Car pile up on A road, car written off, TPFT only

[The Phantom]

Yes, I posted the expanded particulars of claim today, she will have them tomorrow

I have also e-mailed form N215 Certificate of Service to MCOL's relevant e-mail address today, as required.

All that is done.

 

Yeah, how unbelievable to offer me a hire car now. Going by how the letter / e-mail is worded they are only just starting on this whole matter now .

I would have needed that back in December, as my car was out of action since the 17.12.19

I need transport to get to work and back, so I borrowed some money of my partner to put down as a deposit on a new car, otherwise I would have been quite snookered as I cannot get public transport to work. A car is required to get there. Devon / Cornwall is still quite rural with not a very good public transport system.

So I bought a new car with the help of my partner to be able to get to work, so I effectively don't need the hire car anymore...but what a cheek to offer that almost two months after the event. 

 

But you were right from the beginning. The moment the court papers dropped they jumped into action

 

 

[BankFodder]

Well if we had known that you needed a hire car, we would have advised you on that and we would have added that to the claim.

[BankFodder]

And I'm sure that you are correct – that they are only starting on it now and it simply because she received the claim this morning and she phoned direct line and started to threaten them. That's what they needed. That's what they always need.

Until they get the papers – they don't listen. Very unfortunately, the third party who ran into was the weak link and she was the one who is going to cave into pressure most easily. It's a great shame because the insurer should have taken responsibility and it was their responsibility to her to make sure that she didn't have that kind of pressure – they let her down. Frankly I'm very sorry that we've had to bully her in this way to force her insurers to start acting.

[The Phantom]

12 minutes ago, BankFodder said:

Well if we had known that you needed a hire car, we will advise you on that and we would have added that to the claim.

 

Sure, but it was already quite an expense to get the car scrapped and out of storage, I figured I would have had to pay for the hire car and then claim it back later, so my partner said he would let me borrow some money to put down on a new car and I could pay him back once the claim has been settled. I thought that was the better option, so I didn't go down the hire car route , not to worry now.

[The Phantom]

13 minutes ago, BankFodder said:

And I'm sure that you are correct – that they are only starting on it now and it simply because she received the claim this morning and she phoned direct line and started to threaten them. That's what they needed. That's what they always need.

Until they get the papers – they don't listen. Very unfortunately, the third party who ran into was the weak link and she was the one who is going to cave into pressure most easily. It's a great shame because the insurer should have taken responsibility and it was their responsibility to her to make sure that she didn't have that kind of pressure – they let her down. Frankly I'm very sorry that we've had to bully her in this way to force her insurers to start acting.

 

All said and done it quite clearly worked and you were right from the beginning with the appraoch

[BankFodder]

Well it was certainly the easier option but it

6 minutes ago, The Phantom said:

 

Sure, but it was already quite an expense to get the car scrapped and out of storage, I figured I would have had to pay for the hire car and then claim it back later, so my partner said he would let me borrow some money to put down on a new car and I could pay him back once the claim has been settled. I thought that was the better option, so I didn't go down the hire car route , not to worry now.

Will it would certainly was the easier option but it is certain that if you had rented a car – having first informed all parties – then I think there would have been no great difficulty recovering the hire fee up until the moment the car was written off officially

[The Phantom]

Had another letter from Direct Line today, they sent me the same as what they e-mailed me the other day. Offer of a hire car (8 pages of information on what type of hire car I could have and associated legal stuff). Two pages about their claims process and that they can either repair my vehicle or if it is uneconomical to repair they will pay its pre-accident value and arrange for its disposal.

 

I mean this is almost a joke, they had all correspondence and paperwork to tell them the car is long gone. 

But this letter appears to be a standard first contact letter, nothing more.

They have ignored all the information they already had and seem to be starting from the beginning.

 

In the meantime their  client has until the 24.02 to respond to a court claim against her....

(Paperwork was deemed served on the 10.02 and a response is required by the 24.02)

 

Not sure what will happen next

[BankFodder]

Ignore everything, check money claim online regularly and the moment you can enter judgement – do it.

Then wait for the next load of panic

[The Phantom]

P.S. they also go to some lengths to explain my duty to mitigate my losses and if I have already hired a car through a third party it will most likely be more expensive than what they would be willing to pay, so I would be unlikely to recover all the costs from them for the hire car. So they have attached a list of cars I could hire and how much they are willing to pay for such a vehicle....

They also say the use of the hire car is part of a fully comprehensive policy and subject to £50 excess (??) and if I needed advice on this I should contact my insurers for advice.

I have no idea what they are on about here, but I don't need a hire car so I decided not to worry about this ....

 

[The Phantom]

I had a letter from Court today, the defendant has filed an acknowledgement of service and intends to defend all of the claim.

So she now has two extra weeks to file her defence. That makes it the 9th of March

Not sure how she will defend, unless she says the claim should be made against her insurers and not her.

 

Edited February 13, 2020 by The Phantom

[BankFodder]

Fine, just wait. I expect that she's asking for advice from the insurer.

