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When driving legally and paying your way means paying for someone elses F*ck up

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Bazgti:
Evening all,

I havent posted on here for a while. But im hoping to have a bit of a grumble and also hopefully hoping to gain some advice.
I was recently sat at a junction in Rochdale. When some d*ck drove into the back of me because he was to busy waving at his mate in a car in the next lane. After initially declining to give me any details, when i rung 101. He finally showed me ID in the form of a provisional license. His whole demeanour was wrong. He was panicked, edgy and i didnt trust him. He refused to give me his insurance name throughout. He showed me a screenshot from the MID website, that his car was insured. I still wasnt convinced. I asked him to ring his insurance otherwise he wasnt going. Other than his insurance company telling me there was insurance on the vehicle. They was totally unhelpful. I ended taking a picture of him, his car and also a debit card that he had. He finally rung a friend to 'vouch' for him. He became unstuck very quickly when i asked his friend where he lived. It was different to his license. He then sprung a 2nd license, thid time with the correct address. Eventually i let him go. He rung me within an hour and offered to pay for the damage with cash. I told him id think about it over night. The intention was to inform my insurance and get some guidance. I ended up calling at my local approved body shop who gave me a number for a non fault solicitor. After initial searches from the solicitor, they had concerns that he hadnt passed his driving test and was infact driving on learner insurance. This meant that they could not assist. My insurance then took over to make yet more enquires. It has taken 4 weeks to receive a response. He is insured with Collingwood, Who are specialists in learner insurance. They have advised my insurance that they are not willing to cover the accident because he has breached the terms of his insurance. He hasnt passed his driving test and was driving un accompanied at the time of the accident. The company have admitted liability for my personal injury. This is something that has perplexed me. Theyve essentially just opted out of paying out for damage to my vehicle. I have been told by my insurance that they cannot do anything about the problem. I paid for motor legal cover. Could this assist with anything? I have contacted the police, who have said that they will not be pushing for prosecution because they dont have the resources to investigate. Ive rung the DVLA who have said that i cannot refer a law breaker to them. I have rung the ombudsmen who have said that they cannot act against 3rd party insurance. I have applied to MIB who by the looks of it wont act unless i claim on my own insurance, because technically i havent incurred a financial loss. Im apprehensive about doing this because i do not want my premiums to rise and i cant afford to fork out my excess a month after moving into my new home. So im basically in the sh*t. Whilst that c*ck is in the clear. Im having to physically restrain myself from kicking his front door down and tearing a strip or 2 off him. The stress of it all is become a huge problem for me. To the point where im not sleeping. Can anyone offer any much needed guidance on the matter?

Thanks in advance

Juliand:
Sorry to hear this.

All too familiar.

Will get back later with my experience / thoughts, as no time to do it now. As insurance is a legal requirement, the whole insurance Industry needs some kind of massive review by a government 'commission' or review body to examine its 'fitness for purpose'.

More later....

Gazza747:
Over the years I can remember at least 6 people have driven in to me and only one occasion when I did things correctly and ended up getting my car fixed. The mad thing about that occasion, the guy was drunk and was caught soon after by the police. His insurance did pay up but it looked like I was going to miss out again on getting anywhere with someone driving in to me. It seams like legal drivers don't seen to drive into you! But I can certainly feel your pain.

I have learnt a lot over the years through these experiences but I'm not completely sure where you stand on this one. From memory on two hit and runs I had where I didn't get the number plate, I was told about the Central Insurance Fund or CIF. I was told that if I had managed to get the number plate and the person driving was not insured, then I could claim from the CIF. Apparently we all pay into this through our insurance so if we need to claim from an uninsured driver then this fund will pay out.

It looks like this guy was insured but just not driving legally at the time so I don't know if you would have any joy with the CIF.

On one of the hit and runs, I decided to fix the car myself so I didn't need to make a claim so I would avoid higher premiums. I have for years had protected fully comp insurance. With hindsight I should have got the car fixed through my insurance as the hassle and cost was a lot more than I first thought it was going to be. I know it's a pain but I think sometimes you have to take the hit.

Juliand:
Follow up...

Similar incident a long time ago (early 1980's). Insurers refused to entertain a claim against their client, as he had not filled in an accident report form, so as far as they were concerned 'no accident' - despite Police involvement and successful Police prosecution for 'failing to stop after an accident; failing to report accident; and driving without due care and attention = then 3 Endorsements, plus hefty fine.....  The idiot even got his girlfriend's father to attend court to say he was at their house on the night of the incident, but I had witness and police did a very thorough investigation, matching paint, and investigating his 'newly repaired front end etc, enough to nail him (he ran into my rear end, reversed away, and drove off!)

I only had 3rd Party insurance then, as a young lad, so no option of going through my insurance. Advice was to get car repaired and claim back cost via Small Claims Court.......but I didn't have the money to pay out for the repairs in advance (or even the confidence in 'the system' to get my money back), so did a repair job myself (with help of my dad , bless him), and the ar*e who did the damage got away with it (apart from the Police stuff). I often wished that I had followed it through the Small Claims Court, and it is much easier to that nowadays, and knuckled the idiot, but I don't suggest that you follow that route, however tempting it might be, as it can easily get out of hand.

I really thought times and systems had moved on and progressed, but you hear of far too many of these types of story - hence my comments about a complete overhaul of insurance - long overdue.

It sounds like a no win situation to me, but your insurers should really be taking on his insurers; or you go the small claims route?

Please update us

Black9:
Sorry to hear this mate but u kinda shot urself in the foot when he offered to pay u in cash and u didn't take the offer, from what it sounds like. Sorry to be harsh.

Approach him and ask him to pay for the repairs or at least towards them. Not ideal but best of a bad situation.

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