Going to court to recover insurance costs

Pickle2021

I have been asked by my insurance company to go to court for them to recover their costs. I’ve had my payout for the claim but the company are trying to recover their costs from the other party’s insurance company. 

The company have threatened that my premiums will go up if it’s not resolved as it’s an open case and if I don’t go to court I will automatically be at fault even though my insurance company told me at point of payout it was 50/50 so I thought the decision had already been made. 

Does anyone know if I have to go to court or have any info on this? 

Sandtree

At present its simply a question... they need to know your intentions before they decide what they will do. If you aren't willing to attend then no point playing hardball.

Few claims actually end up in court, even if papers are issued. If it does go to court it is at most a meeting in the judges office... no wigs, juries etc. 

Say you will go to court and it may end up being non-fault. Say you won't go to court and it almost certainly will end 50/50 and so counts as a fault claim.

KimJongUn88

The terms and conditions of your policy most likely state that you have to help your insurers recover their outlay and that includes having to go to Court if necessary.

Sandtree

KimJongUn88 said:

The terms and conditions of your policy most likely state that you have to help your insurers recover their outlay and that includes having to go to Court if necessary.

Unlike credit hire etc, most insurers don't tend to enforce this... an unwilling witness is worse than an out of court negotiation

AdrianC

Pickle2021 said:

I have been asked by my insurance company to go to court for them to recover their costs. I’ve had my payout for the claim but the company are trying to recover their costs from the other party’s insurance company. 

The company have threatened that my premiums will go up if it’s not resolved as it’s an open case and if I don’t go to court I will automatically be at fault even though my insurance company told me at point of payout it was 50/50 so I thought the decision had already been made. 

Does anyone know if I have to go to court or have any info on this? 

Insurance "fault" is more about who pays than anything else. The other insurer is clearly refusing to pay.

Your policy will require you to co-operate with them in resolving claims. That co-operation now looks like it may involve giving evidence in court - that evidence will be along the same lines as the report you've already given of the collision. I presume you will have no issue in swearing that that report was indeed the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth...?

So what's the issue? It's very likely the case will never be heard - the other insurer will simply pay once they realise yours are not going to let it go. I presume this is not a mega-money claim...?

If you do not co-operate, then the case will fail due to lack of evidence, and your insurer will not recover their money. That means it is an at-fault claim.

macman

What is your objection to going to court? All you would need to do is tell your side of the story.

teachfast

I had a similar situation: a driver drifted into my lane and side-swiped me. They tried to claim it was 50-50 and my insurance company were going with that to get the issue settled. I actively insisted that I wanted to go to court as I knew they were lying. I called their bluff and the insurance company communicated my resolve, and they backed down and fault went to the other driver with no court case. The money involved was not huge -about £4k all in but for me the principle of the lying and the potential increase in future premiums made me really insistent on not accepting the easy option. I am glad I did. 

Herzlos

Fault for insurance companies means paid out on, so if you don't help them recover the money they can still record it as at fault, because they paid out on the claim.
You should be able to claim expenses on the offchance you actually need to attend but it may even just be via Skype these days.