Third party cannot contact driver. What now ?
Discussion
My car was hit while parked up, amazingly the guy left a number. He wouldn't pay for the cost of the damages out of his own pocket and refused to give me more details.
In the end i called the police and he gave me his insurance details. My insurance declared my car a total write off and paid me out, except for my enourmous excess. My insurance is now sky high as i lost my ncb. Im on black box insurance now as i couldn't get insured for less than 2.5k for an avensis that cost 1.5k. This is my first claim in 3 years.
I called my insurance company and they have sent a bill to the third party. The third party insurance company say that they cant get in contact with the driver. What are the next steps for me he never responds to his insurance?
Thanks in advance!
In the end i called the police and he gave me his insurance details. My insurance declared my car a total write off and paid me out, except for my enourmous excess. My insurance is now sky high as i lost my ncb. Im on black box insurance now as i couldn't get insured for less than 2.5k for an avensis that cost 1.5k. This is my first claim in 3 years.
I called my insurance company and they have sent a bill to the third party. The third party insurance company say that they cant get in contact with the driver. What are the next steps for me he never responds to his insurance?
Thanks in advance!
It depends on whether the third party insurer has accepted fault or not. Have they given any indication of this? Your insurer will claim the third party is at fault, but ultimately it is on them to demonstrate that on your behalf (subrogation). Leaving the phone number is at least somewhat an admission of liability, so that helps you there. Until the 3rd party pays out, the claim is deemed to be your fault, because your insurance company has not made a recovery. Ultimately, it doesn't matter if 3rd party can contact their insurance party; under the terms of the road traffic act they are liable if the incident is their party's fault.
I had a similar hassle with a claim in September. My vehicle was hit while merging onto the M62. It was all caught on dashcam thankfully. Other driver elected to not stop and sped off. Contacted my insurer (Hastings), it was immediately declared a non-fault, category N write off and they started pursuing the other insurance company (Aviva).
Aviva initially claimed various things: they couldn't contact the driver, they contacted the driver and he denied the incident, the driver claimed he'd never owned that car (but oddly still had insurance on it?!) and other s**t. Sent them the footage, they claimed it was "unclear" (it was fine but it had been compressed to fit in an email) so I sent them the raw clips from my dashcam on a USB stick by recorded delivery. No argument after that about the incident happening.
About four months after the incident Aviva accepted the claim. My insurance had paid out immediately minus excess and it took these four months for them to recover the costs, at which point I was able to claim my £300 excess back from Aviva. I retained my NCB and it has had very little impact on my premium (added maybe ~£150) despite substantially upgrading my car (~£1k value to ~£16k value). I was told at the time, the policy would not be cancelled and there was no need to update the policy to add this incident to my policy as this only needed to be done at renewal which wasn't due until June. So I'm not sure how you're on the black box policy right now - as your existing insurance policy should still be valid, unless of course your insurance company cancelled it (I'm not sure whether they are legally allowed to do this!)
All in all, it was an interesting and difficult experience, but I was set right at the end of it. It's just a matter of time. The officer involved in the case told me the driver was awarded 6 points and £1000 fine as well for failure to stop, which was a nice touch. I would follow up on a weekly basis, because as soon as you get confirmation that the incident was not your fault, your policy will be amendable which should save you some £s.
I had a similar hassle with a claim in September. My vehicle was hit while merging onto the M62. It was all caught on dashcam thankfully. Other driver elected to not stop and sped off. Contacted my insurer (Hastings), it was immediately declared a non-fault, category N write off and they started pursuing the other insurance company (Aviva).
Aviva initially claimed various things: they couldn't contact the driver, they contacted the driver and he denied the incident, the driver claimed he'd never owned that car (but oddly still had insurance on it?!) and other s**t. Sent them the footage, they claimed it was "unclear" (it was fine but it had been compressed to fit in an email) so I sent them the raw clips from my dashcam on a USB stick by recorded delivery. No argument after that about the incident happening.
About four months after the incident Aviva accepted the claim. My insurance had paid out immediately minus excess and it took these four months for them to recover the costs, at which point I was able to claim my £300 excess back from Aviva. I retained my NCB and it has had very little impact on my premium (added maybe ~£150) despite substantially upgrading my car (~£1k value to ~£16k value). I was told at the time, the policy would not be cancelled and there was no need to update the policy to add this incident to my policy as this only needed to be done at renewal which wasn't due until June. So I'm not sure how you're on the black box policy right now - as your existing insurance policy should still be valid, unless of course your insurance company cancelled it (I'm not sure whether they are legally allowed to do this!)
All in all, it was an interesting and difficult experience, but I was set right at the end of it. It's just a matter of time. The officer involved in the case told me the driver was awarded 6 points and £1000 fine as well for failure to stop, which was a nice touch. I would follow up on a weekly basis, because as soon as you get confirmation that the incident was not your fault, your policy will be amendable which should save you some £s.
