Does anyone please please remember my thread about teenager daughter and a car accident?

[LongTallSuzie]

As above, is there anyone who remember my thread from last Oct about my 18 year old daughter who had a car crash?
In a nutshell, she collided with another car. They were both at fault. No dash cams. No witnesses. My daughter's car ended up being written off. The other persons car needed £2000 of repairs.
The other person wanted to settle the claim herself and wanted my daughter to pay her £600 for a garage repair. She'd only gone to one garage and refused to get other quotes. She didn't want to involve the insurance.
The kind people of Mumsnet advised me and we claimed though the insurance, as did she.
We've just received a letter from the county court, which I think means she's suing my daughter for over £2000.
She's written a statement in which she fully blames my daughter. This is untrue. What on earth do we do?
Please any help or advise would be so appreciated.

That's so bizarre it's laughable.

Car damaged in accident so yes, at that point it would be worth less
Insurance pays out for repairs
Repairs completed.
Car no longer damaged
No loss in value?!!

Pass on to insurance and ignore!!

It SO bizarre isn't it! I'll admit that I'm clueless about anything like this but even to me it seems really odd.
I am very very worried though. As is DD.

My only advice (having had experience of my own bonkers shyster) is to move quickly. There is a timeframe that I think is 14 days from the date of service (ie when letter was issued to DD) to respond to the court and if you don’t, that is not smart.

We have to respond to the via an online claims thing. We have 2 weeks. The deadline has extended by an extra few days with the second letter arriving.
DD had emailed her claims handler at her insurance. But can't speak to them until Monday. She's emailed pics of the new letters.
It's so bizarre. I'm so grateful for all the advice given so far. Many thanks.

Your daughter needs to speak to her insurance company and let them deal with it

This is EVERYWHERE at the moment! Just send it to your insurance from the accident. You don’t get involved anymore.

RELAX. It’s normal.

I had something like this years ago and was very worried, but the insurance company dealt with it all and I don't even know what happened in the end.

Send them everything and talk to them on Monday.

Surely just because she's signed a letter saying what she believes happened, it's her word against your daughter's unless there were any witnesses? Your dd could just turn around and say it was all the other woman's fault.

The court isn't going to just automatically accept this woman's version of events over your dd's.

I wish I could! My worry is that DDs insurance won't have anything to do with it as she's already had a pay out via her insurance (is that how it works?). I'm so scared she'll be liable for this £4000. The accident wrote off DDs car. She had to pay her excess and was out of pocket. Not once did we think to pursue it further. The insurance company literally said it was a 50/50.
The other party was adamant at first that DD should pay her £600 - for her cars repair ( and then Dd would have been liable for her own repairs on top). The woman wanted to use one specific garage, coincidentally the one garage didn't accept insurance claims so Dd would have had to just pay them. She had a quote for £600. She refused to get more than one quote. The work ended up costing over £2000 so God knows where this £600 came from. She's been dodgy from the off imo. It's just so worrying.

I have no good advice but I can see how this could be intimidating. As others have said, it must happen a lot. Let her insurers deal with it.

Exactly. No witnesses. No dashcam. DDs car had a smashed front drivers door which ended up being written off. Other parties car had a smashed window mirror. No airbags deployed. No injuries. No police.
It was on a sharp bend on a country road. DD didn't move her car, other woman immediately pulled over to the side of the road. A passer-by then stopped to help. The other woman told him not to move DDs car (from the middle of the road, when she'd already moved hers!). Luckily he never listened and helped Dd move it to the side of the road. She's made her statement sound like Dd was fully over on her side. Completely untrue.

I will do. Glad yours got sorted.

So intimidating. I guess that's the idea though.

She's a chancer and hoping the letter will scare you into paying her. Don't. Let her take it to court, she won't though. She's relying on intimidation tactics. I'd bin the letters if she genuinely thought your daughter was at fault her insurance would have persued the cost from your daughter's insurer at the time. Insurance company have sent her on her way and she's found some chancer of a lawyer to try this angle.

This is for your insurance company to deal with. Call them.

You daughters insurers should deal with it. The "payout " she has already had is for the first party element (loss of/damage to own car). Her policy will also cover third party liability - this is what tbe claim is about. Ideally the insurers or their appointed solicitors would want to complete the defence themselves. (What your daughter has received are legal proceedings not merely "a letter" so don't minimise things by referring to them as such to the insurer. The response to the online claim is her Defence.) But the most important thing is to file the Defence by the deadline which she has.

It sounds like a big try on. The other woman's insurers haven't sought to pursue their outlay so they clearly don't think there is merit in alleging your daughter was to blame or no more than 50/50. The woman is trying to claim directly for her personal "losses " - the excess and alleged loss of value and she's changed the story to be untruthful.

So the claim looks weak on liability to start with. Your daughter can also counterclaim for her own excess which would turn up the heat though best to see what her insurers think.

Also on the diminution in value claim - it is unusual for a court to award this if the repairs have been done. Claimant (if successful) would tend to get either a repairs award OR diminution value, not both. Occasionally there might be some residual DIV after repair but this would be pretty low and would usually require expert valuation evidence to prove.

Your worry that your daughter's insurance won't have anything to do with it is misplaced. This is why you have insurance. Your daughter should pass it to her insurers and let them deal with it.

This happened to my Nan, she had an accident, passed it on to her insurance company to deal with.

The next thing she knew months later, she was having letters from the other insurance company threatening court action etc. She went back to her insurance company, and they sorted it all. She’s heard nothing since.

So sorry you are so worried, but you've had some fab advice and reassurance on this thread. The insurance company will deal with things and your daughter wasn't hurt, which is the main thing xxx

Honestly @LongTallSuzie stop worrying and just pass the letter to your insurer, don’t reply. This is exactly what your insurance is for and they will deal with it, this is why you should report any incident to your insurer regardless of whether you are claiming for your own damage. Your DD won’t be able expected to pay anything. Don’t reply or engage at all with the other party, your insurance company will respond as appropriate.

Thank you all so much. I'll get Dd to ring her insurance again tomorrow and they will reply to the online portal on her behalf I think.
I really hope she doesn't get a penny.
It's just good to hear that Dd won't have to pay her herself. I'm sorry to hear it's happened to others. It's very stressful. Thank all again.