Car Accident (Broken Wing Mirror) from 2020 Update

justinjustice

Someone knocked off the wing mirror of my parked car at some point today. The car was parked a few doors away from my house and whilst I have no witnesses, someone had written on some cardboard a number plate and stated it was a scaffold truck that did it. No number or name of the person who left the note. I am yet to contact my insurance company. Any one know what I should do as I am some what concerned if I let my insurance company know and I have no witnesses, that note is as good as me making something up? I do not want my premium to go up (I have NCD).

Last update - The insurance company is taking on my claim as a 'non fault claim' going on the evidence of the text messages I have from the driver however it is on the basis on 'the best to their ability' and if they get nowhere it will be a claim against my own policy. 

Original post from November 2020 - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6213047/broken-wing-mirror/p6

As above my long-term leased car was hit by a scaffold ruck in Nov 2020. From November 2020 until to date, the claim has been going through my insurance company (Churchill) - A lot of back and forth with the 3rd party with last min SLA response times, from what Churchill has advised me over the months.

On Christmas Eve I received a letter from a Solicitors (Lyons Davidson - Bristol) to advise that they have been instructed by 'Direct Line Group'  to review my claim and 'if appropriate to recover the monies paid out by my insurer from the third part insurer'.

It also states - 'As settlement of this claim has not been reached, we now intend to issue court proceedings against the person responsible for causing the damage'.

The claimed total is just under £1900 which includes court and legal rep fees. 

First time I am going through this process, so I just wanted to check if this is all as should be and what I should be prepared for/lookout for prior to responding to the Solicitors?

olgadapolga

DH has just been through similar, it took three years to conclude from the date of the accident, so be prepared for a wait. 

Court times get messed about with at short notice. DH's case was brought forward but the court failed to notify anyone, it was postponed four or five times due to the pandemic, sickness of the other party etc.

You'll need to produce a witness statement (even though you've already given it to the insurance company).

The court papers may be in your name - DH was quite shocked by this as he thought it would be in his insurance company's name but it was in his name.

The solicitor used was really helpful in explaining things so if you are unsure, contact them about things. 

Grumpy_chap

justinjustice said:

Someone knocked off the wing mirror of my parked car at some point today. The car was parked a few doors away from my house and whilst I have no witnesses, someone had written on some cardboard a number plate and stated it was a scaffold truck that did it. No number or name of the person who left the note. I am yet to contact my insurance company. Any one know what I should do as I am some what concerned if I let my insurance company know and I have no witnesses, that note is as good as me making something up? I do not want my premium to go up (I have NCD).

Last update - The insurance company is taking on my claim as a 'non fault claim' going on the evidence of the text messages I have from the driver however it is on the basis on 'the best to their ability' and if they get nowhere it will be a claim against my own policy. 

Original post from November 2020 - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6213047/broken-wing-mirror/p6

As above my long-term leased car was hit by a scaffold ruck in Nov 2020. From November 2020 until to date, the claim has been going through my insurance company (Churchill) - A lot of back and forth with the 3rd party with last min SLA response times, from what Churchill has advised me over the months.

On Christmas Eve I received a letter from a Solicitors (Lyons Davidson - Bristol) to advise that they have been instructed by 'Direct Line Group'  to review my claim and 'if appropriate to recover the monies paid out by my insurer from the third part insurer'.

It also states - 'As settlement of this claim has not been reached, we now intend to issue court proceedings against the person responsible for causing the damage'.

The claimed total is just under £1900 which includes court and legal rep fees. 

First time I am going through this process, so I just wanted to check if this is all as should be and what I should be prepared for/lookout for prior to responding to the Solicitors?

What type of car is this and how did a new wing mirror get to have legal costs and £2k bill?

My Mum just had a complete new all singing all dancing mirror on her Jazz £300 all in.

