Being taken to Small Claims

jasonst165

Hi, I need some advice please.

Backstory - Over 2yr ago my wife had a bump in Tesco carpark, she was reversing out of a spot and hit a car that was passing. They both got out and exchanged details and went on their way. Insurance was quoted 2.5k worth of damage which I thought was crazy as my wife's car had literally no damage but as it was going through insurance thought nothing more of it.

This week, 2yrs later, she had a letter delivered from Northampton County Court claiming the repairs to the car, car rental plus interest totalling 3.5k!!!!

After checking paperwork, we have the no claims certificate for that period that shows a claim for the accident. We have proof that the car was insured fully comprehensive plus we have the original sheet of paper the claimant wrote her details on when the accident happened but any other documentation/photos were destroyed as we thought it was all sorted.

Is this person pulling a fast one? Is there a case to get the Police involved due to possible fraud?

We will return the court forms denying the claims but is there something else we could be doing? Do we put the no claims cert and insurance details in with the court forms?

Thanks, any help is much appreciated as my wife is stressed.

Aretnap

Contact your insurance company (the one you were with at the time of the accident) and they will deal with it on your behalf. Do not reply to the court yourself or otherwise try to deal with it off your own back.

What's happened is that your insurer has not paid the driver's insurer/claims management company everything they've asked for - either because they're disputing the size of the sum, or because they're just being slow. So to force the issue the third party has to issue the court claim - and as your wife is the one who caused the accident so is ultimately liable for it, the claim gets issued against her. She in turn has to ask her insurer to deal with the claim on her behalf.

There's no need to panic and certainly no need to call the police. It's all perfectly standard when insurance claims take a long time to settle. At the end of the day it will still be your wife's insurer putting their hand in their pocket, not your wife personally. 

jasonst165

Sounds good. I will get her on it. Thanks!

Sandtree

The chances are that quantum is in dispute and your insurers and the counterparty have come to gridlock on it and hence its going to the courts to decide what the appropriate amount should be.

Just need to pass it to your insurers at the time of the incident and they will respond on your behalf. Have a conversation with them as well just to check where they're at with the claim (always best to give a heads up that the form is coming given the timescales required for responding)

molerat

The third party may not even know they are taking you to court, my son didn't until I told him when I noticed his name in the court rolls, it was all done by his insurer.