T.C (10/09/2010) 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.
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.
