Car insurance question - help

al_123

Hi,

I hit a car in December and I admitted liability to my insurer because I wanted it over and done with and didn't want to delay anything and mess around.

A month or so has passed and I believed that it had all been resolved as I heard nothing from the insurer but then out of the blue the third party emailed me via a friend and is claiming that he will take me to court and demand I pay his excess and I will have to pay his legal costs!

But I thought the insurance company handles the claim? I'm not an expert on this so how would I fight this out in court when I had already admitted liability and left it to my insurance company to deal with!

Please help me with this as I really don't know what to do and can't be fighting it out in court when I thought the whole point of the car insurer was to reimburse damages to other cars!

lisyloo

You are quite right.
Pass it on to your insurance company.

Perhaps he is having difficulty with either HIS insurance or YOUR insurance and this is his way of applying pressure.

Don't worry about it, it's up to your insurance to sort out, he is jsut trying to get things moving.

al_123

Thanks for the advice, it really helps because I'm only 19 and as I accepted liability as it was my fault, but I really don't know what would happen in a court and what I would do!

Apart from that,if the third party dislikes the result though and wants more money, would he then fight my insurance company or me personally?

I really appreciate any advice you can give me.

lisyloo

It is very unlikely that your insurers will let it get to court.

Apart from that,if the third party dislikes the result though and wants more money

If we are talking about his excess then there can be no dispute.
He is entitled to get his excess back but there is no dispute about the amount.
He is entitled to exactly the amount of his excess and that's it.

If there are injuries then that's a different matter, but there are doctors and solicitors who are qualified to decide on these matters.

You insurance company will do everything possible to avoid going to court because of the costs involved. The same is also true of the other party.
This is merely being used as a threat.

It is very unlikely that this would ever get it court because of the costs involved.
If you did have to fo to court then you just have to tell the truth, but it's very unlikely to get that far.

Ask the 3rd party politely to conduct all contact through your insurers and not to contact you directly.
You can always call your insurance company and ask their advice, but I don't see that you are at risk of anything as the bills are totally covered by your insurer for this case.

Of course you may lose some no claims and future premiums may rise.

Tozer

Even if (which as lissyloo says is extremely unlikely), as you have admitted liability, you probably won't even need to go to Court as it will be a quantum-only trial. This means that the argument will be about how much the claim is for and not about who caused the accident. Fret not!

al_123

Thank goodness for that. I was really worrying I would have to get to court and get the solicitors involved in something I haven't even disputed or delayed! I have comprehensive cover which includes payment of excess for the third party but I was just shocked to see that the third party were getting the solicitors involved and the courts.

In truth the amount won't be too much perhaps up to 500 but it was the legal issue that was troubling me.

Thanks so much for the advice!

Rikki

lisyloo wrote: »

You are quite right.
Pass it on to your insurance company.

Perhaps he is having difficulty with either HIS insurance or YOUR insurance and this is his way of applying pressure.

Don't worry about it, it's up to your insurance to sort out, he is jsut trying to get things moving.

As lisyloo says above, just get in touch with your insurance company. They will deal with it for you. That's what you pay them a large amount of money for.:D

I didn't think the other driver was allowed to harass you once the insurance companies were involved, maybe wrong.