Need help re PI claim against me already paid cash

Enough17

I had an at fault accident in May 17. Unfortunately with the at fault accident I wasn't insured. We had moved to NI, had updated address but insurer didn't cover Ni and none of us had sorted it. Thoroughly ashamed. Anyway I pulled out of a give way junction and a motorbike hit my left side. Called police (unaware was uninsured) and the mess unfolded.

Paid fine, 6 points and car taken away. No one hurt, slight bruising for the biker. Just very traumatised as had my 2 children in car. We settled privately (!!!!) I paid him £2300 in cash for his bike repairs of £4600. Nice man etc both just happy no one was hurt. This was all done by about Aug 17.

I've now received a letter from his sols saying he has personal injuries etc and I need to write back in10 days admitting liability. He was back riding his bike as we met up a couple of times re the repayments.

I totally understand and hold hands up to fact I was in the wrong...just really anxious and worried now at what he will be claiming for? We own a property can they go after that to pay for claim. We have debt so would really only be able to pay anything back in instalments very slowly...will I be able to do this??? That's my main concern. Do I admit liability? The mibi wrote to me saying 3rd party had also claimed 4600 through his ins and now they were looking to get that from me. I rang him when I received that and he said no just ignore them, I'm happy now, main thing is we're all ok. I think possibly he thinks he can just claim through them (mibi) and won't affect me or he knows damn well and doesn't care. Just need reassurance re instalment option. Hopefully you can help.

Thanks in advance. I can send letter received.

Enough17

I have also received advice to report him to insurers for fraud and write back to his sols saying they are too a party to fraud and then take it further re sols. Is this right? I am tempted to ring him to say...what's happened, you were totally fine 4 months after accident. Should I negotiate with him
Or just reply to sols?

Aylesbury_Duck

Enough17 wrote: »

I had an at fault accident in May 17. Unfortunately with the at fault accident I wasn't insured. We had moved to NI, had updated address but insurer didn't cover Ni and none of us had sorted it. Thoroughly ashamed. Anyway I pulled out of a give way junction and a motorbike hit my left side. Called police (unaware was uninsured) and the mess unfolded.

Paid fine, 6 points and car taken away. No one hurt, slight bruising for the biker. Just very traumatised as had my 2 children in car. We settled privately (!!!!) I paid him £2300 in cash for his bike repairs of £4600. Nice man etc both just happy no one was hurt. This was all done by about Aug 17.

I've now received a letter from his sols saying he has personal injuries etc and I need to write back in10 days admitting liability. He was back riding his bike as we met up a couple of times re the repayments.

I totally understand and hold hands up to fact I was in the wrong...just really anxious and worried now at what he will be claiming for? We own a property can they go after that to pay for claim. We have debt so would really only be able to pay anything back in instalments very slowly...will I be able to do this??? That's my main concern. Do I admit liability? The mibi wrote to me saying 3rd party had also claimed 4600 through his ins and now they were looking to get that from me. I rang him when I received that and he said no just ignore them, I'm happy now, main thing is we're all ok. I think possibly he thinks he can just claim through them (mibi) and won't affect me or he knows damn well and doesn't care. Just need reassurance re instalment option. Hopefully you can help.

Thanks in advance. I can send letter received.

It is perfectly possible that the biker has latent symptoms from the accident, so you can't just assume that because he seemed fine a few months later that he must be faking injury.

What I'm confused about is the insurance situation. Others may come along and provide knowledgeable advice but I thought that in situations like yours, your insurance wouldn't pay out for your own costs but would do so for the innocent third party? Did you check that at the time or did you just go straight to the personal settlement scenario?

I'm also surprised that the biker accepted £2300 when his repairs were allegedly £4600.

I certainly wouldn't start negotiation with the other party, or reporting him and his solicitors for fraud. Who gave you that advice?

Geodark

Just to clarify, you were totally at fault and only paid him back half of what it cost him to repair his bike? or are you saying you gave him half in cash and the rest in instalments?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Your Insurance company at the time at still liable for the costs I would have thought? you may want to check.


