Bumped someone with no insurance, 2 years later they want £7000

morguk said:
About a year later we had a letter from the woman's doctors or what eva saying they are goin2 check the old woman over for injuries from the bump! Now 3 years later we get a letter from the motor insurers bureau asking to recover expenses arising from the collision for £7,270!!! The letter says they want the cash in the next 14 days, failing to do this then they will commence proceedings for the sum due, together with a claim for all court fees, costs and interests.
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This is where you lost me, info

What hospital /doctor did she go to?
What injuries did she have?
What medication did she take
How many visits did she take to the doctors
How many hours total
Billing invoices
Treatment, What, where, when?

Why are you getting the bill from the motor insurers bureau?

Edit. thanks merlin, i dont know, find out the above, take her to court, and hope that she dies? then you, your brother and clare would be the winners by elimination
 
Hmm this is a real problem. The thing is she wasn't insured, and it's, as unjustified as it sounds, treated as 100% her fault as she hit the back of the van.

Now if this older women is prepared to lie as she sees this an an opportunity to get money, and I strongly suggest she is, she will know to lie about the pain in her neck and/or back and not elsewhere. The reason for this is that medically they are the 2 places left for which doctors can't PROVE she's lying. They do not know the level of discomfort. Basically if she says she's got a broken arm a doctor can say 'that is definately a lie'. If she says her neck is aching constantly a doctor can only say 'We do not have the technology to determine if she is lying or not'.

It's not coincedence people always say they've hurt their neck or their back.

Now £7000 is probably a reasonable amount for a consultancy, specialists etc to see her about her neck. Especially if she is going for 'constant pain' and 'lack of mobility' which generally gets the most wonga. In fact £7000 is a relatively small amount of money for such injuries. Remember no doctor has the capability to prove she's lying, so all she has to do is say 'I am in constant pain I can't stand it will it never end' and no doctor is going to stand up and say 'I believe that is a lie'. Horrible really.

The good news however is the fact that they have put such a tight deadline on giving the money makes me think they are probably after a 'quick-win'. They don't REALLY want it to go to court - they want you just to panic and pay up or make an offer. If you DO pay up (after offering them £2000, £3000 or something first of course), make sure you have something signed saying this is in total and final payment including costs - otherwise in 18 months they could (and will) come back for more.

They probably know you were uninsured. They also know

1) Most people are scared to go to court and think it's somehow bad.
2) Court costs most people money especially if they lose.

See if your brother can get legal aid. If so, I'm afraid you're best bet is going to court. This is NO-WHERE NEAR AS BAD AS IT SOUNDS. Just make absolutely sure you don't lie in court otherwise you'll get ripped to peices.

It's a real problem that the driver was uninsured, a serious problem, however this is not really material to the court case. It just means NOW if your brother has some money he's going to have to pay for his own defence. It is irrelevent with regards to how much old-women will get. Remember, with injuries, the suggested rate is only £20,000 for the loss of an eye - everything else is lower.

If you do go to court and lose, of course you have to pay out of your pocket THEIR court costs as well as your own. This could unfortunately be up to 25K or something as their lawyers will be charging out at £100 - £200 per hour. You can potentially NOW get insured against losing the case (!!), which would be worth looking into.

For a quick win I'd phone and offer then £1200 in full and final settlement and see if they bite (probably not). Tell them when you do this it should not be considered an admission of guilt.

Good luck. Don't drive uninsured kids! By the way - find out what the 'statute of limitations' is for the crime she committed. May well be less than 2 years at which point BINGO! You win!
 
bigredshark said:
Is there a problem with refusing to be fleeced for £250? All we know is what the OP has said, that the person mistakenly had no insurance (which I can understand, if I was busy enough I'm sure it could slip my mind to renew it if the insurance company didn't auto renew etc...), they informed the police of this as soon as they realized (all actions showing good faith).
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In the eye's of the law, this is no excuse. What happens if everyone "forgot" insurance and only owned up when they had an accident?

bigredshark said:
The other driver then requested an amount which was (in their opinion) disproportionate to the damage caused. The only thing they did wrong was refusing it and making a lower offer rather than requesting a copy of the mechanics quote and details of the damage and repairs needed, itemized for costs.
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Maybe it's just me, but if i hit someone, when i (mistakenly or not) had no insurance, i would pay the £400 and hope this was the end of it. You certainly wouldn't find me haggling with them, as i know that they could just turn around say "Ok, fine. Don't pay the £400. We'll do this through the insurance" and then i'd be up **** creek without a paddle.... that's right, just like "Clare".

bigredshark said:
And, as already said, the OP said it wasn't him and you've no reason to think otherwise I know of so give him a break maybe?
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I didn't direct my response at the OP, unless he happens to answer to "she".
 
