LV solicitors Lyons Davidson are frightening my elderly mum

jessboots

I’d love some help,  I’m out of my depth and not sure what to do for the best
Mum has fully comp cover, and protected no claims with LV
last October someone reversed into her, admitted fault, and mums car has been repaired £800 all taken care of by LV
recently mum received many documents and hassling phone calls from Lyons Davidson Solicitors in Bristol, telling her she must sign consent for them to pursue an outstanding balance of £400 with the other party, agree to go to court, and pay costs and solicitors fees of thousands of pounds. 

They have said if she doesn’t, she will lose her no claims bonus and her insurance will be affected. Mums never quite sure who she’s speaking to, LV or Lyons Davidson, because LD imply they are the same thing. 
Mums upset, she doesn’t understand what she’s being asked to sign, how it will affect her. What she really wants to do is forget about the incident, let the insurance company deal with everything, as she believed they would, and doesn’t want to attend a court case.

You can imagine the effect this has had on an independent widowed 87yr old, who’s never had a parking ticket, or at fault accident, and is shielding at home.

I rang LV claims Dept today, with consent to liaise on mums behalf, they confirmed that they would speak to their own management team again about the alarming content of Lyons Davidson Letters, and communication style. I thought it was rather telling that she said ‘again’, suggesting it’s been a problem that they haven’t resolved. They suggested that Lyons contact me direct instead. I have asked for it to be through email instead of phone calls, because I’m out of my depth here. I don’t know how to protect mum from impact, whilst preserving her insurance which is due for renewal in June. LV confirmed she wouldn’t lose her no claims by refusing to be involved, they would drop the case and lose money spent so far. But they couldn’t say how this might impact her renewal quote, and if she might be penalised in some way for being non compliant.
My poor mum was in tears, and said she’d rather write a cheque for £400 herself to leave her in peace, which she can’t afford. 

I read another post on here with interest, by Prycop entitled ‘insurance company recovery demand even though insured‘  with good advice from many, especially Artenap, but my big question in mums case is :
what are mums choices here, and how will they affect her insurance in the future? 

Any experiences or advice much appreciated x

jess

DoaM

If you read the insurance T&Cs you'll find that she's obliged to provide relevant support to the insurance company in pursuance of a claim. This includes providing evidence attending court as required. However making her liable for costs doesn't sound right.

shaun_from_Africa

DoaM said:

This includes providing evidence attending court as required. However making her liable for costs doesn't sound right.

There may be a bit of miscommunication going on and it might be that the OP's mother is being told that she may be held liable for costs and solicitors fees if she refuses to assist the insurers in recovering their money by giving evidence in court.

jessboots

Thanks for replying. 

Should I ask LV to clarify in writing what they are asking of mum, and confirm that she is not going to be liable for the costs of a court case etc? 

Exemplar

Take all the correspondence and send it on to your insurers. Tell LD that you are dealing with this through your insurers only.

Jumblebumble

jessboots said:

Thanks for replying. 

Should I ask LV to clarify in writing what they are asking of mum, and confirm that she is not going to be liable for the costs of a court case etc? 

I certainly think you should see what LD have actually said in writing.
I think there is a misunderstanding about the costs but if not you should complain to the SRA
Your mother does need to cooperate as it seems there is no other way for the insurers to get their £400 back

AdrianC

jessboots said:

Mum has fully comp cover, and protected no claims with LV
last October someone reversed into her, admitted fault, and mums car has been repaired £800 all taken care of by LV
recently mum received many documents and hassling phone calls from Lyons Davidson Solicitors in Bristol, telling her she must sign consent for them to pursue an outstanding balance of £400 with the other party, agree to go to court, and pay costs and solicitors fees of thousands of pounds. 

They have said if she doesn’t, she will lose her no claims bonus and her insurance will be affected. 

What's happening here is that your mother claimed from her insurance, who paid out.
The other driver's insurance are now refusing to accept liability. Your mother's insurer are using the solicitors to threaten the other insurer to pay them back. They want her to give them formal permission to act for her in this.

If your mother doesn't assist in doing so, they can't reclaim - so it will go on her record as at fault. That's simply because "fault" means who ends up paying...

It's in her name, because the incident involved her. No more than that.

DoaM

^^^ is exactly what I thought. It was only the costs statement in the OP that confused me, but as Shaun says it may be "Chinese whispers" and the OP has interpreted it wrong (hence typed it wrong here in the forum).

AdrianC

The insurer would be indemnifying against the costs in the events the solicitor lost the case - assuming the policyholder cooperated appropriately.

Given that this is such a low value claim, I'm surprised they're getting heavy with the other insurer - and it'll be astonishing if the other insurer don't just shrug and pay. No way is a <£1k claim going to court.

KimJongUn88

Exemplar said:

Take all the correspondence and send it on to your insurers. Tell LD that you are dealing with this through your insurers only.

The solicitors are acting for the insurers. It would be a waste of time going back to the insurers as they were the ones who instructed the solicitors to deal
with this matter in the first place.

Herzlos

Have you got possession of the documents? She's just being asked to consent to them pursuing the outstanding balance and if she doesn't then LV will come to her from them.

So her options are:

Sign the darn bit of paper and send it back.

Pay LV the £400 outstanding.

There's absolutely nothing to be concerned about.