Suing over losses due to car crash

[james_y]

Hi all, I hope you can help....

In summary, I had a car accident, other driver admitted full responsibility, their insurer paid out car value (it was written off). Car was leased and I did not have GAP insurance due to my own ignorance, and I lost around £3,500 terminating the lease.

I started a small claims track claim to recover the amount. The other driver's insurer covers any claims relating to the accident so they have sicced their lawyers on it, and my formal request to settle or use negotiation were aggressively rebuffed (the lawyer in fact threatened to 'pursue full legal costs against me' if I didn't drop the case - something that I know makes little sense in the small claims track where costs are fixed).

I am now waiting for a court date and am preparing to send documents to the court and the lawyer.

Do you think I have any case, legally? (I am happy that morally it is owed, the other guy should not be on the road).

NB I also have a mail from the insurer themselves that after the case was submitted, stating they are fully prepared to settle the claim (e.g. not just the value of the car they already paid out), but that was before the insurer's lawyer got involved and refused all attempts to negotiate. Is that worth anything? I was going to add it to the submitted documents.

Thanks!

[MIKE770]

@ R0b

[des8]

There was an accident, caused by a third party.
The third party is liable for all direct losses that you sustain.
The insurers have admitted liability, so I wonder what their lawyers are up to.
Can you post up copies of all correspondence (suitably sanitised) so we can see exactly what is being said?

[james_y]

Thanks! The text of the email from the insurer is below. NB this was received 2 weeks after they paid out the original amount for the car, and 'Mr. xxxx was driving a lease vehicle' below refers to the fact my partner was driving, but who was properly named on the insurance:

Dear Sir,

We refer to our communication on the xx.xx.2018. Please note our interest in this matter on behalf of our named Insured Mr. xxxx xxxx

We can confirm, for the purposes of this action alone, that liability is admitted.

Please provide us with full details of your claim for our consideration, including documentary evidence where appropriate. As you have mentioned that Mr. xxxx was driving a lease vehicle, kindly send the details of the Lease company (name, contact details).

As per the details on our file, your insurance company xxxx, is dealing with the vehicle's Total Loss. Kindly confirm if that is correct.

To avoid delay, please quote our full reference of xxxx when writing or telephone the handler on xxx to discuss this matter further.

As our Policy Holder accepts liability, we are liable to indemnify you for the losses you have incurred due to this particular incident. Once we receive all the documents, we will validate them and try to settle the file on the best possible terms.

Regards,

x
Claims Handler
Third Party care
xxxx Insurance plc

[james_y]

This is the email exchange with the insurer's lawyer:

From:lawyer
Sent:
To: me
Subject: RE: Our Ref:Your Ref: ; Matter: me v xxx

Dear Sirs

Further to your email below and the contents of the same are noted.

Moving on, with regards to the email from xxxx Insurance please note as liability was not disputed xxx Insurance made the relevant payment for your losses arising from the collision namely the vehicle damage payment. This amount was accepted and subsequently banked by you therefore in effect you had agreed to the valuation. Please confirm why you accepted/banked the amount if it was not agreed? Furthermore, as your vehicle was on lease please advise if you had sought GAP insurance with your vehicle or not? The loss on the lease value is your own responsibility and xxxx are not liable for the same and is not recoverable.

Please note xxxx Insurance are not liable for the outstanding amount you have claimed for the lease vehicle nor can payments be made for hiring a vehicle when you were paid in order to purchase a new vehicle.

I note we are yet to receive any documentation to support your claim for damages and I trust you will forward the same as a matter of urgency. In any event, I invite you discontinue your claim as you have no plausible cause of action. If you accept our offer to Discontinue by end of this month then we will forego our costs in this matter. However, if you dispute this matter and it is decided on hearing then we will be request full costs.

As a litigant in person I strongly advise you to seek independent legal advice before incurring further costs. Finally, please can you confirm if you will be representing yourself at Court or will you be instructing Counsel for the same?

I look forward to your response.

Kind Regards

xxxx

From: me
Sent:
To: lawyer
Subject: RE: Our Ref:Your Ref: ; Matter: me v xxx

Dear Sirs,

I have received confirmation from the County Court at xxx that the claim referenced below has been allocated to the Small Claim Track, awaiting a date and time for the hearing. The judge also requests that I contact you to attempt to settle the case beforehand so I would like to ask you if you have an offer for settlement that we can discuss.

Please also note attached email from the insurer (xx - above mail) regarding this claim that I intend to submit to the court, that accepts full liability and offers to indemnify me for the losses incurred due to this particular incident.

Many thanks and regards
me

[des8]

Was the cheque from the third party insurers paid as full and final settlement or as an interim payment only?

[james_y]

full and final settlement

[des8]

If you agreed to accept the cheque as full & final I think that is the end of your claim.

However if the insurance company just sent the cheque without prior agreement you might just have a chance to argue that part payment is not
sufficient consideration.
It would be useful if you had already told the third party that you would be claiming for all your losses.
A lot will depend on what you told the third party you would be claiming for, how you actually made and quantified the claim.
I'm suspecting you did not write to the third party, and you probably dealt with his insurers by phone and did not actually write down what you were claiming.
They probably had the car inspected and made an offer which you accepted.
Could you please confirm exactly how the incident was dealt with from the beginning, backed up by copies of any written communications.

[james_y]

Hi, I did not receive the cheque at all - an engineer (chosen by my insurer) came up with the valuation, then the insurer paid the leaser direct - the leaser was the legal owner of the car. I did not agree the valuation, and in fact I did argue to try to increase it to reduce the deficit.

[des8]

Can you please tell us exactly what happened after the accident?
Who did YOU claim against and when/
From your last post it would seem you claimed against your own insurance company for damage to the vehicle.
They then recovered their potential losses by having the lease company paid directly by the third party insurers.

Did you recover your excess from the third party insurers/
In facr did YOu ever lodge a claim against the third party or his insurers prior to filing your court claim?
Can you post up your particulars of claim/

The third party claims handler asked for "full details of your claim". What did you send them?

At the moment you are only feeding us info in dribs and drabs and this makes it difficult to advise on your position.