Insurance Incompetence
Discussion
I was involved in any accident early in October last year - I maintain not my fault (I was stationary), other party disagrees but whatever, I leave it to my insurance Co ( who are supposedly one of the more reputable companies) to sort out.
Forward to April and I receive a County Court money claims form direct from the other parties solicitors claiming for clients loss of use of car etc. I then rang my insurance Co; they asked me to email it to them and they would sort it. I followed this up several weeks later with a further email and a phone call to check they were dealing with it - they assured me they were.
Forward to today - I've just received notice from the court of a judgement in absence of any defence requesting that I pay many £1000s immediately.
Questions- can I request this be set aside using the reason that I believed my insurance Co were dealing with it / submitting a defence? Or will this not be taken as a valid reason? I really don't want a ccj against my name and in any case dispute the claim. I'm beginng to think I need to use a solicitor for what I assumed was a minor reason.
To add insult to injury my car still hasn't been repaired as parts are unavailable....
Forward to April and I receive a County Court money claims form direct from the other parties solicitors claiming for clients loss of use of car etc. I then rang my insurance Co; they asked me to email it to them and they would sort it. I followed this up several weeks later with a further email and a phone call to check they were dealing with it - they assured me they were.
Forward to today - I've just received notice from the court of a judgement in absence of any defence requesting that I pay many £1000s immediately.
Questions- can I request this be set aside using the reason that I believed my insurance Co were dealing with it / submitting a defence? Or will this not be taken as a valid reason? I really don't want a ccj against my name and in any case dispute the claim. I'm beginng to think I need to use a solicitor for what I assumed was a minor reason.
To add insult to injury my car still hasn't been repaired as parts are unavailable....
Edited by Tafford on Tuesday 25th June 21:55
I had my court win 'set aside' simply because the defendant said they hadn't received the paperwork in the post. An easy excuse but it worked for them (so I went round the loop again and got them the next time).
So my answer would be 'yes', preferably with evidence of your comms with the insurers.
So my answer would be 'yes', preferably with evidence of your comms with the insurers.
Tafford said:
Sadly in my name - issued by other parties solicitor not their insurer so I guess this means I'm screwed....
An option is to pay the £1,000 to clear the CCJ then reclaim it from your insurer. But if they don't pay, you're £1,000 down. Yes you should have turned up; the insurance company isn't going to send a defendant to court on your behalf.But I think the first and most sensible option is to go for setaside so you can start again and get it unraveled properly. You only lost because you didn't turn up to court. Did you submit a defence?
Tafford said:
No, I didn't submit a defence - I was under the (mistaken) understanding that the insurance co was going to do that. And it's a lot more than £1k - more like £7.5K
Out of interest were was your car stationary?Did you insurance dispute liability?
Seems like the other party may have instructed a solicitor to make the claim.
You may be able to get the judgement set aside, you need to contact the court.
First step is to raise a complaint with the insurer - I assume you have written confirmation they were going to deal with the claim?
Grounds for complaint - material loss, distress and inconvenience
Then get them to set aside the judgement (and pay the fee) and properly deal with the claim etc
Grounds for complaint - material loss, distress and inconvenience
Then get them to set aside the judgement (and pay the fee) and properly deal with the claim etc
BertBert said:
No he needed to make sure his insurance company responded to it.
Well its addressed to Them as a claim against, them personally.The insurers are not going to get a CCJ of the back of this. It needs to be set aside as an error as the matter was being dealt with.
Yes they should have responded for him but if he had responded saying the matter was a car insurance issue and it was not for the claimant to make a private claim when matters had not run its course with an insurer.
Sadly more and more we are like the Americans with people filing legal claims willy nilly.
Edited by Responder.First on Wednesday 26th June 13:36
Get on to your insurers and make sure you have a paper trail. I'd want them to confirm in writing today whether they are going to either pay the award or apply to set aside and solid dates to do either of those things. For a set aside you have to be prompt and you won't get much or any credit for being unrepresented. Time is of the essence!
