Hit by uninsured driver

[cdti_88]

In December 2010, I was hit by an uninsured driver whilst carrying 3 passengers. I was not aware at the time that the third party was uninsured and exchanged details at the roadside as it was late and cold, and as the car was driveable, I didn't call the police. After calling my insurance the next day, I was told TP was uninsured and I reported this to the police who after a few months couldn't trace the driver. My car was fixed immediately by my insurance company and I had to pay my excess for the repairs. I was told I would have to claim for personal injury through the MIB, the passengers submitted a claim for personal injury to my insurance company who have said they will not pay for this due to the accident being the fault of the TP. I thought that my insurance company must pay for any injuries to the TP even when not at fault such as in this case, is this incorrect?

[T.C.]

Passengers in your vehicle are classed as third party and therefore are covered under the terms of your insurance and are therefore entitled to make a claim against you.

 

In turn, your claim is made against the MIB who become the defendants under the untraced scheme.

 

So although the other driver may have caused the crash, your passengers still make their claim against your insurance which is then added to the schedule of costs as part of your claim against the MIB.

 

Your insurers are trying to cop out of doing their job properly.

[sailor sam]

i take it that the details the TP provided were false then? Did you get the VRM of the other vehicle and pass it on to your insurers?

 

Please Note

 

The advice I offer will be based on the information given by the person needing it. All my advice is based on my experiences and knowledge gained in working in the motor and passenger transport industries in various capacities. Although my advice will always be sincere, it should be used as guidence only.

 

I would always urge to seek face to face professional advice for clarification prior to taking any action.

 

Please click my reputation 'star' button at the bottom of my profile window on the left if you found my advice useful.

 

[cdti_88]

i take it that the details the TP provided were false then? Did you get the VRM of the other vehicle and pass it on to your insurers?

 

Please Note

 

 

The advice I offer will be based on the information given by the person needing it. All my advice is based on my experiences and knowledge gained in working in the motor and passenger transport industries in various capacities. Although my advice will always be sincere, it should be used as guidence only.

 

I would always urge to seek face to face professional advice for clarification prior to taking any action.

 

Please click my reputation 'star' button at the bottom of my profile window on the left if you found my advice useful.

 

 

Yes the driver provided false details and I have photographic evidence of the other car and VRM and my insurers came back with the outcome being they cannot trace the other driver. Funnily enough, neither the police nor my insurance company have requested any photo evidence.

The solicitors who the accident management company are using say that my insurers are refusing to pay out anything for the third party injuries. Their reasoning for this is that the accident was not my fault, however they have deducted my NCB and recorded a claim against my name aswell as taking my excess. I am no longer with this insurance company. Because of this, the solicitors have forwarded the details of the passengers to the MIB to make a claim.

 

Can you advise if what my ex-insurance company are doing is a breach of law or their terms and conditions, it is Admiral Insurance.

[rebel11]

Hi cdti

 

I'm not sure if this helps, http://www.mib.org.uk/Company+Information/en/Default.htm

 

http://www.mib.org.uk/Customer+Services/en/Default.htm

[cdti_88]

Hi cdti

 

I'm not sure if this helps, http://www.mib.org.uk/Company+Information/en/Default.htm

 

http://www.mib.org.uk/Customer+Services/en/Default.htm

 

It doesn't really address my queries but thanks anyway.

 

Wondering if there is anyway MIB can get my insurance to cough up.

[raydetinu]

Be carefull beacuse your passengers can make a cliam against you personnely, which you will then have to pass on the your insurance company, could get sticky.

[rebel11]

Speak to them, see what they say. You can also complain to the FOS about your Insurance Company.

 

It doesn't really address my queries but thanks anyway.

 

Wondering if there is anyway MIB can get my insurance to cough up.

[cdti_88]

Be carefull beacuse your passengers can make a cliam against you personnely, which you will then have to pass on the your insurance company, could get sticky.

 

That's the whole point, my passengers have the right to make a claim against me and my insurance company as they were a thrid party. However my insurers will not allow them to claim as the accident was not my fault.

[T.C.]

That's the whole point, my passengers have the right to make a claim against me and my insurance company as they were a thrid party. However my insurers will not allow them to claim as the accident was not my fault.

 

I would suggest that you contact the Insurance Ombudsman.

 

The whole point of having a minimum of third party insurance is for the very reasons you have explained, and it is not for the insurance company to say that a claim cannot be made because the cause of the crash was not your fault.

 

I would also advise your passengers to contact a local personal injury solicitor who will send the letter of claim to you, which you then pass onto your insurance company who will then have to deal with the matter.

[T.C.]

Be carefull beacuse your passengers can make a cliam against you personnely, which you will then have to pass on the your insurance company, could get sticky.

 

Any claim is always against the driver whose insurance is on risk, but providing the defendant is insured, then the claimants cannot go after the individual personally, they go after the insurers, so I don't quite know where you are coming from with that statement. There is certainly no reason for it to become sticky.

 

The only time where an individual is likely to come unstuck is in uninsured cases, where the MIB can take an action against the uninsured, on top of any legal proceedings through the courts to recover all or part of their losses.

[raydetinu]

Thata what I mean, nothing to stop TP passengers taking driver/owner of car to court for compensation, then driver should pass this claim onto his insurers to deal with.

It is same with any claim for damages, against the driver at fault/or not, he is the one the TP go after, insured or not; if they have insurance then insurers have to deal with it, prefeerably before it goes to court.

