3rd Party Insurance woes

balky12

balky12

balky12

Soldato
Joined
6 Oct 2011
Posts
4,260
Hey all,

Couple months ago I was reversed into by a young man who at the time was very upset and apologetic about the whole thing. He wanted to see if we could avoid going through the insurers, which i was in agreement with, subject to how much the damage was. Couple days later i got a quote of £2k and sent him the quote over email. I was surprised by the amount and so was he. He wanted to get his own valuation.

He was slow at replying (2 weeks), then cited illness and hospital visits, then he asked for some more time, so I was lenient, another few weeks passed and now it was his phone that was playing up.

I have no idea how much his quote was but I got a text from him saying 'Just go through insurance'. So I am guessing it was in the same ballpark.

I phoned up my insurer 2 weeks ago and gave notice. They deemed the accident not my fault so put me through to their non-fault repair provider (Auxillas) and now I am stuck. My claim can not progress without them getting a recording of the 3rd party admitting liability. They will not accept my text messages with the lad (where he apologises and admits it was his fault) as evidence. They have left voicemails and rung numerous times as have I. I received a text message over the weekend from him saying he has spoken to my insurance company. I rang them on Monday and guess what... he hasn't rung them.

I spoke to my insurance company and they basically said that without admission the claim can not progress. So my options are withdraw the claim and pay for the damage myself, or claim against my own policy. Surely this is ludicrous. How can a 3rd party just swerve speaking to insurance companies and then be let off all blame?

Anyone else had similar experience or knows how to progress my claim?
 
Or small claims him using the info you have?

Must admit sounds a bit bonkers from the insurer - wouldn't you expect them to talk to the other parties insurer and go from there?
 
MacRS4 said:
Or small claims him using the info you have?

Must admit sounds a bit bonkers from the insurer - wouldn't you expect them to talk to the other parties insurer and go from there?
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Small claims was my line of thinking, burden of proof being the balance of probability, so the texts messages would be a slam dunk, along with the fact he is just lying and swerving the insurance companies calls.
 
I had a similar situation where a third party refused to accept liability.

I paid for the repairs myself and the legal assistance cover through Albany Assistance "pursued" it - which basically involved sending increasingly outrageous claims from the third party over to me with advice to settle 50/50. I stood my ground and eventually got the money back, with interest, about 20 months after the incident.

Do you know who the TP insurers are? Have you contacted them? You might get more joy from them than you will from your own insurers, especially if you supply the SMS evidence.

If I was in this position again, and the TP insurers refused to play ball, I'd complete small claims court forms and send them to the TP with a covering letter stating that they will be submitted in 14 days if they don't comply and admit liability to their insurers.
 
blueboy2001 said:
I had a similar situation where a third party refused to accept liability.

I paid for the repairs myself and the legal assistance cover through Albany Assistance "pursued" it - which basically involved sending increasingly outrageous claims from the third party over to me with advice to settle 50/50. I stood my ground and eventually got the money back, with interest, about 20 months after the incident.

Do you know who the TP insurers are? Have you contacted them? You might get more joy from them than you will from your own insurers, especially if you supply the SMS evidence.

If I was in this position again, and the TP insurers refused to play ball, I'd complete small claims court forms and send them to the TP with a covering letter stating that they will be submitted in 14 days if they don't comply and admit liability to their insurers.
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Thanks for your input, unfortunately I do not know the TP insurers.

I know where he lives, might just pay him a visit, highly likely still with parents... get him to call my insurer there and then. Hopefully he has decent parents, I know if a stranger had to go to all this trouble and ended up at my parents house whilst I was living there I would have hell to pay for...
 
Just send him a message stating that if he doesn't comply you're going to have to start legal proceedings, might just get him in the right frame of mind.
 
He's burying his head in the sand and hoping you magically go away. I think the threat of legal action might just get things moving although if he is a young lad a chat with his parents might also change his attitude, chances are they will be shocked as he wouldn't have mentioned anything.
 
A mate had a nightmare a few years ago.

He was driving in a town he didn't know and sod's law prevailed that he was in the wrong lane approaching a junction, so indicated to change into the lane he needed. He waited until a gap, and a car held back, so he pulled into it. When he was 1/2 the way in, this car suddenly woke up and started f-ing and jeff-ing, and jerking the car towards him. This car kept lurching forward and ended up hitting the back of my mate, damaging the rear light cluster and a rear panel. My mate was apparently shaking at this point and couldn't believe this nut-job has just rammed into him (potentially on purpose) and thus felt quite threatened. Police happened to be nearby and came over to get details, and (for some reason) told my mate something like "are you aware the gentleman in the rear car is disabled", as if that was an excuse for his actions. (I know this is all "my mate" yadda, but corroborated by wife and daughter in the car at the time).

So, this is where it gets fun... He wanted his car fixed, so speaks to insurer, explaining what happened, and they said that he's obviously been hit in the rear (whether on purpose or not) so the other party are at fault. So he puts in a claim. He files his statement and nothing from the other party. Multiple requests and nowt from the other ppl. So his insurance say the only way to force them to admit fault, close the claim and keep his ncb on his policy is to take them to court.

