car insurance claim- need help

Beetle_lover

right, im a newbie and i really need help. will try and keep the story to the facts as its pretty long.

June 2007 i had a head on collision on a single track road in the pouring rain. Because of this i was hoping to settle on 50/50 as it wasnt anyones fault, just single track and terrible rain.

the police came and didnt even take a statement from me.

less than a month after i received my cheque(as my car was written off) and although it wasnt as much as i expected i was happy for it to be over as it was my first accident.

i began receiving letters from my insurance company stating that the other driver was trying to hold me completely responsible as i was "on his side of the road"

i have sent many letters to my insurance company explaining the events of the accident.and dont really see how he can be doing this as the police obviously didnt think anyone would be claiming.

i have now received a claim letter from a solicitors basically saying the guy wants £1600 from me! tried to get in touch with insurance but the guy i need to speak to has gone home and im really worried.

Anyone know what i should do?

And if i dont have legal cover will i have to deal with this myself? the accident was over 9 months ago and with no police statement i and worried ive forgotten something.

any help for a worried noob would be really appreciated

raskazz

Send the letter by special delivery to your insurer asap. They will deal with it. Do not under any circumstances respond to the letter yourself.

Oh, and try not to panic - claims teams get hundreds of such letters a week.

V_tricky

This is such a common scenario - and 50/50 IS the most likely outcome.

He has to PROVE that on the balance of probabilities that you were on 'his' side of the road. He wont be able to do this unless he has independent witness evidence - HIGHLY unlikely.

If it is just a single track road, either the insurer can get a loss adjuster out, they can look at photographs on googlemaps, or you can take a couple of snappy snaps for them to show that it's a single track.

The police will only investigate a road traffic accident when one of the involved parties suffers an injury, and will only REALLY investigate if that injury has been serious.

PLEASE don't be worried by the letter from the other chaps solicitors - it is DESIGNED to put the wind up you, hoping that you'll ring your insurer & say "I don't care, just settle it".

It doesn't matter whether you have legal cover or not. Legal cover will mean that they will pursue your losses (ie your policy excess) back from the other person.

Your insurer will deal with the third party's claim, whether it comes from him, his insurers, or their solicitors. When/if the third party issues county court proceedings (sounds bad - isn't) then your insurer will pass the file to their own solicitors at NO COST TO YOU.

Obviously, they don't want to have to pay out on a claim where they do not have to!

PLEASE don't worry. Raskazz is totally right - your insurer will receive HUNDREDS of these type of letters each week.

The guy is unlikely to be able to prove that you were at fault, and bearing this in mind the most sensible outcome would be a 50/50 settlement (your insurer would pay 50% of his repairs & excess etc, and his insurer would pay 50% of your repairs & excess etc).

If they did take it to Court, if your insurer has already made that offer then the Judge is likely to take a pretty dim view of them bringing the case that far.

Fax, scan & email or post the letter onto your insurers, ensuring that you put your OWN claim number somewhere on it so it can be tied up with the correct file and let your insurers get on with it. They will be happy to deal with it for you, and their claims service is what you're paying your sheckles for.

claireyfairy_2

Try a counter attack and demand £1600 from him!!! Then you'll be quits. Don't worry though, your insurance company are there to deal with this for you, it's what you pay your premium for.

Beetle_lover

thanks everyone, i really appreciate your opinions and help. made me feel alot better about it all :T

nope no witness, well only one..my boyf! so they wont take it into account.

the guy dealing with my claim is calling tomoro, i'll post up the results.

my main worry was that me and the boyf signed for our first mortgage last night, just waiting for approval(fingers crossed) so i didnt want anything to mess that up.

thanks again, think i'll be on here alot more often now im signed up! :j