Oh Lord CCJ from uninsured driver wants £5000

Towser

We really don’t want to continue with my son's Care Agency as we have evidence that one of the Carer’s did not have Tax on the car DS2 was riding around in. Therefore not insured. I did have a bump on that Carer’s car who has started a County Court Judgement for nearly £5000. Even though I am fully insured and we exchanged insurance details at the time. I can only assume my company would not pay out as they were uninsured and so they are taking me to court for their losses even though uninsured.

Have contacted my insurer who have asked for CCJ to be emailed over and say they have paid out over £1000 already.

Should we be suuing the Social Worker and or Care Agency?

Will I have to pay £5000 and incurring costs? Worried.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

EdGasketTheSecond

You just pass everything to your insurer and let them handle it. If you damaged a car then it makes no difference if that car was taxed and insured or not; as unjust as that may seem.

waamo

Lack of tax does not necessarily mean they aren't insured. That is a common myth.

kazwookie

Shop the uninsured driver to the police, and get their car taken away.

trailingspouse

If the accident was your fault, then he has a claim against you. We buy insurance to cover us in case we are at fault - so whether or not someone has insurance has no bearing on who is to blame.
You can argue about the amount, and the police might be interested in the lack of tax - but the accident was still your fault.

waamo

. and the police might be interested in the lack of tax -

Unlikely, the DVLA normally deal with tax issues.

Towser

Will I have to pay £5000 and incurring costs? Worried.

Is this whole process just a formality?

waamo

Towser wrote: »

Will I have to pay £5000 and incurring costs? Worried.

Is this whole process just a formality?

Your insurance company will deal with it.

DCFC79

waamo wrote: »

Unlikely, the DVLA normally deal with tax issues.

The police do tow vehicles away if untaxed.

Aretnap

Towser wrote: »

Will I have to pay £5000 and incurring costs? Worried.

Is this whole process just a formality?

No and yes.

In the event that your insurer doesn't pay as much or as quickly as the other driver wants them to (either because they're arguing about the amount being claimed, or because the overworked claims department is just being slow) then to force the issue they have to take court action.

Any court claim has to be made against you personally because you're the one who caused the accident, so ultimately the liability is yours. The other driver can't sue your insurer directly because he isn't claiming that your insurer damaged his car. Instead you have to ask your insurer to deal with the claim on your behalf, in accordance with the terms of your policy. So rest assured that even if the case does get as far as an actual court hearing (unlikely) you won't end up having to put your hand in your own pocket.

As an aside if the carers car was untaxed that would not make any insurance policy that he had invalid. I've never seen an insurance policy that had a requirement to tax a car as one of its conditions. And even if it did have such a condition the clause would be effectively unenforceable because an insurer can only refuse to pay a claim on the grounds that you breached your policy terms if the breach contributed to the claim. So, for example, if your policy required your car to be roadworthy and you had no working headlights, your insurer could refuse to pay a claim for an accident caused by you driving into something in the dark, but they would still have to pay for an accident that happened in daylight. So even if your policy did have a clause that said your car had to be taxed, your insurer could never actually use it to deny a claim unless they could somehow prove that the accident work not have happened had you taxed your car (obviously they couldn't as the lack of tax cannot cause an accident).

trailingspouse

waamo wrote: »

Unlikely, the DVLA normally deal with tax issues.

So the police don't bother to check number plates to see if the car ahead of them is taxed/insured? Must just be on the telly then. And all those cars that have been towed cos they're not taxed?