[The Phantom]

OK, I will report once a defence has been filed or there are any other developments in the meantime.

 

Hang on , I just read the court form, and the acknowledgement of service was completed by 'Plexus Law' and with a contact e-mail address of an employee of Direct Line Insurance.

So Direct Line has done this on her behalf.

 

This could be interesting. For Direct Line to admit liability and then saying they want to defend the entire claim.

Plexus Law must be the Legal Department of Direct Line

 

 

I guess I have to wait until they file their defense paperwork and see what that says

Unless they just did this to buy some extra time, as it provides two additional weeks before something can move forward....

I suppose they will use this time to go through all the paperwork they received and have so far ignored...

[BankFodder]

They are idiots

 

Keep on communicating directly with the defendant at all times – whenever you can.

[The Phantom]

I think at the moment there is nothing much more to say to her or her insurers

I will have to wait and see what happens between now and the 9th of March.

 

Whether a defence will be filed and what it says or whether they will simply use the additional time to settle this and allow themselves some time to go through all the paperwork.

 

When they sent the initial letter that was clearly just a first contact letter and nothing had been read or actioned at all. Due to the urgency they are probably only now starting to read through all the correspondence and needed to extent the time on the court case. 

 

(Well, that's my theory anyway)

 

If I hear anything further from anyone or I receive a defence I will report back immediately

 

I will use the time to put a court case folder together with all the paperwork, letters, report etc

Edited February 13, 2020 by The Phantom

[BankFodder]

Yes, we will see what they say – but I'm wondering whether it might even be worthwhile applying for summary judgement.

Have a look on Google – County Court summary judgement. It might be CPR rule nine but I can't remember

[BankFodder]

Please could you link me to the post in this thread where the insurers have accepted liability.

[The Phantom]

On 06/02/2020 at 22:16, The Phantom said:

Sorry for all the P.S> here, I forgot to mention that Direct Line has accepted liability for the accident on behalf of their client in their e-mail

 

It was on the 6th of Feb, page 5 of this thread.

 

The defendant received the court paperwork on the 6th of February and suddenly Direct Line jumped into action. It all started to happen on the 6th of Feb

[BankFodder]

Maybe, but I don't see it.

[The Phantom]

Not sure how to link you specifically in a certain post. 

The conversation around this is on page 5 of this thread. We are on page six at the moment. 

On page 5 it's sort of halfway down, on the 6th of Feb 

 

Post 122 onwards in this thread we are talking about this

[BankFodder]

To link to a particular post, you click on the post number and then copy the URL that comes up in your browser.

I have seen references to this admission but I haven't seen the actual admission.

[The Phantom]

Oh, you want me to post a copy of their letter or shall I simply quote what it says ?

 

[BankFodder]

That's what I've been asking yes. It really shouldn't be this difficult

[The Phantom]

Yes, I misunderstood. It sounded as if you asked where in the thread we were talking about it. I never uploaded a copy of the letter, as it wasn't requested at the time, I'll do it now, will take me a few minutes as I have to take personal data out....

 

Here it is...

Letter DL.pdf

Edited February 13, 2020 by The Phantom

[BankFodder]

I suggest that you write to her:

 

Quote

Dear XX
claim number XXX
I notice that you have filed an acknowledgement with intent to defend.

I would draw your attention to to your insurers letter of 6 February 2020. In this letter which they have written on your behalf they have accepted that you are at fault for the accident.

Accordingly, I do not understand how you can imagine that you can now propose to defend your position.

In view of this I am now preparing to apply to the court for summary judgement on the basis that there is no triable issue and that you do not stand any chance of success.

This application will cost an additional fee – but in view of the letter as well as the circumstances of the accident – there is no doubt but that I will be successful and that the court will issue a judgement without a hearing.

As soon as the judgement is obtained and in view of the value of the claim which is over the High Court limit of £600, I shall be transferring the judgement up for enforcement by High Court enforcement officers. This is likely to add anything up to an extra £2000 enforcement fee to the value of the claim.

Once again, you can avoid this by setting the matter immediately and then taking it up with your insurers. If you force me to go to a judgement and enforcement on this then there is a very high chance that this will go down on your credit file as a county court judgement and may impact on your ability to get credit in the future or on any other business activity you carry out.

I'm giving you an opportunity to sort this out – but I intend to apply for summary judgement after seven days.

I'm afraid that I am being obliged to do this because first of all of your refusal to communicate with me – either yourself or your insurers and I noticed that there has only been any kind of activity or communication with me once I issue the court papers. I'm sorry to say that this seems to be the only way to get any kind of results.

If you do attempt to contradict the acceptance of liability by your insurer then the correspondence will be shown to the court and I may make an additional application for the court exceptionally to exercise its discretion and to award me costs in view of your unreasonable litigation.

Yours sincerely

 

I suggest that you send this by first class post tomorrow morning. We may as well keep the pressure up.

[The Phantom]

Will be in post tomorrow