Instruct my insurance company to not accept blame for car accident

ckxion

A family member was involved in a car accident.

The police have charged the other party with careless driving based on video showing they made no attempt to slow down at a Give Way Junction and entered the major road from the wrong side of the road they exited (impact with relatives car not in the video clip).

Static images are available that support the video in regard to the drivers route and being on the wrong side of the road. Video and images sent to insurer + google maps satellite view of junction.

The case not yet in court.

Despite this, the other party is attempting to make a claim against my relative. 

My relatives insurer has already increased renewal premium as a claim is pending.

I know the insurance company can do what they want, however would it be useful to write a strong letter informing the insurer that they do not have permission to accept any claim from the other driver or agree to 50/50 blame?

What options does my relative have if their insurer does accept blame or agrees to 50/50.

What needs to happen to have the higher premium reversed - presumably after any claim against my relative is rejected?

user1977

Why would it be useful? If you want it to be covered by the insurer, you need to go along with how they wish to handle the claim. You can dump them and defend it yourself, but you'll be on your own then.

Mildly_Miffed

Your relative needs to read their policy - they almost certainly agreed to delegate decision making to the insurer.

The insurer won't talk to you, so there's no point in you doing anything.

The claim is still open. It will be settled as not-at-fault if and when the insuraners agree that your relative is completely blameless and the other party covers all the costs.

Mark_d

As part of our insurance contract you gave your insurer the right to decide what to you.  Your insurer is now involved in the issue and you are bound by the contract.  You should trust your insurer and see what happens.  If you later believe that the insurer has not behaved correctly, then you can make a formal complaint and escalate via the financial ombudsman service if necessary

cw8825

Also to add depending on what happened in the accident.  The police charge is not an indicator of fault

DullGreyGuy

ckxion said:

A family member was involved in a car accident.

The police have charged the other party with careless driving based on video showing they made no attempt to slow down at a Give Way Junction and entered the major road from the wrong side of the road they exited (impact with relatives car not in the video clip).

Static images are available that support the video in regard to the drivers route and being on the wrong side of the road. Video and images sent to insurer + google maps satellite view of junction.

The case not yet in court.

Despite this, the other party is attempting to make a claim against my relative. 

My relatives insurer has already increased renewal premium as a claim is pending.

I know the insurance company can do what they want, however would it be useful to write a strong letter informing the insurer that they do not have permission to accept any claim from the other driver or agree to 50/50 blame?

What options does my relative have if their insurer does accept blame or agrees to 50/50.

What needs to happen to have the higher premium reversed - presumably after any claim against my relative is rejected?

As you've already said, the law allows the insurer to deal with the third party as they see fit even if thats against the wishes of their insured. Most insurers will want to take their insured along with them rather than just ignoring them but if push comes to shove they'll protect their interests. 

You say the third party has been charged with a crime... have they been found guilty? You are innocent until that point under English law. 

If you feel that strongly about it and your insurers feel equally strongly that a negotiated settlement is better you can discuss if you can be let to handle the claim, in doing so your insurer will want you to sign an indemnification such that if the outcome is worse than what they were proposing you will either pay the third party directly or will reimburse the insurer the extra outlay. If its a high value claim they may want some collateral to ensure you can afford to pay up (know one customer who lost £40,000 by doing this). It is purely at their discretion if they agree to this or not. 

Assuming the claim is settled non-fault and they have stayed with the same insurer then it should be that NCDs are reinstated and premiums are recalculated. If you've moved insurer though it then gets more tricky as you'll have to present them with the evidence and see what they say... in my Motor days we couldn't change the NCD of an inflight new business policy so if you'd switched to us we either gave partial recognition or you had to cancel the policy and buy a new one with the higher NCD.