It is quite normal for a TP to initialy seek legal reddress against driver who then passess it on, it gets sticky when his insurers start to wriggle as it appears in this case.

[Endymion]

Unless your passengers are blaming you for the accident occuring I see no reason why your insurers would be involved other than to fix your car.

The uninsured driver caused the accident and therefore is the tortfeasor.

As such, your insurance company has no liability to your passengers as you and your insurance company are not responsible for their losses.

Section 151(2) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 places an obligation on the insurers of the legal owner of a stolen vehicle to meet a judgment against the driver of the stolen vehicle, but there is nothing in there that an innocent insurer must pay passengers claims then try and claw this back from the MIB.

It is simply for the passengers to claim against the MIB.

[cdti_88]

So I rang up on Monday and spoke to a chap at Admiral, who after half an hour and speaking to his manager said that they would allow the passengers to claim off my insurance but it would be a fault claim (which it already is!). The solictors have contacted me today stating that its back to square one and Admiral are again disputing the claim on the basis the accident was not my fault. So I rang Admiral and having confirmed Monday's conversation was in the notes, I asked what the hell was going on. I have just got a call back from the chap I spoke to on Monday saying he was misinformed and that he is sorry for the wrong information.

[sailor sam]

I would write a formal letter of complaint to your insurers and state that unless they deal with the claim (which si what you pay them for), you will refer the matter to the insurance ombudsman as per T C's advice in post #10.

 

Please Note

 

The advice I offer will be based on the information given by the person needing it. All my advice is based on my experiences and knowledge gained in working in the motor and passenger transport industries in various capacities. Although my advice will always be sincere, it should be used as guidence only.

 

I would always urge to seek face to face professional advice for clarification prior to taking any action.

 

Please click my reputation 'star' button at the bottom of my profile window on the left if you found my advice useful.

 

[cdti_88]

Just sent the following:

 

To whom this may concern,

 

I am writing a letter of complaint in regards to the claim reference A1.

 

I spoke to your colleague XX XX on 28/11/11 at around 4.15pm to resolve a problem in regards to the claim. After confirming with his manager, XX advised me it would be possible for the 3 passengers involved to claim for personal injury and this would be recorded as a fault claim, which I agreed to. I called back around half an hour later and spoke to YY YY to request some written confirmation of the outcome of the conversation with XX, however YY was unable to provide this but she advised me that the solicitors would have no problem with continuing with the claim. She also recorded the details of the 2 passengers which were not on file at the time and advised a file handler would be contacting them shortly to discuss their claim. I was made aware on 30/11/11 that the solicitors attempted to contact Admiral at which point they were advised that the passengers would be unable to claim. I contacted Admiral on 30/11/11at 1.00pm to try to resolve the misunderstanding at which point PP PP said that the passengers were unable to claim and he would call me back after reviewing the conversations that took place on 28/11/11. After waiting 2 hours I did not recieve a call back, I rang again and spoke to XX XX again who informed me what he had told me on 28/11/11 by his manager was wrong. I am unhappy with the way I have been treated and I demand that the resolution that was agreed on 28/11/11 is upheld to allow the 3 passengers to claim. If this cannot be resolved by Admiral within 7 days, I will have no choice but to pursue this matter through the Finanacial Ombudsman Service.

 

I can be contacted on 01234567890, alternatively email ...

 

Yours Sincerely

ABC

[raydetinu]

Having said that there is nothing to stop your passengers taking legal action against you ( whether your insurers cover you or not ) it is unlikely to suceed as they would have to prove some sort of negligence or responsibility on your part.

Have you actually received any cliam from them yet?

But there are no guaranties with the good old british legal system.

If you have legal cover as pert of your insurance then this cover you for an action that is taken.

Hope you get it sorted.

[Balinda]

If the uninsured third party hit your vehicle, as you state, you were not at fault and your insurance company is not bound to pay compensation to your passangers unless you admit liability for the accident. Your passangers are entitled to submit a claim to the MIB as victims of an accident that was caused by an uninsured driver just as you would have done had you been injured in the accident. The advise you were given by your insurers to the effect that your passangers would claim against you in these circumstances was plainly misleading.

[Endymion]

I bet there are not many insurers who get demands from their non fault policy holders demanding that they pay out to third parties when they have not caused an accident!!!

 

Perhaps the OP's next letter could be asking them to please raise his premium

 

Admittedly their advice hasn't been great, but at least they are trying to protect your position by not paying out if you are without fault.

[orymilan]

In December 2010, I was hit by an uninsured driver whilst carrying 3 passengers. I was not aware at the time that the third party was uninsured and exchanged details at the roadside as it was late and cold, and as the car was driveable, I didn't call the police. After calling my insurance the next day, I was told TP was uninsured and I reported this to the police who after a few months couldn't trace the driver. My car was fixed immediately by my insurance company and I had to pay my excess for the repairs. I was told I would have to claim for personal injury through the MIB, the passengers submitted a claim for personal injury to my insurance company who have said they will not pay for this due to the accident being the fault of the TP. I thought that my insurance company must pay for any injuries to the TP even when not at fault such as in this case, is this incorrect?

 

Hi

I have the same problem now.My insurance company told me that they can do only comphrenshive from my side taking my excess and NCB which I wouldnt go for. Meanwhile I had the video footage of the accident and pic of the driver. Do have any suggestions so it will help me sort this problem?

[dx100uk]

threads from 2011!

 

 

dx