Accident claim / insurance fraud ?

[The Phantom]

Need some advice here, very annoyed, but may be hopeless....
OH had a car accident in July in a country road. Wet road, oncoming vehicle. He pulls over and stops to let the oncoming vehicle pass. Guy was speeding. loses control ,skids and slams head on into our car, pushing the car backwards causing front and rear side damage. He has only front end damage. No eye witnesses. Police refuses to come out as no-one injured. Other guy is driving a company car, gives OH name and phone number and drives off.
We report incident to our insurers, who hand the issue over to the legal department as we have legal cover.
Car gets fixed quickly but we have to fork out just under £300.- excess which we intend to get back from the other parties insurers.
It is now October and solicitors have just written to us stating that the other parties insurers are refusing to pay anything as the other driver is claiming my OH caused the accident by driving into him. I.e. same story but other way around.
The guy is lying and the accident damage to both vehicles supports this as ou vehicle was the one that got pushed back due to the impact causing damage at the back. That would not have been possible if our vehicle was the forward moving one
Sols however said it should not be pursued any further and want to wash their hands off it as no chance of success in court
Any ideas anyone. Still worth pursuing or not ?

[Chesterexpress]

Take it that you didn't take any photographs at the scene? If it were me, then I would insist on taking it further. If what you say is correct visit the scene and take photographs to show how the damage would have happened to the rear of your car (must have been pushed back into something). With these and the engineers report you ought to be able to make a case in your favour. Good luck

P.s. love your avatar, fantastic motors

[The Phantom]

Hi

yes, of course I took photos and they have been sent to the sols with my report
Also the repair garages for both vehicles should have documented the damage anyway and it can be seen on the breakdown for the repairs
The other guy only had front end damage and I had front and rear end damage

Citroen DS = The Goddess !!

[Chesterexpress]

In that case I suggest putting the facts to the solicitor again and insist that he takes professional advice from an accident investigator regarding the damage. With the photographs and the AI's report you should have a very good case.

Just a thought, the insurance companies wouldn't happen to be the same would they?

[The Phantom]

Good point, no they are
\a) Hastings Direct (Donns LLP = solicitors) ME
b) Norwich Union OTHER PARTY

I have sent a letter to the solicitors today as follows:

"Accident date .....July 2007
Reference ABCDEFG

Dear Ms XYZ

I am in receipt of your letter dated XXXXX the contents of which have been noted.

Unfortunately I do not agree with your statement that there is no conclusive evidence in this case.

Obviously if both parties are claiming the same story for themselves, only one party can actually be telling the truth in this case.
We cannot possibly both be telling the truth.
Taking this as a given and the fact that there are no eye witnesses and unfortunately the police refusing to attend the scene due to nobody being injured, the only conclusive evidence is actually the damage on both vehicles which was independently recorded by the repairers and also through photos taken of my vehicle.
Both parties claim their vehicle was stationary at the moment of impact.
This can only be true for one vehicle.
A vehicle that is stationary and is hit head on by a moving vehicle will be pushed backwards.
My vehicle sustained a long deep scratch on the rear passenger door and further damage to the trims where my car was pushed into a bordering wall.
The other vehicle did not sustain any rear damage only front end damage. A receipt or breakdown of the repairs carried out on the other car should confirm this.
You may wish to ask the other parties insurers for details of the damage on the other parties car. The obvious question is: Where did the rear damage come from on my car if I was the one moving forward and driving into a stationary vehicle?
The damage on my car is conclusive and supportive of my version of events.

Going by your terminology “the third party insurers are alleging that their insured….” it would appear you did not actually receive and study the other parties accident report but are going only by what you are being told ?

Could you confirm you have received and read the other accident report as written by the driver of the other vehicle with any supportive evidence such as photos and drawings and a receipt for the repairs carried out as was submitted by myself ?

Please be advised I do not accept the statements given by the other party for the reasons shown above.
It would be shocking to see someone causing an accident by careless driving and subsequently quite obviously not telling the truth should be getting away with it so easily. The law must be applied firmer to force people like that accepting their responsibility and liability.

At least further questioning of the person who caused the accident, pointing out the obvious flaws in their story and probing further may send the correct message, that things should not, and will not be that easy.

I am sure you will appreciate £275.- is a lot of money to spend on an accident I did not cause not even mentioning potential repercussions with regards to no claims discounts.

Therefore at this stage I cannot give any consent to accept the proposed “settlement” as in my opinion the evidence is there and is by no means conflicting.

