In a previous article, the option of using a solicitor to pursue your case was mentioned.

There are of course other options

In exceptional cases, it is possible that you could apply for legal aid. This will normally mean that there must have been very exceptional circumstances or significant injuries.

If you are unfortunate enough to have been involved in such an accident, find a solicitor with a ‘Personal Injury Franchise’. The Law Society, the Community Legal Service, or your local Citizens Advice Bureau should be able to help you find a solicitor with such a franchise.

As a final resort, you can always pay your solicitor on a private basis. Bear in mind however that you would be responsible for their fees, win or lose!

Legal Expenses Insurance

Most, if not all, motor insurance companies, brokers and agents now include an optional ‘legal expenses insurance policy.

The Legal Expenses insurance company will usually nominate a local firm of solicitors to act on your behalf. They may even accept your preferred solictor if you have one. It is certainly worth asking.
The policy will normally cover your opponent’s costs as well as your own if you were to lose. There isusually a limit under these type of policy in respect of the amount of your opponent’s costs which will be covered so it is wise to check.

Pursuing your claim on your own

For those of you who feel confident enough (and feel you have the time, confidence and possibly expertise!) if there is no injury, and your expenses are relatively low, you may bring a claim through your local small claims court undee the “small claims procedure’.

If you’re injured in the accident however, or are seeking to claim costs in excess of £5,000, it is not recommended that you act for yourself. You should use a solicitor.The Citizens Advice Bureau may be able to offer some advice regarding this type of claim whilst all information leaflets and supporting forms will be available from your local County Court.

Had an accident – not your fault - what next?

There are a number of options to pursue matters if you are the innocent party.

One such option is to instruct solicitors to represent you. This can be directly, or indirectly through your insurance company or claims management company. Remember, only a solicitor will be able to represent you in the event of your case going to court.

Solicitors Fees

The “No Win, No Fee” agreement is increasing in popularity. Under this type of agreement, the solicitor will  not charge you if he doesn’t win your case. They basically take the risk so it is likely they may refuse to represent you on this basis if they do not feel you have a strong claim against the other person.

If however, they succeed, their costs will be passed onto your opponent’s insurer. As the other person’s insurance company are only liable to pay what is termed “reasonable costs”, it is worth checking with your appointed solicitor whether you will be responsible for any costs the other person’s insurance company consider “unreasonable”.

It is also increasing popular, and indeed prudent, to ask your solicitor if it is possible to take out an insurance policy when you sign your agreement with them so that if you lost your case, the insurance policy would cover your opponent’s costs and often your own expenses.

The main concern for many people following an accident is probably the inconvenience and hassle to sort it all out. Once you have overcome the shock, managed to contact your insurance company and filled in your insurance claim forms, you start to consider the financial impact – how much is all this going to cost me?

In reality, the cost will depend on how you decide to pursue the case and the type of cover you have. Comprehensive Insurance will include cover for damage to your own vehicle irresepective of whether it was your fault or not. This will be subject to you paying what is called an excess which is essentially a clause in your policy whereby you agree to voluntarily (in return for a discount in your premium) pay a contribution to the repair/repacement costs or a compulsory excess (a conditon of your policy that you must pay a certain amount towards the repair/replacement costs). There will not be any excess payable in respect of damage to the other person’s property or vehicle(s) as these excesses will only apply to damage to your vehicle.

Unless you have protected your no claims bonus (normally only available to those people who have earned 4/5 years no claims bonus), it is important to remember that any claim could affect your no claims bonus entitlement when your policy is next due for renewal. This will undoubtedly increase premiums under the current climate.

It was reported quite recently in the news that an unspecified number of motorists in the Cumbria area that were caught speeding by a particular speed camera were done so in error.

Officials stated that the device in Kirkby Londsdale on the A65 was reported randomly flashing on Monday 14 July and that drivers caught up in the incident should be contacted and advised that they were not in fact travelling above the 40 mph speed limit applicable to that stretch of road.

Administration Manager at Cumbria Safety Cameras Andrew James confirmed that the company knew of the problem witnessed by motorists on Monday (July 14th).

Mr James also told the Westmorland Gazette that “Engineers have been called and we are hoping it will be fixed as soon as possible. I can guarantee that no prosecutions will take place as a result of this.”

Now there may be better ways to clamp down on illegal motorists other than speed cameras but none seem to make the press as often, particularly when faults arise or authorities disclose the income generated from them.

Speed Cameras have been around for some time and those that have not been caught and prosecuted for speeding as a result of one of these cameras at some stage during their motoring lifetime are the lucky ones.

