Dealing with solicitor after car insurance claim

[cherrypie314159]

I was involved in a car accident back in June 2021. I was driving along and a cyclist rode into the side of me. My car was a write off but thankfully no one was seriously injured.

I obviously had to claim via my own insurance and it went down as a fault claim (my fault) purely as it's a cyclist and that was my insurance company's procedure. I had dash cam footage of the incident which I forwarded on to my insurer.

In October 2021 I had a letter from my insurer saying that they were planning to claim against the third party (the cyclist) for their losses and that they would keep me updated with any progress.

I have just today had another letter telling me that they have instructed a solicitor to act on my behalf on the matter and that the solicitor will be in touch with me soon.

I always thought that in the event of a claim the insurance company deal with everything and that I wouldn't need to get involved? I don't mind if I have to, but does this sound normal?

Yep completely normal. I worked in insurance claims for 11 years. The solicitor will go over the circumstances and draft statements etc for county court, if it gets that far.

Ah ok cool, thank you :)

My daughter also had a cyclist cycle into her car and solicitors are involved via the insurer. My daughter is adamant that it wasn’t her fault and has witnesses.

@Abra1d1 I feel for her, it was very scary when it happened! And yes I'm also adamant it wasn't my fault, and am glad of the witness accounts and dash cam footage that I have.

They will be trying to pursue a subrogated recovery from the third party, probably on the basis of the dash cam footage.
The solicitors will handle the recovery with the cyclist (and/or their insurer?) - I'm not familiar with cycle insurance and the provisions.
They'll ask you for further information and will want your input for statements / the issue of proceedings if liability is denied.

Thanks and I wish you all the best @cherrypie314159 🤞🏻

The male cyclist who hit my daughter was aggressive and works at the same organisation, fortunately elsewhere in the premises.