Car hit me - her insurer not paying mine

[Eminybob]

Can anyone give me some advice, or anyone had a similar experience.

In June a car hit mine from behind. Very clear cut, I had stopped to allow for oncoming traffic, she went into me. She actually admitted fault at the time as she said she wasn't concentrating as she had a migraine

Anyway, there was no visible damage but I wanted to have my car check as you hear of things going wrong internally after an accident, so I called my insurer, they arranged me to take my car to their garage to be checked. Their garage said repairs were needed to the bumper and to ask look under to make sure no other damage. Fine and dandy, work all done, I had a hire car for a couple of days. All arranged by my insurer as they had the girls details that hit me and would be able to claim everything back. All sorted or so I thought.

Last week I got a call from my insurer saying they hadn't had the money from her insurer. The last correspondance they had apparently there was a question over liability still (???). So they need to obstruct a solicitor and I might need to go to court.

Today a load of paperwork has come in the post with forms to fill in, me stating what happened again etc. it's like they think I've either lied, or they think I'm to blame or something. It's got me really worried. There's no way she can say it happened any differently as she hit me. Possibly she might at there was no damage, as I couldn't see it at first either, but neither of us are mechanics, the professionals have said the work needed doing.

The letter I got today says my no claims discount may be affected if they do t recover the money, I assume this will class as a claim on my insurance?

Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

[Eminybob]

Sorry about typos, stressed and have 1 year old climbing on me

[caroldecker]

The insurers have your story, she has disputed this. The forms are just about getting the evidence together so the other insurance company can be compelled to pay up.
How would you feel if someone said an accident was your fault, you disagreed and they provided no details or evidence to support it and your insurance company paid them anyway.
She is probably claiming you stopped unreasonably and with no warning and no reason, so partially to blame. If she hit the back of you, you have no need to be worried, but are allowed to pissed off with the hassle.

[Eminybob]

I know but it's so far along, I would have thought my insurer wouldn't have done the repairs until they had confirmation from her she accepted liability?

Also there is no way she can dispute liability, she actually said at the time that she didn't think she should be driving because she had a migraine. Plus she was up my arse the whole way down the road before it happened.

[prh47bridge]

I would have thought my insurer wouldn't have done the repairs until they had confirmation from her she accepted liability

That would mean any time you are in an accident where there is a dispute about liability you might have to wait months or even years before repairs can proceed. Is that really what you want?

You have comprehensive insurance so your insurer had to pay for the repairs regardless of whether or not they can reclaim from the other driver's insurer. They will therefore get on with the repairs and, if necessary, sort out liability later.

[Eminybob]

There would have been an excess if I was at fault. They had to get all of the other drivers details from me in order to waive it, so I assumed that they had confirmation she had admitted liability.

[Inkymess]

Give them your insurance a call. I had this and it's fairly routine that some insurers seem to dispute it initially then just sort it out. The letters are standard.

[Eminybob]

My insurer did say that often the other insurer pays up once court action is threatened. It's just all the paperwork I got today from the solicitor looked pretty serious, court papers and stuff.

[clam]

Insurance companies are used to this. It astounds me how some people attempt to dispute liability, even when it's seemingly quite clear. A friend of mine had someone skid down a hill into the back of her in snow once, and they tried to maintain she'd skidded uphil,l backwards into them! Took ages to sort.

[greenfolder]

You'll be fine, no need to worry about it at all. Most likely explanation is either incompetence on the part of the other insurers or it has not been reported to them by their driver. Most claims departments are run on a shoestring and all the effort goes into dealing with their own policyholders claim. Increasingly the simple ones, where legal costs can't be recovered by the other side. A solicitors letter will jog them along. Your excess was waived because the insurers know they will get their money back.

[Eminybob]

That makes me feel a lot better thank you.

[spanieleyes]

Happened to me. A van reversed from a parking space into me, he agreed he was at fault, insurance company arranged for the repairs without me having to pay the excess, arranged a hire car for me etc. All went through, car was returned and then an email arrived saying he was disputing fault. I simply emailed back, re-iterating that I was in no way at fault and 2 days later they agreed.
Don't worry!