Suspect this will be a claim on the OP for not minimising costs.

justinjustice

Grumpy_chap said:

justinjustice said:

Someone knocked off the wing mirror of my parked car at some point today. The car was parked a few doors away from my house and whilst I have no witnesses, someone had written on some cardboard a number plate and stated it was a scaffold truck that did it. No number or name of the person who left the note. I am yet to contact my insurance company. Any one know what I should do as I am some what concerned if I let my insurance company know and I have no witnesses, that note is as good as me making something up? I do not want my premium to go up (I have NCD).

Last update - The insurance company is taking on my claim as a 'non fault claim' going on the evidence of the text messages I have from the driver however it is on the basis on 'the best to their ability' and if they get nowhere it will be a claim against my own policy. 

Original post from November 2020 - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6213047/broken-wing-mirror/p6

As above my long-term leased car was hit by a scaffold ruck in Nov 2020. From November 2020 until to date, the claim has been going through my insurance company (Churchill) - A lot of back and forth with the 3rd party with last min SLA response times, from what Churchill has advised me over the months.

On Christmas Eve I received a letter from a Solicitors (Lyons Davidson - Bristol) to advise that they have been instructed by 'Direct Line Group'  to review my claim and 'if appropriate to recover the monies paid out by my insurer from the third part insurer'.

It also states - 'As settlement of this claim has not been reached, we now intend to issue court proceedings against the person responsible for causing the damage'.

The claimed total is just under £1900 which includes court and legal rep fees. 

First time I am going through this process, so I just wanted to check if this is all as should be and what I should be prepared for/lookout for prior to responding to the Solicitors?

What type of car is this and how did a new wing mirror get to have legal costs and £2k bill?

My Mum just had a complete new all singing all dancing mirror on her Jazz £300 all in.

Suspect this will be a claim on the OP for not minimising costs.

Not Minimizing costs?!? I had nothing to do with any costs, my insurance company managed all aspects of the repair and so far all legal costs.
The costs just for the BMW wing mirror was over £600 without any labor to give you an idea

GrumpyDil

Grumpy_chap said:

justinjustice said:

Someone knocked off the wing mirror of my parked car at some point today. The car was parked a few doors away from my house and whilst I have no witnesses, someone had written on some cardboard a number plate and stated it was a scaffold truck that did it. No number or name of the person who left the note. I am yet to contact my insurance company. Any one know what I should do as I am some what concerned if I let my insurance company know and I have no witnesses, that note is as good as me making something up? I do not want my premium to go up (I have NCD).

Last update - The insurance company is taking on my claim as a 'non fault claim' going on the evidence of the text messages I have from the driver however it is on the basis on 'the best to their ability' and if they get nowhere it will be a claim against my own policy. 

Original post from November 2020 - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6213047/broken-wing-mirror/p6

As above my long-term leased car was hit by a scaffold ruck in Nov 2020. From November 2020 until to date, the claim has been going through my insurance company (Churchill) - A lot of back and forth with the 3rd party with last min SLA response times, from what Churchill has advised me over the months.

On Christmas Eve I received a letter from a Solicitors (Lyons Davidson - Bristol) to advise that they have been instructed by 'Direct Line Group'  to review my claim and 'if appropriate to recover the monies paid out by my insurer from the third part insurer'.

It also states - 'As settlement of this claim has not been reached, we now intend to issue court proceedings against the person responsible for causing the damage'.

The claimed total is just under £1900 which includes court and legal rep fees. 

First time I am going through this process, so I just wanted to check if this is all as should be and what I should be prepared for/lookout for prior to responding to the Solicitors?

What type of car is this and how did a new wing mirror get to have legal costs and £2k bill?

My Mum just had a complete new all singing all dancing mirror on her Jazz £300 all in.

Suspect this will be a claim on the OP for not minimising costs.

GC. I had a wing mirror on a VW Eos replaced about 7 years ago. At that time the cost for the mirror, including painting etc was in excess of 1000. Mirror was as you put it, all singing all dancing, including self dipping, auto park, heated etc etc so 1900 at today's prices doesn't seem overly excessive as that will also likely include car hire for a couple of days whilst the repair was being completed. 

