JonnyBoy Posted March 13, 2006 Posted March 13, 2006 Well.. i've decided, my GF's car is more of a pain in the A*** than it should be! Anyways.. not sure on legal procedings here, but i'll run down the story: 9th Jan - he car was hit by a white van whilst undertaking a 3pt turn to correct the direction he was travelling down a 1 way road (fool) Neighbouring office worker spotted the incident, recorded the van reg and left a bote with details. 10th Jan - reported incident to police and gave them details as passed on by witness 10th Jan - 13th March - police seemily pick noses for 2 months whilst waiting for culprit to respond to 2 letters requesting his details. No response to first 2 letters so police send a 3rd (intention of prosecution?) letter requesting his details. He replied to the 3rd letter giving his name and address.. but the letter does not admit fault - only his details. Anyway, GF's insurance company have been approached and they have put everything into place to get the damage repaired - however - GF would have to pay £100 excess to the bodyshop and then the insurance companies legal team would assist in recovering these costs from the culprits insurance company. So, heres the dilema... By getting car fixed and paying XS, GF also temporarily looses NCB? If driver is uninsured which may be quite possible considering his reluctance to provide details GF may not recover £100 XS or her NCB. So, we have the drivers name and address from the police so, is it ok to send a letter asking for details or private settlement? We head off to Canada at the end of April and consequently GF will be selling the car.. ideally not with the damage as its a good low milage 1st car. If so.. how about: Dear Mr Plumparse Thames Valley police have passed your details on to me following the incident in which you damaged my parked Vauxhall Corsa whilst undertaking a maneuver on Mill Lane in Newbury on the 9th January 2006. The incident was witnessed and your vehicle details were reported to the police on the 10th January 2006. I am writing to you to request your insurance details so that my insurance company can start to get the damage on my car repaired. Unfortunately due to the systems in place, by simply providing your contact details to my insurance company I would be required to pay my policy excess initially and subsequently have to follow due legal process in which to recover the excess costs through your insurance company. Obviously I understand if you do not wish to follow this route and the involvement of your insurance company and consequently I have approached my local body shop for a quote to repair the damage caused in the incident. Berkshire Body Shop have quoted me £500 as the costs to undertake the repair and restore the car to the condition it was in prior to the 9th January 2006. If you would prefer to settle this incident outside of the insurance companies, I invite you to send through payment to reflect the value of this quotation. Please return to me either your full insurance details or details of how we can resolve this matter privately. I look forwards to your reply Kind regards Pain in the bum! TIA Quote
Kevin Wood Posted March 13, 2006 Posted March 13, 2006 I'd pass all the details on to the insurance company. Assuming you have legal expenses cover they will try to recover it from the 3rd party. If you accept any settlement from the 3rd party directly you could prejudice your right to make a claim. If the damage is small enough to risk it, you could try to deal with the guy directly, pointing out that otherwise your insurance company will be chasing him and it will then cost him more, but you then stomach the risk that he won't pay up. Depends how much money we're talking for the repair. I got hit by an uninsured driver once. Police weren't in the slightest bit interested that there was some guy driving round uninsured having accidents and were downright rude to me when I went to report the accident. My insurance company chased him. He paid my excess but told the insurance company to whistle for the rest of it. I would have taken a hit on the NCB if it wasn't protected. Despite my protestations I don't think the insurance company did anything with my legal expenses cover other than write the guy a couple of snotty letters. Life ain't fair when it comes to scumbags like that, so it seems. Kevin Quote
JonnyBoy Posted March 14, 2006 Author Posted March 14, 2006 yep, the insurance company have said that they would try to recover the costs, but there's always the risk that it'd go to court and get dragged out or ultimately he's not insured and as you say the police wouldnt be interested and GF still looses NCB. Quote
jonlewis Posted March 14, 2006 Posted March 14, 2006 I got hit by an uninsured driver.... and got given a producer !!! The owner however claimed he had left his keys behind the bar in a pub and therefore didnt know who was driving. Quote
adhawkins Posted March 14, 2006 Posted March 14, 2006 whats a producer? An instruction by the police to produce all your documents (V5, MOT, insurance, license) at a local police station within a specified time period. Andy Quote
JonnyBoy Posted March 14, 2006 Author Posted March 14, 2006 so, at what point in the process would the bloke admit fault? GF may not claim if she could loose ncb. Plus my legal muscles aren't worth flexing as i'll just sound silly Quote
funbobby Posted March 14, 2006 Posted March 14, 2006 so, at what point in the process would the bloke admit fault? When Ive blown his left knee cap off and have is knackers in a vice Quote
DavidR Posted March 14, 2006 Posted March 14, 2006 From what you have said I would hand it all to the insurance company to handle. They should repair the car before getting settlement with "chummy" and as your GF is going to lose her no claims bonus in any event: Why not wait and see how it all comes out (i.e is he insured or not, decide what chance you would get anything anyway)and then decide whether to go for a personal loss claim for NCB and excess. It's a b*mmer when things go this way. David Quote
JonnyBoy Posted March 14, 2006 Author Posted March 14, 2006 why would GF loose ncb? she hasn't given the insurance co the go ahead yet. Presumably the insurers need to pay out to fix her car before NCB vanishes into thin air? Quote
DavidR Posted March 14, 2006 Posted March 14, 2006 why would GF loose ncb? she hasn't given the insurance co the go ahead yet. Presumably the insurers need to pay out to fix her car before NCB vanishes into thin air? When she renews or goes to a new insurer she will have to declare an accident. It seems they already know about it and they share info between insurers. She may not technically lose her NCB but the accident will load her premium by a similar amount. So she will lose out whether or not the guy is insured and whether or not she claims on her insurance. That's why you have to sue via the legal service to get compensation for the uninsured losses i.e. excess on claim and extra premiums till NCB recovered. Sorry but that's the way it's worked when i've been involved. David Quote
JonnyBoy Posted March 14, 2006 Author Posted March 14, 2006 oh er.. i'm going to be in trouble there then Quote
JonnyBoy Posted March 14, 2006 Author Posted March 14, 2006 should probably add that the car was parked and unattended when driven into.. so was she still involved in an accident? Quote
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