Car/bike accident not at fault.

Cazzaroo

Hi,
My husband (car driver) was involved in an accident with a cyclist.   The cyclist was coming down a hill at speed and took his chance going through a red light.  My husband pulled forward on green and the cyclist hit the driver side door hard, smashing his window and making quite a big dent in the door.  We had witnesses and they provided reports to our insurance company.  A police report was done, too.  The police wrote to us saying that there was no evidence of dangerous driving etc.  The cyclist had superficial injuries but was admitted into hospital as a precaution.   The cyclist had no insurance.  My husband had to pay £200 excess and now his renewal premium is eye watering.  The insurance company have said that the reports from witnesses back my husband up but they need to recover the costs somehow and it's with their team and may take up to a year.  They've not said if we will get our £200 back.  They did mention about setting up a payment plan with the cyclist.  Are they within their rights to reclaim this from the uninsured cyclist?  What are our options regarding renewal?
Thanks in advance.
Caz

Norman_Castle

I believe insurers can pursue their costs from others, hopefully this should include your excess. Ask about the possibility of reclaiming your costs.

Sandtree

Cazzaroo said:

it's with their team and may take up to a year.  They've not said if we will get our £200 back.  They did mention about setting up a payment plan with the cyclist.  Are they within their rights to reclaim this from the uninsured cyclist?  What are our options regarding renewal?

Given the circumstances it could take 2-4 months or arguably years...

Your husband had a legal claim for their losses from the cyclist, if they are insured or not is irrelevant to the right of recovery but may change the prospects of a recovery being possible. By claiming off his insurance his insurers have inherited that right and so will be pursuing the cyclist for their losses. They will inevitably ask if the cyclist had any form of insurance that may cover them like bike insurance or home contents insurance.

If they do have insurance it should be a relatively straight forward process other than for the whole covid situation. If they don't they will try to ascertain if it is financially viable to pursue the cyclist, they could agree a payment plan as mentioned, it could be they are well off and can afford to pay it off in once or it could be they are unemployed drowning in debt and only able to offer 50p a month which the insurer will decide is not economic to pursue.

Your uninsured losses, including your excess, is also recoverable from the cyclist. If you have legal expenses insurance then your insurers should appoint someone to do this for you. Sometimes the insurers will deal with your excess for free if its your only uninsured loss. If not then allow the insurer to deal with their losses first and after they've come to a position then ask the outcome and if successful contact the cyclist or their insurers about your excess.

The years come in with a payment plan; only when your insurers get their moneys back does it become a non-fault claim... depending on the amount of the claim and the financial position of the cyclist the plans can be fairly long.

[Deleted User]

Was it actually a cyclist or just some random on a bike?
Many actual cyclists have third party insurance through things like membership of a club or British Cycling or similar (I pay about £35 a year for £10m liability) - they should check.
Even if it's just some random on a bike, they may have third party cover through something like home insurance - they should check

Cazzaroo

Sandtree said:

Cazzaroo said:

it's with their team and may take up to a year.  They've not said if we will get our £200 back.  They did mention about setting up a payment plan with the cyclist.  Are they within their rights to reclaim this from the uninsured cyclist?  What are our options regarding renewal?

Given the circumstances it could take 2-4 months or arguably years...

Your husband had a legal claim for their losses from the cyclist, if they are insured or not is irrelevant to the right of recovery but may change the prospects of a recovery being possible. By claiming off his insurance his insurers have inherited that right and so will be pursuing the cyclist for their losses. They will inevitably ask if the cyclist had any form of insurance that may cover them like bike insurance or home contents insurance.

If they do have insurance it should be a relatively straight forward process other than for the whole covid situation. If they don't they will try to ascertain if it is financially viable to pursue the cyclist, they could agree a payment plan as mentioned, it could be they are well off and can afford to pay it off in once or it could be they are unemployed drowning in debt and only able to offer 50p a month which the insurer will decide is not economic to pursue.

Your uninsured losses, including your excess, is also recoverable from the cyclist. If you have legal expenses insurance then your insurers should appoint someone to do this for you. Sometimes the insurers will deal with your excess for free if its your only uninsured loss. If not then allow the insurer to deal with their losses first and after they've come to a position then ask the outcome and if successful contact the cyclist or their insurers about your excess.

The years come in with a payment plan; only when your insurers get their moneys back does it become a non-fault claim... depending on the amount of the claim and the financial position of the cyclist the plans can be fairly long.

Thank you so much for your clear and informed response.   I'm not hopeful but thank you anyway. 

Cazzaroo

Deleted_User said:

Was it actually a cyclist or just some random on a bike?
Many actual cyclists have third party insurance through things like membership of a club or British Cycling or similar (I pay about £35 a year for £10m liability) - they should check.
Even if it's just some random on a bike, they may have third party cover through something like home insurance - they should check

He was not wearing any protective gear whatsoever and it was a rickety old bike.  I would guess he's a random.  We were told at the scene he had no insurance.  I'm not sure about house contents...I will mention this to the insurer.  
Thank you.

williamgriffin

Cazzaroo said:

Deleted_User said:

Was it actually a cyclist or just some random on a bike?
Many actual cyclists have third party insurance through things like membership of a club or British Cycling or similar (I pay about £35 a year for £10m liability) - they should check.
Even if it's just some random on a bike, they may have third party cover through something like home insurance - they should check

He was not wearing any protective gear whatsoever and it was a rickety old bike.  I would guess he's a random.  We were told at the scene he had no insurance.  I'm not sure about house contents...I will mention this to the insurer.  
Thank you.

Don't be surprised if your insurance don't bother chasing the cyclist, until the full amount is recovered it will count as an at fault claim and will be reflected in future premiums for five years.

Cazzaroo

williamgriffin said:

Cazzaroo said:

Deleted_User said:

Was it actually a cyclist or just some random on a bike?
Many actual cyclists have third party insurance through things like membership of a club or British Cycling or similar (I pay about £35 a year for £10m liability) - they should check.
Even if it's just some random on a bike, they may have third party cover through something like home insurance - they should check

He was not wearing any protective gear whatsoever and it was a rickety old bike.  I would guess he's a random.  We were told at the scene he had no insurance.  I'm not sure about house contents...I will mention this to the insurer.  
Thank you.

Don't be surprised if your insurance don't bother chasing the cyclist, until the full amount is recovered it will count as an at fault claim and will be reflected in future premiums for five years.

I have chased them for an update and they responded on my 2nd attempt with a 'we've written to ... today' which did make me wonder if they would have done that had I not contacted them first. 

Cazzaroo

Hi,

Following message received 5/1/22 received from solicitor:

The Defendant has not filed a Defence within the time allowed under the Court rules and so I have today applied to the Court for a Default Judgement in your favour.

I will let you know as soon as I hear further from the Court.

Following message received from Claims Handler at Insurance company:

In relation to your accident from the 19.11.2020, I can confirm I have contacted our panel solicitors; Carpenters, for their present position on your file, they advised me that they have passed your file to their litigation team in order to issue court proceedings against the Third party, I have been advised that Carpenters will be contacting you very shortly.

Ok, so I don't understand why court proceedings are being issued when a request for a default judgement has been requested.

 

Cazzaroo

The last message received today.

Sandtree

Which solicitor did you receive the first message from? What losses did they issue for? 

Sounds like there has been a breakdown in communication as one solicitor should have issued to cover both your losses and your insurers