Car insurance - Email from solicitors

TN50

Hello all,

Nearly 2 years ago an uber driver reversed out of a side street and into the side of my car, witting it off.

My insurance at the time paid me the value of my written off car - but liability still hasn’t been settled.

This means I’m out of my £550 excess currently and also paying increased premiums because I’ve still technically got an at fault claim on my record.

Today I received an email from the solicitors appointed by my insurance company that said:

• we’ve attached an assessment and agreement form because the other driver that collided with you voided their insurance policy at the time of the accident.
• The other drivers insurance have decided to deal with the claim but we need the form signed so that they can recover the losses. No further claims can be made once this is completed.

I was just wondering if anyone has been through this / knows what the next steps are?

I’m pretty keen to get my £550 excess back and the claim to be settled as no fault of mine so my premiums go down!

Thanks!

sheslookinhot

Sign the form and return.

The 3rd part insurance co seem to be taking action against the driver who collided with you.

Kim_13

Potentially the other driver voided their policy because they were not insured for business use - but that isn’t your fault so the insurer paying out and then going after the at fault party is a fair resolution.

If concerned, ask the solicitor to confirm that the incident is not going down as any fault of yours and that the 3rd party insurer will be seeking to recover their losses from the Uber driver and not from you before signing.

The ‘no further claims can be made once this is completed’ seems a little strange - are they getting OP to sign so they have no way of recovering the inflated part of the premiums they’ve paid for 2 years? These were entirely caused by the Uber driver, but then if they don’t sign, it drags on. Seems a little like a case of a rock and a hard place.

TN50

Had a full read through of the form they sent again and it says the following:

“the person(s) named in Part 2 of the Schedule hereto (hereinafter referred to as

the Uninsured Driver) is liable to the Claimant in respect of the damage to property and/or bodily injury”

I’m guessing this means they’ve accepted it was his fault? As they referred to me as the claimant at the top of the page.

Thank you to both for answers

DullGreyGuy

What does the form actually state?

In short a contract of insurance can have a host of terms like whos allowed to use the vehicle, for what purposes etc and whilst a vehicle may have insurance on it it may not cover every claim that happens. The Road Traffic Act (and some other agreements) however have certain clauses that say that an insurer of the vehicle must deal with a claim by a third party in certain circumstances even if it goes against the terms of the policy. 

An insurer acting as such, in relation to the RTA is known as the "RTA Insurer". The RTA technically requires that you/your insurers get a court judgement against the driver before they can be forced to act as the RTA Insurer however most companies would rather avoid the additional costs that incurs when its clear what the outcome will be. 

The RTA gives them the right of recovery from the drive of the vehicle and potentially the policyholder if they are complicit in the matter. Similarly their insurance terms are likely to say the same for when the policyholder is complicit. 

We didnt used to get the third party to sign anything when acting as RTA insurer but we would try and get our insured to sign an indemnity agreement. At a guess the form is asking for your support in their recovery efforts?

It will certainly short cut the process by avoiding court and you just need to make sure the solicitors are including all of your uninsured losses (eg the excess) in their efforts. 

TN50

There’s a paragraph about ‘information and assistance’ about making all evidence available to them etc etc.

From what I can get from the form (a lot of it is in confusing legal speak, but I think I vaguely get the gist) : 

• The claimant (me) will accept a payment agreed or ordered.
• The payment received is an interim payment on account (shall only operate as fully effective once the full final settlement is agreed or ordered, or if it’s not pursued further, it stands as the final award)
• Subject to receipt of the payment the claimant assigns to *His insurance company* all rights of action against the uninsured driver
• They can take legal proceedings in my name against him (for which they are responsible for costs)
• If they can recover sums that exceed that of which they have paid me, they will pay me a sum equal to the balance of such excess

There’s also a small index at the bottom that says:

‘Nature of the property and the damage caused thereto £4150 will be paid to the claimant for *his insurance* to recover accordingly’

The only thing that confuses me is this figure is £150 less than my insurance paid me for my car at the time of the accident.

What happens to this £4150? Does it go straight back to my insurer? If so doesn’t that mean they’re still not fully compensated - that I won’t get my excess back and it’ll still go down as at fault?

Apologies for the rambling - Thanks!

