Third Party Claim

greencar1975

Hi everyone,

My wife was involved in an accident at the end of May when a newly qualified driver drove into the side of our car. There were 4 children and a dog in the car with my wife and, thankfully, no-one was injured. The third party driver admitted liability and her insurance company, Admiral, soon agreed to pay for the repairs (close to £8k) and daily rate for our hire car. Except today, Admiral have just called me to say they have just found out that the driver to blame was not in her car at the time, it belonged to her friend who was in the car too. They will therefore not pay the repairs bill, hire car costs and have walked away. I genuinely don't know what to do next other than make a claim on our own insurance which will send our premiums up and lose our 20 no-claims unprotected bonus.

Legally, shouldn't the owner of the car involved in the accident be forced to pay through her insurance company? How do I enforce this or should I leave this to my insurance company or their underwriter?

Any advice gratefully received, thank you.

cw8825

Are admiral the insurers of the car or of the person who was driving?

greencar1975

The person who was driving...

Ectophile

I think you need to claim off the insurance of the owner of the car.  Whoever that was.  Even if the owner wasn't driving, the insurer of record would be liable.  (Unless the car was stolen, which is rather unlikely if the owner was in the car at the time.)

This is the point where getting a lawyer might be a good idea.  This is rather easier if you took out legal cover with your insurance.

Mildly_Miffed

Mr A owns a car, and insures it with insurer X.
Mr A lends his car to Mr B.
Mr B is not on Mr A's policy, but has his own insurance with Insurer Y.

If Mr B then drove into your car, it'd be up to insurer Y, not X, wouldn't it?

But if Mr B isn't insured to drive Mr A's car, why does it then become insurer X's problem?

Insurer X don't even necessarily know about the existence of Mr B. If he asked them for a quote, they may laugh and put the phone down.

You have comprehensive insurance. Claim off it, and leave it with them. If they think there's a way of getting Mr B to cover the £8k+ bill, they'll find it.

facade

Mildly_Miffed said:

Mr A owns a car, and insures it with insurer X.
Mr A lends his car to Mr B.
Mr B is not on Mr A's policy, but has his own insurance with Insurer Y.

If Mr B then drove into your car, it'd be up to insurer Y, not X, wouldn't it?

But if Mr B isn't insured to drive Mr A's car, why does it then become insurer X's problem?

Insurer X don't even necessarily know about the existence of Mr B. If he asked them for a quote, they may laugh and put the phone down.

You have comprehensive insurance. Claim off it, and leave it with them. If they think there's a way of getting Mr B to cover the £8k+ bill, they'll find it.

Because Mr A permitted Mr B to drive his car which Mr A has insured with insurer X. This means Mr A's insurer (X) is liable under the Road Traffic Act 1988. They must pay third party claims and seek to recover from Mr A (who will still be crying because they won't pay for damage to Mr A's car)

As you say, without Legal Cover, if X are playing silly b#gg#rs then claim on your own policy, they will soon claim it back from insurer X.

DullGreyGuy

Mildly_Miffed said:

But if Mr B isn't insured to drive Mr A's car, why does it then become insurer X's problem?

Because the law states that if X would have covered the claim if it was an Any Driver policy then they must settle any court order made against the driver of the vehicle even if they are not named on the policy. The insurer then has a right of recovery against the driver and potentially against their insured if they allowed them to drive it (rather than it being a thief) 

greencar1975 said:

Legally, shouldn't the owner of the car involved in the accident be forced to pay through her insurance company? How do I enforce this or should I leave this to my insurance company or their underwriter?

Any advice gratefully received, thank you.

Technically only after a court order is obtained however most insurers will handle claims before that. 

Do you have the insurance details of the vehicle itself? You talk about "forcing" but dont even mention that you've spoken to them or not. 

Depending on who you bought from it may be the sales company or it may be the insurer that deals with a claim on your own policy, many intermediaries have claims handling authority for relatively modest claims (often £50k is the tipping point but some can be up to £250k or more).

I am assuming Admiral stated their driver didnt have Driving Other Cars cover? Or are they just assuming that their insured may be named on the vehicle's own policy?

greencar1975

Thanks all, really helpful comments. Yes, Admiral have told me that their insured driver didn't have DOC cover. I'm going to contact my insurer today and hope that they pursue it. Thank you!