Car insurance after motorcycle accident

mattyk123

Hi there,

I'm getting slightly confused about where I stand in regards to liability and NCB on my car insurance. Long story short, I had 4 years NCB on my car, full sparkly clean licence. I stopped driving the car and the insurance ran its course and ended. I then get a motorbike in the aim to cut my commute time. I wasn't allowed to use my NCB on the bike insurance as it had come from a car (also a different company from my car insurance) - higher premium but whatever.

Then I had an accident on the bike and after a stressful long time it's finally been settled. I made a claim against the other parties insurance for my damages (I was 3rd party cover) and I settled 50:50 on the advice of my solicitor at the end of last year.

The other party counter-claims and despite providing my insurance with all the letters as they come in to me, they sit on their hands and it goes to court unchallenged. I get a CCJ. Finally after practically harassing them, my insurance has told me they are settling in favour of the third party (which I guess they had to since they didn't bother even responding to the court documents).

So now I'm here, I'm going to make sure the CCJ is removed but in terms of future car insurance:

1. With two results (me settling 50:50 and my insurance settling in favour of third party) which do I select when I'm asked about previous accidents? 50:50 or my fault? I'll probably take this to the financial ombudsman claiming their incompetence has resulted in a judgement against me.

2. What happens to my NCB? It wasn't used with the motorbike and wasn't even with the same insurer.

Thanks all.

Quentin

1) Needs to be disclosed as a fault claim (all your fault as that's how it was settled - though were it split liability it would make little/no difference to future premiums)


2) How "old" is it?


Regarding the CCJ, don't wait till you jump through the hoops to get the FOS involved - get on to your insurer now and demand they get this paid ASAP.


In tandem get your complaint in to the insurer in line with their complaints procedure in case you eventually do need to escalate to the FOS



Your credit status is currently trashed! Getting cover now won't be straightforward with this on your record


Online off the peg insurers will mainly refuse to quote, and it may be necessary to use a broker to find a sympathetic insurer


Keep proof of all the extra expense this neglect is costing you to be reimbursed if and when your complaint is successful

mattyk123

Thanks very much for the reply.

1) I'll get onto it. Hopefully it doesn't sky-rocket my car insurance.

2) The car insurance last lapsed in August 2017 and I was reinsured around August 2018.

I read that it's the creditor (the solicitors who won the judgement) that must notify the courts for the removal - Is that correct? Should I contact them now that my insurance have told me they've settled and closed the case?

I had made a complaint about them ignoring the letters when the CCJ came through last week so I'll see where it goes. At no point have I ever admitted full responsibility for the accident and considering the other parties insurance split liability, there was no reason for my insurance to not do the same at the very least.

Quentin

If the ccj is paid in full within a month of the date of judgement then it does get removed from the record (and expunged from your credit history)

It is down to the claimant to inform the court they have been paid

But if they don't get cleared funds within the month then even if subsequently paid it remains on your record (albeit marked satisfied), and does trash your credit status for the next 6 years

Should it come to this, then you will need the insurers legal team to get it removed by way of a set aside

The important thing for you is to get them to pay it asap.

As posted above, it makes little difference to you whether it goes down as split liability or your fault entirely

Assuming that you have proof the NCD is dated August 2017 then it can still be used on another csr policy, though the recent claim will impact your premium

mattyk123

Just to update on this post: After essentially becoming a middle man between my insurance and the third party solicitors, the full amount has now been paid within the 28 days and the third party solicitor has written an email to me to confirm that and let me know the court has been informed.

Is there a standard time-frame in which the record is removed by the court? I've asked the third party for evidence of receipt of payment should I need to pursue the court/credit agencies myself. I wont be making any applications for products that would involve a credit check until my record is 100% clean.

I wonder if there's anything else I should do at this point to help myself?

What is amazing is that both parties agreed to a split liability but my insurance only paid 10% of that before the judgment for the full claim was eventually issued, having ignored correspondence from the third party. They've probably cost themselves upwards of £5k by not paying initially!

Quentin

Check trustonline website to see if it's been expunged

That register gets updated immediately as opposed to the free CRAs that can take a month to update

If you have a solicitor's letter confirming that the court have been notified then no need for other proof.

Though keep it safe till you see it has gone with your own eyes,!

mattyk123

Thanks for your replies Quentin, much appreciated.

I've just been sent a note on email from the third party's solicitor confirming it all. I will ask for something official to keep in my back pocket.