KimJongUn88

Grumpy_chap said:

justinjustice said:

Someone knocked off the wing mirror of my parked car at some point today. The car was parked a few doors away from my house and whilst I have no witnesses, someone had written on some cardboard a number plate and stated it was a scaffold truck that did it. No number or name of the person who left the note. I am yet to contact my insurance company. Any one know what I should do as I am some what concerned if I let my insurance company know and I have no witnesses, that note is as good as me making something up? I do not want my premium to go up (I have NCD).

Last update - The insurance company is taking on my claim as a 'non fault claim' going on the evidence of the text messages I have from the driver however it is on the basis on 'the best to their ability' and if they get nowhere it will be a claim against my own policy. 

Original post from November 2020 - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6213047/broken-wing-mirror/p6

As above my long-term leased car was hit by a scaffold ruck in Nov 2020. From November 2020 until to date, the claim has been going through my insurance company (Churchill) - A lot of back and forth with the 3rd party with last min SLA response times, from what Churchill has advised me over the months.

On Christmas Eve I received a letter from a Solicitors (Lyons Davidson - Bristol) to advise that they have been instructed by 'Direct Line Group'  to review my claim and 'if appropriate to recover the monies paid out by my insurer from the third part insurer'.

It also states - 'As settlement of this claim has not been reached, we now intend to issue court proceedings against the person responsible for causing the damage'.

The claimed total is just under £1900 which includes court and legal rep fees. 

First time I am going through this process, so I just wanted to check if this is all as should be and what I should be prepared for/lookout for prior to responding to the Solicitors?

What type of car is this and how did a new wing mirror get to have legal costs and £2k bill?

My Mum just had a complete new all singing all dancing mirror on her Jazz £300 all in.

Suspect this will be a claim on the OP for not minimising costs.

You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about. The £1900 is the OP’s insurer’s outlay for fixing his car and legal costs. His insurers have now instructed solicitors to recover this outlay from what they consider to be the guilty third party and their insurers.

Not sure why you’re banging on about a claim on the OP for not minimising costs. Would you dare to explain your comment? Who would be claiming from who and on what legal basis?

Spherical38

The fact your insurers have passed it onto their solicitors is a good sign and means they are still continuing with the recovery, thing's should start to move relatively faster from here.

Do you know why proceedings are being issued. Is liability being disputed (has the third party denied involvement) or is it just the the third party insurers are refusing to provide indemnity to their insured to settle your claim as contractual insurers of the third party / not co-operating with your insurer?
Assuming you haven't been asked to attend court (in the case of a liability dispute) I would assume it's the latter, and it sounds like the defendant has either not co-operated with their insurer or breached the terms of the policy in which case the third parties insurer will only offer to deal with the claim as the RTA insurer on receipt of an unsatisfied judgement against their insured. Once the third party insurers receive the unsealed court documents they may just pay your insurers outlay to avoid the court fees. If they choose to do down the unsatisfied judgement route your insured's solicitors will issue a CCJ against the defendant, if the defendant doesn't pay this within the timeframe set out by the court, the third parties insurer will need to pay the claim costs along with the court fees.

Spherical38

I've just read your previous thread.
I work in insurance and denying involvement is something we come across all of the time.
The evidence you have mentioned, although not direct proof already alludes to the third party being responsible so your insurers have a good case and reason to continue their recovery.

Without CCTV showing the collision or an independent witness statement typically liability is resolved by inspecting the 'offending' vehicle for associated damages - it would be interesting to see if the third parties insurer has done so. 
Or by assessing the credibility of the person denying involvement - were they in the area, is there proof of them offering to pay the claimant money? If you have proof of them offering you money / messages exchanged between yourselves then they should be conceding liability because it certainly won't be defendable in court.
Ultimately you will need to await the outcome from your insurer. When the third party insurers receive court documents they will do an urgent review of their file. If the third party is not credible or unwilling to attend a small claims court then the third party insurers will settle the claim pre-trial. If not it will likely go to a small claims court, in which case you just need to attend and provide a credible account.