I am looking forward to hearing from you

With best regards

The Phantom"

I will see what they say to that. It appears they just cannot be bothered with it. As they can't claim injury compensation etc there is probably not enough in it for them, but then I do not need any legal cover, what they have done so far I could easily have done myself just by going on this site and asking
It is very annoying

[marcus2864]

If I was you id go into your local town or nearest city look for a reputable law firm or a large one check they have a personal injury department usually can check them out online too and ask them to take it over on a no win no fee. Dont use any middle person that advertises lots and wants to pass your details on, some are ok some not.

Your Solicitors dealing with it don't seem interested sounds like they was appointed by your insurance co. They would pass your file on to the new solicitor who could give you a fresh second opinion and will more than likely take it on and win if it wasn't your fault.

Good luck

[The Phantom]

Quite right, the solicitors dealing with it now are part of / working for my insurance company and were appointed by them because I have legal cover
At the moment I am wondering why I ever took out this extra legal cover
These sols are useless, they only move if chased up and then after three months all they say is, let's accept what the other party says/ suggests and move on.
Sorry it is not what you expected
Not what I expected ? You are kidding me. It's not my fault, I lost money and this is all I get for my legal cover ?
I am still fuming but if they won't shift their backsides I will do as you say and find someone else

[marcus2864]

They wont do much work because they get so many clients free from your insurer if you find someone yourself they will look at you as their customer and try and do their best for you thats how its meant to wor

They would be able to get your old file and maybe even use that LEI cover if your insurer are ok with it or just use the no win no fee same thing really.

[The Phantom]

Five months later this is still dragging on
I have refused the solicitors suggestion to accept the other insurers proposal, but they insist that a 50/50 settlement is the best I can hope for even if it goes to court
Can someone explain to me what 50/50 means exactly ?
Does this mean the other parties insurers will pay their clients damage and my insurer will pay my damage and I pay my own excess ?
In that case the insurers of the guilty party will be in a win win scenario, as their clients appear to have third party only or TPFT cover only, in which case their insurance ends up paying nothing although their client caused the accident, whilst my insurance pays for the damage to my car (caused by someone else) and I pay my own excess.
(I had a number of phone calls from the person causing the accident asking me to admit full liability so they could get their car repaired, which leads me to believe they don't have fully comp insurance..)

[haydn]

I would issue a summons against the driver for the loss of your excess and any loss of no claims discount. It will only cost you £50 and you will at least have a chance of justice.

[barracad]

Originally Posted by The Phantom

(I had a number of phone calls from the person causing the accident asking me to admit full liability so they could get their car repaired, which leads me to believe they don't have fully comp insurance..)

Did you record the calls?

[The Phantom]

Originally Posted by barracad

Did you record the calls?

Yes, they are on my OHs voice mail / message service on his mobile phone
He saved them as I asked him to keep them

[barracad]

They could come in useful then, what exactly was discussed apart from him asking you to take the rap? Did he say anything that was tantamount to an admission of guilt?

[The Phantom]

Actually nothing was discussed. They only had our mobile number, not the landline, so they kept calling the mobile, leaving messages.
They were initially just messages to call them, which we ignored and then messages to say we had to admit liability so they could get their car repaired and we should do that by phoning them back straight away
As we did not cause the accident we did no such thing and the solicitor also told us not to phone them back

[The Phantom]

After getting a letter from the sols our insurance wrote to us advising us they would not back court action as they also thought a 50/50 was good enough.
Only after I wrote back to them and basically unleashed hell in my letter telling them I would hold them responsible for MY losses if they now denied me my legal cover they wrote back and said they would be happy to re-assess the matter
My opinion is the matter can never be a 50/50 because one vehicle drove into a stationary vehicle after loosing control. Both parties claim this story for themselves. All that needs to be established is which party is lying and the damage on the vehicles tells a very one sided story here. So once it has been established who is lying it is not and never will be a 50/50 but I don't appear to get through to anybody
Is what I am saying not logical ?
Also the fact that the other party quite obviously only has got TPFT or TP cover would add to the theory that they were quite happy to be conservative with the truth on their insurance claim and keen to put the blame on me.
If you look at the overall picture I wonder whether this may not be enough to convince a judge on probability especially as the damage on the cars is irrefutable.
If I had been the forward moving vehicle, why have I got damage at the back and side of my car, if I wasn't pushed backwards ?