These convictions (like all motoring related convictions) attract penalty points on your licence and an associated financial penalty. You must disclose any conviction to your insurers. Your first speeding conviction however may not necessarily affect  motoring insurance premiums depending on the circumstances of the incident such as whether your speeding was a contributory factor in an accident, whether anyone was injured and finally the penalty imposed by the courts/powers that be.

Failure to disclose convictions will, in all likelihood, render your motor insurance policy invalid in the event of a claim arising from/against you leaving you open to further prosecution from the police for driving without insurance and possibly having to meet the accident and/or personal injury costs from your own savings.

Within the UK, the Road Traffic Act 1988 Part V1, Section 143 defines the compulsory insurance requirements for motor users.
In the perfect world, everyone will comply with the law, but what if the person that has just caused the damage to your vehicle doesn’t have insurance (uninsured)?
The Motor Insurance Bureau, (MIB) was established in 1946 to compensate the victims of negligent uninsured and untraced motorists. Every insurer, underwriting compulsory motor insurance is obliged, by virtue of the Road Traffic Act 1988, to be a member of MIB and to contribute to its funding. It functions under two separate Agreements between Government and the motor insurance industry.
 
One agreement - the Uninsured Drivers’ Agreement - requires the MIB to meet unsatisfied Civil Court Judgments against identified motorists who may not have been insured as required by the Road Traffic Act 1988.
 
The other - The Untraced Drivers’ Agreement -requires the MIB to consider applications for compensation from victims of “Hit & Run” motorists
 
The MIB’s obligations are linked to the compulsory insurance requirements of the Road Traffic Act, so the protection provided is limited to where there is a legal requirement to insure.
So don’t despair if you are involved in an accident/incident with an uninsured vehicle, take comfort in the fact that the person will probably be prosecuted and you may be able to recover some of your uninsured loss back via the MIB

A policy excess is the amount which you either voluntarily agree to pay in the event of any claim you submit to your insurance company for repairs to your vehicle or a set amount that your insurance company have decided you must pay.
The higher the voluntary amount you agree to pay will generally reduce your premium on the insurer’s predetermined sliding scale. This will be in addition to any compulsory excess your insurer demands you pay.
The most popular voluntary excesses offered at the moment are in the region of £150-£250. A typical 25 year old, insuring a low insurance car group rated car on a Third Party Fire and Theft basis with 1 years no claims bonus could expect to realise savings of around 5 – 10% if agreeing to pay the first £250. 
Both the voluntary and compulsory excess would normally be paid directly to the garage that carries out the repairs to your vehicle.  However, if your car is declared uneconomical for repair (a write off), your insurance company will deduct the excess from any settlement payment it makes to you.
If the accident was proven to be the other drivers fault, you will be able to recover your excess and any other uninsured losses from other person’s insurance company as long as they were insured at the time of the accident/incident occurred.

In America, a new concept in motor insurance is becoming more popular. The Star-Ledger, New Jersey, has recently published an article outlining proposals by an auto insurance company, Progressive Corp, whereby they are offering discounts to their policyholders in return for high tech wireless devices which will monitor their driving habits.

These devices will be able to constantly track your driving habits including your speed, the number of miles you drive, when you drive, even your acceleration and braking habits.

It is reported to increase driving safety as those tracked as being heavy on the accelerator and brakes can expect to face surcharges. Equally, it is suggested that it can reduce the mileage drivers do as the lower the annual mileage, the lower your car insurance premium is likely to be.

Discounts of up to 60% are being dangled at their customers for the more responsible drivers whilst those heavy on the accelerator and brakes could well see surcharges up to 9%.

Supporters of this concept believe it is fairer than basing insurance premiums on occupation, age and no claims bonus. A spokesperson for the American Insurance Information Institute stated that “this is definitely the wave of the future and more and more companies are getting on board with tracking devices, seeing they offer a lot of advantages to consumers.”

The insurer states that it does not use the speed motorists drive at as one of its rating factors and the company does not report those exceeding speed limits to the police

Now this may be a good idea but it will not be so good for everyone and if it ever takes off in the UK, drivers will need to carefully consider whether it would benefit them.

It’s the 3rd August 2008, Joe’s birthday. Joe was born at 23:59 on the 3rd August 1983 making him 25 years old today! Joe lives in a terraced house withhis parents in Plymouth (PL6 to be precise), down in glorious Devon. Joe is fit, healthy, works in an office as an administrator. Joe’s previous car had given up the ghost a couple of months back and his parents have just bought him a sensible replacement for his birthday; a Citroen Saxo 1.4 SX, manufactured in 1999.  

