Insurance indemnity

[NisarKhan]

Hi folks a lady reversed into the front of my Mercedes causing a fair bit of damage. At the scene she refused to give me any details so whilst I was taking pictures of her car she tried to reverse into me.
I have naturally contacted the Police. I am insured 3rd party fire & theft but still told my insurers who put me in touch with a Accident Management Company. They picked up my car & several days later deemed it a CAT C total loss. They sent the engineers report to the ladies insurer who are RSA.
I was not given a hire car because of the CAT C. I have been in touch with RSA since then & they tell me that the lady in question has not reported the accident & that they have had no luck in getting through to her, even after sending an investigator round to her house. After numerous calls & after waiting almost 3 weeks they tell me there are some indemnity issues that need to be resolved before they can go further. My accident management company tell me they have nothing more to do with it because no hire car was given & the car was a CAT C. My insurer tells me because of my TPFT policy there is nothing that they can do for me.....So i'm buggered without a car & I'm lost as to which way to go Please help

[des8]

Re: Insurance indemnity

Hi and welcome.

Right, your insurers will not deal with the matter. End of!
Accident management companies IMO are a waste of space if the matter is not straight forward.

Your claim is against the lady (that's no lady!).
Did you ever obtain her name and address?
If not you should be able to obtain it from DVLA;
In England, Wales and Scotland, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) can give the name and address of the person registered as the keeper of the vehicle to anyone who has a good reason for needing it, provided that the circumstances relate to a vehicle or its use on the road. If you want this information, you should use form V888 available at www.gov.uk. A fee of £2.50 is payable. You must give the registration number, make and model of the car and the date of the accident.

Don't bother about contacting RSA.
They have given you the run around over "indemnity issues", whatever they mean by that is not your problem.

When you have the address you write to her and tell her you hold her fully responsible for the accident and all your losses, which include, but are not limited to the value of your vehicle, the cost of public transport whilst you have no vehicle, a charge of £15 per day for loss of use of the vehicle, except when you hire a vehicle when you will be claiming the hire costs and all and any other incidental expense incurred.
If you do not receive her response, directly or indirectly through her insurers, within 14 days you will be issuing a court claim.

At the moment you cannot sue her insurers directly (although this will hopefully change by the end of the year).
Your action has to be concentrated on the third party, she is the one legally liable.
What her insurers do is not really your concern, although in practice you will end up dealing with them.
From your point of view "she" and "they" are the same person, so push her.
Issue a claim against her through the courts, and it is the insurers who will defend it in her name.
Chat to the insurers about the difficulties they have contacting her etc and it will drag on for ages.

[NisarKhan]

Re: Insurance indemnity

Hi des8 talk about straight to the point, there's no messing around with you lol...Bloody good advise I will 100% be getting in touch with DVLA and get her details as she refused to give me them on the day...

gracia

[R0b]

Re: Insurance indemnity

on top of what des8 says based on your story i'd very much be minded with threatening her with criminal charges also, courts consider failure to stop at an accident and failure to report an accident as serious issues.. with hefty consequences also.

[NisarKhan]

Re: Insurance indemnity

Hi Rob thank you for your reply, at the scene she refused to give me any details & also tried to reverse into me. I have self reported this to the Police but they have a huge back log so I'm awaiting a response. But I agree with you it's worth threatening her with criminal prosecution to try & force the issue

[R0b]

Re: Insurance indemnity

It's all your choice how you wish to go about it but in terms of civil claims follow what has been said but as part of your letter whenever you send it, definitely include your considering criminal charges, you can always bring a private prosecution against her if you really wanted to - I believe these offences can bring disqualification, up to 10 points, a fine up to 5,000 and a prison sentence although a prison term is highly unlikely.

Good luck with it, if you need help drafting the letter or steps to take I'm sure someone on here can help 😀

[NisarKhan]

Re: Insurance indemnity

Hi Rob
Thanks for your reply buddy
I'm not that clued up on civil actions (never had the misfortune) can you suggest a template that I could use ?? Or recommend anyone who could help in drafting a strongly worded letter

[R0b]

Re: Insurance indemnity

As des8 says, first step is to contact DVLA request the driver's details and then we can go from there. I am assuming you will be wanting to claim the cost of the car at its market value at the time of the accident? As it is a Mercedes I'm presume its not a cheap car to replace so you will have to work out whether or not it is viable for you to pursue this through the courts yourself which means you will have to pay court fees and that can sometimes spiral out of control or alternatively, seek whether someone is willing to take your case on a no win no fee basis. You will have to pay them a percentage of the damages however they will generally front your fees in terms of court applications - there are some advantages and disadvantages to this.

