Car Accident - Not insured

Macopa

A family member was driving her partners car on assumed 3rd party cover from her own comprehensive insurance.  Car was stationery on the right side of the road to make a drop off, a passenger opened a rear door into an oncoming car (a taxi - coming from the opposite direction) & ripped off its wing mirror. There is CCTV footage & the taxi is going very fast & is on the wrong side of the road. She has been advised today that she is not insured - the claim will be dealt with by her insurers but they will pursue her for all costs :-( 
If her insurance company have no financial loss to concern themselves with will they control the level of the third party claim? Or can the taxi driver go to town on loss of earnings, personal injury etc etc (although there was no injury!)  Is there any regulation to stop him from taking her to the cleaners for what would I believe be a knock for knock claim if the insurance was valid - its seem so unfair that she should cop for all the liability & all cost. She may already be facing criminal prosecution as well for this oversight.  Any advice welcome.

lisyloo

I think the insurer would want to limit their liability as much as possible after all they don’t know if your family member has the means to pay.
have they been given the cctv footage?
your family member would have he normal statutory rights to dispute.

Morph4610

Macopa, I can't see why her insurance company wouldn't want to control the costs. I don't suppose there's any guarantees she'll pay what they have to fork out anyway. Suspect they'll be mindful of this in their dealings.    

Macopa

They have asked for the footage & she has supplied - I just hope that they act as if they would if they were covering? But these places don't tend to work for nothing do they. I just wondered if there was any law or duty of care to ensure they have to negotiate the best deal - or is it worth going back to the taxi driver & asking him to settle away from insurance?

lisyloo

I also don’t see why being uninsured changes liability,
if they other car was on the wrong side of them road and that’s provable then they should defend. The issue is the family member cannot insist (you can’t make demands if you are insured but there is a complaints process).

Manxman_in_exile

If the car was stopped on the right side of the road (I assume you mean right as opposed to left and was facing oncoming traffic) how did the open door make contact with the oncoming taxi coming in the opposite direction if that taxi was on the wrong side of the road?  (If the taxi was on their wrong side of the road, it would be less likely to make contact with the open door because it would be further away).

Sounds to me like your family member (and the person who must have opened the door without looking) is at fault.  What has the taxi driver done wrong?

Manxman_in_exile

I'm replying to lisyloo who is saying your family member should defend because the taxi was on the wrong side of the road.  I don't see any defence at all - if the taxi driver was on the wrong side at all he was probably trying to avoid the door!

Manxman_in_exile

The previous two posts should be read together.  I haven't got the hang of editing here yet!

Macopa

The car was parked on the correct side of the road (left) facing in the direction it was travelling.  The taxi was oncoming so driving towards the front of the car, but it came out of its lane to pass parked cars on the other side of the road & was then on the wrong side of the road.  We have been told in a standard case this would be knock for knock - taxi was too close & too fast & the passenger who opened the door checked behind but not in front before opening - but that's not the issue - It sounds like my family member is going to cop for all the costs & she didn't even open the door!  My family members car was not damaged enough to warrant a repair. Do the insurance companies have a duty of care not to let Mr Taxi run away with the claim - folks are encouraged to claim for all sorts these days - appropriate or not & if there is no interest from the insurance co to keep the costs down (because they are going to bill my family member) they might agree to paying anything - appropriate or not! Is there any legal protection to stop him taking the micky?

Manxman_in_exile

Ah.  I was confused by your reference to being stopped "on the right side of the road..."  (Hope it wasn't expressed like that to anybody else as it could be interpreted as I did).  I'm sure the insurers will make sure any claim and payout is minimised as they won't want to pay out any more than they are likely to recover from your relative.

Any particular reason why she thought she was covered but wasn't?

lisyloo

I am guessing she assuming doc (driving others cars).

to repeat insurer will not want run away costs as they don’t know whether your family member can or will pay. So they have to treat it as if they will be stuck with the bill.

not having insurance should not affect liability. Why do you think it will?