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

[BankFodder]

I think that you are confusing this for the pre-action protocol which applies to professional creditors trying to to claim repayment from the debtors.

In that pre action protocol is certainly 30-days. The requirement for you in your position is simply to give 14 days notice

[BankFodder]

Yes – but also be certain that you are prepared to go ahead with your action. On the basis of what you have said, there is very little risk – but there is a risk and you will have to have the evidence you need if it goes to a hearing.
However I'm quite sure that focusing on the third party and putting pressure upon them in this way is the right thing to do. However, once again, if you send your letter of claim – don't bluff. I'll probably remind you about this once we see the draft

[BankFodder]

Are you recording these calls?

[BankFodder]

Why aren't you recording your calls? Haven't you read our customer services guide? You've been here since 2006. This is not a joke

[BankFodder]

Far too much detail in my view. Give me a few minutes.

[BankFodder]

Quote

XXXXXXXX

YYYYYYYYY,

XXXXXXXl ,

XXXXXXX ,

Devon 

 

E-mail: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

 

PPPPPPPPPPPPP

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

FFFFFFFFFFFF

Cornwall 

 

 

Date

 

 

Letter of Claim

 

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

As you are aware, on XXX date on the road XXXX you drove into the back of my car registration number XXX and caused damage.

The collision was caused by your negligent driving. As you know, amongst the witnesses were two police officers in an unmarked car which was directly behind your own.

 

My vehicle suffered serious damage and has been assessed as not economically repairable.

So far you have failed to respond to correspondence although I have gone to lengths to keep you advised as to various inspections of my vehicle, cost of repair, storage costs et cetera.

 

I am fully aware that I have a duty to mitigate your losses even though you are responsible and have failed to communicate with me. As a result, I have now arranged for the disposal of the vehicle as it was assessed as a total loss.

I have supplied you with all necessary warnings and also copies of inspections and invoices et cetera.

 

My total losses include: 

Ford Fiesta vehicle, XXXXXXX  ……. £1690 less £40 which I received from a scrapyard and which I have deducted from the value – £1 650

Recovery from scene of accident and stoarge costs at xxxxxxx in xxxxxxx…..£850

Independent damage report from XXXXXXXX, Claims assessors / Valuers …...£78

Postage / Communication costs  ……… £20

 

Total amount claimed from you: £2598

 

For your reference I have enclosed a copy of previous communication issued to you, invoice from car recovery company, car damage report with invoice from assessor , all of which have drawn no response from you.

I please let me have your cheque for the full amount of the Debt sent to the following address: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

If I do not receive this sum within 14 days then I shall begin an action in the County Court to recover the sums plus interest plus my county court costs and without any further notice to you. Copies of all paperwork including my unanswered correspondence will be shown to the judge.

 

 

yours sincerely

 

[BankFodder]

Quote

Thank you for your letter of the XXX date

 

I have already made it clear to you that I have tried to engage in correspondence with you and with your insurers and have had no reply. As a consequence I have had to take my own action to mitigate my losses and your own.
To be clear, if I do not receive the sum that I am claiming within 14 days of the date of the letter of action which I have already sent to you then I shall be starting proceedings in the County Court for the recovery of all my losses plus interest plus my court costs.

You should understand that a county court judgement against you may impact your ability to get credit.
As I'm sure you must appreciate, it is inevitable that I will obtain a judgement in my favour and I will then take vigourous action to enforce it against you.
I have no intention of making any further attempts to communicate with your insurer. All my correspondence will be with you. Any problems that you have with your insurer is between yourself and them.

 

I do not intend to correspond any further on this matter.

Yours sincerely

 

 

[BankFodder]

When is day 15? Have you registered on money claim online and have you started drafting your claim?

Please will you post the draft of what you intend to send off here so that we can comment

[BankFodder]

Well by now you should have posted a draft of your claim here so that we can comment.

Please don't leave things to the last moment. You need to be prepared – and also we have other things to do rather than have to scrabble around sorting things out at the last moment.

14 days to have prepared your draft claim was very adequate

[BankFodder]

 

2 minutes ago, Gick said:

Next Tuesday is 28th January. The 5th of February is a week on Tuesday.

 

Pedant!!

 

 

 

13 minutes ago, BankFodder said:

Well by now you should have posted a draft of your claim here so that we can comment.

