A mate of mine was in an accident (motorbike on motorbike). The other guy has broken his leg as the result. Both parties informed their insurance companies. My mate just received a claim notification form from (what I can tell) the legal representative of the other biker. The thing is, half the information in that form is complete bull:
First and last name of my mate incorrectly spelled.
Incident took place just before the stop lights of a junction, but in the form it states on a roundabout. The road stated is correct but the location on that road is incorrect.
The collision occurred when my mate was changing lanes on the dual carriageway just before that junction and the other guy ran into the back of him, but in the form it states it happened because my mate didn’t give way to the traffic on the right on the roundabout.
In the form the field “Was the police informed of the incident” - the other guy ticked no. But police have attended the accident, given the reference number to my mate and sent him a form by post requesting further details.
Right after the accident my mate explained to the insurance company exactly what happened, and also filled in the form the police sent him with all the details of the incident and sent it back to them.
Is there anything he should do regarding this form and all the false details there? Or leave it until/if he’s summoned to court (which I guess he would be since the other guy is claiming for £15-25k… probably for medical expense since he was on a cheap scooter)?
Is your mate admitting fault here, it sounds as if he is nitpicking the other parties version of events or have I misunderstood what you've said?.
National Treasure
He believes both of them are at fault. Himself for not making proper observations and the other guy for not noticing him changing lanes and stopping in time (I believe the other guy was also filtering, need to confirm). What my mate doesn’t want is the other guy changing the indisputable facts to his advantage, which could be either pure incompetence or an attempt at deceit (e.g. the fact that they were nowhere near a roundabout raises a concern, I wouldn’t really call that nitpicking).
If he’s got his insurance company already involved, just send them the paperwork with a covering letter explaining what you’ve mentioned and let them deal with it.
Make sure he photocopies everything first before sending.
I had exaggrated claim ages ago and insurance just dealt with it.
Not an expert. But I’d send back in what ever form a correction to the it. Assuming you’ve got a witness / police to back up his claim, it should get sorted. A friend of mine was involved in a cycle accident, the other party changed their story a number or times before it was resolved.
I would send it to your insurer with all the errors pointed out. sounds like the other bloke is trying to pull a fast one if he’s giving the wrong details and your insurer should be aware of that.
should it go to court, they’ll need to have been notified as soon as possible.
I wouldn’t sweat too much over it. The reason why it’s been sent it’s to check and amend any errors. My first one from the lawyer was full of mistakes too. Amend the mistakes and send it back.
What has been received is a standard letter of claim which is normal procedure and a requirement under civil procedure regulations. Because it is a standard letter stating that they hold your mate liable and is full of errors is not uncommon bearing in mind that the full facts are not yet known. Onthis basis errors in facts are going to be common and multiple.
It is once the evidence starts being collected that much greater detail and details of accuracy become very important, and an application will be made to the Police for a certified extract of the crash report.
All your mate needs to do is send the letter of claim off to his insurance company advising them that he is contesting and maybe even counter claiming and put it in their hands to deal with.
If your mate was injured, he could himself go directly to a personal injury specialist and they too would send off a letter of counter claim.
However both firms would/are required to carry out a risk assessment to determine the chances of success as there has to be a 51% or better chance of success on the balance of probability.
The figure quoted does suggest a personal injury figure, and again they have to put in the higher figure so that it is clear whether the case is being handled on the fast track scheme which is fixed costs or multi track which is (at the moment) uncapped.
If your mate suffered no injury, just advise him to pass the letter to his insurers with the caveat that he is contesting the facts and then tell him to get on with life and don’t lose any sleep over it.
Is your mate admitting fault here, it sounds as if he is nitpicking the other parties version of events or have I misunderstood what you've said?.
National Treasure
He believes both of them are at fault. Himself for not making proper observations and the other guy for not noticing him changing lanes and stopping in time (I believe the other guy was also filtering, need to confirm). What my mate doesn’t want is the other guy changing the indisputable facts to his advantage, which could be either pure incompetence or an attempt at deceit (e.g. the fact that they were nowhere near a roundabout raises a concern, I wouldn’t really call that nitpicking).
Slacker
I see, apologises, not what I thought you were saying.
Yes it generally takes two to tango and if 10 people see it happen you’ll likely as not get several differing versions of what they claim to have seen.
As per TC, all he can do for now is to let his insurance company know of his version of events.
