Letter Before Court Action for Car Accident

[letterb4action]

My husband has today received a solicitors letter titled LETTER BEFORE COURT ACTION - WITHOUT PREJUDICE SAVE AS TO COSTS.

The solicitor appears to be genuine, I've checked the address and telephone number online, however we are not sure that the claim is.
They appear to be claiming on behalf of an insurer and have provided the name and registration details of "their insured". The surname we recognise from an accident that occurred in November 2015 but is Mrs Claimant, where the accident involved Mr Claimant and the registration number does correspond to the make of car that was involved in the accident but they have said that the date of incident was 15th September 2017. My husband was definitely not involved in any accident on the 15th September.

The incident was reported to our insurer back in November 2015 and we were under the impression it had all been sorted out but we didn't actually make a claim as it was such a small accident so we never received any paperwork or anything. Our insurer did say it would probably be 50/50 since it occurred on a single track country road on a blind corner so both drivers (or neither, depending on how you want to look at it) were at fault.

Anyway, this letter is asking us to send a cheque for over £2000 for vehicle repairs but does not give any further information than this.

So, my question is, do we ignore it, call the solicitor/case handler, call the insurance company that we were with in 2015 or call our current insurer since they allege that the incident occurred in September 2017?

It's more than likely they've put the wrong date, these letters are normally riddled with errors (I deal with them at work).

You can either respond and advise that you haven't been involved in an accident this year, providing no more details.

Or, ring previous insurers from 2015 and ask for their advice and in turn reply to the letter advising that it's been passed to your insurers to deal with and provide them with policy details.

And I'm sure it doesn't need saying but don't send any money! Rather odd there isn't a VAT invoice to back up the claim.

Smelling a little fishy!

I would pass this to the company that were your insurers at the time. Point out that some of the details on the letter are wrong and let them sort it out. Your insurer may well tell you not to respond to the letter, just leave it all to them.

It's obviously a typo. You have up to 6 years to bring a claim (3 for injury) it's likely the solicitors have been on contact with your insurers who have refused to settle in full, hence the letter before action. It's pretty standard, pass it to your insurers and tell them to deal with it. If you're not fussed about disputing liability now, authorise them to deal in full.

Thank you for the advice, I will contact the old insurance company today and see what they say. Is it right that the letter before action is addressing my husband directly and threatening to take him to court? Surely they should be issuing it against the insurance co that are (seemingly) refusing to pay up?

Nothing wrong with them taking action against your husband on the basis that he is liable because he caused the accident (not saying he did but that will be their argument). It makes no real difference as the insurance company will take on the case and either settle without going to court or pay any damages that are awarded.

I just thought I'd come back and update you (since I hate threads with no conclusion or updates after the first post). I contacted the old insurance company who confirmed that 50/50 liability was agreed between both insurance parties and that they paid 50% of the £2k that was requested back in March 2016. They have said it hasn't been returned and that they have had no contact from the other insurance company since.
I've emailed the solicitor that sent the letter and have told them as much and asked that they deal with the insurance company if they require anything else regarding the incident.

Thanks for the update. Hopefully that's the last you'll hear about it