DullGreyGuy

TN50 said:

There’s a paragraph about ‘information and assistance’ about making all evidence available to them etc etc.

From what I can get from the form (a lot of it is in confusing legal speak, but I think I vaguely get the gist) : 

1. The claimant (me) will accept a payment agreed or ordered.
2. The payment received is an interim payment on account (shall only operate as fully effective once the full final settlement is agreed or ordered, or if it’s not pursued further, it stands as the final award)
3. Subject to receipt of the payment the claimant assigns to *His insurance company* all rights of action against the uninsured driver
4. They can take legal proceedings in my name against him (for which they are responsible for costs)
5. If they can recover sums that exceed that of which they have paid me, they will pay me a sum equal to the balance of such excess

There’s also a small index at the bottom that says:

‘Nature of the property and the damage caused thereto £4150 will be paid to the claimant for *his insurance* to recover accordingly’

The only thing that confuses me is this figure is £150 less than my insurance paid me for my car at the time of the accident.

What happens to this £4150? Does it go straight back to my insurer? If so doesn’t that mean they’re still not fully compensated - that I won’t get my excess back and it’ll still go down as at fault?

Apologies for the rambling - Thanks!

The car was a write off so they will have sold the salvage to someone like CoPart hence what your insurers are trying to recover is less than what they paid you, for themselves they can only claim the net payment. £150 however is too little for the salvage on £4,150 total loss so there are presumably other fees etc (eg engineers report, storage, recovery, hire car) 

Point 3 doesn't make sense, I assume you have paraphrased it? You subrogated your rights to your insurers when you claimed against them unless "his insurance company" is defined elsewhere as the third party insurer? 

Did you have Legal Expenses cover on your insurance? Did they appoint someone to recover your excess if you did? You need to ensure your excess reimbursement is included in the numbers. 

TN50

Apologies, I didn’t mention that the form was sent to me by my insurance companies solicitors, but the form itself is from his insurance company.

on point 3 the exact wording is:

Subject to receipt of the aforementioned payment in full and final settlement, this

assignment ceases to be conditional and becomes fully effective such that the claimant

assigns to *HIS INSURANCE COMPANY* absolutely, all rights of action (other than in contract) of the claimant

against the Uninsured Driver, or any other person who may be discovered to have a

liability, in respect of the damage to property and/or bodily injury caused by or arising

out of the accident.

In terms of legal expense cover I’m not sure as I can’t find the documents.

DullGreyGuy

*HIS INSURANCE COMPANY* makes it look like its a boiler plate template and someone forgot to insert the right name... defined terms would normally be capitalised like "Uninsured Driver"  is and draft wording is normally put inside [square brackets]

The key element, for you, is ensuring your excess is being included in the recovery action. Speak to your insurer's law firm to make sure it is.

Having to assist them in making a recovery isnt unreasonable. If you dont agree you're insurers would have to litigate against the driver and you'd be bound to assist them so doesn't change anything but does accelerate the process.

TN50

I wrote *His insurance company’ as I didn’t want to leave in the name. 

I’ve emailed the solicitors dealing with it but haven’t had a reply.

Mildly_Miffed

TN50 said:

Nearly 2 years ago an uber driver reversed out of a side street and into the side of my car, witting it off.

My insurance at the time paid me the value of my written off car - but liability still hasn’t been settled.

This means I’m out of my £550 excess currently and also paying increased premiums because I’ve still technically got an at fault claim on my record.

Because, right now, your insurer is out of pocket for it, since the other insurer hasn't paid them back.

That's what insurance views as "fault".

Today I received an email from the solicitors appointed by my insurance company that said:

• we’ve attached an assessment and agreement form because the other driver that collided with you voided their insurance policy at the time of the accident.
• The other drivers insurance have decided to deal with the claim but we need the form signed so that they can recover the losses. No further claims can be made once this is completed.

I was just wondering if anyone has been through this / knows what the next steps are?

Sign the form and send it back! Then the whole sorry mess between the insurers can be put to bed.

They didn't have any choice but to pay it, if they were the insurer-of-record on MID.

What they'll now do is go after their ex-policyholder, who almost certainly "forgot to mention" that he was using the car as a taxi...