Car accident advice

johnnyren

Around a year  ago my daughter was involved in a small car collision in a hospital car park ,    I remember at the time her saying no police report was taken , no witnesses nothing ,     The insurance details were exchanged and the other woman stated it wouldn’t go further even though she thought my daughter to blame 
so today my daughter gets a a lawyers writ seeking 15 thousand in loss of earnings due to injuries sustained 
quite obviously to me she’s decided to look after reflection for a potentially easy pay day
Would I not be right in saying with the total lack of proof of liability she is clutching at straws here  
     Thanks 

TadleyBaggie

Who knows, maybe some mystery witness appeared. Time to get her insurance company involved.

SiliconChip

She must pass everything to her insurer (the one she had at the time of the accident if she's since taken a policy elsewhere) and they will deal with it. Your final sentence may or may not be correct, but it's not for you to decide.

Devongardener

Did your daughter report the accident to her insurance company?  If so send the solicitors letter to them to deal with.
If she didn’t she might have problems, whatever the case she must ask the solicitor for full details, proof etc.

twopenny

Having worked for a solicitor or two you have to prove injury and if must have been severe to loose that person to loose that much money.

I'd ask for proof to pass onto 'my solicitor '.

Has she looked up the firm of solicitors? My guess is, if they are real, they are no win no fee types.

Okell

johnnyren said:

Around a year  ago my daughter was involved in a small car collision in a hospital car park ,    I remember at the time her saying no police report was taken , no witnesses nothing ,     The insurance details were exchanged and the other woman stated it wouldn’t go further even though she thought my daughter to blame 
so today my daughter gets a a lawyers writ seeking 15 thousand in loss of earnings due to injuries sustained 
quite obviously to me she’s decided to look after reflection for a potentially easy pay day
Would I not be right in saying with the total lack of proof of liability she is clutching at straws here  
     Thanks 

Just pass all correspondence on to her insurers at the time.  Don't do anything else.

Your daughter pays her insurer to deal with just this sort of stuff.

Car_54

Devongardener said:

Did your daughter report the accident to her insurance company?  If so send the solicitors letter to them to deal with.
If she didn’t she might have problems, whatever the case she must ask the solicitor for full details, proof etc.

No. Whether she reported it or not, she must pass the letter to her insurers, without even acknowledging it. Let the insurers deal with it, that’s why she paid them.

getting into correspondence with the lawyers will only muddy the waters.
 

jimjames

johnnyren said:

quite obviously to me she’s decided to look after reflection for a potentially easy pay day
Would I not be right in saying with the total lack of proof of liability she is clutching at straws here  

She may well have received a fishing expedition phone call. "We're calling about the accident you had" and actually responded rather than just putting the phone down.

Aretnap

Devongardener said:

...whatever the case she must ask the solicitor for full details, proof etc.

No, she must not do that, she must pass the letter on to her insurance company (the one that she was with at the time of the accident, if she has switched in the meantime) and follow their instructions. Under no circumstances should she attempt to correspond with the solicitors without discussing with her insurer first.

The other woman might be trying it on or she might not, she might have evidence of liability or she might not. It doesn't really matter - the good thing about being insured is that when things like this happen it's your daughter's insurer's £15,000 which is at stake, not her own money.

MyRealNameToo

johnnyren said:

Around a year  ago my daughter was involved in a small car collision in a hospital car park ,    I remember at the time her saying no police report was taken , no witnesses nothing ,     The insurance details were exchanged and the other woman stated it wouldn’t go further even though she thought my daughter to blame 
so today my daughter gets a a lawyers writ seeking 15 thousand in loss of earnings due to injuries sustained 
quite obviously to me she’s decided to look after reflection for a potentially easy pay day
Would I not be right in saying with the total lack of proof of liability she is clutching at straws here  
     Thanks 

Did she actually inform her insurers at the time? 

Presumably she has renewed her insurance since?

She needs to pass the letter on to the insurer at the time of the accident. Assuming she has renewed and made a false declaration of having not been involved in any accidents it would also be prudent to admit to her current insurers that she lied on her application as insurers are a little more lenient on those that admit their mistakes than those who are found out. 

She admits she was involved in the accident so it comes down to what both versions of events are. It could be the circumstances match and she is fully liable, it could be that there is a dispute on what happened and in many such cases insurers will settle on a 50/50 basis as there is no evidence to prove one version of events over the other. 

twopenny said:

Having worked for a solicitor or two you have to prove injury and if must have been severe to loose that person to loose that much money.

Loss of Earnings naturally depends on what a person does for a living and how well they are paid. There are some odd jobs like saturation divers who can be paid a very pretty penny and relatively minor injuries could prevent them from working. A 2 week gig could pay more than £15,000 and its a case of you do all of it or none of it, there isnt the option to lose 2 days and then be helicoptered out to do the other 8 days. 

Medical reports etc will follow on significantly later than the initial letter of claim. 

johnnyren

jimjames said:

johnnyren said:

quite obviously to me she’s decided to look after reflection for a potentially easy pay day
Would I not be right in saying with the total lack of proof of liability she is clutching at straws here  

She may well have received a fishing expedition phone call. "We're calling about the accident you had" and actually responded rather than just putting the phone down.

Can you expand on that a bit please ?