Insurance: Tit 4 Tat & claiming the excess?

2blue4u

2blue4u

2blue4u

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My daughter had a 50/50 accident some four months ago and the insurance companies settled on a tit for tat basis. But now she has received a letter from DAS trying to bully her into paying the other party's excess. Which was tiny compared to hers btw.

Whats the crack with this?
 
The other party's insurance company won't be interested. Because it's 50/50 both sides have had to pay their excess. So DAS are trying to recover that money on behalf of their customer. This is no different to what anyone can do if they are out of pocket due to someone elses actions (I'm not saying it was your daughters fault but this is what DAS are obviously suggesting). For example I did actually take a cyclist to small claims court over some damage they did to my car (they settled several days before the hearing).

I've never been in this situation but if I were, then the approach I would probably take would be to write back to DAS and state that I was not to blame for the accident and will enter into no further correspondence on the matter.

I'd guess that the worst case would be that the matter is referred to court as a civil claim (i.e. small claims court). At which point both party's put their case and the judge decides. So let's look at the possible outcomes:

1) Your daughter gets worried by the letters (regardless of blame or not) and pays the demanded amount - She's out of pocket.
2) Your daughter gets taken to court (very unlikely) and loses - She has to pay up, she will have to pay some degree of costs (see below- don't panic).
3) Your daughter gets taken to court (very unlikely) and wins - She loses no money.
4) Your daughter ignores it and they give up - She loses no money.

So on balance I can't see any reason why she wouldn't ignore it.


** Court costs - I'm not a lawyer of course. But back in around 1988 I was involved in a minor accident (some slight wing damage). I refused to admit I was to blame and it went to court. Essentially the two insurance companies took each other to court and I was a witness (it sounds nuts but that's actually how they did it). I did actually lose the case (which I still dispute but that's another story). However we had the last laugh. The other party's insurance company went to a 'proper' court (county court??) to claim the repair costs of several thousand pounds. However they had not repaired the car and had instead sold it and accepted a payout from the insurance company. The judge therefore decided that the claimed amount was not the repair cost but the difference in value between an old banger and and old banger with a scrape on the wing. This meant that the amount that the other party was out of pocket was very small... and therefore the matter should have been heard in a small claims court... The judge therefore awarded them the case but instead of giving them any money he awarded costs against them because they should never have taken my insurance company to that court.
- What I'm trying to get to here is that if they threaten you with a large legal bill I don;t think they have a leg to stand on (but as pointed out this was a long time ago and I'm certainly not a lawyer).
 
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Thanks for that. But will outcome 2 result in a CCJ. Or will that not happen if she were to lose and pay up quickly.

And should she take similar action against the other party? Her excess was almost four times higher than theirs.
 
B@Th*nG said:
fire it straight back to her insurance company

B@
Click to expand...

The above is the correct answer to the question raised.

Your daughter pays nothing towards the third party claim and recovers 50% of her excess from the third party, as indeed the third party recover 50% of their excess from your daughters insurers.
 
It's gone through the insurers, and its gone 50/50. It effectively has nothing to do with your daughter any more. I would either ignore the letter, or inform them that the claim is settled, and leave it at that.
 
You will only be subject to a CCJ if:

You get taken to court &
You Lose &
You don't pay the required sum within the agreed time frame.

As other have suggested, send the letter to your insurance. You could also write back to DAS stating to deal with your insurers (remember why we have insurance, to deal with matters like this) The insurance obviously agreed to a 50/50 (i.e both sides partial blame).

Also state any further letters sent to you from DAS will require £150 per letter response (payable to you) and by replying to said letter will confirm this contract.

I bet you wont receive another letter.
 
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I've just phoned the insurance company, as a preamble to calling the broker as a preamble to calling the legal assistance people, only to be told that they paid the other party's excess claim yesterday. They say they admitted full liability whereas throughout all earlier communications it was handled as a 50-50.

I'm confused. I'm also ****ed - as I've since seen the other party drive like a nuttier around the same estate-road bend where the accident happened.
 
Looks like an example of, insurance company weighed up the cost of paying their excess Vs cost to fight it in court.
 
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