Accident with and without insurance

Janeybabe · 27 April 2018 at 9:34AM

Back in January (this year) I was in my car going to work and hit a patch of black ice. I hadnt even got off my street! The car went through a neighbours fence flattening both it & the hedge behind it (quite impressive for 10mph).

The neighbour advised me at the time that I wasnt the first person, nor would I be the last to flatten his fence in bad weather.

I contacted my car insurance company & filed a claim. My car was pretty mangled and needed taking away for repair. They advised me to give my claim number to the neighbour so that he could pass it to his home insurance company & they would fix his fence against my claim which I did.

So far so good.

A few weeks ago I received a message from the neighbour asking me when I was going to fix his fence. I replied that he had to contact his home insurers as previously advised with my claim reference and he replied back saying he didnt have home insurance.

He has literally sent me 10 messages a week since then which are getting more and more hostile and threatening. I advised him that as I am currently heavily pregnant I cannot physically repair his fence but my question is this - am I legally responsible to fix his fence if he has no insurance? I would have happily contributed to having it mended had he not started to get nasty on his messages. I pay a premium for my car (& home) insurance so why should someone who doesn't be able to feel they can take advantage? My car insurance company have advised that they cannot simply pay him out, he *has* to go through a home insurer with my claim number but if he takes out insurance now he wouldn't be covered for this claim as it occurred before his policy was in effect.

Sorry if this sounds harsh but I'm losing patience with the bullying txts.

Nasqueron · 27 April 2018 at 9:38AM

Ring up your insurance and tell them the details, then likely you will need to tell him to claim off your insurance and if he contacts you again you will report the threats to the police

Janeybabe · 27 April 2018 at 9:48AM

I've already contacted them and they have advised that they would only deal with another insurer not him directly?

maisie_cat · 27 April 2018 at 9:53AM

Give him your car insurance details so that he can contact them directly, there is no legal requirement to have home insurance. The insurance company probably assumes he has home insurance and that they would deal b2b. He may think that you are trying to avoid repairing the fence, just direct him to your insurance company. What you do not want or need is for him to take you to small claims, but if you do get paperwork send it to your insurance company.

Janeybabe · 27 April 2018 at 9:57AM

He has my insurance details - I gave him this right at the start and the claims reference number to claim against.

Nasqueron · 27 April 2018 at 12:12PM

Ring up your insurer, tell them to deal with him directly, if they won't and want to speak to an insurer, ask to raise a formal complaint and follow it up in writing

Tell the neighbour to deal with the insurer and that the messages are stored (do hope you aren't deleting them) and will be reported to the police if he threatens you any more

Janeybabe · 27 April 2018 at 12:21PM

Definitely not deleting the messages.

I'll give them another ring and see what they say - I'd much rather they step in to sort this out than have to deal with him myself.

Thank you for all of your suggestions xx

Zorillo · 27 April 2018 at 12:50PM

Your car insurance is responsible for settling third party liability claims and the stance they have adopted is wrong. You need to make them deal with the claim, speak to a manager if necessary.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth · 27 April 2018 at 12:53PM

The him to picket his fence and go through his insurance company. he should have household insurance. if not, ignore him.

Accident with and without insurance

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