Car insurance claim. No Fault on either side No payment on either side . Who to sue??

Limalex

Hello Forum.

I had a collision in 2018.
I was about to exit of the small roundabout an a vehicle approaching of the right ignored the giveaway sigh speed up and intended to drive off in-front of me.

We collided his off side rear damaged and my offside front damaged. I believed it was his fault and i thought it will be a simple case, but he introduced a fake witness then the wittiness disappeared and for two years the insurance companies did not make a decision.
I did not wanted to claim on my comprehensive insurance because my fee would be £1250 and my insurance company said the cannot do anything until I pay and now the case is dropped with noone at fault.

Wo I suppose to sue?
What is the process?
Can I go to small claims court with this?

Any guidance would be appreciated

unforeseen

How did his offside rear get damaged if he was coming from your right? I would have expected the nearsides to come into contact

AdrianC

unforeseen said:

How did his offside rear get damaged if he was coming from your right? I would have expected the nearsides to come into contact

Given the other vehicle seems to have been trying to get onto the roundabout in front of the OP, I think we can read that "right" as "left", and the OP's NSF not OSF. Perhaps you could clarify, OP?
Nearside is the side near the kerb, the normal UK RHD passenger's side.
Offside is the side away from the kerb, the normal UK RHD driver's side.
OSF to OSR is possible, if the OP tried to dive round the back of this other car and misjudged it.

The obvious question is why the OP was crossing a "small roundabout" so fast that they couldn't stop - there was clearly plenty of time, given they only hit the rear corner of the other vehicle. I suspect they were so outraged somebody else was trying it on that they simply didn't want to let them get away with it. Probably hand-on-horn at the time, too.

I'm not at all surprised this one's been put down as split liability.
You can sue whoever you like, OP - the other driver, insurer, financial ombudsman. You almost certainly won't win, though, because the insurers have found the collision was as much your fault as the other driver's. You could have avoided it but didn't.

It was your choice not to claim - because when you took the policy out, you opted for a large excess to keep the premium down. That choice is a gamble that you won't have an at-fault claim. You did.

This is one of those times when a dashcam video would have helped you, if you were truly innocent. Or would have hung you if you were partially to blame...

unforeseen

If it was the left and offside then it sounds like the other vehicle was already on the roundabout as you began to enter since you only clipped his back corner. Maybe going too fast to assess the situation and stop. 

Car_54

Limalex said:

I was about to exit of the small roundabout an a vehicle approaching of the right ignored the giveaway sigh speed up and intended to drive off in-front of me.

Highway Code, Rule 185: "give priority to traffic approaching from your right" ...

Limalex

Sorry My mistake.
The third party was approaching from the LEFT. He had a give away sign before the roundabout. I was already in the roundabout and I was about to exit when a Porsche driver give a full throttle and tried to pass through. I did brake but cannot stop fully and that is why the collision happened. His approach was completely unexpected.
Highway Code, Rule185 still applies but on my favour. Financial ombudsman not dealing cases like this.
The Porsche driver fully ignored the giveaway sign and that that I was already in the roundabout. 
Surely I have a point here, but I do not know where to take this case.

Bigphil1474

This is from Citizens Advice:-
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/insurance/insurance/problems-with-insurance-policies/problems-with-an-insurance-claim/ 

DiddyDavies

The main problem that you have is the lack of an independent witness.
As it stands, if you did proceed to court, the other driver could state that when they pulled out there was plenty of space between their vehicle and yours and that you deliberately sped up in order to cause the accident.
It might go your way, it might go their way or a judge could decide that without more evidence it would be equal liability and you have to decide whether you want to take the risk.

Ectophile

If you want to sue the driver of the Porsche, you start by sending a Letter Before Action to the driver.  If they have any sense, they will then pass the letter on to their insurance company.  Unless the cost is many thousands, it can be done under the small claims procedure.

Bear in mind that your insurance company will require you to tell them about any accidents, whether or not you intend to make a claim off them.  Failure to do so may result in the policy being cancelled as soon as they find out.

DiddyDavies

Ectophile said:

Bear in mind that your insurance company will require you to tell them about any accidents, whether or not you intend to make a claim off them.  Failure to do so may result in the policy being cancelled as soon as they find out.

It sound like their insurance company is already aware of the accident:

Limalex said:

my comprehensive insurance because my fee would be £1250 and my insurance company said the cannot do anything until I pay and now the case is dropped with noone at fault.

Sandtree

Limalex said:

I did not wanted to claim on my comprehensive insurance because my fee would be £1250 and my insurance company said the cannot do anything until I pay and now the case is dropped with noone at fault.

Wo I suppose to sue?
What is the process?
Can I go to small claims court with this?

Any guidance would be appreciated

An insurer only can comment on how they are closing their files; insurers are stuck with the word “fault” but in reality how an insurer closes their file has nothing to do with blame. They close it as “non-fault” if their net payment in damages is £0 and close it as “fault” if its above £0. As you didnt claim for your damages and they haven’t received a claim from the other side either they have no outlay and hence they are closing it non-fault. They are unlikely to be aware what the other insurance company is doing with their files.

Are you aware of what happened to the third party vehicle damage? It sounds like it wasnt claimed from their insurance either.

The risk of issuing proceedings is that you will then receive a counter claim from the third party and so you may sue them for £3,000 or whatever your repairs cost you but then you lose the case and the judge award the third party £5,000 for the damage to their Porsche which you then need to pay in 30 days else you have a CCJ on your credit history.

For this reason you need to talk to your insurance company and make them aware of your intentions and ensure that they will indemnify you should there be a counterclaim and the other side are successful. When liability came into dispute you were probably contacted by a more technical part of the claims department; its this team that you should be speaking to about your intentions not the basic claims telephone team.