Help please!!

[Boothh]

Not sure where to put this!

In feb a taxi crashed into my DH on his way to work, it was obviously his fault and DH was paid out for his car which was written off, then suddenly the taxi driver produced a witness from nowhere, our insurance decided it would go against us if we didnt accept liability, we were away at the time so by the time we saw the letter it was too late to stop them from accepting liability!
The 'witness' was a underage drunk girl who had clearly been out all night as it was 5am when this crash happened so how she's a reliable witness would love to know when professional opinion from damage to our car said it was clearly not my DH fault!!!


Anyway fast forward to a few weeks ago and we start getting letters from court saying the guy wants £5000 compensation for flashbacks anxiety and whiplash!!! Wtf included in this is relevant medical records which is basically pages of him having car accidents and getting whiplash, we sent the letter to DH insurance not heard anything back, but now the court has sent another letter don't know what it says yet but I'm so stressed with it all, they guys insurance sent us a letter saying they want the money they paid us out back in full too don't have a clue what to do at all,
Should they be pestering us directly though isnt the point of insurance that they deal with things like this? Is it us who will have to pay the compensation out or will the insurance? Arghh god I feel like counter claiming for the stress!!!!

You think he would just be happy that it was us who lost our no claims but to do this on top is just wrong he must know it was his fault he was in the wrong side of the road FFS!!!

 

[Boothh]

Please someone tell me wont have to pay it! This is where I wish I could smoke!!

 

[tina_h75]

As your insurance company accepted liability on your behalf then they will have to settle the claim in full. Write to the third party representatives with the details of your insurance company and ask that they forward all future correspondence to them. Who paid for your repairs ? If it was the third party insurance company then your own insurers will also have to reimburse them. Was the claim settled 'without prejudice to liability' if it wasn't then you may be able to argue that if the third party paid for your damage, then in doing so was their admission of liability and therefore the third party has no grounds to claim.

 

[cherryglitter]

i have nothing constructive to say! what an arsehole that guy is though.
i'd be so so angry.

 

[netty]

yes your insurance should take it all on and you should just be informed step by step what they do.

This is what you pay insurance for!!

 

[Boothh]

Thanks girls will update when we know what they've said this time, think I will get DH to write and say please do not contact directly, I wouldn't mind but one of the letters said they will not discuss anything with DH so send letter to insurer or pay up, well why the hell did they send to us in the first place!

 

[Boothh]

Well it was a questionnaire from court that doesn't even make sense saying please send a cheque for £225 with this questionnaire filled in by 29th December!! They can piss off! Sent a copy to insurance and will send back a note in the reply envelope saying not to contact us and go through insurance!

 

[tina_h75]

I used to work in the personal injury dept for an insurance company and the majority of the claims were from taxi drivers. Considering his history for injury related claims I wouldn't be surprised if this was flagged as suspicious. Unfortunately though, it can cost more to defend a claim then to pay it, which as why a lot get settled. I don't know the full details of this but even after an admission of liability has been made, it can be withdrawn. You need to speak to your insurers to find out exactly how they intend to deal with this. What were the circumstances and area of damage as this is all relevant and you can also ask that your own insurers interview the witness to determine their credibility. Sorry couldn't post in more detail earlier - in the middle of a house move but happy to help if I can. x