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Does Clare never open her letters or something though? A mate of mine was the same and racked up hundreds of bill/late payment fines when he was going through a bad patch. Clare must have missed loads of letters from insurance renewal reminders to letters about the case etc?
 
I can't see how he(she) can win this one, unless by magic theres <=2 year SoL. Assuming its genuinely the MIB chasing them up the choices are basically to dissapear, declare bankrupt, or tell them you can't afford to pay and tell them they can either negotiate repayment or take you to court... either way isn't going to be cheap.
 
Don't forget everyone this is now a CIVIL case not a CRIMINAL case.

Therefore it has precisely NOTHING to do with my policeman any more. It's a dispute between 2 private parties.

But liek someone else said, I just can't see how she can 'win'.

Technically speaking it is irrelevent to the case whether the old women is arguing against an individual or an insurance company. However emotionally they are probably thinking 'Miss X sounds easier to fleece then 'Admiral car insurance professional lawyers', in fact she'll probably bottle it completely before it gets to court, therefore let's have a pop at it'...
 
Oh a friend somewhat more qualified than myself says that for non-contractual, civil incidents statute of limitation is typically between 2 and 4 years so you deffinatly should be looking for legal advice.

And apparently you can also question why they took so long to bring the matter to you - if they were found to have been sitting on their rights you may be able to get out of it that way...
 
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britboy4321 said:
For a quick win I'd phone and offer then £1200 in full and final settlement and see if they bite (probably not). Tell them when you do this it should not be considered an admission of guilt.
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This is madness, don't even think about doing this. Seek legal advice before you do anything.
If you can't afford lawyers, then you may be able to get Legal Aid. If you don't want to do this (as it can take some time) a lot of universities have Law Clinics for people who can't afford lawyers or need something cleared up.
May be worth approaching your local unis and asking them. - They won't represent you in court but they will be able to help.
 
Ahleckz said:
This is madness, don't even think about doing this. Seek legal advice before you do anything.
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I think that bit can't be emphasised enough - just from a quick chat with a friend who has some legal expertise theres a lot of variables in this situation that could easily go either way.
 
Clares brother just said they didn't pay the £400 because at the time they couldn't afford it and didn't think it was worth it, and therefore offered the £150.

He also said that Clare thinks even if they payed the £400 for the car, they would still be doing this now anyway for the personal injury.
 
Rroff said:
I think that bit can't be emphasised enough - just from a quick chat with a friend who has some legal expertise theres a lot of variables in this situation that could easily go either way.
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Aye, I'm a law student - though I'm in Scotland - so I have a bit of an understanding as to what I'm talking about.
 
My bro just said the letter has www.dwf.co.uk on it and isn't actually from the Motor Insurance Bureau, but on behalf of them.

Can't the CAB make a payment scheme where they can pay back per month?
 
Statute of limitations is 3 years but that is only to file a claim with a court. Once that is done it can drag out as long as necessary. I didn't settle with the guy who drove up the back of me in 2004 until last year, that's 5 years to a settlement.

When they asked for £400 you should have got them to sign a statement that they have received £400 in full and final settlement for the incident, and frankly you should have bitten their arm off.

Since you refused to settle amicably they have reported their claim to their own insurance who will have given them a hire vehicle (you say this was a van, so it will likely have been a Transit or a Caddy or similar commercial vehicle) while her van was repaired. Then the lawyer will have gone down the personal injury route, which is particularly tempting as the MIB don't pay out the full amount so a personal injury claim is a great way to make up the difference.

The MIB pay all this out and when they finally track you down they demand reimbursement as you are now finding out.

Clare is ****ed. I hope your brother's financial arrangements are such that he isn't deemed "financially linked"* to his GF, else your brother can be held liable.

*eg. they have a joint account. Bills in both names. etc.


I know this process well as my GF's first 200SX was written off by an uninsured woman in a Vitara, so we've been through it from the other end. We didn't make a false personal injury claim though.
 
morguk said:
Clare then checked and found out that her insurance ran out 2 weeks b4 hand, the insurance people didnt automatically renew it. so Clare went 2 the police station and told them, nothing came of it, no points on her license..etc.
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Curious as to why the CPS didn't prosecute her for driving without insurance? If the Police were involved and/or she admitted it at the station they would've surely given her a verbal NIP and she would've eventually been summonsed for the offence?
 
The Police's involvement is not material to the civil claim for costs. The Police are only interested if there's an injury - if there isn't and details have been exchanged it's a civil matter.

The driving without insurance will probably have been recorded by a civvy on the front desk when she went in to confess and never followed up by an officer - most "ordinary" (ie non-traffic) officers have little interest in minor motoring offences and it would probably have taken a couple of hours out of somebody's day to deal with the paperwork.
 
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