Legal advice needed about car accident.
Discussion
About 2 years ago i was involved in a minor accident in my van which resulted in me hitting someone up the backside.
I was told by the police, insurers, friends and i even read an exact match of my story on the net that it was a scam.
Anyway regardless of if i,m at fault it all went through insurance. Due to the circumstances my insurer did not just pay out, they tried to interview the claimant but received no feedback (or so i,m told). I spoke to my insurer about 2 weeks ago and they said they would press to get the file closed as nothing had been heard from the claimant for about a year.
Forward to today when i receive a claim form from a county court claiming damages against me (for around 18k!)
I,m now obviously worried they are trying to claim off me direct. My insurers aren't there until monday so i spoke to the brokers who told me not to worry as claimants do this when they get impatient- however i do worry when its such a large amount and i receive nothing but a claim form from a county court direct from what i assume is the court.
It also says date of service is yesterday, what does that mean when the issue date was 2nd september?
So should i worry? Will my insurance company still give me a solicitor to defend me? Will the insurer pay out still even if they have closed the case (which i reckon they have which has prompted these people to do this).
Obviously i,ll call the actual insurers on monday but between now and then i,m a bit concerned.
Sorry for the long post, but its not a nice letter to wake up to
I was told by the police, insurers, friends and i even read an exact match of my story on the net that it was a scam.
Anyway regardless of if i,m at fault it all went through insurance. Due to the circumstances my insurer did not just pay out, they tried to interview the claimant but received no feedback (or so i,m told). I spoke to my insurer about 2 weeks ago and they said they would press to get the file closed as nothing had been heard from the claimant for about a year.
Forward to today when i receive a claim form from a county court claiming damages against me (for around 18k!)
I,m now obviously worried they are trying to claim off me direct. My insurers aren't there until monday so i spoke to the brokers who told me not to worry as claimants do this when they get impatient- however i do worry when its such a large amount and i receive nothing but a claim form from a county court direct from what i assume is the court.
It also says date of service is yesterday, what does that mean when the issue date was 2nd september?
So should i worry? Will my insurance company still give me a solicitor to defend me? Will the insurer pay out still even if they have closed the case (which i reckon they have which has prompted these people to do this).
Obviously i,ll call the actual insurers on monday but between now and then i,m a bit concerned.
Sorry for the long post, but its not a nice letter to wake up to
Edited by m3jappa on Saturday 12th September 10:52
Edited by m3jappa on Saturday 12th September 10:53
Firstly don't worry about the legal stuff just now, to get a county court judgement it needs to have gone to court, you found to be liable and then not paying the damages or fines. A long way from that and your insurance company can prove you tried to deal with it correctly but they are trying to stitch you up. Sounds like it is supposed to scare you, maybe into offering a few thousand out of court, sounds like your case is sound though you might have to go to a day in court.
Don't worry at all. Don't reply or do anything with what you've received other than forward it to your insurers; they will be the ones who'd have to pay, so they'll be the ones instructing solicitors and handling the claim (this is known as subrogation).
You say it's about 3 years since the accident; time limit for bringing proceedings in such circumstances is 3 years, so that's probably why it's been served on you. Not because the claimant wants to escalate matters, just to protect his position.
You say it's about 3 years since the accident; time limit for bringing proceedings in such circumstances is 3 years, so that's probably why it's been served on you. Not because the claimant wants to escalate matters, just to protect his position.
oldsoak said:
thinfourth2 said:
Let me guess a car full of a certain race of folk slamming on the brakes entering a roundabout
Yeah they're very good at exploiting our weaknesses...a'la getting too close to the car in front so not being able to stop in time...Yes i SLAMMED into the back of someone from another country.
Was it my fault, partially yes because i hit him.
Was it my fault they set the accident up, targetting a comercial vechile?
Why do they target commercials? Well most are not driven by the owners so they typically get a pay out easier.
What they do is drive along in say a 50 limit. They then slow down to around maybe 30 drawing your car closer (ok the ph driving gods would not wonder wtf is going on and they would retain a 7 car gap even in traffic)
Then suddenly the first car which they are sitting inches from slams on brakes into a turning making you collide with the car in front.
I never sat up his arse, the police agreed that my stopping distance was acceptable, but not if in the middle of a busy A road someone decides to stop for no reason.
If the police, 2 insurance companys, friends a tv program and even a random thread on another forum i go on all describe the same thing as a scam i,d agree.
Many thanks for the advice, i have relaxed a little now
Was it my fault, partially yes because i hit him.
Was it my fault they set the accident up, targetting a comercial vechile?
Why do they target commercials? Well most are not driven by the owners so they typically get a pay out easier.
What they do is drive along in say a 50 limit. They then slow down to around maybe 30 drawing your car closer (ok the ph driving gods would not wonder wtf is going on and they would retain a 7 car gap even in traffic)
Then suddenly the first car which they are sitting inches from slams on brakes into a turning making you collide with the car in front.
I never sat up his arse, the police agreed that my stopping distance was acceptable, but not if in the middle of a busy A road someone decides to stop for no reason.
If the police, 2 insurance companys, friends a tv program and even a random thread on another forum i go on all describe the same thing as a scam i,d agree.
Many thanks for the advice, i have relaxed a little now
esselte said:
oldsoak said:
thinfourth2 said:
Let me guess a car full of a certain race of folk slamming on the brakes entering a roundabout
Yeah they're very good at exploiting our weaknesses...a'la getting too close to the car in front so not being able to stop in time...But in the example I was responding to it was someone slamming on the brakes entering a roundabout...but you knew THAT didn't you?
I know a HGV driver who had a similar one pulled on him, two cars working together in front of the lorry, one overtakes the other and dabs the brakes the middle car which is almost certainly got 5 people in it absolutely slams on the anchors and the lorry clearly cannot stop as quickly and ends up making contact with the car full of people. These guys were only 'caught' because two of the men were known to police as they had an identical accident in another £100 car a few days previously. They couldnt prove fraud and the guys insurers had to pay out.
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