So I’m guessing insurance pays out, but will then they probably sue owner or driver for the money?

Not sure about this. I always thought it was the driver insured not the vehicle, so sadly this might still fall back to your insurers.

Have the driver and owner been reported to the police yet?

Have the driver and owner been reported to the police yet?

Yep, I rang up and informed them with the police ref number I had. Little shit deserves all he gets 😡

Having looked into it, if it is confirmed he has no insurance cover, then I need to speak to the Motor Insurance Bureau and access the uninsured drivers fund.

The driver may have been covered to use other vehicles on his own policy. If not, I’d expect the van owners insurer to pay out third party then cancel the policy. In that case, next time the owner tries to buy insurance, they’ll need to answer ‘yes’ when asked if they’ve ever been refused insurance or had a policy cancelled. That will make it interesting for them to get reasonably priced cover.

Still no news on insurance payout.
I have a feeling white vans insurers are dragging their heels, even though he (apparently) lent vehicle to the driver.

Two positives though…

I picked up the ‘new’ Yeti yesterday. It’s great 😍 really nice to drive, love the tall/upright feel if the car. Kids really Ike it too.

…and amazingly when I did my a swap of my insurance to the new vehicle, it actually came out cheaper!
Same engine size, age, etc. But I guess it’s considered a safer and more staid vehicle than a Mitsubishi Lancer.

Mitsubishi Lancer.

But Lancer is very reliable.

But Lancer is very reliable

Yep, one of the reasons I got it originally.

Only reliable until some **** stoves your rear-end in though!

But if the third-party is at fault then you should get at least a like-for-like car (or better) and keep it until the claim is settled. This is still done by your insurer and they just pass the cost on to the third-party’s insurer.

That’s what happened when a dozy bint in a Berlingo changed her mind on a roundabout I was exiting and forced her way past me, pushing the offside front wing in. That was on my seventeen year old Octavia, and I was given an Insignia SRi diesel with a full tank by the insurer while they decided what was happening to mine, and I did nearly 900 miles in it, before I handed it back.
I accepted a reduced offer and kept the car, which was only worth £900 anyway, had an MOT done to prove roadworthyness, and kept driving it for another two years.
Insurers are still chasing her for the money, I’ve had two letters from solicitors asking me to confirm all the details I gave were correct before it goes to court, I have one on the table in front of me now I’ve got to send back!
And she did a lot more damage to her own vehicle as well.

Well the cluster-**** that is the aftermath of my accident continues…

Driver of van hasn’t been contacted by anyone since the day of the crash – why I don’t know!?
I got pissed off with waiting, so rang him and had a chat.

He has provided me with full details of his insurance now, but having passed them on to my claims management people they are saying that his insurers still claim to not be his insurers!

Not sure how they can do that, unless insurance was cancelled or void, but they seem to just be saying ‘Nope, not ours, don’t know him.’

Well it’s possible he just told you a pack of lies to get rid of you. He’s got form for being a wrongun! Also if your claims company are giving the reg. of the van to his insurers, that’s going to confuse the situation, a lot of policies don’t cover the driving of other vehicles these days so they’ll tell your claims team to jog on.

But it’s your insurance/claims management firm that should be sorting all this out, you should probably just keep pestering them however the process is rarely fast. What a PITA for you. 😢

In this situation i wonder what can be gained from getting involved other than serious stress (You have already started chasing third party drivers).

THIS IS WHAT YOU PAY YOUR INSURANCE FOR

You have a new car therefore i assume they have paid you out on your own car. It is their job to delve through the pile of dogcrap that is the rest of the claim. You havent got any injuries and it sounds like it hasnt cost you anything yet in premiums.

Best advice is too move on and let other people get dragged down by the stress of sorting it out.

Have you been paid out? By anyone? If so, whom?

If not:

+1

THIS IS WHAT YOU PAY YOUR INSURANCE FOR

Ring them, make the claim, get paid. End.

Driver of van hasn’t been contacted by anyone since the day of the crash – why I don’t know!?
I got pissed off with waiting, so rang him and had a chat.

We had exactly this back in 2008. Churchill were so utterly useless it was laughable. I ended up getting driver to just pay a garage direct (only a new bumper and paint needed) as he lived locally and wanted to settle without making a claim on his insurance. Meanwhile Churchill just shelved the claim as ‘knock for knock’.

Then started down the Small Claims route with Churhcill.

After notice to sue, with of course all my evidence and reasoning around ‘I pay my insurance, you did **** all’, I was refunded a year of premiums and £100 M&S voucher with a very legally letter telling me I shouldn’t take them to court or tell anyone, particularly the press, about the issue.

Hands up who couldn’t find the V5 when they needed it?

Have you been paid out? By anyone? If so, whom?

Nope, was given a hire car, but decided to buy a ‘new’ secondhand car using savings on the assumption the hole will be filled when I get a pay-out.

I’m not getting stressed about it really, just finding the process laughably shit from all concerned!

