Please help! Letter from a solicitor to recover £5k

[upskyy]

Husband has received a letter from a solicitors saying they have been instructed to recover 5k.
This is related to an apparent car incident last year.
Husband says there was no contact with her car, didn't need insurance etc moved on . Letter says their client has incurred costs due to going third party.

What do we need to do/respond to this please?!

Ah I am confused so it seems it is husbands old insurance company is the one chasing the money .

At the time they contacted him he explained the situation no contact, so no need to call/claim etc. He said someone from the insurance even came to inspect his vehicle to see there was no damage and he thought that was that.
The letter is claiming for him not reporting accident and not following procedure etc.

What's best way to respond to solicitor/dispute ?

Actually, reposting.

No contact? Then what happened? What was reported?

Hey not aware no! Please just looking for advice on how to respond to solicitor not on how to respond to DH at this point.

There’s clearly a lot more to this than you’re being told OP. But basically I would tell the solicitor that you’re going to contact the insurance company. Then you need to find out what actually happened, because none of this makes sense.

I don’t think anyone can advise if it makes no sense .

Your dh was in an accident but no contact . Something has happened .

but ultimately he needs to speak to insurance company .

Solicitors are paid to write letters. It doesn’t necessarily mean that there is a valid claim or that your DH owes any money.

I suggest your DH writes back saying that he informed his insurers at the time and that no further action was taken.

I'm guessing OP means that someone accused her dh of hitting their car but dh disputed that there had been contact and there was no damage on his vehicle and he told his insurance company at the time. So just go back to the insurance company and tell them that you did inform them at the time....can you find any old emails?

dd had similar as she was backing into our drive a car squeezed past her and then ten minutes later the driver came back and said he thought she'd hit his car as he'd noticed a scrape on it. But dd said there was no knock that she was aware of, there was no damage on her car. the other driver agreed he hadn't noticed a knock but was still adamant she must have hit him as the scrape was new and was trying to extort £100 out of her when dh got home and told him to bugger off. Must admit it never crossed my mind to tell the insurance company as there wasn't an accident!

This pretty much sounds like it.
He's a delivery driver so he came back to his car and the other person was taking photos kicking off saying he hit the car. He just thought madness and nothing more of it. No damage to either car so potentially someone trying it on.

It could just be a mix up. First thing is to check what correspondence your OH has with insurer as that might clarify it.
Even if it was a total non event it seems a tad odd your OH wouldn’t have at least mentioned it to you

I once had a motor bike rider fall off his bike and under my car (4x4). I was not moving

I had just been a witness to an accident in a car park and so gave him my number as a witness

he tried to claim that it was my fault through insurance months later

This wasn't one of the scams that are around now, I knew who he was (although he don't know me) as he worked with a friend

I challenged through insurance and he then claimed that poor mental health made him forget

Someone is popular with deletions on here just as they are on another thread.
Obviously nothing sensible to say or jusr stirring the pot to cause agro.

How did the insurance company send someone to inspect his car if it wasn't reported?

Regardless, you will likely have to take legal advice OP - If your husband did report the accident, either or both of you should have some record of that. If he didn't, you'll need to go through your contract.

Them asking for £5k purely for not reporting the accident seems odd...but contractually your husband's policy is likely to have been invalid since the incident, which could have massive repercussions, especially if it's a work vehicle.

Sounds scammy.

So he didn't report it to his insurance company when she accused him?

What's likely to have happened is that the other person has filed some sort of claim after the fact, which OP's husband's insurer has now been contacted about.

The other party trying it on is a separate issue - OPs husband's main issue is that his insurer claims he hasn't notified them of an accident, possibly invalidating his policy.

She has answered one of those have you had an accident in the last three years ads. They've contacted the insurers to get some cash. He should just refer back to his insurers as they're trying it on.

I had court papers delivered to me for an accident that wasn't my fault two years later saying he had whiplash. My insurers settled for £3k because it was cheaper than fighting it. Fortunately ot didn't affec my no claims discount but if insurers keep settling when it's not the driver's fault, insurance premiums will keep going up. It's a licence to lie.

Well he could dispute it by pointing out they came to inspect the car? They would have a record of it being reported also, if he did report it as you say.