Thanks for your prompt response, Unclebulgaria The latest is as follows: Dad rang Direct Line, who said the claim was not for repair of the claimant's vehicle (£550 which has been paid), but for the cost of the hire car while it was being fixed (£1400 seems an expensive hire car!). When Dad said that Sheila's Wheels were dealing with this already, Direct Line asked him to ring them back with my vehicle registration number, and my insurance reference number at the time of the incident. Why would they need these? Surely they already have them to be getting in touch in the first place? I then rang Sheila's Wheels. Their response was to tell us to ignore Direct Line, who they say shouldn't have got in touch with us. Sheila's Wheels said that while my insurance had been made void, they still had an obligation to meet 3rd party costs, but that the reason this was not paid was that they were questioning the amount involved. They are therefore meant to be drafting a letter to send to Direct Line to say that they shouldn't have contacted us, and that all discussion should be through the nominated solicitor. Part of me is relieved, but am cautious that there could easily still be costs that I am unaware of. The other thing I forgot to do was update my details with Sheila's Wheels (new address) and ask for a copy of the letter they were sending to Direct Line. Fingers crossed it's more sorted!

Hi again. Thanks to those who gave me advice first time round. I know it's been a while, but there has been another problem occur, and wondered if anyone could suggest the way ahead? I tried to appeal with Sheila's Wheels, but they upheld their decision. I decided not to go to the ombudsman, as Sheila's Wheels implied in their correspondence that they would cover 3rd party costs. While they would not refund the storage fees incurred for my vehicle when it was at the garage, they did cover the cost of the initial recovery of the vehicle, so I left it at that. In September I moved house, but made sure my mail was forwarded for 3 months. On the 15th September I received a letter stating that Shiela's Wheels had been 'unable to reach agreement over the settlement of 3rd party claims' and that 'the claimant's solicitors have issued prceedings against them'. The letter said that Sheila's Wheels' solicitors were 'attending to proceedings'. I did not bother to contact SW as I felt that this also inferred they were taking care of 3rd party costs. I heard nothing more from SW, and assumed that the matter had been dealt with. That is until last Friday... My father, who was originally the registered owner of the vehicle (which I rectified as soon as I realised the error), received a recorded delivery letter from Direct Line. This stated the name of the other driver, the date of the accident, and that dad has 14 days to pay a £1400 bill! If he does not, solicitor proceedings will start against him. I can understand how they got hold of his details, but should Direct Line be coming after him for 3rd party costs? Surely this should be Sheila's Wheels trying to reclaim them from me? Do they have the right after all this time, and with such little notification, or justification, for such a large sum? My father is retired and living on a state pension; the last thing I need is for him to face such proceedings due to an issue I have caused. Likewise, it is impossible for me to gather such an amount of money together in such a short space of time. I will update again tomorrow after dad has spoken to Direct Line, but I have a feeling we will need to get solicitors involved. Any advice or guidance would be gratefully received...

I have been insured with Sheila's Wheels for 2 years. Having made one small 3rd party claim in December, I had a more serious crash a few weeks ago. The police happened to be at the scene, and everything was dealt with accordingly. The 3rd party's car was a write-off, while mine had approx £1400 worth of damage (as estimated by the garage at the time). The insurance company decided that it was too much, as the vehicle was only worth £1600, and so decided to scrap mine too. However, an unfortunate error on my part is that the vehicle is still registered in my dad's name, and I had insured it as being registered in my name. The address it was registered to is a property I own, while the insurance is for the property I rent because of living away for work. As the V5 is in dad's name with a different address to my insurance, the company have now decided to void my insurance from when it started. They stated that this is becuase it is my father who has the financial interest in the vehicle (even though he is incapable of driving it, and it has never been kept at the property). All premium paid is going to be used to offset the costs of the 3rd party claim, but it means I receive nothing. My worries now are: What happens about fixing the car? I assume I do it all myself, which is fine, but then the next step... what happens about insuring the car again? Will my no-claims be completely gone, or only those years I was with the insurance company? Also, what happens if I wish to insure a different vehicle while getting mine fixed? And the two biggest worries - am I still liable for the costs from the 3rd party? Are the police likely to be informed and I recieve a fine for driving without insurance, points on my licence etc? The initial accident happened 3 weeks ago, and I had presented all my documents without any problems. The police were fully aware that the vehicle was registered to my father. Can anyone help settle my mind, or make my worries greater?