Now his best mate Pete, lives right next door. Like Joe he is fit and healthy, even works in the same office as Joe, doing the same job. Pete already owns a Citroen Saxo 1.4 SX, manufactured in 1999, an identical car except for the colour.  Pete’s insurance renewal is due today!

They both have two more things in common, they both have 1 year no claims bonus and neither have ever had any accidents or convictions!

For all intents and purposes, everything seems identical. There is however one factor that hasn’t been mentioned as yet.

Pete was born at 00:01 on the 4th August 1983 making him 2 minutes younger than Joe. This converts to Pete being 1 whole year younger than Joe for insurance purposes. Joe being 25 years old, Pete being only 24 years old.

They both approach the same insurance company for quotes based on Third Party Fire and Theft which seems sensible given the value of the cars and affordability.

To their amazement, Joe’s insurance quote is £370 whilst Pete’s quote is £484! That’s £114 more expensive. Now it may seem unfair, but all that extra premium for Pete is just because he was born 2 minutes later than Joe and that’s only on a basic car with a relatively low car grouping for insurance purposes.

In reality, whether Pete was really just 2 minutes, 2 hours, 2 months or even 11 months younger that Joe would have made no difference to those premiums.

In this example, we have only looked at someone having 1 years no claims bonus. Someone just taking out their 1st policy could experience an even greater differential because of these 2 minutes etc. and someone with 4 years no claims bonus could have seen a smaller differential. In any event, your age and the amount of No Claims Bonus can have a significant impact on your premiums

Now it may seem a little unfair considering they were only born only 2 minutes apart, but that’s the way it is. If your insurance is due for renewal or you are thinking about taking out a policy and your birthday is near, it’s worth considering whether to delay it until after your birthday, particularly for anyone under the age of 30 years and new drivers.  

Roget’s Thesaurus defines “Comprehensive” as “covering a wide scope”. Other words offered to describe it in various sources are: - all around, all inclusive, blanket, broad, complete, all embracing

The dictionary definition of “Comprehensive” in relation to car insurance varies from “providing protection against most risks, including third-party liability, fire, theft, and damage” to “insurance which financially protects any other vehicles and people that are involved in a car accident with you, in addition to yourself”.

The dictionary definition of insurance is a “promise of reimbursement in the case of loss, paid to people or companies so concerned about hazards that they have made prepayments to an insurance company”

So, given the above, is it safe to assume that you have covered all eventualities if you have taken out comprehensive car insurance? Of course it isn’t!! There will always be exceptions so I strongly recommend that you sit down and work out exactly what you want from your car insurance policy before obtaining any quotes.

A common assumption is that comprehensive insurance policies permit the policyholder to drive other vehicles. This is not true; there are many factors which will influence an insurance company’s decision such as age, driving history, occupation, whether the other vehicle belongs to you, and even the make and model.

After all, if it was true, how many of us do you think would buy a little old banger, insure it comprehensively and leave it in our driveway/garage and drive around in our posh Rolls Royce which should be a lot more expensive to insure?

Even those that do permit you to drive other vehicles under the insurance policy you have with them will most likely restrict cover on this other car you want to drive to Third Party only (damage to other people/property) unless you have the insurance company’s specific agreement.

The majority of countries worldwide have some kind of legislation governing the use of cars within their country which carries associated protection against damage/injury to other people or property.

Within the UK, the Road Traffic Act 1988 Part V1, Section 143 defines the compulsory insurance requirements for motor users.

In short, all motorists, irrespective of whether they are the car driver, owner or registered keeper, must ensure both they and the vehicle are insured against liability for injuries to others (including passengers) and for damage to other people’s property resulting from use of a vehicle on a road or other public place whilst they are in charge of the vehicle. Failure to comply, like any other illegal activity, will inevitably result in prosecution.

Third Party insurance affords cover at its most basic level in the UK and it is a matter of choice whether individuals or businesses extend this cover to include damage to their own vehicle as a result of Fire or Theft (Third Party Fire and Theft) or more extensive insurance protection known as Comprehensive.

The few exceptions to being required to maintain a minimum of Third Part Insurance are defined in The Road Traffic Act Part 1V, Section 144

Some of the key factors in selecting the right level of car insurance are:-

• Make and model of car
• Whether the vehicle has been modified
• Age of driver
• Driving history
• What the vehicle will be used for
• Cost
• Previous accident(s) and/or conviction(s)
• Medical history
• Where you live
• Where the vehicle will be used