Hi,

I am really upset by what I am about to type and I hope someone out there can help with this matter...

My wife had an accident with another car at a roundabout in July '07. Without going into the technicalities both parties thought the other was at fault and there were no witnesses nor injuries.

Since we knew the other party and would see them regularly we decided it was best to leave it as 50:50 and move on. We then discovered that the other party decided to take Direct Line to court (as our insurer) to claim on car hire and my wife's "reckless driving". This is laughable, but it came to £8000 odd!

Well after nearly a year of to and fro Direct Line have decided to settle the other parties claim on a commercial basis and we will be lumbered with the extra premiums etc. How is this fair when we said, as soon as we heard of this action, that we were prepared to defend and even counter claim against this other party?

The solicitor did say we could take independant action as they were not admitting our liability, but how can this be fair? They are paying off the other party because they are scared of the legal bills yet the other party has no case as far as the accident goes nor can they prove anything against my wife. I have been to Court several times and the Claimant has to PROVE why they have a case and the car hire claim was based entirely on defamation of my wife's driving in the POC's.

What options do we have? How can we go about being compensated for this ridiculous action of our insurance companies solicitors?

Thanks,

Penfold

OK, just to bump a little and put another option forward.

I thought that we could wait till the court claim is finished off and they report back to Direct Line. The Solicitor acting on our behalf says he will not accept liability (ours) so how can Direct Line justify penalising us when they do not wish to defend the case? I will complain and take it up with them,then FOS then court as last resort...

Views please...