Edited by tom667 on Tuesday 5th February 19:35
tom667 said:
It depends on whether the third party insurer has accepted fault or not. Have they given any indication of this? Your insurer will claim the third party is at fault, but ultimately it is on them to demonstrate that on your behalf (subrogation). Leaving the phone number is at least somewhat an admission of liability, so that helps you there. Until the 3rd party pays out, the claim is deemed to be your fault, because your insurance company has not made a recovery. Ultimately, it doesn't matter if 3rd party can contact their insurance party; under the terms of the road traffic act they are liable if the incident is their party's fault.
I had a similar hassle with a claim in September. My vehicle was hit while merging onto the M62. It was all caught on dashcam thankfully. Other driver elected to not stop and sped off. Contacted my insurer (Hastings), it was immediately declared a non-fault, category N write off and they started pursuing the other insurance company (Aviva).
Aviva initially claimed various things: they couldn't contact the driver, they contacted the driver and he denied the incident, the driver claimed he'd never owned that car (but oddly still had insurance on it?!) and other s**t. Sent them the footage, they claimed it was "unclear" (it was fine but it had been compressed to fit in an email) so I sent them the raw clips from my dashcam on a USB stick by recorded delivery. No argument after that about the incident happening.
About four months after the incident Aviva accepted the claim. My insurance had paid out immediately minus excess and it took these four months for them to recover the costs, at which point I was able to claim my £300 excess back from Aviva. I retained my NCB and it has had very little impact on my premium (added maybe ~£150) despite substantially upgrading my car (~£1k value to ~£16k value). I was told at the time, the policy would not be cancelled and there was no need to update the policy to add this incident to my policy as this only needed to be done at renewal which wasn't due until June. So I'm not sure how you're on the black box policy right now - as your existing insurance policy should still be valid, unless of course your insurance company cancelled it (I'm not sure whether they are legally allowed to do this!)
All in all, it was an interesting and difficult experience, but I was set right at the end of it. It's just a matter of time. The officer involved in the case told me the driver was awarded 6 points and £1000 fine as well for failure to stop, which was a nice touch. I would follow up on a weekly basis, because as soon as you get confirmation that the incident was not your fault, your policy will be amendable which should save you some £s.
My insurance policy ended at the start of jan and the renewal was 3.5k with them and they wouldnt budge on the price so i went to another company.I had a similar hassle with a claim in September. My vehicle was hit while merging onto the M62. It was all caught on dashcam thankfully. Other driver elected to not stop and sped off. Contacted my insurer (Hastings), it was immediately declared a non-fault, category N write off and they started pursuing the other insurance company (Aviva).
Aviva initially claimed various things: they couldn't contact the driver, they contacted the driver and he denied the incident, the driver claimed he'd never owned that car (but oddly still had insurance on it?!) and other s**t. Sent them the footage, they claimed it was "unclear" (it was fine but it had been compressed to fit in an email) so I sent them the raw clips from my dashcam on a USB stick by recorded delivery. No argument after that about the incident happening.
About four months after the incident Aviva accepted the claim. My insurance had paid out immediately minus excess and it took these four months for them to recover the costs, at which point I was able to claim my £300 excess back from Aviva. I retained my NCB and it has had very little impact on my premium (added maybe ~£150) despite substantially upgrading my car (~£1k value to ~£16k value). I was told at the time, the policy would not be cancelled and there was no need to update the policy to add this incident to my policy as this only needed to be done at renewal which wasn't due until June. So I'm not sure how you're on the black box policy right now - as your existing insurance policy should still be valid, unless of course your insurance company cancelled it (I'm not sure whether they are legally allowed to do this!)
All in all, it was an interesting and difficult experience, but I was set right at the end of it. It's just a matter of time. The officer involved in the case told me the driver was awarded 6 points and £1000 fine as well for failure to stop, which was a nice touch. I would follow up on a weekly basis, because as soon as you get confirmation that the incident was not your fault, your policy will be amendable which should save you some £s.
Edited by tom667 on Tuesday 5th February 19:35
Slipperywang said:
vikingaero said:
Do you have legal expenses cover? If so they can issue Court Summons to get your excess back. Normally a summons will focus the insureds mind on playing ball.
I highly doubt legal expenses are covered with my previous insurer. 
head?Years ago my Mum was stationary in traffic and a student on a moped drove into her front wing. The third party Insurers said that they still had not received a claim from the third party 3 months down the line and presumed that he didn't want indemnity. So the legal expenses Insurer/Firm issued a summons for £1,300. 2 days after the summons was issued the Dad of the Student turned up on our doorstep apologising for his idiot son and could he have some details for the claim form
Think it depends on the incident. I was rear ended last year, spoke to my insurer and they said it was the 3rd parties fault and I wouldn't pay a single thing towards the car being fixed. I then get an email about 3 months ago saying they haven't heard from the 3rd party and that my insurer have instructed solicitors to chase them.
Personally, if it was me, I would see about taking legal action against the 3rd party. Check your home insurance if you have legal cover, if you do they may or may not deal with the case but the worst thing they can say is no.
Personally, if it was me, I would see about taking legal action against the 3rd party. Check your home insurance if you have legal cover, if you do they may or may not deal with the case but the worst thing they can say is no.
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