Currently my insurers have it as a ‘No-fault claim’. This means I get no lost NCB and so far my premium hasn’t gone up (in fact it went down slightly as the new car is more boring than the last!) So his insurers are being chased for the payout.

IF they continue to refuse then I’ll probably end up claiming on my insurance – BUT that will probably affect NCB and premiums, so would rather not go down that route if possible.

The other option if he turns out to be uninsured, is that I look to get a payout from the Motor Insurance Bureau, which has a pot to compensate people in the case of uninsured drivers (we all pay into it out of our premiums apparently).

You’re lucky they are counting it as no fault claim before it’s all done and dusted TBH. I had a renewal some years ago quite a time after a rear end shunt that hadn’t been settled and had to stump up with a pending claim showing and no NCB. A big chunk was refunded when it was sorted, but was quite a hike in the cost initially.

If you’ve bought the car and not had that suppled by your insurer you could take the van driver to small claims, but TBH, and has been said you pay your insurance to sort this stuff out so just keep bothering them.

IF they continue to refuse then I’ll probably end up claiming on my insurance – BUT that will probably affect NCB and premiums, so would rather not go down that route if possible.

you’re either not explaining this well, or you don’t understand how insurance works

IF they continue to refuse then I’ll probably end up claiming on my insurance – BUT that will probably affect NCB and premiums, so would rather not go down that route if possible.

All of that happens no matter whos insurance you use.

Even with a no fault claim -unless your ncb were protected.

All of that happens no matter whos insurance you use.

Even with a no fault claim -unless your ncb were protected.

Really?

If you make a claim on your insurance and your insurance provider pays out, your no claims discount is typically reduced by two years. … If the accident wasn’t your fault, your insurance provider will try to recover the costs from the driver who was at fault. In which case, your NCD should be unaffected

you’re either not explaining this well, or you don’t understand how insurance works

Yep, I understand that as a no fault claim it shouldn’t effect my NCB and premiums, but as tthew said above it doesn’t always work out like that.
My understanding is (might be wrong though) that if you have to claim off your insurance because of an uninsured driver, they will then try to reclaim costs from said driver. In the short term that would probably mean higher premiums, because you made a claim. If they can’t recover costs for any reason then that will probably have a knock-on effect on you.

IF they continue to refuse then I’ll probably end up claiming on my insurance – BUT that will probably affect NCB and premiums, so would rather not go down that route if possible.

you’re either not explaining this well, or you don’t understand how insurance works

+1 for this. Shouldn’t you be claiming from your insurance and they should be chasing the other guy’s insurance / the fund if he’s uninsured? Think you might be making yourself extra work for a slower resolution here.

+1 for this. Shouldn’t you be claiming from your insurance and they should be chasing the other guy’s insurance / the fund if he’s uninsured? Think you might be making yourself extra work for a slower resolution here.

That’s probably how it will go down if they don’t get a positive response from his alleged insurers soon.

But as other posters have said, this can have a knock-on effect on your premiums.

I’m not doing any running around after it, just the occasional phone call to my claims management peeps.

Only bit of chasing I’ve done is one phonecall to the van driver, and that was useful, as it turned out no-one else had bothered to call him!

I’m ok waiting for a resolution, no need to get the money in a hurry.
Decent 2nd hand car bought out of savings, but that doesn’t leave me destitute.

I mean even if I never received anything, I’d still survive. It’s just a car and some cash at the end of the day.

In the short term that would probably mean higher premiums, because you made a claim. If they can’t recover costs for any reason then that will probably have a knock-on effect on you

Ok that makes more sense..you may have to pay extra until your insurer agrees it’s genuinely not your fault..in the long term you shouldn’t lose out at all.

I had to pay a higher premium for one renewal when a pedestrian I ran over tried to claim for his injuries. Once the insurance investigator completed his work, I got all the money back and had no long term costs

Well, turns out the little shit was stringing me along and lying the whole time. Been confirmed he’s got no insurance 😡

So, now having to claim on my fully comprehensive policy.

Turns out the uninsured drivers fund only covers you if you have a third party policy not fully comp…..A weird situation of the system leaving you worse off if you’ve been less of a cheapskate and paid for better cover!

I suppose my policy pays out, and then they try to get money back from him. I hope they sue the little fuctk, not just write it off.

Oh well. C’est la vie.

Turns out the uninsured drivers fund only covers you if you have a third party policy not fully comp…..A weird situation of the system leaving you worse off if you’ve been less of a cheapskate and paid for better cover!

The uninsured fund is paid for by the insurers so you end up paying for it either way.

You could always go down the small claims route if it wasn’t that expensive a car?

Been confirmed he’s got no insurance

Take it the police are aware of this now?

A weird situation of the system leaving you worse off if you’ve been less of a cheapskate and paid for better cover!

Not really. TPO or TPFT cover is often more expensive than comprehensive.

If you don’t mind me saying, you have picked a particularly poor route through your claim. Appreciate that you’ve not had great service, but there’s been some very good quality advice on this thread you seem to have ignored.
I hope it all gets sorted out in the end in your favour.

