Driver gave details but may not be insured

Help & Advice
1

Hello,

Sorry if this issue is covered elsewhere, but I don’t have time at work to search the boards, so…

I got rear-ended yesterday and it is possible that the driver may not be insured for that vehicle, i.e may have wrongly thought they were covered under another policy.

I have been told I may be dropped by my legal insurance as they won’t be able to recover costs and I may end up being referred to the Motor Insurance Bureau (?)

Has anyone been here before and got some good advise on how to make sure I don’t get shafted, again?!

Thanks,

Kevin.

2

Depends, have you got the contact deatils on the person that hit you?

3

You informed the police ? as the individual was driving uninsured and should get prosecuted. Also just because someone has no insurance doesn’t mean to say you can’t sue them to win your costs and legal costs. They could well have sufficient income, savings etc to pay you. Not sure the MIB would be useful in this instance as I thought it was for uninsured unknown driver losses.

4

I’ve got the details given at the time.The appears to be registered and insured, but not for the driver at the time (as latest news to me).

Would my legal insurance support a claim for Tort, or do they only like the dead cert winners??Will be reporting it to the Police tonight.

5

Is there anyway to check if a car is insured? I was in a car this afternoon that got hit by another driver and we suspect they don’t have insurance. We got witnesses and their plate and details bar the insurance stuff which they didn’t have.

6

You legal support insurance should cover supporting you whatever the circumstance.
I had a similar accident a few years ago. Car was insured, the driver (probably) not. Suddenly the owner of the car couldn’t remember who she lent the car to that day (her partner). I eventually got paid out, but only after a 3rd case handler at the insurance company did a proper job, the first 2 where useless. Problem is that it took ages for them to get the details they needed. The police ended up taking the owner to court for her to declare who was driving the car (even though I had full details and witness to back up). At the end, I think it was the owner’s insurance that paid up, and I was explained that they would then seek to reclaim it from the driver. It’s a while ago, but I think that’s what the outcome was.
In all, it took about 2 years before I got paid anything.

So find the best legal support you can, and good luck!!

7

The police will tell you.

8

If the vehicle is insured and the person was driving it with the knowledge and permission of the policy holder/owner then the insurer will have little choice but to assume the risk. The other option being that the person driving was doing so without the permission of the owner and hence would be considered to have taken the vehicle without consent (TWOC).

By the sounds of it your insurer is most likely telling you that they’re unable to immediately find a policy in place based on the information given. This may well be true… but it doesn’t mean that an insurer somewhere will not have to assume the risk.

Person A owns a Golf, they lend it to their mate B who claims to have fully comp insurance on his Mondeo. B believes that this policy will cover him (3 P F&T) to drive the Golf.

B hits you whilst driving the Golf… as this point you give B’s details and the index of the Golf to the insurer, their first response if going to be “there was no policy in force to allow B to drive the Golf” which on the face of it would be true. What should then happen is that they should contact A and ask who B is, he in turn should provide details of his Comp policy for his Mondeo and that policy should meet the risk.

In the event that A passes B’s details and it becomes clear that he was lying about the policy on his mondeo then unless it A then states “I didn’t give him permission to take the Golf” the Golf’s insurer will have to assume the risk… If A does state that B took the Golf without permission then B has committed TWOC and should be prosecuted for said offence.

Sorry it’s a bit rambling but it’s complicated!

9

Insurers very rarely chase uninsured drivers (particularly if the third party has failed to notify their insurance assuming they have cover) which means that the options are to issue proceedings against the individual, or go through the MIB.

The MIB will act on damage only claims although there is an excess of £250 for the first part of each and every claim, and it is will be dealt with either under the untraced or the uninsured section whichever is appropriate, in this case, more likely uninsured.

There are certain criteria and protocols that have to be complied with.

The incident must have been reported to the Police.

You must provide full co-operation to the Police investigation (if they can be bothered to investigate in the first place)

You must not be related and there must not be a suggestion that you were related to the third party.

Once the paperwork has been submitted, the MIB will acknowledge the claim and immidiately state that they require 3 months to carry out their own investigation.

If proceedings need to be issued, then the third party driver goes down as defendant 1, if it is a company vehicle they are listed as defendant 2, and then the one mistake that most people make is that the MIB must be listed as the third defendant because they assume the liability as if they were the third party insurers.

An MIB claim usualy takes about 35% longer to settle than a straight third party claim, and they will like insurers try and attribute contributory negligence where they can, althouugh ina rear end shunt, that will be difficult.

If your insurers won’t or can’t help you, then a local law firm will be happy to advise you or toy can download the claim forms from their website.

If you need any further help, then feel free to PM me.

10

Thanks Jonny and TC, this is all great information and advise.

I’ve reported the accident to the Police and now await the slow process of paperwork to begin.

P.S. How many style points do I get for being shunted, knocked back out of my seat, hit my life saving top box, keep upright and travelling in a straight line and then get back in my seat to take control of bike to stop safely, all from the 3rd lane of a motorway??!! :w00t:

Cheers,

Lucky Kevin.

11

I don’t think this applies to this case. I my case, which was very similar, the legal firm started of the process with the MIB (you have to do this within a certain timeframe of the accident, so they wanted to leave this route open). I have a response somewhere here from the MIB that they wouldn’t cover it because the vehicle involved had appropriate insurance. That’s when I was explained that the vehicle’s insurers would need to pay up and then try to recover it from the driver or his insurance.

12

[quote]
driesie (10/09/2010)

I deal with the MIB on a fairly regular basis and quite often attend MIB seminars which are very informative.

There is a statute of limitation of 5 years for damage only claims to be made, but obviously the longer the claim is left without papers being submitted, the less likely there is of success.

The untraced resolution applies to crashes where the offending or third party driver has legged it and enquiries or investigation has revealed to identify either the driver, vehicle or the insurers on risk at the time of the crash.

In your case, if the third party had a minimum of road risk cover, then your case would not be a matter covered under the MIB scheme as the claim would be directly against the driver and/or his insurers and your insurers or solicitors would simply issue proceedings against both of them.

In the case of the OP, MIB is the option available if the third party is uninsured. The untraced route is not an option as details of the driver are known and I assume have been verified.