Hi my insurers are Esure and back on the 16th November 2009 a lorry switched lanes and clipped the passenger side of my car and drove off damaging my car with £1100 damage. I finally have a court date set for 26th October 2010. I have had my car repaired at £450 excess and now the court require a further £75. I want to know if I should continue down the small claims court route or should I just give up at this stage and call it a day.

I have captured a poor quality image of the lorry driving away and managed to record its registration number. I feel compelled to go to court as I was 100% in the right. I am worried that the judge will go down the 50/50 route and i will get nothing. any help with this would be much appreciated. Many thanks

You have the court date, so I think you should just go for it. The other side may not turn up anyway and you could win by default.

If they do turn up, you might need a bit more evidence than a poor quality picture of the lorry. Did you have any other witness to what happened? If not, I suspect the lorry driver will say that they know nothing about the accident.

What you have to realise is that the lorry drivers future career could be at stake. This could be an accident that ' breaks the camels back' for which the employers might not be happy. So they might well vigorously defend your claim.

What is the 'further £75' for? Also, who is taking the court action, you or Esure?

What confuses me is the cost to you is your excess (your Uninsured losses), BUT also as a claim against your insurance, there is also a value on your loss of NCD which should also be quantified and pursued. If Esure decided not to pursue the matter, but you did - you would be pursuing their full costs too (of the repair) as you could reimburse them and have a clean sheet.

You should sue for the full amount of the repairs. If you win then you repay esure their outlay and there is no NCD issue.