yep dx, said thanks for the payment and they would close their case

Hi guys, just a quick update for you all. Sent away a reply with a cheque attached, asked for confirmation upon receipt of the cheque. Got it a few days later, everything is sorted thanks for the helpful replies everyone

Thanks for the responses everyone. I'm still a little unsure as to what route to take, but I'm more inclined to go by post because I don't really want them having my phone number. In any case, I'm going to draft a letter tonight after work, and photocopy their letter as well. I'll keep you guys updated, and thanks again for replying, I really appreciate it.

just an update - today, I FINALLY received their reply - don't know what took them so damn long, because they weren't exactly sluggish in sending their previous threatening letters! The letter states that they are willing to take the reduced amount I suggested - however, to initiate payment they want me to phone a number and call this person. I'm not too sure I'm okay with dealing with things over the phone as it's often much clearer on paper, but thy've given me a deadline (26 nov) to phone this man. I know they probably have methods of payment, but what would be the safest option to pay a debt like this? cheque?

Their car was probably in the garage getting fixed, leaving them without a car. I'll draft a letter tonight and send it tomorrow morning.

The bump was minor, in the sense that my car was fine but his bumper was dented and out of shape. The original amount I paid for his repairs was in the region of £800 (I'm guessing he just got a new bumper). I've already sent a letter away to Weightmans, so I'll have to see what they say about the reduced settlement first before I go about asking what the breakdown of costs were. I should've really put that in my letter though, damn :s

I could probably handle anything up to 700 or so in one lump sum right now, so hopefully they will give me a reduced amount It was a minor accident, just a bump while his car was stationary so I'm glad it wasn't quite serious enough to get the police involved. Nope, the car is my dads and I wasn't the main driver. I was just a named driver under my dad's policy.

ub & dx, I think Helphire's problem was that they didn't have my insurance details which is why it escalated to MIB and then subsequently Weightmans. After reading your posts, I went back to check my insurance details of 2008 (which is under my dad's name, does that make a difference?). Turns out there is a slight complication. My dad didn't renew the insurance early enough, which left a window of about 2 weeks - when we were all driving uninsured! Obviously, I just had to go and get myself in an accident during this time. So after all, I couldn't have used my insurance at the time of the accident anyway :s This would also explain why Helphire and MIB couldn't find my insurance details! Also, this would rule out contacting my previous insurer to cover the claims. Which means I'll pretty much have to pay this one myself I think? If this happens, will I be required to provide details of this accident when I renew my insurance in future?

that's kinda what I thought at first - which is why I've been ignoring the letters up until recently. But they do have all my details, which was the worrying thing

Thanks for the advice, I've wrote and sent a reply to weightmans, should be there for Tuesday at the latest. I took your suggestion and asked for a reduced amount in the region of 500, I'd really hope they'll consider it! I'll just be so glad to get this whole thing off my back, it's been on my mind for too damn long I'll update you as soon as I get any correspondence from them, thanks for taking the time to reply

thanks for replying unclebulgaria. Yes, I thought contacting them would be the best plan, as I've recently started a full-time job and I don't want to get bogged down in court procedures :S I'm not sure about contacting my insurers as I've switched insurers since the time of the accident! As they've offered a lower amount to settle the balance, would it be too cheeky to ask for an even lower amount? Also, should any correspondence be sent by recorded delivery?

Hi guys, first off, I'm newly registered so apologies if this thread is in the wrong place! I've lurked around the boards for a while and everyone seems really helpful, so I thought I'd post my current predicament here and see what advice I can get. The story is, I was involved in an accident in 2008, I reversed into a guy's car by mistake, dented his bumper and on the day, we exchanged details. I was a new driver, so you can imagine how distressed I was, and when I told my parents, my dad decided that we would pay the repair fee out of our own pocket since if I claimed, my renewal price for my insurance would go through the roof as that was my first year driving. Sure enough, Esure (the other guys company) contacted me via post, and I phoned them back, stating that I'd like to pay for it myself without going through insurance. They came back with a quote, and I paid it off. End of story right? Nope, about a year afterwards, I get a letter from a company called Helphire, who tried to recover money from me (I'm guessing for the hire car) that they hired from their connection with Esure. I ignored the letters, because I already thought I had paid for this when I cleared the balance with Esure (although foolishly, there was no breakdown of charges when I received the balance to be paid). After ignoring a couple more letters, I;ve recently been receiving letters from Weightmans LLP, telling me that I owe their client (Motor Insurer's Bureau) £1175. The letter referenced the accident date and everything, and it was a fairly threatening letter saying that I've to cough it up or 1) they'll go to court proceedings 2) they'll try and declare me for bankruptcy. I've now received three of these letters, each seemingly more threatening than the last! In the last letter, Weightmans have noted that the client is willing to take the balance down to £830 and that’s all I need to pay. So really what I want to ask is, what should I do? Ignore or contact them? I've read here that these types of letters are nothing more than empty threats, but I'm still young and inexperienced with this kind of stuff so you can probably imagine how much sleep I've lost over this recently Honestly, any form of advice or guidance is helpful, and I'll be happy to provide any more details of the situation if need be!