At fault driver not reported accident to IC

chaseside

Hi all,
I was involved in a RTA on the 13th Feb.The accident came about when a Lady didnt bother to stop at a STOP sign leading onto a main road.She hit another car travelling along the main road then slammed into me.I was stationary at the junction on the opposite side of the main road (crossroads).
Police & Ambulances attended.The police said at the scene she obviously realised she was at fault.Anyway could go on & on about the incident but I wont.Whats done is done.
I reported the accident to my IC the same day ,used the legal cover to get a hire car while my car was repaired.Everything went fine & I paid my excess in order to get my car back.
Now as it stands I have shelled out £150 excess & I currently have lost my no claims.
Two days ago I phoned my IC to chase up the claim against the At Fault driver.I received a reply yesterday saying that the At Fault driver has not reported the incident to their IC so my IC have faxed all the details to them to consider.

Now I thought you had to immediately report to your IC if you are involved in RTA ?
Could it be that the At Fault IC's are just dragging their feet ?
What should I do now ? do I just keep chasing my IC (annoyingly I have free landline call but they are 0845 so costs a fortune when you are put on hold)

raskazz

chaseside wrote: »

Now I thought you had to immediately report to your IC if you are involved in RTA ?
Could it be that the At Fault IC's are just dragging their feet ?
What should I do now ? do I just keep chasing my IC (annoyingly I have free landline call but they are 0845 so costs a fortune when you are put on hold)

There is no statutory requirement for a driver to report an RTA to their insurer. The only thing that requires them to inform their insurer is a condition of their policy.

Second point, doubtful as they would have nothing to gain from doing so.

chaseside

Thanks raskazz,

So if it is a condition of the policy & she didn't inform them what will happen,will they refuse to pay.
I am very worried about this & I have never been involved in any accident before so I dont know what to expect.

missile

You could sue her directly for your loss. Do you have free legal services with your policy? I would suggest you write rather than phone, so that you have a record and reducing your cost to a second class stamp.

V_tricky

Hi,


If there were injuries reported at the scene of the accident, the police would have taken down the details of the partys involves, and taken a brief statement and filed a report - this would be evidence to prove that the other person was involved. If there were no injuries reported, then the police wont have kept anything on file.

Your insurer may not have started the recovery process until your repairs were paid for, and the file passed to their recovery team, so the delay here so far may not be as much as you think.

It is common practice in situations such as yours that the insurer of the reporting party will ring or write to the insurers of the non reporting party and give them enough details to set up a claim file.

The nonreporting insurers will set up a file, and write out to their client & remind them of their contractual obligation to report the accident, and tell them that they are being pursued for damages incurred as a result of the accident.

At this point, some people will own up and give all the details (in which case you'd be fine).

Of course others will ring their insurer and deny involvement (in which case you'd have to prove that on the balance of probabilities they were involved - if the police have drawn up a report, then this would be valuable evidence, along with any independent witness statements, or even perhaps photographs of concurring damage to their car - if you could get hold of some).

Still others will simply do nothing, and again, you have to prove that on the balance of probabilities they were involved, and obtain an unsatisfied Judgment from the court to enable their insurers to deal under their own obligations as RTA Insurer.

It could be that the other persons insurer are just dragging their feet (there's nothing to stop you ringing them yourself and hearing from the horses mouth what they are proposing doing about it).

Realistically though, the other person's insurers hands are tied - they have a contract with that lady, and unless she either requests indemnity for the incident, or you can prove that on the balance of probabilities she was involved and they agree to deal as an RTA insurer, there's nothing they can do.

The things you CAN ask them is:
When did they write to their client asking for a claim form?
Have they tried to phone their client?
How often have they tried?
Are they prepared to get a loss adjuster out to visit their client to take a statement from them? - If so, how long will it take before this is done?

Things you can ask your own insurer is:
When did they report the accident to the other insurers?
How often do they diary their files for?
How much of a backlog of work do they have? (ie if you sent a letter in today, how long would it be sitting in someone's virtual in-tray before it's actually dealt with)
Have they contacted any witnesses yet? If so, have they received a response? If so, have they forwarded on the statement to the other insurer?
If there were injuries reported, has your insurer sent a cheque to the police for the cost of their report?

This sort of information would help you get a handle on whether your insurers are doing enough for you - if not, put more pressure on them to do it - keep a manual diary yourself and keep ringing them. So long as you're polite, they wont mind at all that you might be making a pain in the bum out of yourself.

As soon as this person tells her insurer about the accident, I am sure that they will get on and deal with your claim properly (have your legal insurers sent across a copy of your excess receipt yet?). But they aren't psychic, and can't pay out on someone's policy just because they say they were involved in an at fault accident, unless there is real evidence.

Regarding their 0845 number - have you tried the saynoto0870 website? This is a website which gives the real telephone numbers for companies. Even if you get through to a wrong department, they are normally happy to transfer you.

One final thing - it may just be that this person has made an oversight - and sorted her own repairs thinking you'd contact her directly. No doubt now that her insurers have set up a claim file (and this incident will now be affecting her NCD if she doesn't have NCDP) then she will ring them and give them all the info.

Good Luck!

MarkyMarkD

The other party doesn't need to claim from their insurers at all.

In those circumstances, your insurer would normally write to the driver and tell them to pay up, or to pass the letter on to their insurers.

At that stage, it's the other driver's choice about how to proceed.

chaseside

Thanks guys for your replies,

I will contact both insurance companies tomorrow & start my diary of events.

I will then send a letter to the lady who was at fault & I am going to call round to see the other lady involved who I would say had her car written off by the at fault driver to see how her claim is going.

The at fault drivers son went to hospital & so did the lady(whose car was possibly written off) in seperate ambulances.
The police had numerous witness details at the scene.
The last thing I asked the police was if they were going to come & take a statement.They said if it was alright with me they were going to see the at fault driver at hospital (with son )& offer her a days driving course instead of a court appearance.
I had to phone the police for a log number to give to my insurance company.
Luckily I have legal cover & my IC has instructed a solicitor to try & recover any out of pocket expenses.

The damage to my car was approx £1650 & mine wasn't as bad as the other 2 cars so unless she is very wealthy she will have to claim on her insurance.

I will let you all know how I get on.
:beer:

missile

Remember to claim for absolutely every little thing, like all your telecons, trips to the garage, time off work etc and I hope it works out for you.