Claiming independently against an insurance company after an accident

EdGasketTheSecond

As I said, you issue a claim against the driver; not the insurance company. Send a letter before action and give the driver 7 or 14 days to respond otherwise commence your court action against the DRIVER, not the insurer. Then you will find you can do it yourself and things will move.

Undervalued

MrsJLTurner said:

The “them” is the insurance company. The driver has not answered any of my calls or replied to any of my messages. They didn’t/wouldn’t communicate with the driver of the other car either. 

I may add the car has commercial insurance cover, does this make any difference? I assumed not. I have a claim number so I have rightly or wrongly assumed they have my details logged somewhere, whether it’s being ignore remains to be seen.

I am seeking further legal advice at this time but again thank you for your comments. 

They don't have to!

Their only legal obligation is to share insurance details if somebody has been injured. Technically they are only legally obliged to have insurance to cover injury to third parties. The can choose to take the risk and not have cover against damage to other people's property. In fact, if your insurance covers you to drive another vehicle owned by somebody else, generally all it covers is the very minimum the law requires which is not even full "third party insurance".

If you believe the other driver to be at fault and he won't communicate with you, your only options are to either take legal action against him yourself or let your insurance company do it on you behalf.

Car_54

Undervalued said:

MrsJLTurner said:

The “them” is the insurance company. The driver has not answered any of my calls or replied to any of my messages. They didn’t/wouldn’t communicate with the driver of the other car either. 

I may add the car has commercial insurance cover, does this make any difference? I assumed not. I have a claim number so I have rightly or wrongly assumed they have my details logged somewhere, whether it’s being ignore remains to be seen.

I am seeking further legal advice at this time but again thank you for your comments. 

Technically they are only legally obliged to have insurance to cover injury to third parties. The can choose to take the risk and not have cover against damage to other people's property. In fact, if your insurance covers you to drive another vehicle owned by somebody else, generally all it covers is the very minimum the law requires which is not even full "third party insurance".

That is simply not true. The law requires insurance "... in respect of any liability which may be incurred by him or them in respect of the death of or bodily injury to any person or damage to property caused by, or arising out of, the use of the vehicle on a road ..."
[Road Traffic Act 1988, section 145(3(a))]

Undervalued

Car_54 said:

Undervalued said:

MrsJLTurner said:

The “them” is the insurance company. The driver has not answered any of my calls or replied to any of my messages. They didn’t/wouldn’t communicate with the driver of the other car either. 

I may add the car has commercial insurance cover, does this make any difference? I assumed not. I have a claim number so I have rightly or wrongly assumed they have my details logged somewhere, whether it’s being ignore remains to be seen.

I am seeking further legal advice at this time but again thank you for your comments. 

Technically they are only legally obliged to have insurance to cover injury to third parties. The can choose to take the risk and not have cover against damage to other people's property. In fact, if your insurance covers you to drive another vehicle owned by somebody else, generally all it covers is the very minimum the law requires which is not even full "third party insurance".

That is simply not true. The law requires insurance "... in respect of any liability which may be incurred by him or them in respect of the death of or bodily injury to any person or damage to property caused by, or arising out of, the use of the vehicle on a road ..."
[Road Traffic Act 1988, section 145(3(a))]

OK, thanks for that.
It remains a fact that the drivers are only obliged to share insurance details if there is injury. I had assumed (and perhaps it was true pre 1988?) that death and bodily injury was the only insurance legally required. It had always been explained to me that it was very unwise to rely on the limited cover to drive other vehicles that some policies still provide, because it was the absolute minimum cover the law allowed.

Aretnap

Undervalued said:
Their only legal obligation is to share insurance details if somebody has been injured.

This is also not true. It's true that the requirement to show an insurance certificate at the time of the accident only applies where someone is injured; however there is a separate duty to provide details of his insurance policy if and when a claim is actually made against him (Road Traffic Act Section 154). Not that it normally needs to be invoked given that you can get the other driver's insurance details here for a nominal fee.

Aretnap

MrsJLTurner said:

The “them” is the insurance company.

The "them" you need to issue a court claim against (should you go down that route) is the driver. He's the one you're claiming caused the accident, so he's the one who is liable. You can't take the insurance company to court directly unless you're claiming that the insurance company damaged your car.

Remember the third party's insurance company works for the other driver - not for you. He's the one who pays them, after all. The only legal responsibility they have to you is to pay any sum of money you are awarded against the driver in a court case. (In practice they would usually be expected to get involved before then as they will want to keep the costs down if they can - but they do so for their own benefit, not for yours.

MrsJLTurner said:

I am seeking further legal advice at this time but again thank you for your comments. 

Be aware that the flip side of not being subject to much in the way of costs should you lose in the small claims court is that should you win, you are extremely limited in terms of what costs you can claim yourself. In other words, if you pay for legal advice or representation, anything you pay is likely to be money that you never see again, win or lose.

MrsJLTurner said:

Because I didn’t have £*** spare just before Christmas but thanks for your comment. I have already acknowledged that evidently this was a mistake because unbeknown to me you can’t do things like this yourself even if you have the
time and willingness.

It probably isn't too late to go back to your own insurers and put the claim through them instead. I don't know what your excess is, but you can claim it back if/when the accident is settled in your favour, and if the third party's insurer is not being easy to deal with then you are likely to find the process quicker, less stressful and cheaper (especially if you're thinking of paying for legal help) than going down the court route.

Ectophile

Undervalued said:

Ectophile said:

By the sound of it, you haven't actually made any claim off them yet.  You have had a few nice chats with their call centre, and sent them a few emails.  They are ignoring you, in the hope that you will give up and go away.

If you want to make a claim, then make a claim.  Decide how much money you think they need to pay you.  Send them a Letter Before Action setting out how much money you want, and giving a reasonable time to pay (traditionally 14 days).  Tell them that if they do not respond to your claim, then you will start court action without any further notice.

That formally starts the claim process.  They may actually talk to you then.  They might deny all responsibility, or they might send you a cheque.  If they don't pay, you have to be prepared to take it to court.

Providing by "them" you mean the other driver (and not their insurance company) I agree.

However, your post is not clear and could easily be read as "them" being the insurance company. As has been repeatedly stated the insurance company are not obliged to respond to any "letters before action" or anything else the OP sends them. Her claim, if she has one, is against the driver.

I do believe you are right.  The claimant should send the letter to the driver, who should send it on to their insurer.