Corporate and Legal Collections

[thatgirlcassie]

Hi,

 

 

Around 3 years ago I had a car accident in a car that I had bought recently that I stupidly hadn't got round to insuring. I crashed into a parked car down a residential street near my house but was in a rush to get to a job interview so left my details (under the windscreen wiper job) and left expecting the owner to get in touch.

 

 

I never heard anything from the car owner until a while later I received a letter and some phone calls from a car insurance company asking me for repayment of an amount they claim I owe for the repairs to the vehicle.

 

 

I ignored the letters and calls as I was never insured by this company and don't see how I should pay them any money when I never bought cover from them?

 

 

I then started receiving letters from a debt collector 'The Lewis Group' but I ignored these as I still don't see how I should be paying this money back.

 

 

Those letters stopped as soon as they started really and I thought no more of it until I then started getting letters from another debt company 'Corporate and Legal Collections'. I am a little worried that they have sent me these letters as I have moved to another side of the country since the initial incident and didn't leave a new address with my landlord or the new tenants who I met briefly.

 

 

The letters are fairly consistent and haven't stopped like the ones that 'The Lewis Group' sent did and from the tone of the letters it seems like its getting to the point that I should look at the matter and sort it out but I still don't think I should be paying money to this insurer?

 

 

A friend of mine who I confided in about this had an experience a while ago with 'Corporate and Legal' when she owed money for an old water bill I think it was, and apparently they explained the issue to her and got copies of the bill from the company she owed before they sorted it all- should this be where I start and try and get some paperwork from them before anything else?

 

 

Thanks for any advice,

 

 

Cassie x

[GraleGeeza]

Hi Cassie,

 

 

I've just seen your post and felt compelled to create an account up here and reply due to a similar experience I had a few years back.

 

 

I too was involved in an incident in which I had a prang with a parked vehicle, however I actually managed to find the owner of the car (through an incredibly embarrassing series of doorstep conversations concerning who may be the owner of the slightly smashed Range Rover, not my finest moment) and had a conversation about my reimbursing him directly without involving insurance companies as I was, unfortunately, without cover at the time.

 

 

A long story short he decided to go through his insurance company who eventually contacted me for repayment of the monies that they had to spend fixing their insured car.

 

 

At first I ignored this contact as I felt that it was unwarranted as I had no responsibility or obligation towards the insurance company given I had crashed into an individual and I was not insured.

 

 

When it came down to it (after a hefty solicitors fee for taking advice) the insurance company are well within their rights to recover from the uninsured driver as they are forced to pay out for the repairs/ loss under their contracts etc. They are then entitled to recover this from me and you via what I've been led to believe are 'the rights of subrogation' (please correct me if I'm wrong) but that's getting a bit too far down the jargon path for me.

 

 

What I'm getting at is I believe you will be liable to repay the insurance company as there is a legal duty to cover their costs if the pay out in an uninsured incident.

 

 

As regards the debt collectors though, I am less well placed to advise you however I would say getting any paperwork sounds like a good starting point to me.

 

 

I hope this helped,

 

 

Graeme

[thatgirlcassie]

Hi Graeme,

 

 

thank you for replying with that info it was definitely useful.

 

 

I decided to bite the bullet and call 'Corporate and Legal' while I was on my lunch break today and the thought of 'ripping the plaster off' turned out to be a lot worse than it actually was in the end.

 

 

I spoke with a guy who was actually fairly amicable and said he wasn't going to push me into a plan while I had unanswered questions about the incident and how the debt is mine to pay. He did explain the insurance issue in broadly the same terms as you did so it looks like your advice was pretty spot on.

 

 

They are going to get in touch with the company and get all the relevant paperwork and get back to me with that as and when so I'm waiting to see that before I make any next steps. Will keep updated on here once they come back to me for anyone else's reference in future etc.

 

 

If anyone does have any other info that will be useful while I'm waiting to hear back from them I would still be really grateful for further input.

 

 

Thanks again though Graeme.

[Jam_Buttie]

Normally I suggest using debt collector letters for emergency toilet paper or lining the bottom of bird cages, but in this instance it's different..

 

You have made several errors here.. One is you have made contact with a DCA who will now hound you with letters and phone calls until you give in. But also now they have your upto date contact details (along with other details they got out of you 'for security') they could send the file back to the 3rd party insurance company who could refer it to the police for for leaving the scene of an accident (job interview or not) and having no insurance.

 

 

You crashed your uninsured car into someones parked car and dont see why you should reimburse their insurance company?

 

If someone who was uninsured crashed into my car and drove off, I would want my insurance company to recover the FULL costs, plus my excess and any incresed premiums for the last three years if they tracked down the 3rd party.

[Bazooka Boo]

We live and learn hey!

Welcome to CAG......never EVER talk to a powerless DCA over the phone, EVER!

 

Keep everything in writing.

 

Of course you will need to arrange to pay for the repairs to this chaps car, as he now could, if he wanted, take out a small claim against you for the

cost of repairs plus costs.

 

Do you have his details?

Do you have the details of the Insurance company at the time?

 

You need to deal with this in WRITING only!