just checked and it is there in black and white...

No, not checked myself, he said he would email me over the details later. He's a decent fellow and we both did the sale in good faith. In fairness, he hasn't asked me to do anything at all, was just querying it and I have said that I would investigate and try to rectify.

EEEK, just had a rather worrying phone call...... Sold my Fiat convertible the other day after 13 years ownership..Got a call from the buyer today, telling me that he did an online check out of curiosity and the car has come up as a Cat C Write Off, dated May 2010. Back in April 2010 someone rolled a van at slow speed into the car whilst it was parked up, denting the front. The insurers (elephant.co.uk) did want to write off the car as although it is a low value car, repairs to the car are also massively expensive. So I challenged them, saying that they had no legal ability to do so, that the car was a modern classic and the cost of repairs were not in excess of the vehicles value.. In the end after numerous calls and argument, they agreed to just write me a cheque for the cost of the repair, which I organised but made no further mention of writing the car off as a Cat D. I have been driving the car for the last 3 years oblivious that this marker was set against it. I have also sold it in good faith. Can an insurance company write off your car without actually informing you that they are doing so? What can I do on this...??? help as always appreciated, Tom

Hi The legal cover with my insurance was a joke. Company called Albany that dropped the case as soon as it became clear the other party was disputing liability. I really want to take just the driver to court, as a matter of principal as he has been lying about his actions all along - so I would then be forcing him to lie in court, should he decide to try to maintain his new story of joint liability. If it were a case of taking his insurers to court, any court would just say accept the 50/50 as it is simply a case of his word against ours. I also feel that putting him through the court personally would give a far greater chance of success, my (maybe misguided) view of justice is that in a room of sensible adults, with one party telling it exactly as it happened, this toerag would have difficulty maintaining his altered view of reality. So back to my main question, how would I go about serving him papers when I have no current address? Is there a way that I can approach the court, so that the papers can be served on my behalf, as obviously no party will provide his new address to me as that runs against the Data Protetction Act? Stupidly I managed to let him stall me serving him with papers, just before he moved as I was unaware that he was going to be moving out at that time.

Very Long Story Short: 6 months ago, guy reversed into our car, guy ftrom next door. Ours was stationary on a private road outside his driveway. My girlfriend was in the car and watched him reverse straight into the back of her from his driveway. He simply reversed without looking. Guy admitted full liability to my partner, then 5 mins later to me, very apologetic. Week later when dealing with insurers he is now disputing liability. This has resulted in being offered a 50/50 which we have on principal rejected. Insurers no longer interested in acting on our behalf. Essentially the toerag has been lying to his insurers since day 5 - Now, some 6 months on we are now wanting to take him through small claims court, based on the fact that his lying to insurers is damaging to us. He has now moved house and not provided me with an address. I need an address to serve papers to - how do I go about applying to have his address provided for this purpose? I have mobile number and email but he is unresponsive on these. Also speaking to his insurers today it turns out he has forwarded my letters to him on to them, under the impression that we are taking his insurers to court, whereas we are actually wanting to take HIM to court personally. The insurers have only acted on the information provided, it is just unfortunate that half of the information (his) has been untruth. Advice please.....

THanks for that. I have decided that the best option is court as soon as possible and not to continue with the Ombudsman. Forms not yet sent back to them. Perhaps foolishly, I think we will see if a court can work out who is telling the truth - hopefully may faith in the system is not unfounded. Hopefully also the thought of court will give the third party a chance to reflect on the web of deceit he has been spinning. Can anyone advise, do I write to him to say that I am applying to the court, or do I apply to the court and let them contact him? Want to do this the right way, Cheers, T

Hi, thanks for that. If we were to take (or threaten to take) the neighbour to court, could we take them to court purely to try and establish liability on his part? By this I mean not taking him to court for the financial aspect of it but for getting to the actual truth of the matter, that he is/was liable. This is what has most upset us as we know he is lying, he knows he is lying and that shouldn't be allowed to happen. After that, surely I could pass it back to my insurers and his, would they not have to act on the decision of a court judgment. Previously they have said that as they cannot prove his liability that is why they want split liability. Would a court judgment on liability, assuming they get to the truth of it, be something on which the insurers would have to act? Thanks for advice, I already feel better about all of this for getting it out there.. T

Would you advise skipping the Financial Ombudsman stage out then as they have advised that any case will most likely take the full twelve weeks to conclude upon? My partner and I are both quite happy to state under oath exactly what happened and who said what etc. I don't think we would need any legal representation as it is simply a case of reiterating the facts on our side and on teh third parties side would be a case of either trying to lie his way through it, or coming clean and saying he didn't see what happened as he was lying previously when disputing liability. I've never been to court, but I would like to think that it would be quite apparent to whoever is adjudicating, which side is speaking truth and which side is not? Or am I wearing rose tinted spectacles?

we wouldn't either of us reverse into a road either but this is a private road/turning area without any through traffic, essentially at the very end of a cul-d-sac

cost of replacement rear bumper for our car £750 + VAT plus spraying plus fitting, so £1200-1500 cost of replacement bumper for 3rd parties W reg Celica - don't know. 3rd party has a £750 excess Our excess is £200. Not keen on face to face contact with him as I get very angry at just the thought. I did knock on his door after waiting 3 months for him to contact his insurers (albeit at 7.30am) and his insurers state that I was harassing him, so would rather go through official channels.

Forgot to add that as it stands our insurers have said that they will admit no liability on our part and offer to pay 50% of the 3rd parties losses on a "without prejudice" basis. Any further action is now up to us to pursue - ie they are saying we're on our own with this.

Hi all - first post here. I'm at a loss so looking for advice. I'll try to keep the following short and avoid tendancy to rant..... 2nd January 2012. 7.45am. My partner reverses out of driveway into private road/turning area. first part of 3 point turn sees her parked at end of neighbours driveway which is at 90 degrees to ours seperated by about 20 feet. She is stationary, handbrake on, lights on (is dark), parked directly behind neighbours parked car, checking she has everything with her & turning on the heating. She sees his car lights come on then his car immediately reverses straight into the back of her. He admits total liability at the scene. "sorry I wasn't looking" 5 minutes later he again admits full liability at the scene to myself. I suggest as he is a young lad with a vaguely sporty car that I will get some quotes so he knows what he is dealing with, he accepts this gladly. Quotes are expensive so I contact insurers. Send in full details, descriptions. 3 weeks later hear he is disputing liability, saying both cars were moving at the same time I ask all other neighbours if they saw anything, one old boy did but not the full accident. He was drawing curtains one by one, saw my partner start reversing slowly. 45 seconds later (time to get down stairs) he hears the bang and watches the neighbour get out of car and put hands up. 3 months later after the 3rd party kept "loosing letters" he gets in his statement, still disputing liability. Our insurers suggest 50/50 split - on principal, I/we will not accept that. Currently with Ombudsman but effectively it is our word against the other drivers. There is a mountain of circumstantial facts/evidence that they say they cannot take into consideration ie they say we could be making it up that he admitted liability... What to do? Would a county court give this time? It is driving me mad knowing that someone is getting one over on us by lying, moreso because he lives next door. thanks for taking the time to look at this, T