Insurance problem

[sultanbrown]

Hoping someone can help:
Mates brother had his car parked at the roadside and another car (parked) rolled into it. Owner of car says he left the car unlocked and someone must have got in and taken off the handbrake. He is refusing to co-operate, and his insurance company say it's not their problem as he wasn't driving the car. It's only £800 of damage, but he's a young chap who's saved really hard to get his BMW coupe and he can't afford to just shrug it off and pay for the damage himself.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

[parrot of doom]

Total bollox tbh. Your friend has every right to claim against the other driver. He didn't report it stolen, didn't report it broken-into to the police, and almost certainly just forgot to put the handbrake on.

I'd send him a nice threatening letter from a solicitor.

[trax]

His insurance say its not their problem because he wasnt driving?

I find that hard to believe, unless he has been told that by the owner of the other car (Obviously lying). They have duty under RTA to cover Third Party liablilty, as they insure the car under the RTA for that reason. Load of bull, he should contact his own insurance, and let them deal with it.

[sultanbrown]

Cheers for the oppinions chaps, I'm fairly clueless when it comes to insurance, having only one claim when a young bloke drove into the back of me at a junction in front of approx 30 witnesses, so no arguments there.

[Dwight VanDriver]

Looks like he could go down the civil action route against car owner under Small Claims Court and no doubt it would be benificial if he discussed the matter with CAB.

On the Insurance aspect I have it at the back of my mind that if you are involved in an incident and do not report the matter to your Insurance Company then they will not entertain a claim from the other party.
Can anybody confirm?

DVD

[NugentS]

Dwight VanDriver said:

Looks like he could go down the civil action route against car owner under Small Claims Court and no doubt it would be benificial if he discussed the matter with CAB. On the Insurance aspect I have it at the back of my mind that if you are involved in an incident and do not report the matter to your Insurance Company then they will not entertain a claim from the other party. Can anybody confirm? DVD

I have heard that - the insurance company have to be nformed of the accident by the insuree. Wether its just a block that saves them having to pay out in some cases where the 3rd party doesn't push it or wether its a real reason is another matter.

[loaf]

sultanbrown said:

Hoping someone can help: Mates brother had his car parked at the roadside and another car (parked) rolled into it. Owner of car says he left the car unlocked and someone must have got in and taken off the handbrake. He is refusing to co-operate, and his insurance company say it's not their problem as he wasn't driving the car. It's only £800 of damage, but he's a young chap who's saved really hard to get his BMW coupe and he can't afford to just shrug it off and pay for the damage himself. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Has your mate got comprehensive or third party insurance?

If comp, then get him to phone his insurers and let them deal with it - that's why he pays his premium - make sure he gives them the third party's name and address and they will do the needful. The other guy's insurers are full of sh!t if they think they can get away with not paying due to him not driving it - he was the last person in charge (one assumes) and therefore his policy is teh one in force at the time of the incident.

If TPO of TPF&T insurance, he has two options - get the work done and claim back from the other insurer or get the work done and sue the toerag in the small claims court - either way he should get a solicitor involved, for which he may be covered by a legal expenses clause in his car policy or if he's a member of the RAC or AA they may be able to help.