On the day of court he turns up and so does the other party. His solicitor then says there's some issues with the claim, as my mate said it was a man driving that car (which was witnessed by wife, daughter and policeman) but he was disqualified, so the other party are claiming it can only be the wife that was driving. My mate said that's bull, and it was phrased to him that if he's wanting to pursue his statement that it was the gentleman driving that it was a completely different court case (as it would be someone driving without licence/insurance/etc) and it's not something that could be resolved in small claims. His solicitor was pushing him to accept that she might have been driving, so the case could continue that day. This is all despite the likely bulletproof evidence from the original police officer taking statement on the original day - who obviously wasn't called, or asked for a statement, for this court appointment. So, he did what his solicitor was "advising" and claimed that it might have beem the woman driving after all. They go into court and the judge pretty much said that if he's changed his mind as to whom was driving and can't remember that detail, so how can he be so sure on the rest of the details... She then said that in her mind the incident happened in 1 of 2 ways, either he was rammed by the 3rd party or he pulled into a space too small, and she went with the latter. Despite all the damage being on his rear and it surely would have been on the side if he was forcing himself in? Presumably the solicitor screwed up by not raising this dispute about who was driving with the other solicitor prior to that day and calling for the police officer (almost as if they hadn't read the case before...)?

So, despite his insurance originally stating it was 100% the other party and an easy case, by going through small claims he ended up with it being his fault, and then losing his ncb... He wasn't too happy and got a dashcam, thinking it might help defend himself in future...
 
@Dereks- What!that is ridiculous :( can't believe even with police present at the accident he could still get screwed like that.

Op are you sure he actually has insurance? Everyone denies responsibility in an accident but it still gets sorted between the two companies quite quickly normally.
Can you not contact his insurance directly yourself and tell them you want the money for your repairs?
Or best case scenario if you know where he lives why have you not been knocking on his door daily till he answers?
 
Dav4 said:
@Dereks- What!that is ridiculous :( can't believe even with police present at the accident he could still get screwed like that.

Op are you sure he actually has insurance? Everyone denies responsibility in an accident but it still gets sorted between the two companies quite quickly normally.
Can you not contact his insurance directly yourself and tell them you want the money for your repairs?
Or best case scenario if you know where he lives why have you not been knocking on his door daily till he answers?
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I am pretty sure. Whilst dealing with two companies Admiral (my insurer) and Auxillas (my insurers non-fault repair provider) I gave them both the TP details and they mentioned this was to get his insurance details and nothing come back untoward.

Will ring up my insurance company and request his insurance details but I imagine they will not share those details.

So far no reply to my text informing him I will be seeking legal action.

Will take a visit to his house.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
how do you even know that is his real address he gave you?
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I don't, well apart from when I gave over all his details to my insurance company they didn't say 'hang about, these details don't make sense.' Gave them his full name, address, mobile number, car type and number plate.
 
balky12 said:
I don't, well apart from when I gave over all his details to my insurance company they didn't say 'hang about, these details don't make sense.' Gave them his full name, address, mobile number, car type and number plate.
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tbh it sounds like you have a crap insurance company.

normally your own insurance company would get all the work done for you. then claim the costs back from the other insurance company. if at that point the other insurance company contest it. it could very well then be a claim under your own insurance then you just pay the excess.

has his insurance company been in contact with him? what was his response? your insurance company should know the answer to this.
 
Had a similar not too long ago, I was on my motorbike, and a van reversed out of parking into my front left quarter. He wanted to not go through insurance, but ensured I got his insurance details from him, and shared mine at the time.
Gave him a list of panels that needed repairing (basically every single panel, as the bike flipped. He wasn't creeping out.) and told him that it was going to be pricey, and would likely be better to go through the insurance. His reply was "Well, it was your fault. So deal with it."

Contacted my insurer, gave his details they contacted his insurer the usual, anyways, long story short he refused to speak to his insurance company, wouldn't answer phone, text, e-mail, or post apparently. After not being able to contact him, his insurer requested inspection of my bike, the damage matched up perfectly with my 'story' so the insurer gave the 3rd party a further 14 days or something for him to contact them, or they would payout in full. He never did contact them, and so I was payed (the bike was written off, no suprise, and not something I was worried about) in full on a "non prejudice basis" as they put. Was dealt with suprisingly quickly given the circumstances.

The only problem I can see in your case, is the damage is to the front(?) of your vehicle, and the rear(?) of his. So it's not quite as cut and dry if you say he reversed into you, and he says you rear ended him. Not sure this could be cleared up with a vehicle inspection.
 
balky12 said:
I spoke to my insurance company and they basically said that without admission the claim can not progress. So my options are withdraw the claim and pay for the damage myself, or claim against my own policy. Surely this is ludicrous. How can a 3rd party just swerve speaking to insurance companies and then be let off all blame?

Anyone else had similar experience or knows how to progress my claim?
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I'm going through exactly the same thing atm. Insurers are under zero obligation to respond to you or your insurer. So if the other driver dodges it, so will they. And your claim will go nowhere.

Basically your option is to claim, lose ncb, then you've incurred a lose which your insurer is obligated to recover given the dispute. Since a financial loss has occured they can instruct solicitors at which point the TP insurers HAVE TO respond else they will lose their case by default.

Sadly this is occurring in more and more cases every year, and occurs in virtually 100% of claims involving company vehicles.
 
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