If you're not entirely confident in your insurer it may be worth making an application yourself directly to the court (see part 13 of the Civil Procedure Rules - https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/...). You would want to include evidence of your correspondence with your insurer.
If you're not entirely confident in your insurer it may be worth making an application yourself directly to the court (see part 13 of the Civil Procedure Rules - https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/...). You would want to include evidence of your correspondence with your insurer.
Tafford said:
No, I didn't submit a defence - I was under the (mistaken) understanding that the insurance co was going to do that. And it's a lot more than £1k - more like £7.5K
Sorry, misunderstood. Even more reason to get it sorted out then.If the writ has your name on it then personally I would apply for setaside myself, and well before the deadline. You already let the insurers deal with it and they dropped the ball, I wouldn't trust them again, especially given the deadline. So if YOU are facing a CCJ for six years I'd barrel in there pdq.
I think it's an easy case but having insurance companies floating about has muddied the waters.
NB 'clients loss of use of car etc.' = £7.5K?
Simpo Two said:
Sorry, misunderstood. Even more reason to get it sorted out then.
If the writ has your name on it then personally I would apply for setaside myself, and well before the deadline. You already let the insurers deal with it and they dropped the ball, I wouldn't trust them again, especially given the deadline. So if YOU are facing a CCJ for six years I'd barrel in there pdq.
I think it's an easy case but having insurance companies floating about has muddied the waters.
NB 'clients loss of use of car etc.' = £7.5K?
Thanks - I've spoken to and emailed the insurer today requesting they get back to me by return with their proposals to sort this. They gave the impression that their lawyers should have dealt with and couldn't understand why it has got to this point. I agree, though, that should they not come up with proof they're either paying it or asking for it to be set aside I'll have to do it myself. If the writ has your name on it then personally I would apply for setaside myself, and well before the deadline. You already let the insurers deal with it and they dropped the ball, I wouldn't trust them again, especially given the deadline. So if YOU are facing a CCJ for six years I'd barrel in there pdq.
I think it's an easy case but having insurance companies floating about has muddied the waters.
NB 'clients loss of use of car etc.' = £7.5K?
£7.5k is, I also agree, quite expensive compared with hire costs - maybe he was very attached to his particular car......
Tafford said:
Sadly in my name - issued by other parties solicitor not their insurer so I guess this means I'm screwed....
Any claim for damages in a car accident will be issued against the driver as they were the one that had the accident. Your insurance policy exists to pick up the cost of this should you be found liable. Therefore, the claim was correctly addressed to you and you were right to pass it to your insurers for them to deal with.If judgment has been made against you either by default or following a hearing then it is for your insurer to settle. I would be on to them to ensure that they do this but I would not be settling it myself.
ralphrj said:
Any claim for damages in a car accident will be issued against the driver as they were the one that had the accident. Your insurance policy exists to pick up the cost of this should you be found liable. Therefore, the claim was correctly addressed to you and you were right to pass it to your insurers for them to deal with.
If judgment has been made against you either by default or following a hearing then it is for your insurer to settle. I would be on to them to ensure that they do this but I would not be settling it myself.
This is how I see it. To avail yourself of the benefits of your insurance policy which is too defend or settle a claim you actually have to let them take charge. If judgment has been made against you either by default or following a hearing then it is for your insurer to settle. I would be on to them to ensure that they do this but I would not be settling it myself.
Of course they've been crap so the OP has to keep on top of it and be prepared to do the set aside legwork should they carry on failing to attend to it.
Id give them an hour to get back to me then get back at them. They've made a very serious cockup, don't be fobbed off with call back promises.
Years ago I had this. In the end, they did sort it out, but by the time they did, we ended up going 50/50 as people who were on my side were not but at this point. My advice is to start kicking up a real fuss. Call there regulatory body and get them on your case and start looking at getting your own lawyer.
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