Hi all,

Back in November a car drove into me whilst I was stationary waiting to emerge on the motorway. The 3rd party is not accepting liability.

My vehicle is insured for third party theft cover. Churchill my insurers are refusing to do anything apart from requesting a report of the accident from me. They have asked me, three months after the accident; what have I been doing to pursue the claim! And are saying now I need to seek legal advice.

Third party want to settle for 50/50. I am refuting this as I was not at fault.

Can I write to the 3rd party insurance to pursue my claim? And if so what should I say?

Otherwise I don't think I can go for a no win no fee claim as no one was injured in the accident.

Please help.

Hi all,

 

Back in November a car drove into me whilst I was stationary waiting to emerge on the motorway. The 3rd party is not accepting liability.

 

My vehicle is insured for third party theft cover. Churchill my insurers are refusing to do anything apart from requesting a report of the accident from me. They have asked me, three months after the accident; what have I been doing to pursue the claim! And are saying now I need to seek legal advice.

 

Third party want to settle for 50/50. I am refuting this as I was not at fault.

 

Can I write to the 3rd party insurance to pursue my claim? And if so what should I say?

 

Otherwise I don't think I can go for a no win no fee claim as no one was injured in the accident.

 

Please help.

If you have third party fire and theft cover then you cannot expect your insurers to do anything for you (other than defend a claim made against you).

It is up to you to fully recover your losses from the other person/insurance company.

Churchill may well have been approached by the other party claiming you were responsible and are wanting to know how you are doing with your claim (if you win 100% then they have 0% liability, but if you accept 50/50 then the other person will claim 50% of their losses from your insurers).

The only thing you can do (and should have been doing) is to write to the other persons insurance stating what your losses are, why you hold them responsible, what the accident circumstances were and details of any independent witnesses. If you haven't been doing this then I also ask what have you been doing since November?

Can you just clarify how and why you were stationary whilst joining a motorway

Mossy

If you have third party fire and theft cover then you cannot expect your insurers to do anything for you (other than defend a claim made against you).

 

It is up to you to fully recover your losses from the other person/insurance company.

 

Churchill may well have been approached by the other party claiming you were responsible and are wanting to know how you are doing with your claim (if you win 100% then they have 0% liability, but if you accept 50/50 then the other person will claim 50% of their losses from your insurers).

 

The only thing you can do (and should have been doing) is to write to the other persons insurance stating what your losses are, why you hold them responsible, what the accident circumstances were and details of any independent witnesses. If you haven't been doing this then I also ask what have you been doing since November?

 

Can you just clarify how and why you were stationary whilst joining a motorway

 

Mossy

Thank you for your advice. I will write to the third party insurers.

To answer your questions:

The next day after the accident I reported it to my insurers and to the 3rd party insurers. When I learnt that 3rd party were disputing liability, I contacted his insurers and they said me they would deal with my insurers. I then contacted my insurers who requested a report from me, which was duly sent.

It is only today when I phoned my insurers to inquire as to how my claim was progressing that, they told me I had to seek legal advice and that they were not going to do anything.

To be honest Mossy, I just want this nightmare to end. I haven't repaired my car because it is uneconomical to repair.

Out of desperation, I think I might accept 50/50 and thus loose my NCB.

Joining motorway:

I was preparing to emerge on the motorway when a driver closed the gap in front of me, (yes there are some sorry low-life out there who will do that) and I had to do an emergency stop. Matey dropped out of nowhere on the left hand side and drove right into me. I am quite sure he was overtaking several cars in the queue to arrive at the front. And since he was speeding his way through a narrow single lane branch road, with temporary barriers on both sides (because of road works), he probably did not have the judgement to realise that his van was too wide to pass near my car without scrapping and denting it.

I did not know at that time that I should have sought the details of an independent witness...

OK thanks for your description of the accident circumstances. Unfortunately without any independent evidence it will be difficult to prove your version to his insurers and this get a 100% settlement from them, however don't let that put you off trying if you feel strongly enough about it.

Since you are third party fire and theft you should never have been told by his insurers that they would deal with your insurers because your insurers will not do anything on your behalf regarding the damage to your car.

Get some estimates and list everything else the accident has cost you in terms of money/time (phone calls, hire care etc), send the estimates to his insurers and state that you are third party fire and theft and tell them that you hold their policyholder totally liable, describe the accident include a sketch and stress you were stationary. Ideally explain how the damage to your car is in accordance with your description of what happened.

Mossy

Thank you again Mossy, your advice is very valuable and highly appreciated.

It seems to me I have 2 options:

a. either write to them as per your advice, or

b. accept 50/50

Since the mot, tax and insurance are running out this month, I think financially it would be wise for me to go for option b. However, I need to find out, how this will work out. I mean will I have to surrender the car. I will call the 3rd party insurer and find out.

Thank you!

No you won't have to surrender your car.

A 50/50 settlement means that liability is split equally (which is common where both drivers blame the other one and there are no witnesses). It means that any claim you make against them will be paid out to the value of 50%.

So if for example repairs to your car come to £500 and hire charges are £100 and out of pocket expenses etc come to £50 your total claim is £650, they would pay you 50% of that (ie £325) and you fund the other £325 because you accept that you were equally responsible for the accident and therefore you are paying an equal amount of the total claim.

If your car is a write off then you would get 50% of the agreed value, you would retain the salvage, so even in this situation you would not surrender your car to them.

Bear in mind that you will lose your NCB (unless it is protected) and also that the other driver (or his insurers if he is fully comp) will be able to claim 50% of his total claim from your insurers.

That's how 50/50 works.

I can imagine your frustration because you were stationary and the other driver was totally at fault because of his impatience and now you end up losing out financially.

Post back if you have any more questions and make sure you include everything you can think of to claim for to lessen the blow.

Mossy