Suing an uninsured driver

cheeky51

This is probably more of a legal question so hope someone can help. I was recently hit by an uninsured driver & my insurance company have said that once the car is repaired & I've paid my £350 excess they will pursue the driver in court. However, they say such cases are often unsuccessful. My question is this: if my insurance company are not successful would I then be able to take the driver to small claims court myself? I am so angry with this young man I don't want him to get away with causing me as much trouble & expense as he is currently doing.

SergeantBaker

cheeky51 said:

This is probably more of a legal question so hope someone can help. I was recently hit by an uninsured driver & my insurance company have said that once the car is repaired & I've paid my £350 excess they will pursue the driver in court. However, they say such cases are often unsuccessful. My question is this: if my insurance company are not successful would I then be able to take the driver to small claims court myself? I am so angry with this young man I don't want him to get away with causing me as much trouble & expense as he is currently doing.

If your insurance company are unsuccessful, ie they lose or win and he has no funds to pay.

Why would you think you'd be successful?

Alter_ego

It's rarely worth suing someone who has no money

Ebe_Scrooge

cheeky51 said:

if my insurance company are not successful would I then be able to take the driver to small claims court myself?

Of course you can.  But what makes you think you would be any more successful than an insurance company with a whole legal department full of experts in the subject?

Yes, it's annoying, to say the least, but unfortunately it's just "one of those things"

DullGreyGuy

Ebe_Scrooge said:

cheeky51 said:

if my insurance company are not successful would I then be able to take the driver to small claims court myself?

Of course you can.  But what makes you think you would be any more successful than an insurance company with a whole legal department full of experts in the subject?

Yes, it's annoying, to say the least, but unfortunately it's just "one of those things"

No you cannot, the insurance company sues in the name of their insured. You cannot sue the same person twice for the same thing. You have to lodge an appeal if you dont like the outcome of the first case not a second suing. 

The reality is it depends what you mean by "its not successful"... if they decide they have no assets and so issue proceedings then you could however you have to include your insurance company's outlay in the claim not just your excess. Keep your insurers informed though, they are likely to want an indemnity agreement from you if you are acting against their advices. 

Similarly if they win but then decide the persons no assets then you could pay for enforcement but again you are pursuing the whole debt and probably signing an indemnity 

Robbo66

Providing you have the details of the other drive and vehicle you could try and claim via the motor Insurance Bureau. I am not 100% sure of the process but worth giving them a call as part of you annual premium is paid to them for just such scenarios

Aretnap

Ultimately no court can force someone to hand over money that they haven't got. The reason that these claims are often unsuccessful is that uninsured drivers, as a group, tend not to be exactly rich, and pursuing the claim just ends up costing more money than it brings in. I mean, even if you sue him in the small claims court, what are you going to do if he doesn't pay? You can send the bailiffs round, but you have to pay the bailiffs £100+ or whatever it is these days before they'll pay him a call, and if there's nothing at his address that they can sieze and usefully sell then you're £100 lighter and you still don't have your excess back.

It's possible that the insurance company will shrug and decide it's not worth pursuing and that you'll decide that it's a matter of principle and it really must be pursued. But you have to be aware that in that scenario the most likely outcome is that it will cost you even more in time, stress and money and you will end up worse off than if you had simply shrugged like the insurer.

SergeantBaker

Robbo66 said:

Providing you have the details of the other drive and vehicle you could try and claim via the motor Insurance Bureau. I am not 100% sure of the process but worth giving them a call as part of you annual premium is paid to them for just such scenarios

Will they pay the excess? There's comprehensive insurance on the car so that'll cover the damage. 

DullGreyGuy

Robbo66 said:

Providing you have the details of the other drive and vehicle you could try and claim via the motor Insurance Bureau. I am not 100% sure of the process but worth giving them a call as part of you annual premium is paid to them for just such scenarios

You cannot claim from the MIB if you have your own insurance... OP has advised he has comp insurance on their vehicle (by virtue of the excess)

TBagpuss

I think the 'unsucessful' part is probably that the person being sued doesn't have any money. If they are a homeowner then if you (or your insurance company) were sucessful then you might be able to get a charge over the houe (and ultimately apply to get it sold / repossessed) to pay any damages due, but  I suspect that in many cases, the fact that they are uninsured is becasue they can't afford it and/or have no assets so know that that they haven't a lot to lose. 

baser999

Alter_ego said:

It's rarely worth suing someone who has no money

And yet he drives a car - unless of course it was stolen. 

Something wrong with a system that allows the other driver to get off scot-free