Car crash that won't go away

[poldarkssecretlover]

Last May a woman ran into the back of my car, she admitted it was her fault and we swapped numbers. I couldn't get hold of her but I got her reg and my insurer contacted hers and the repairs were done. I've now had a letter from a solicitor saying they're acting on my behalf against this woman's insurance company. Looks like I'm making a claim against them for not paying my insurance company. I'm so confused, I would have thought this was between the two companies, I don't really want to be taking anyone to court. This has come at what is already a stressful time and I could do with some advice please!

I don't think you actually have to do anything do you? From what I understand your company will reclaim the cost from theirs but they are just informing you. I had this last year but I didn't have to do anything. The insurance company did all the work.

Pretty sure this is just a normal notification, no action. Call your insurer's helpline and ask.

This is perfectly normal. Your insurer has to take action in your name to get their money back. The terms of your policy will allow them to take action on your behalf. It is unlikely you will have to do anything although it is possible you will be required to give evidence if it goes to court. If you refuse you may invalidate your insurance.

I would double check with my insurance company personally first. Costs nothing.

I had this a few years back - letter from a solicitor acting "on behalf" on my insurance. Turned out they weren't and my insurer was grateful I'd informed them. Haven't heard a squeak since.

Annoyingly, I never found out what the scam was.

Best to check it is something your insurance has actioned and not a chancer claim management company.

Unfortunately it is now going to Court. I really didn't want it to but the insurance company say it won't cost me anything. The solicitor wants all my pay slips and bank statements to prove I couldn't have afforded the courtesy car myself - but I wasn't given the option of paying for it myself!! They just said I'd be getting one as part of my insurance. This all feels so intrusive.

OP, try not to worry. The court case is just the insurers arguing over the claim. It should not affect you and you just need to provide them with information they're asking for.

The solicitor wants all my pay slips and bank statements to prove I couldn't have afforded the courtesy car myself

Surely whether or not you can afford it is irrelevant. It was her fault. Her insurance pays. You should not be financially disadvantaged by this thing that was her fault. Being without a car for the duration of the repair, or paying for a courtesy car yourself, would still be a disadvantage even if you were a millionaire. I don't think you should have to comply with this.

Your claims handler from your insurers should be handling all of this. Keep them in the loop and don't provide anything without their advice.

Is it anything to do with this: www.theguardian.com/money/2016/mar/28/car-insurance-and-credit-hire-agencies

This is happening to me too.

Awful isn't it. I like you do not want to attend court but according to my paperwork there is only a small chance of having to do that.

Guarantee the car was not a “courtesy car”, but in fact you hired a car on credit. You’ll have signed a contract to that effect when you took the car.

“Credit hire” is a big battleground between insurers, but majority of time they settle.

The claim is brought in your name as you will have had the contract.

I would contact sols, but I guarantee this is the above situation. Just cooperate - will probably go away, but there is a chance you may have to go to work to explain why you needed to hire car on credit (be warned if you don’t he company that provided car will come after you for money personally).

So in summary ring, cooperate, you won’t be in trouble (they won’t be disputing this women was at fault). They are disputing how much this car cost to hire.

Not work, Court, you may have to go to court

Agree with WoodlandOaks.

If you don't co-operate with the insurance company and their solicitor you may end up having to pay for some or all of the hire car charges yourself. As the insurance company have told you, co-operating won't cost you anything.

This is, in essence, an argument between your insurer and the other driver's insurer about how much her insurer owes your insurer. This argument has to be carried out in your name. That's just the way it works.

reallybadidea thank you so much for that link, it's exactly what happened - same company too!

for you. Hope you get it sorted.

I had this a few years ago. I was offered a courtesy car by the insurance management company & from what I remember the main issue seemed to be the fact that it was delivered to me. I had to go to court & had the other solicitor yelling at me & saying I should have got a bus. 20 minute walk at each end with small children & it was just something that happened not something I asked for. My insurance company lost the case but it didn't affect me in any way other than having to go to court.

I had a knock last year - car went into the back our ours. It's a motability car, so I just let them handle everything. However the other parties insurance was bordering on the aggressive, trying to contact me (once again, pleased we don't have a landline) and offer me a "courtesy car". They seemed to struggle with the notion that Motability were handling it all.

I guess since profit margins on motor insurance are so wafer thin, there's an incentive to squeeze money out of the other insurer each time ?

Hi op @DGRossetti

My solicitors told me today that in 80% of cases people don't need to go to court.

Here's hoping we both are in that 80%!

Ah, well, I was equally aggressive in rejecting the advances of the company ... so they didn't get to arrange anything.

I can see how some people could be taken in. The knock happened at around 1:30pm, and I had a text urging me to contact the management company around 3pm - before I'd even had a chance to report it to Motability (which was one reason my suspicious were raised). They also posted me a pre-completed form to authorise the hire car which arrived Tuesday (knock was Sunday).

I'm curious as to exactly how insurers put up with this shit ? Surely there's something in the policy where they refute any costs they did not authorise ?

When I called them, I read them chapter and verse on GDPR (I record all my calls) ... to which the response was "What's that then ?" from the agent. They didn't call after that.