Being taken to court for whip lash injuries - spurious

[atticus100]

Hi

 

My son in law has received a claim form from Northampton County Court for damages arising out of a road traffic accident.

 

He disputes that the impact could possibly have resulted in any injuries and he offered to pay for the damage to the claimant's car himself at the time of the accident.

 

The served documents are extremely complex and he (and my daughter - who has just had her first baby) is confused over what is his best course of action.

 

Any advice would be gratefully received.

 

Thanks

[BazzaS]

Let his insurers deal with it.

It is what he pays his car insurance for.

[atticus100]

At the time of the accident he was insured (he pays monthly) but he had changed his number plate and the insurance company are saying this invalidated his cover - even though they were still taking his money. There are two defendants on the Claim Form - him and Motor Insurers Bureau.

[BazzaS]

I’m not an expert to the level of some forum regular’s such as dacouc & uncleBulgaria but I recall seeing a post where someone faced the same issue (but were facing prosecution for driving without insurance) and the insurers were forced to backdate cover.

 

Could the “insured plate” still have been used on another vehicle?

If not you can make the argument that the cover should still apply to the original vehicle.

What were the circumstances around the change in registration mark?

What were the circumstances around the insurers being / not being informed of the change.

 

If the insurers continue to say there was no cover he could also face prosecution for driving without insurance!

[unclebulgaria67]

As the MIB are also noted as defendant, suggest you work with them. Then MIB might well be able to talk to the Insurers using the reg no swap issue to avoid the claim and get them to deal with this court claim.

 

As Bazzas says above there was a recent FOS case reported on here, where the FOS told the Insurers they had to deal with the claim, if the vehicle on the policy is the one noted and it was just the reg plate that was changed. It is the same risk. The Insurers cannot use such issues to avoid claims.

 

Suggest an urgent complaint is raised with the Insurers head office and if necessary also get in contact with the MIB so they can put pressure on the Insurers.