Help needed - injury claim against car insurance

[Charlottesp]

Good evening all,
Hoping for guidance.
My husband underwent surgery for removal of brain tumour and subsequently took seizures resulting in him being unable to drive.

He offered his cousin to borrow his car and had him added to the insurance.

The cousin totalled my husband’s car shortly after with his own son (a minor) in the car late at night and a ‘mystery’ woman (not his girlfriend - son’s mother).
Luckily no one was seriously hurt. The son was checked over at hospital and they found minor cuts/bruises and a sore rib.

The cousin fled the scene but eventually admitted liability after initially telling my husband the car had been stolen.

The insurance paid most of car off but my husband and I had to cover the excess in addition to £1000 outstanding on finance.
The cousin did not pay us back despite promises.

I have now received a letter from lawyer to inform me that the son’s mother (the cousin’s girlfriend) is suing me for damages to her son, even though it’s her own boyfriend (the cousin) who was driving.
But because I’m the main policy holder the claim goes against me. Lawyer said I have to accept liability as otherwise it will go to court and he has advised I will lose as according to Scottish law they can claim against me even though I wasn’t driving because I’m the main policy holder.

I am so worried whether my insurance will still cover any claim on my behalf as the policy has now finished (as no car to insurance, the policy was not renewed).
And also whether the cousin can get more money out of us?
Or if there’s any way out of this nightmare….

Needless to say, we’re shocked and appalled at their scheming as cousin previously told my husband that son was absolutely fine.
They are after money (the cousin already used his dad’s bank card without permission to pay off debt and buy new tv & washing machine) so those are the kind of people we’re up against…

They will not drop claim and have told us they need money as can’t feed their 4 children, so they are prepping son ahead of doctor assessment to ensure they get as much as possible out of us.

My belief in people really shaken, my husband just wanted to do him a favour and let him use the car and in return we are £1300 out of pocket, no car and now they’re suing me as well…

Would anyone be able to offer advice/ guidance on this at all? We’re both so upset and worried beyond belief..

Many thanks

Charlotte

 

[Charlottesp]

Are you not getting borred of creating these new accounts and making up these stories?

Budforce (congrats on picking such a cool name btw, guessing single then)
God, you so caught me out! Well done for calling BS. I just love writing boring posts wasting both mine and other people’s time, because hey, nothing beasts a made up story about car insurance.

 

[Charlottesp]

If the Cousin is injured your Solicitor/Insurance can make a Subject Access Request to the hospital for proof of injuries.
Hopefully it all falls flat at that point.

Thank you very much. Yes, a medical examination is to be carried out. He only had a bruise and a scratch on the night, but know that parents will be ‘decorating the truth’ as they told us on the phone he’s absolutely fine. They just need the money. No texts of course, and didn’t record call so wouldn’t make a difference unfortunately. But thanks

How do you know ow they are prepping him?

How do you know they are doing this to claim money to feed the kids?

If it's texts, hand them over to insurance fraud team and let them deal with it.

I hope you had motor legal cover

Thanks for this. They told us on the phone he’s absolutely fine, they just need the money. No texts unfortunately and did not manage to record call so no proof.
Yes, luckily have legal cover.
But I don’t pay premiums any more, as agreed by Aviva, seeing as no car to insure anymore so policy was not renewed. My biggest concern is that Aviva won’t cover now seeing as policy complete. They started claim after policy finished.

I deal with Clinical Negligence but many 3rd party accidents come through me also by mistake.
I personally know 5 people and how much they got and every single one added a zero onto their payout but of course I have to keep quiet.
You''ll be surprised how low some claims can be, for instance I worked on the case of the girl who lost her leg at Alton Towers getting pictures and records for the Police, if she had lost her leg driving to Alton Towers the payout would be around £350,000 but I'm pretty sure Alton Towers gave her at least 1.5 million.

I sincerely hope it won’t be in that region. There’s only so much they can ‘fake’ surely. Luckily the boy is absolutely fine, they’ve told us that on the phone. They just need money and although I feel for their financial difficulties, I feel hurt/angry that they would make other people pay for their own mistake. Thanks for your reply

I am going through a personal injury claim (I am suing them) and there are generally tiers for each type of injury. Medical evidence of every injury and evidence of every additional expense incurred is required by the person submitting the claim. I have heard that the amount received is less than you would expect though. I am in England so I assume it is similar in Scotland. Injuries can appear weeks or months the after the accident which is why personal injury claims like this can take a long time to settle. They aren't settled until it is clear that no further injury will appear.

But you were insured at the time of the accident. So just pass the letter to your insurance company at the time. I would be very surprised if you are not covered. Obviously contact them first to explain the situation. If you have evidence of conversations at the time, such as text messages, they may be interested in them. Unfortunately an injury claim is likely to push up the price of future insurance however.

Good luck but don't worry. You should be covered.

Hades, thank you for this. Very helpful and greatly appreciated.