Being sued after car crash

sweetleafx

My daughter had an accident last year. I'm not sure if it was established who was at fault, and I'm not sure if that is relevant as she can no longer afford her own car due to the insurance hike!

We thought everything was settled, but recently got a solicitors letter through the post claiming for £17K worth of additional car hire costs for the other person involved which our/their insurance didn't cover.

My daughter did send all of the information to her insurance company while she was still insured, however they didn't do anything with it (she didn't follow up) and now the insurance has run out.

My daughter is in no position to afford a solicitor - she has been in touch with a couple of legal aid solicitors, but apparently not had anything back. She is also neurodivergent so I will have to avocate for her. However I have no idea where to start. It does feel like the claim is a complete p-take and from the description of the accident, despite my daughter being a new driver, at best it was 50/50, if not the other drivers fault.

Any advice would be gratefully received!

Mark_d

The insured event (accident) and claim happened while the policy was in force, so I would say the insurance company still has liability.
I can't speculate on whose fault the accident was but £17k in car hire costs sounds excessive.  Did your daughter cause serious damage to a Ferrari or Bentley?

DullGreyGuy

sweetleafx said:

My daughter had an accident last year. I'm not sure if it was established who was at fault, and I'm not sure if that is relevant as she can no longer afford her own car due to the insurance hike!

We thought everything was settled, but recently got a solicitors letter through the post claiming for £17K worth of additional car hire costs for the other person involved which our/their insurance didn't cover.

My daughter did send all of the information to her insurance company while she was still insured, however they didn't do anything with it (she didn't follow up) and now the insurance has run out.

My daughter is in no position to afford a solicitor - she has been in touch with a couple of legal aid solicitors, but apparently not had anything back. She is also neurodivergent so I will have to avocate for her. However I have no idea where to start. It does feel like the claim is a complete p-take and from the description of the accident, despite my daughter being a new driver, at best it was 50/50, if not the other drivers fault.

Any advice would be gratefully received!

Motor insurance is based on the date of loss... this relates to the car accident so her insurers at that time need to deal with it. 

When accident management companies dont get what they want from the insurer they often try and scare the policyholder by sending them a letter before action in the hope they tell their insurers to get it sorted as they dont want to go to court etc. 

Call the insurers and give them the details of the letter, they'll instruct you how to forward it to them. 

Aretnap

Doubtless it's frightening to get letters like this but it's not unusual and it's nothing to worry about.

What's happened is that your daughter's insurer hasn't paid everything that the third party is asking for. Maybe they're still denying liability. Maybe they replied "£17000 for a hire car? You're having a giraffe!" Or maybe the overworked claims department is just being slow. In any event if the third party wants to force the issue, the only way they can do so is through the courts.

Now the court claim would be made against your daughter personally - she is the one who (allegedly) caused the accident, so ultimately she is liable for the consequences. They can't sue her insurance company directly, unless they are claiming that her insurance company damaged the other guy's car. Instead they sue your daughter, and your daughter has to ask her insurance company (the one she was with at the time of the accident) to deal with the claim on her behalf. Which they will do, either by negotiating a settlement with the third party, or by sending a solicitor to argue the case in court.

You and your daughter should not be trying to deal with this yourselves, nor is there any need for you to be talking to solicitors (other than one who works for her insurance company). Simply contact the insurer she was with at the time, and follow their instructions. Rest assured than even in the unlikely event that it did actually end up in court and your daughter was ordered to pay the £17,000, it would still be her insurance company who had to put their hand in their pocket, not your daughter herself.