This is going to become a messy one.


I wouldn't go shouting fraud to a solicitor, not unless you can prove it, they may just sue you for it.


MIB wont be interested as there is/was a policy inforce at the time, all be it your losses weren't covered, they should have covered the bikers costs of repair etc.


If your insurance flat our refused then you should have gone through complaints process and even looked through ombudsmans rulings in the past about this.

Car_54

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

What I'm confused about is the insurance situation. Others may come along and provide knowledgeable advice but I thought that in situations like yours, your insurance wouldn't pay out for your own costs but would do so for the innocent third party? Did you check that at the time or did you just go straight to the personal settlement scenario?

?

I understood from the OP that tHere was no insurance in place as he hadn't "sorted it out yet".

Enough17

=Aylesbury Duck;73820059]It is perfectly possible that the biker has latent symptoms from the accident, so you can't just assume that because he seemed fine a few months later that he must be faking injury]

What I'm confused about is the insurance situation. Others may come along and provide knowledgeable advice but I thought that in situations like yours, your insurance wouldn't pay out for your own costs but would do so for the innocent third party? Did you check that at the time or did you just go straight to the personal settlement scenario?

I'm also surprised that the biker accepted £2300 when his repairs were allegedly £4600.

I certainly wouldn't start negotiation with the other party, or reporting him and his solicitors for fraud. Who gave you that advice?[/QUOTE]

]I'm not saying he is faking injury - just stated that he was on motorbike 4 months later

An insurance expert gave me that advice online. He said as he had accepted cash from me and also claimed through his insurance that it should be reported as fraud. He said if he knowingly goes to court and says not received money he would be in contempt of court.

Yes we were surprised too, we simply didn't have any more. I guess he was planning all
along to claim twice. He told me he didn't want to claim off ins as premiums would increase and lose ncb (totally understandable). I wanted to make right the wrong, he asked what could afford and in his words "sure we are all ok, only had bruising, had a scan and all ok...would just like to recoup some of the damages. We also advised that once we sell out house we would repay the rest.

Yes we weren't insured. Had changed address, insurer advised not covered in NI and we failed to get new insurance!! We were having marriage problems at time and this got overlooked. Each thought the other had sorted it. We have 2 cars. I was insured on other vehicle but not covered under that. As I said thoroughly ashamed about that. We both have always had insurance, this was a massive mistake....due to move/marriage problems/ stress.

Enough17

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

It is perfectly possible that the biker has latent symptoms from the accident, so you can't just assume that because he seemed fine a few months later that he must be faking injury.

What I'm confused about is the insurance situation. Others may come along and provide knowledgeable advice but I thought that in situations like yours, your insurance wouldn't pay out for your own costs but would do so for the innocent third party? Did you check that at the time or did you just go straight to the personal settlement scenario?

I'm also surprised that the biker accepted £2300 when his repairs were allegedly £4600.

I certainly wouldn't start negotiation with the other party, or reporting him and his solicitors for fraud. Who gave you that advice?

Atrxblue - mibi were involved as they wrote to me requesting the £4769 that 3rd party had claimed through insurer. I emailed and said had settled privately and 3rd party was happy. I actually rang him when I received that letter in December and he said 'no don't worry we've settled it now, just ignore.'

Obviously I need a solicitor now...I have just lost my job (I guess this is how people's mental health take a turn for the worse..it all happens at once) would I be able to get help with legal costs?
I know what I did was wrong, am not disputing that. Just want to know what to do for the best and if can get help with legal fees. Also what the worst case scenario could be in terms of payment. my life was normal before this. Now I just feel like This could ruin my families life...I'm thinking worst case.

Aylesbury_Duck

Enough17 wrote: »

:beer:

]I'm not saying he is faking injury - just stated that he was on motorbike 4 months later

An insurance expert gave me that advice online. He said as he had accepted cash from me and also claimed through his insurance that it should be reported as fraud. He said if he knowingly goes to court and says not received money he would be in contempt of court.

