Hit by an uninsured driver
Discussion
Hello all - first post after a couple of years lurking - but the ruling underclass have finally caught up with me!
To cut a long story shorter, earlier this year I was hit by a woman who pulled out of a t junction without looking right into my path. I t-boned her, we exchanged details. Dent in her Mondeos rear door, 8000 gbp damage to my car. At the time she said the Mondeo was a relatives, as she gave me her details and i noted the registration. Inevitably it transpires the name and address are false, and the registered keeper of the vehicle would appear to be uncontactable, and also have a string of investigators after him/her for various fines and accidents.
My car has been repaired, I've lost a years NCB and several hundred pounds excess. I've yet to see what next years premium is going to be. With hire car charges the total cost to the insurance compy is over 10k.
I was quite suprised to find out that they are basically letting this drop. They have seen the mondeo (complete with 'my' dent and several others), but cant find the keeper, and arent going to take it further as they say its the driver they need anyway.
So how come I could be S172'd to provide details for a speeding offence, but this just lies - is it perhaps because its just easier to raise mine (and everyones elses) premiums? Any thoughts on what I can do now, as I feel the insurance company has failed to make sufficient attempts to recover mine and its own losses?
Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance
Spence
To cut a long story shorter, earlier this year I was hit by a woman who pulled out of a t junction without looking right into my path. I t-boned her, we exchanged details. Dent in her Mondeos rear door, 8000 gbp damage to my car. At the time she said the Mondeo was a relatives, as she gave me her details and i noted the registration. Inevitably it transpires the name and address are false, and the registered keeper of the vehicle would appear to be uncontactable, and also have a string of investigators after him/her for various fines and accidents.
My car has been repaired, I've lost a years NCB and several hundred pounds excess. I've yet to see what next years premium is going to be. With hire car charges the total cost to the insurance compy is over 10k.
I was quite suprised to find out that they are basically letting this drop. They have seen the mondeo (complete with 'my' dent and several others), but cant find the keeper, and arent going to take it further as they say its the driver they need anyway.
So how come I could be S172'd to provide details for a speeding offence, but this just lies - is it perhaps because its just easier to raise mine (and everyones elses) premiums? Any thoughts on what I can do now, as I feel the insurance company has failed to make sufficient attempts to recover mine and its own losses?
Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance
Spence
Cheers Dazren. I have a witness, a woman driving behind me, who filled in all the forms for the ins co, so they know I wasnt at fault. I have protected NCB so they busted me down from 5 to 4 years. Had a no fault claim prior to this that was 'closed' (ie no claim was made) because the repair was made thru the other parties ins co. Hence feeling a bit shortchanged to be honest - but unfamiliar enought with this sort of situation to be able to wade in complaining... ...for now!
dazren said:
If you were not at fault your insurers should be claiming from the MOtor Insurance Industries "uninsured loss fund". I had a similar incident 15 months ago resulting in no loss of NCB.
DAZ
I'm afraid not. The Motor Insurers' Bureau runs 2 schemes for compensation - the uninsured drivers agreement and the untraced drivers' agreement. Neither of these schemes compensate the insurers as they are in fact a fund that each insurers pays into in the first place. It therefore makes sense that they themselves cannot draw out of the fund. So you lose your NCB.
From the description in this case it sounds as though it will be under the untraced drivers' agreement. This means that the only claims that can be made to the MIB are for compensation for personal injury and financial losses that are directly associated to such injuries (ie loss of earnings, analgesics etc).
if you are able to identify the driver (ie, find out her true address etc etc) then it may fall under the uninsured drivers' agreement. This means you can recover compensation for injury and all financial losses that can be proved, subject to an excess of £300 which is deducted from the claim for financial losses.
Under neither agreement can your insurers claim the costs of repairs/write-off/anything the insurers paid to you.
Shnozz. I know with your work you know exactly what you are talking about here, but can you explain what happened in my case last year?
Some scrote in an unregisterred uninsured car drove into my merc, got out of his car and ran off, necessitating £6k of repairs (bumper, bonnet, grill, headlight etc). My insurers paid up and made a claim against this fund resulting in no loss of NCB, infact my premium reduced at the following renewal.
DAZ
Some scrote in an unregisterred uninsured car drove into my merc, got out of his car and ran off, necessitating £6k of repairs (bumper, bonnet, grill, headlight etc). My insurers paid up and made a claim against this fund resulting in no loss of NCB, infact my premium reduced at the following renewal.
DAZ
What I cant understand is why the driver is untraced? The ins co investigators have seen the vehicle at the registered keepers address, but couldnt get an answer at the house.. why would they (and can they?) leave it at that? If it was my 10k I'd sit on the car until someone moved it. As registered keeper surely they have some sort of responsibility to name the driver in question - or does that only apply to speeding tickets?
dazren said:
Shnozz. I know with your work you know exactly what you are talking about here, but can you explain what happened in my case last year?
Some scrote in an unregisterred uninsured car drove into my merc, got out of his car and ran off, necessitating £6k of repairs (bumper, bonnet, grill, headlight etc). My insurers paid up and made a claim against this fund resulting in no loss of NCB, infact my premium reduced at the following renewal.