Also, this engineers report, do you have a copy of this? and does the engineer give a valuation of the car, as you can use this as the basis of your claim. Also bear in mind the insurer should get your permission to scrap your car if they don't you can claim the value of the salvage - Citizens Advice website has more info on this.

All in all, before you start making any decisions, you want to get as much information and evidence as possible. And personally, don't contact RSA they are so bad when it comes to claims they can't tell their head from their **** and will fill you with whatever crap they can.

[NisarKhan]

Re: Insurance indemnity

Hi Rob Many Thanks for your posting, yes I do have the engineers report & yes I have filled out a v888 from DVLA website I will post it out Monday morning. Generally what kind of time scale am I looking at ??

[des8]

Re: Insurance indemnity

Hi Rob Many Thanks for your posting, yes I do have the engineers report & yes I have filled out a v888 from DVLA website I will post it out Monday morning. Generally what kind of time scale am I looking at ??

With the DVLA ......... who knows, although there are some clues here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organi...t-our-services

When you have the necessary address, there will be no problem assisting you drafting a letter.
Although you could use the possibility of a private criminal prosecution, in effect it is not really feasible.
The burden of proof in such a prosecution is higher than in civil cases, the costs large and what satisfaction will you gain from it?

I would concentrate on writing to her, in a bid to get some movement from the RSA.
If that doesn't produce results a successful civil court action in accordance with RTA (sec 151) her insurers will have to pay any unsatisfied judgement.

If you discover prior to court action that she is not insured you should make a claim against the MIB

[NisarKhan]

Re: Insurance indemnity

Hi Des Many Thanks for your posting I have read up about RTA Section 151 compelling stuff...I'm going to get the offending drivers details & then will be in touch. I could really do with your help in drafting a strongly worded letter if possible...I'll be in touch asap

Once again Many Many Thanks for the advise I owe you one buddy

[des8]

Re: Insurance indemnity

..I'm going to get the offending drivers details

What you will get is the registered keeper's details!
Hopefully that will be a female, and by use of social media, or a visit to her address, or whatever, you will be able to identify her as the driver.

Regarding your car:
It was given a CAT C write off.
Was this calculated by pricing replacement parts at new list price and having the work carried out by Mercedes main dealer.
How badly damaged is it really?
Could it be driven?
Where is it stored.... secure storage?
who arranged the storage..... whose paying for it.

The reason I ask is that Cat C means the car is repairable, but will cost more to repair than the vehicle is worth.
But that depends on who does the work, and whether or not they use new or recycled parts.
If it is in secure storage you may find you'll be paying for it if you don't manage to track down the driver. You may want to rearrange storage.

[NisarKhan]

Re: Insurance indemnity

Hi Des8

What are your thoughts on singing a statutory declaration so that RSA could recover the costs from the offending driver who reversed into me ?? I've been told that some insurers do these so that they can pay me out & eventually recoup money back from their insured party.

[des8]

Re: Insurance indemnity

Hi Des8

What are your thoughts on singing a statutory declaration so that RSA could recover the costs from the offending driver who reversed into me ?? I've been told that some insurers do these so that they can pay me out & eventually recoup money back from their insured party.

Not sure what you mean.
Why would insurers recover money from their insured for paying a claim? Paying claims from their clients is what they do.

I know that on occasions insurers pay claims for which they are not absolutely liable, but to pay a claim when they don't even know who is liable ....?

Problem is that you don't actually know who reversed into you.
The car has been identified, and the registered keeper is now known to RSA.
RSA insure the registered keeper, but at the moment there is no certainty about who was actually driving.
Perhaps the registered keeper is away (hence not replying to RSA) and lent the vehicle to some one else.

[NisarKhan]

Re: Insurance indemnity

Hi Des & Rob
I managed to speak with RSA this morning & after much haggling they are going to pay out, I should receive payment by BACS no later than tomorrow....Fingers crossed !!! Either way just want to say a big big THANK YOU for your invaluable advise its nice to know you guys are around to help out the none so wise people of this Earth.
Once again THANK YOU