Yes we were surprised too, we simply didn't have any more. I guess he was planning all
along to claim twice. He told me he didn't want to claim off ins as premiums would increase and lose ncb (totally understandable). I wanted to make right the wrong, he asked what could afford and in his words "sure we are all ok, only had bruising, had a scan and all ok...would just like to recoup some of the damages. We also advised that once we sell out house we would repay the rest.

Yes we weren't insured. Had changed address, insurer advised not covered in NI and we failed to get new insurance!! We were having marriage problems at time and this got overlooked. Each thought the other had sorted it. We have 2 cars. I was insured on other vehicle but not covered under that. As I said thoroughly ashamed about that. We both have always had insurance, this was a massive mistake....due to move/marriage problems/ stress.

I misunderstood. I thought from your opening post that you had insurance but that the accident occurred in NI and your policy didn't fully cover you there. I didn't realise you didn't have a policy at all...eek.

You're also making the common mistake of drip-feeding information here. So you actually left this as an open-ended deal with the biker, whereby you paid him half his costs but promised him the rest once you've sold your house? So it wasn't "all done by Aug 17" then. How did you record this deal? Did you get a form of receipt for the £2,300 cash you handed over? Was there a deadline for you to pay the remainder? Did he provide you with itemised costs to justify the £4,600? There are lots of unanswered questions and it makes it difficult for people to advise because it seems we don't know all the facts. You've asked about whether he can go after your house but you had said that you were selling it anyway and would pay him the rest of what you owe him. Are you selling your house or just hoping he'll let the matter drop? Is the latest action a result of him having run out of patience, after all it has been nine months since the accident?

Saying that, I'm not sure what advice people can give on here on what is a really messy situation. I would suggest you get some proper legal advice now that you have been contacted by solicitors. A personal injury claim could dwarf what you've already paid and what you already owe so you need proper advice so you understand what to do next and what is at risk.

macman

Didn't alarm bells ring when he accepted just half the cost of the repairs to his bike, although you admitted to being 100% at fault? Why would anyone do that?
I'm also guessing that when you paid him cash, you didn't get him to sign a receipt for the payment? So you have no way to prove that you made the payments?
Legal aid is not available for personal injury cases in a civil court. If a court case went against you and if you were unable to pay then the complainant could instruct bailiffs to seize property: however for this relatively small amount it's far more likely that the court would establish what you could afford to pay monthly, and set a payment schedule.
You'd only lose your house if you ceased to pay your mortgage and the lender repossessed it.

Enough17

Hi macman...I suppose I was very gullible and believed that he was just happy we were all ok. He seemed very genuine, in hindsight this was very stupid. I phoned a solicitor who advised to get back in touch with Mibi. It's not the remainder of what's owing I'm
Worried about its whatever further injuries he could be claiming for, that amount could be astronomical couldn't it, if it's affected him
mentally, loss of future earnings etc. How are these claims worked out? As I said he had a scan at time, no damage. The impact was not as bad as it could have been..I.e I was probably doing no more than 15 miles per hour. Small country road and I had just gone over a small bridge. He had saw (on a bend) that my car wasn't stopping so had time to slow down. There wasn't even a bang, his right side met with my left side and we sort of glided if that makes sense. Very small damage to my wing. Not even noticeable.

Re other poster above sorry, not deliberately drip feeding info, it's not the sort of thing I do on a daily basis. Thought had included all info. Re house sale, we put house on market, tenants panicked and moved out so had to take off and get new tenants. Told all this to 3rd party and he said would settle for 50% of bike costs. Yes looking back very generous of him and we said when we are in position to pay more we will but it seemed he was happy with the 2300. We did have full intention of getting to him when we could but he wasn't expecting it if that makes sense. If he changed his mind and wanted the rest I genuinely thought he would contact us direct. It's not like we had gone back on word. he shook my husbands hand and said " "you're a man of your word" when we paid final instalment. He then claimed on his insurance who went to mibi (I think) and now this.