Please don't leave things to the last moment. You need to be prepared – and also we have other things to do rather than have to scrabble around sorting things out at the last moment.

14 days to have prepared your draft claim was very adequate

 

Whoops, sorry.  

[BankFodder]

Well, after all - what's a week or so between friends

[BankFodder]

It's rather wordy and I rather fancy that it is too long to fit into the money claim character limit – have you checked it?

It may be that you will have to do put in a short form particulars and then check the box to say that further particulars will be on their way.

Also, you don't need to talk about your own insurance and what you have or you haven't got. Your insurance is irrelevant.

You only need to alleged that the defendant cause damage to your vehicle by her own negligent driving

[BankFodder]

Quote

The claimant seeks damages in respect of damage caused to his vehicle registration XXX by the defendant's negligent driving on XXX date.
The damages claimed include the value of a replacement car and also storage and related expenses of the wreck.
The claimant has attempted on several occasions to correspond with the defendant and with her insurer and has received no reply.
This claim is for £XXX plus interest pursuant to section 69 County Courts act 1984 – plus costs

 

Do you think that that summarises your claim?

Did you say at some point that the defendant has admitted liability?

[BankFodder]

Okay well if you're happy with what I suggested above, then use that as your initial particulars which you will put up on the money claim site. You will see that there is a checkbox saying that you are going to be providing additional particulars directly to the defendant. This has to be done within seven days of issuing the claim. So we started prepare that now.

The document you have posted up is a reasonable start. The format is good in that it is set out in paragraphs.

You need to set out what happened, point by point – chronologically – one point per paragraph – numbered paragraphs.

Don't bother talking about your own insurance status.

You need generally speaking to say what happened, where it happened, what vehicles were being driven,

You need to point out that the collision was caused by her negligent driving. You would normally pointed out – but because there was a police car behind you may as well say that this entire episode was witnessed by the police – do you have registration number and colour number of the police?

What damage it caused to your vehicle, the fact that it was assessed, that it was beyond economical repair, that you have now disposed of the vehicle although you have attempted to involve the defendant and also her insurer at every step of the way and inform them as to the steps you are taking and as to the mounting costs and that you eventually felt that in the absence of any response of communication from either party, that you had to bring an end to the increasing expenditure in the interests of all parties and say dispose of the vehicle.

 

You then need to itemise the costs involved – value vehicle, costs of storage, cost of disposal – blah blah.

You will then need to sign it as a statement of truth.

Get started post up your document and will check it over.
Once you have issue the claim you then post the additional particulars directly to her and you sign the certificate of service.

That's probably about it.
 

[BankFodder]

I have no idea about the cost of the police report – but it may well be right.

I would like to her immediately and point out to her that as she fully realises, the police witnessed the accident and also have prepared a police report. Tell her that if she obliges you to take legal action against that you may well have to purchase a copy of the police report for £350 which will be added to the claim you are making plus interest. Tell her that this will not be necessary if she admits her negligence in the accident – in which case the whole matter will be very straightforward and far more amicable.

Asked to respond immediately if you want to avoid the extra cost of a police report

[BankFodder]

it doesn't matter if she responds. What you're doing is laying a paper trail. Make sure that you send the letter at least by first class recorded delivery so you have proof

[BankFodder]

Don't worry about putting the correct figure. Simply warn her that it is likely that the fee will be involved which you understand "maybe as much as £350 – blah blah".

The important thing is to get the letter off quickly and to have a paper trail. You don't have to worry about all the teas crossed in the i's dotted et cetera

[BankFodder]

Quote

Claim reference number XXX



Between XXX – claimant
and
XXX – defendant





Particulars of claim

1. On the 17th of December 2019 the Claimant was driving home from work on the A38 west bound in her Ford Fiesta, registration WV      , when traffic came to a sudden halt. The Claimant had to break sharply as the vehicle in front made an emergency break and came to a stop. At this moment a collision occurred when the Defendant ,driving a white Seat Leon, registration WL drove with some speed into the back of the Claimant's vehicle.

 

2. The defendant pushed the Claimant's vehicle forward and into the stationary vehicle in front, a Toyota Auris with registration WG

 

3. The collision was caused by the Defendant's negligent driving and the Claimant's vehicle.

 

4. The claimants vehicle registration WV         suffered serious damage and has been assessed as not economically repairable.

