Someone drove into the back of my car a few hours ago. We exchanged personal and insurance details and went on our way.

Having collated the details and written an account of what happened why it was still fresh, I called my insurance (Admirla). After rowing about my policy (they cocked up a recent removal of a car from the multi-car policy) I got to the bit where I supply them with the 3rd parties details. Turns out she's not insured. I asked if the legal cover would get me the cost by taking her to court... nope, apparently if they can't afford insurance, then they can't afford to pay for the damage so they don't even try.

So now the car will have to go to recommended bodyshop for a quote with up to £450 excess. There's a long wait due to the snower conditions causing lots of accidents.

The bumper is in bits, but I can't see any major damage underneath (with me iphone torch app ) The rear 'venturi thing' is hanging off though... More worryingly, the boot now has a bit of resistance in it's movement. Any ideas?

I've now got a smashed up rear to match the dented bonnet.

Merry Christmas!

Not Good,

If you've got all her details give her a phone let her know that she has no insurance and ask her to come to some sort of arrangment or you'll go to the police.

I mean surely the Police would do something!!

Can't she be charged for driving with no insurance

Good Luck though as I know rear end shunts are very difficult to repair as I had a very small one in my first coupe and was told it would be £1000 plus to repair. Needs to go onto a jig and pulled back into shape.

I ended up stripping the interior plastics and bashing it with a 2lb hammer to get the boot to work easily.

Ian

I would speak to her and advise her you will be going to the police...

Do you have her handwriting on anything... ie her details? She could just turn around and say it wasnt her driving...

Sorry to hear this Trappy

Tbh, I wouldn't bother ringing her yet.

Go to the police first and see what they have to say. You might find a decent copper who'll offer some good advice. They may also be interested that she hasn't got insurance.

If you ring her, try and record the conversation. If she admits anything about hitting you or having no insurance, etc, then you'll have a record of it.

If she doesn't pay up, take her to a small claims court for the cost of repair, etc.

I never take out that extra legal cover..Why pay extra when they cant do sweet FA..
As for your excess!!! Change over to Neil Willies. My excess is a mere £50..
As for that un-insured driver? I would track her down and report her to the police..
I hope you get the car sorted out soon..

Happened to me not long ago.
The driver got a £200 fine and 3 points.
Its a joke.And its no wonder people take the risk with the comparison to such steep insurance.

The police cant prosecute on your behalf,but your insurance usually offers legal assistance to pursue any individuals as this on most policies will go down as a claim for you.

So don't take the rubbish that they wont back you up in terms of legal fees.
If no joy then all insurance companies have a legal duty to offer you free legal assistance over the phone from a number they will supply you with.

The lines areusually 0845 numbers but if you go to

http://www.saynoto0870.com/
Then you wont have to pay for the alternative number.

If still no joy then go to
moneyclaimonline
This is a government regulated site that costs £3 to register a claim.
Typically you want to give her 3 options on this.
So a ridiculous fee as the first,a reduced on the second and a reduced on the third,if settled by a certain time.
If not then the first option will be applied.
Usually this does tend to knock people into line as prosecution will follow if they ignore it.
And it costs £3.

Oh dear, not good...that is a very high excess!!

To be honest it may be a simple mistake....how do your insurers know she is not insured, if they have checked the motor insurers database then these things have been wrong in the past, it only takes a digit to be wrong on the registration number when someone at the insurers has inputted it and the vehicle would not be on there correctly, so they would say she had no insurance as the car is not listed....

Do you have the name of the 3rd party insurers, if so call them directly yourself and check with them first and if above board with them then get a reference from them and call back your insurers and tell them. If not then give the 3rd party a call and ask for the insurers name policy number etc and then call them and check.

If it turns out the driver is uninsured then there are a couple of ways you can try and claim the money back:-

1 - Take the uninsured driver to court using the small claims court, available to everyone for claims under £5,000.

2.- Seek the help of the Motor Insurance Bureau, look at www.mib.org.uk

Let me know how you get on

Regards
Sarah (Mrs Jase)
Neil Willies Insurance Brokers

I got hit in September by a big 4x4 attempting to undertake me, hit me at approx 30-40MPH luckily I was doing similar speed so damage was fairly light, (Rear nearside corner).

Bloke was driving like a complete plum and then tried to run me over in an attempt to get away when I said I was calling Police.

Rang insurance who confirmed car was insured and they would take it up.
He didn't inform his insurance company.
It was only when I told him,via his insurance company that I would be pursuing a claim in small claims court that he admitted it all.

My car was away for two weeks! I had a new mondeo courtesy car all that time, god alone knows how much total claim was for.

Stick with it, don't take no for an answer and keep doggedly pursuing it

Thanks for the advice peeps. I haven't called her insurance, her, the police, or made any other calls to my insurance in case I somehow put my foot in it. I think I have the makings of a strategy here now though.