DAZ
no idea mate. The latest (1999) MIB agreement states "where a claimant has received compensation from:-
(a) teh Policyholders Protection Board under the Policyhilders Protection Act 1975, or
(b) an Insurers under and insurance agreement or arrangement, or
(c) any other source,
in respect of the death, bodily injury or other damage to which the relevant proceedings relate and such compensation has not been taken into account in the calculation of the relevant sum MIB may deduct from the relevant sum, in addition to any sum deductible under clause 16, an amount equal to that compensation"
The fund is set up to "compensate victims of uninsured drivers" so basically any payments received from the insurers are deducted from the claim against the MIB. The insurers themselves cannot submit a claim to the MIB. If you have a look at the MIB website there is a facility to lodge the claim as an individual.
So, long and short of it, I have no idea! Unless they later obtained insurance details or went after the third party directly but unlikely
I'm most surprised that one of these new fangled speed cameras hasn't caught the villain yet 
I'm surprised you only lost a years NCB to be honest, perhpas this was because you had a witness? When a dozy teenager on a scooter smacked into the front of my Astra whilst he was racing a mate in a car park, my insurance company took me down to 2 years NCB from 5 years until they had successfully claimed from the guilty parties insurance. Took me a year to get my NCB back and a refund for my inflated premium.
I'm surprised you only lost a years NCB to be honest, perhpas this was because you had a witness? When a dozy teenager on a scooter smacked into the front of my Astra whilst he was racing a mate in a car park, my insurance company took me down to 2 years NCB from 5 years until they had successfully claimed from the guilty parties insurance. Took me a year to get my NCB back and a refund for my inflated premium.
shnozz said:
So, long and short of it, I have no idea! Unless they later obtained insurance details or went after the third party directly but unlikely
Unlikely they went after the scrote as he remained unidentified. The police investigation (send a letter a few weeks after the incident to the previous registerred keeper) "established the vehicle had been sold for cash to a stranger in a pub two weeks before the crash".
Personally with the passenger in hospital I would have like to have heard of thumbscrews being used to get the name of the driver and the driver/registerred keepers address being visited within an hour of the incident with vicious dogs.
DAZ
dazren said:
So, long and short of it, I have no idea! Unless they later obtained insurance details or went after the third party directly but unlikely
Unlikely they went after the scrote as he remained unidentified. The police investigation (send a letter a few weeks after the incident to the previous registerred keeper) "established the vehicle had been sold for cash to a stranger in a pub two weeks before the crash".
Personally with the passenger in hospital I would have like to have heard of thumbscrews being used to get the name of the driver and the driver/registerred keepers address being visited within an hour of the incident with vicious dogs.
DAZ
unfortunately the judges are yet to make awards such as this at the moment. You never know though - have you seen devil's advocate? 
SpencerO said:
the ruling underclass have finally caught up with me!
I think the 'ruling' part of the above sums it up really.
It seems to me that a crime is a crime is a crime, so the government are better off (statistically) in catching insured, traceable people for slight speeding offences who will put a cheque in the post with little arguement - rather than chase uninsured scrotes who will most likely give them grief!
If you have nothing to loose (i.e. Job, house etc) it really seems to pay to have cars without insurance, the penalty is tiny. And if you have no income to pay it with?
Even if the govenment takes the car and crushes it (as they plan to) another near scrapper can be bourght for less than 100 quid - much cheaper than insurance...
Possibly community service would be more appropriate.
Better still put them in a large glass box in a shopping centre. People can put a pound in a slot to drop icey water on them, and a fiver for volts....
Even if the govenment takes the car and crushes it (as they plan to) another near scrapper can be bourght for less than 100 quid - much cheaper than insurance...
Possibly community service would be more appropriate.
Better still put them in a large glass box in a shopping centre. People can put a pound in a slot to drop icey water on them, and a fiver for volts....
SpencerO said:
What I cant understand is why the driver is untraced? The ins co investigators have seen the vehicle at the registered keepers address, but couldnt get an answer at the house.. why would they (and can they?) leave it at that? If it was my 10k I'd sit on the car until someone moved it. As registered keeper surely they have some sort of responsibility to name the driver in question - or does that only apply to speeding tickets?
Don't you know that speeding is much more dangerous than actually crashing (in their case, several times). The mind boggles.
SpencerO said:
Cheers Dazren. I have a witness, a woman driving behind me, who filled in all the forms for the ins co, so they know I wasnt at fault. I have protected NCB so they busted me down from 5 to 4 years. Had a no fault claim prior to this that was 'closed' (ie no claim was made) because the repair was made thru the other parties ins co. Hence feeling a bit shortchanged to be honest - but unfamiliar enought with this sort of situation to be able to wade in complaining... ...for now!
If your policy was protected how can they bust you a year? Martin.
Yes, I thought we could call them "the people's stocks" or "the people's revenge" (that way Tony might adopt it).
It would be a great way of dealing with antisocial behaviour, in particular they would be publicly humilated in front of all their mates. Alternatively ducking stools could be used in a similar way (are these still legal?).
You wouldn't guess what I think we should do with people who allow their dogs to foul the pavements.....
It would be a great way of dealing with antisocial behaviour, in particular they would be publicly humilated in front of all their mates. Alternatively ducking stools could be used in a similar way (are these still legal?).
You wouldn't guess what I think we should do with people who allow their dogs to foul the pavements.....
their definition of protected is you lose it all if you claim, so protecting saves me 4 years. Guaranteed would have saved mne the extra year. But what the heck, they'll only get it back in premium anyway. BTW - anyone else notice the telephone on wheels is now saying if you get hit by an uninsured driver it wont we taken as a claim? (according to my missus anyway - so open to correction!)
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