 

5. An independent damage report by Davies & Gray (Claims Assessors / Valuers) has put the estimated repair costs at £6716.52 and put the vehicle status as 'Beyond Repair MIAFTR Category B' and the matter to be dealt with on a total loss basis

 

6. The claimant has attempted to correspond with the defendant and her insurer and has received no reply.

 

7. Eventually and to mitigate the losses of all concerned losses, the claimant has since disposed of the vehicle in order to put a halt to ongoing storage costs.

 

8. The defendant and her insurers have been notified of all actions and possible costs and yet have failed to respond

 

Particulars of Defendant's Negligence

 

9. The defendant drove too fast in all the circumstances.
10. The defendant failed to see the Claimant's motor vehicle in sufficient time to avoid colliding with it or at all.
11. The defendant failed to stop, slow down, swerve or in any other way so to manage or control her said vehicle as to avoid the said collision

 

12. 2. By reason of the matters aforesaid the Claimant suffered losses

 

13. Particulars of Claimant's Losses

 

14.  Ford Fiesta vehicle, WV ……. £1690 less £40 received in salvage value = £1650

15.  Recovery from scene of accident and stoarge costs at Field Services in Ivybridge…..£850

16.  Independent damage report from Davies & Gray, Claims assessors / Valuers …...£78

17.  Postage / Communication costs……… £20

 

18. The Defendant is liable for the Claimant's losses arising from this road traffic accident and has been asked to pay for these losses totalling £2598

 

19. The Defendant has failed to pay the said sum and remains indebted to the Claimant.

 

20. The Claimant is entitled to interest at the rate of 8% per annum from the date the debt was due being the 20th January 2020 to the present date (15 days) at the daily rate of 57p making a total sum of £8.55 and continuing at the daily rate of 57p.

 

 

 

AND THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS

 

1 . The sum of £2598

 

2 . Interest in accordance with section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at such rate and for such period as the court sees fit.

 

3. Costs.

 

 

Statement of Truth I believe that the facts stated in these Particulars of Claim are true.

 

 

Dated this …...

To the court and to the Defendant

 

 

Ms ABC / Claimant

 

I think you have to serve this on the defendant within seven days of issuing the claim and also complete a certificate of service which you can download from the court site.

Send this particulars of claim by first class recorded delivery mail.

Check to see that it's completely accurate.

I've suggested removing the reference to the reports and so forth. This is evidence and really you should stick to pleading the facts of the accident here.

It wasn't even really necessary to talk about the fact that you contacted them and that they didn't respond – but it will help to put a bit of pressure on her I suppose.

[BankFodder]

Yes, send her a copy by ordinary first class post with no tracking.

Fill out a certificate of service and refer to both letters in it

[BankFodder]

Just put the most recent one – the one that was simply sent by ordinary first class post. Yes if you wanted you could do to certificate the service – why not.

[BankFodder]

I would go for her full name.

Also if she is a company director, you want to hope that she is not going to say that she was driving a company car on company time and that in fact you should be suing the company

[BankFodder]

I suggest that you have no correspondence with direct line. If they  ask for some information then as a matter of courtesy you might want to send it to the defendant with a note saying that this was apparently required by her insurer but you will not be dealing with them.

I can imagine that direct line has started to contact you because the defendant has been on the phone to them in a panic and so now they are starting to sit up and pay attention. That was the purpose of issuing proceedings.

Stay your ground. Follow the process – but I suspect things will start moving along fairly quickly now.

[BankFodder]

In that case you should contact the client with a copy of direct lines admission and tell her that she should immediately complete the paperwork that she receives from the court and admit your claim completely plus costs. Tell her you will then be immediately applying for judgement and if she wants to avoid a CC J registered against her and blighting her credit file she should make sure that the judgement sum is paid as soon as possible and in any event that the money is cleared funds within 28 days

Make sure you monitor everything. Observe all deadlines and give no ground at all until the money is absolutely in your account – every penny.

[BankFodder]

By the way, I've slightly lost track. Did you send the extended particulars of claim? If not, then you must send it even though they have admitted liability in principle. Follow proper procedure absolutely until you get a full admission and the money is in the bank.

If they have for your hire car then I should certainly take it if I were you.

They are idiots.

By the way, although this probably could have been sorted out about two weeks earlier, I suppose Christmas and New Year got in the way – but in effect this is a model example of how to deal with an insurer in this kind of circumstance.
The assertive, take control and keep control and react quickly every step of the way.

[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.