telling me they are waiting for the correct documents from other company and they have told me that they have repeatedly sent them. I have sent the court claim form to my insurance. If this isn't sorted I could end up being taken to court. Each party is blaming the other one, but I'm left to deal with it.
Can anyone help - the stress is horrendous and I just need it sorted - thanks

Quentin

You have done the correct thing by passing the court documents on to your insurer.


Check that they have received them and are taking action.

Aretnap

Issuing court papers is a common traffic for speeding things along when an insurer is taking its time about settling a claim, and ultimately it's the only way to force the issue of your insurer won't pay. They are issued to you rather than your insurer only for technical reasons - you caused the accident so ultimate responsibility life with you, but your insurer is required to settle any judgment on your behalf. They can't sue your insurer directly because nobody is claiming that your insurer damaged the other person's car. Rest assured that even in the unlikely event that the case did end up going to court it would be your insurer, not you, who had to put their hand in their pocket at the end of the day.

As above just make sure that you forward all correspondence promptly to your insurer and chase them up to make sure it didn't drop off their radar. You pay them good money precisely so they can do the worrying for you when something like this happens

Crazy_Jamie

Cavygirl wrote: »

If this isn't sorted I could end up being taken to court.

In short, no. You've admitted that the accident is your fault, it just seems to be that your insurer and the other side are having some sort of disagreement as to how much should be paid out. Other than sending some of the court documents to you (which they often have to do), this really doesn't concern you. Even if the matter ends up going to court it is extremely unlikely that you will need to attend, and even if you do it's a civil court (not a criminal court, like you've probably seen on tv) and it's your insurer that picks up the bill. It really isn't anything you should be worrying about.

ylb

Thank you all so much - I've been so stressed with it all - its worse because I know the person whose car I hit and I don't want her to get an increased premium because they are being awkward. Cheers all ����

agrinnall

She may get an increased premium if it's not sorted by renewal time, but that can be claimed back by her from your insurer.

benbenandme

Sorry to tag on to your thread but I'm in the same situation - my accident was over 4 years ago and I received a letter over 3 years ago from my insurers saying it had been settled. Yesterday I received the court documents giving me 28 days to pay :eek:

Can I ask, if anyone can help, could I end up with a CCJ or similar on my record? Also I'm currently in the process of moving house - could this affect the mortgage application? I'm stressed enough right now, I really don't need this too

FutureGirl

Send the court documents on to your insurers.

benbenandme

Thanks Futuregirl, my worry is though that I already have a letter from them telling me they have settled the claim, so I don't trust them to sort this as it seems they didn't pay up three years ago when they told me they had

Aretnap

benbenandme wrote: »

Thanks Futuregirl, my worry is though that I already have a letter from them telling me they have settled the claim, so I don't trust them to sort this as it seems they didn't pay up three years ago when they told me they had

It could be that it's a new aspect of the claim which your insurer wasn't aware of at the time. For example if someone is claiming that you caused an injury which didn't become apparent until some time after the accident, they would be able to make a claim for up to three years from when it became apparent. Or if a child was injured and didn't claim at the time for whatever reason, he could make a claim any time before his 21st birthday. So while getting a new claim 4 years after the event is unusual, it's not impossible, and your insurer couldn't be blamed for not settling a claim which hadn't been made yet.

FutureGirl

You NEED to pass them on to your insurers.

The third party seems to be coming to YOU for the money. You need to acknowledge the papers and potentially send a defence by a specified date. If you don't then the court would likely award the third party whatever they want, and will be ordering you to pay.

So, please, send it on to your insurers.