If you don’t mind me saying, you have picked a particularly poor route through your claim. Appreciate that you’ve not had great service, but there’s been some very good quality advice on this thread you seem to have ignored.

Huh? Cheers, but I don’t think I’ve ignored any advice? and I followed the only route that seemed available.

I reported the accident as soon as it happened to my insurers.

The driver of the van appears to have successfully fobbed off people from both insurers and a claims management company with various claims and stories until a few days ago, but it was then confirmed categorically he had no insurance.

This is all going on what I have been told by the people dealing with the claim, who I have called once a week or so for an update.

My only contact with him was to chase up whether he had been contacted, at which point he lied to me as well.

I don’t think I’ve ignored any advice? and I followed the only route that seemed available

It seems to me that people were advising you to claim through your own insurance and leave it to them to recover what they could, rather than trying to claim from the other driver or a claims manager?

It seems to me that people were advising you to claim through your own insurance and leave it to them to recover what they could, rather than trying to claim from the other driver or a claims manager?

Ok, but this is genuinely the first time I’ve had to do this in over 25 years of driving!

When I called the RAC to get towed, their claims management team stepped in, when I then called my insurers they seemed happy to leave the legwork to the CM company.
In hindsight maybe I should’ve insisted on my insurers taking over, but it seemed relatively cut and dry at that point…not the cluster-**** it seems to have morphed into now.

Well, chalked up to experience. Hopefully it’ll be another 25 years before I have to do it all again.

You seem to have a lot of confidence in this claims management firm. Going after uninsured drivers isn’t really their bag. Aren’t alarm bells ringing yet that nothing much is moving?

It’s not totally clear but sounds like you’ve reported the accident to your insurer, but not registered a claim? So you said something like you were happy to go after the other party’s insurer directly (via the crack team operating on your behalf) and your insurance said they were happy for you to crack on with that?

I think you should phone your insurer and have a different conversation with them.

Who sorted you a hire car? Claims management people? If so, they were expecting that to be covered by an insurer who doesn’t exist. What did you sign? If you sack the claims management firm now, are you on the hook for it?

You seem to have a lot of confidence in this claims management firm. Going after uninsured drivers isn’t really their bag. Aren’t alarm bells ringing yet that nothing much is moving?

No, not confidence, but they seemed to talk the talk!

It’s not totally clear but sounds like you’ve reported the accident to your insurer, but not registered a claim? So you said something like you were happy to go after the other party’s insurer directly (via the crack team operating on your behalf) and your insurance said they were happy for you to crack on with that?

Kind of, it has been registered with insurers as a non-fault accident, so a claim/accident does show up with them if I log in to their website.

I think you should phone your insurer and have a different conversation with them.

This has now happened, and the wheels are in motion.

Who sorted you a hire car? Claims management people? If so, they were expecting that to be covered by an insurer who doesn’t exist. What did you sign? If you sack the claims management firm now, are you on the hook for it?

Luckily (?) The hire car cost IS covered by the Motor insurance bureau, so I’m not going to be hit with that too. Phew.

Hindsight, is a wonderful thing 😆
If this happened again I’d definitely not let a claims management firm deal with it.
Might drop the RAC a little email of complaint about their choice of shysters.

you seemed to have ignored my question?

Police informed? Yes.

Might drop the RAC a little email of complaint about their choice of shysters

That sounds a good idea. They don’t seem to have made a positive contribution. I’ve only heard of them being used by insurers to force down the claim, not representing the claimant.

Claims company only involved usually if you’re making a personal injury claim… if you are not after whiplash compensation they won’t be interested surely?

I think in this case they are genuinely employed by The RAC to help in the claims process, but that their help falls down in the face of an uninsured or unhelpful third party.

Digging into it on their site, the RAC employ them for members to help in the claims process. So I don’t think anyone’s been acting in had faith.

I did also get a call from the injuries/ uninsured losses arm of the same company, but as I had no injuries I didn’t need their input.

Tbh the individual people I’ve spoken to at Slater Gordon Motors have been very pleasant and not at all obstructive, but the company as a whole just seems a bit shit.

Bit of closure on this…

My insurance are paying out, though I lose my excess + a couple of years no claims + higher premiums 😟
I’m about £1500 down though after buying a replacement car.
They are pursuing him for the costs, so if they get the money off him I may well get some reduction on premiums.

Just been informed he’s being prosecuted for driving uninsured and probably for driving without due care and attention.

Hope he gets a ban, but I imagine even if he doesn’t he’s going to have a fun few years getting any insurance.

Thanks for the help and suggestions. I’ve learnt a few lessons for if this were to happen again. God I hope not!

Just to compound his misery, you could probably start a small claims court/money claim action against him personally to recover your uninsured costs.

Hope he gets a ban, but I imagine even if he doesn’t he’s going to have a fun few years getting any insurance.

If he didn’t have insurance before, I’m not convinced he’ll bother looking for it now it’s considerably more expensive

Thought about that, but I’d rather draw a line under it. Also I suspect other claims (insurers, other driver’s injury compensation) will have priority, so I’d be way down the list, and unlikely to see any money even if I won my claim.