I too was wondering about the 'no insurance' thing. How would looking up that car's Reg tell them that she wasn't insured on another car? Surely she could have a policy on another car... I can't remember if the owner of a car owned by someone else needs cover though... I don't think the guy on the line at Admiral was that bright/ experienced, he just seemed keen to get the fix booked up.

From the top then, I;
Ring her company to see if she has a policy at all
Ring Police and inform them of the accident
From here it really depends on the above, but it could mean getting a proper insurance settlement, or going via small claims etc.

I think I'll let Crimbo blow over and then start on Monday. Will let you know how I get on!

/fingers crossed

Hope it sorts out mate.

ditto

Do you have fully comp Trappy? I'm speaking about Belgium now, but an insurance is for damage done by another party (at least, if fully comp also for damage by yourself although with an excess). This means that when the other party is identified, the insurance should compensate YOU, and then THEY should get the money off the identified third party. It's YOU that is insured, not the other party.

I had a more or less similar case in which my car was towed to a garage and arrived there with a dent in the boot. They denied doing the damage and claimed the garage did the damage. I know the garage very very well (friends) so I was certain they didn't do it (I did ask). Insurance said they were unable to compensate the damage without excess since the party was not identified. I had a note in writing from the towers that they "got and towed the car without any damage" and the garage "received the car dented". Meaning that the damage was definately NOT caused by me, and identifying the 2 possible parties. This was enough to have the insurance pay back the damage.

Up to the insurance to get to the bottom of it, since I proved one of them did the damage. They decided based on the writing that the damage was done whilst unloading the car at the garage and then decided the only possible guilty party was the towing service who unloaded the car. In the end 'on the book' they split the cost between my insurance company and the towing service insurance (double insurance on the car at the time of towing in this case)

So in the end what I'm trying to say is: if the system is the same over there, the fact you can identify the third party is enough for you to get the damage compensated by the insurance. After all, "insurance" means "insurance" and not "help to get money off someone else" I would say. No?

Bit of an update.

I received a call from Admiral on Wednesday saying that as they can't get in contact with the woman's insurance company, I would need to speak to Albany, the company that deals with the legal side when it comes to chasing up third party insurance claims.

I called Albany only to be told that he couldn't locate the insurance company and therefore couldn't begin a claim... but that he did manage to get an insurance policy reference number off the 3rd party driver. OK...

So I called Admiral, gave them the women's policy number and provided them with the phone number of the company they needed to call and waited while they spoke to them. Turns out she does have a policy, they simply couldn't find the insurer because she used a broker... Did they not think of this?

So now I'm waiting for another call from Albany to sort out a bodyshop and courtesy car to get a quote/ repair. Looks like this might be sorted properly afterall...

Some good news there! I'm pretty shocked by the lack of due diligence from your insurance company - they should be doing the leg work, not you!!!!

Also dont forget if you have been injured in the process such as whiplash, backpain due to the shunt, then you can make a separate claim for that.

My mother and brother were shunted in this manner and were able to claim an additional 4-5K, but it took a year to process.

Patience is a virtue.

But if you were not injured (nothing implied in your first post) don´t claim falsely - it just punts up everyone´s premiums...

Yep, it's all of us that pay for the ambulance chasing lawyers and the 'no win no fee' brigade.

I've recently had my renewal notice come through at £837 (it was £550 last year).

Anyway I've had a quick look around to see what the usual quotes are like and seen nothing but nonsense so far. I have a problem though... They're all asking if I've had an accident in the last 5 years and, if so, for details regarding fault, cost of claim etc.

Admiral still hasn't even been in touch with this women's insurance company! How the hell can I start a new policy if I don't have the details of a claim on my old policy? I assume I have to declare it by the date the accident occured (and therefore the date of the original 'claim') rather than when they process the claim?

Interestingly the renewal letter from Admiral states at the top "Do nothing- it's that easy", I wonder if they're taking this too literally...

a 50% increase is taking the perverbial ! especially when you are not at fault i would ring to find out why the increase and tell them you are leaving unless they treat you fairly..

i pay 565 for a trade policy which allows me to drive anything and insures any vehichle i have charge of ..i had a similar issue with a lady in a car park who tried to claim for something that was already on her car and they put mine up by a similar amount..i contacted them and explained it was all down to someone trying it on but they would not budge ..i threatened to leave..they said they would see what they could do ..it turned out to be very little so i left and got insurance elsewhere which ended up slightly cheaper with more benifits (insured for others test driving and lower excess) so i certainly didn't loose any sleep over it..they need you more than you need them as there are plenty of insurers out there and by the way they have performed so far you would be better off without anyway..i am sure if you searched you would find a better deal

as for declaring..i think you will have to with the new company if you take that route but all you can do is point out its a clear cut case of no blame at your door and it's still being dealt with ,the date of the accident is the only relevent date really so give that

have you tried the specialist insurers? and i know the classic insurers can be very cheap..anything is worth a try..i am sure you will beat that quote if you give it enough time..again have you tried the recommended ones forum members have mentioned?

good luck and don't stand for the hike!

Call my wife at Neil Willies
Regards
Jase