Dear All, I’m looking for some advice please. Some time ago I had a road traffic accident. When cycling a car cut me off. I didn’t have a chance to break and hit the car, went through my handle bars and hit the ground. The driver drove off from the accident scene but the registration plates were known to the Police because one of the witnesses took photo of that car. I had many injuries and was taken to hospital. After sometime Police sent me a letter and informed me that ..."the driver of the other vehicle registration number XXXXXXX was unable to be traced"... and that I can submit a claim to MIB. I have checked DVLA records and the registration plates numbers are registered in the database and the make and color of the car matches the one that cut me off. I don't know why Police having registration plates numbers informed me that the driver is untraceable. This is a mystery to me. 1. Do you think it’s possible to handle untraced driver/personal injury MIB claim yourself or a solicitor is required ? 2. What kind of challenges will I have to face if I’ll go at it myself ? 3. Is it possible that I could receive less compensation if I go at it myself ? Many thanks for any help.

First post, so hope I'm in the correct place regarding the Motor Insurer's Bureau? Keeping it short: I'm interceding on behalf of an associate who's educational level is low in a liability case concerning the Motor Insurer's Bureau (MIB), which means my associate was 'uninsured'. Further, and to the best of my knowledge - I read postgraduate law and interned at a criminal law practice - my associate is 'liable', namely, not only did he have no insurance, but he rear-ended a vehicle. As a result of this my associate is not only banned from driving, but served a custodial sentence too - which is where I come in. Having been released from prison, my associate has received correspondence from MIB requesting for him to state clearly he's liable for both the RTA and any injuries sustained by the driver of the other vehicle, thus allowing MIB to process a claim and make a payout, the value of which MIB have not indicated. Having spoken to the case officer at MIB, an actual solicitor, in order to gauge what damages my associate may be looking at I was given a figure of £8,200 (far less than I feared) this was broken down into solicitors fees for the injured party, an award for medical injury and NHS Consultant fee. I made a note of all payments and dispatched an email requesting they clarify that my notes were correct and that my associate would not be looking at paying out more than the figure advised over the phone. To my surprise, I have received correspondence today that raises alarm bells and does not tally at all with the details I was initially provided with, namely, I was given actual figures over the phone, whilst the details below suggest liability is 'open-ended': "Our claim is currently reserved at £5,521.00 but we are yet to receive the medical report of Mr XXXXXX. A more appropriate guide as to the claim value would be known once we have the medical report, as the reserve is a guide only. However, we are aware that Mr XXXXXX insurers have incurred a loss of £2,100.00 in dealing with his vehicle damage. It is not known what their total disbursement is. In any case, we are not responsible for recovering the insurers outlay and they will pursue Mr XXXXX directly. Mr XXXXXX Solicitors' costs and disbursements are also unknown at this time as we are yet to be provided with their bill of costs and do not expect this until the conclusion of the claim. It is noted that it is difficult to give a response with situation regarding quantum being unclear at this time, however, we require a decision as to whether liability can be accepted, because only then will Mr XXXXX Solicitors provide the medical evidence, together with the schedule of special damages." If the liability costs against my associate were under £10K, my advice would be to accept liability, organise a payment schedule with MIB and try and sort his life out, given he's unemployed and of no fixed abode - hence, he's on a meagre income, one that would preclude in reality making much in the way of recompense. However, and as the letter clearly indicates, no 'fixed value' has been given formally in writing, despite figures given to me over the phone. I am further alarmed that after nearly two years no medical report has been issued to MIB, as such, and if liability in full is accepted, we may be looking at a medical payout alone in excess of the quoted set aside fee. I'm also struck by the fact that no police were involved originally at the scene of the RTA, that the accident occurred late in the evening where the claimant had actually been observed drinking alcohol at a local Pub and that the claimant, despite allegedly being injured, was observed drinking not only the evening after the accident, but for many evenings after said accident. My associated was charged with having no insurance, leaving the scene, driving whilst banned and a few other matters - that said, such were his own injuries he was at hospital within 1 hour of the incident and hospitalised as a result of his injuries - should have called an ambulance rather than had another witness/driver take him to A&E. Any advice welcome, particularly given my associate is trying to turn over a new leaf and stick to the straight and narrow, hence my own willingness to help.

Hello, I may need some guidance please. Last Wednesday I was travelling home from work, came off an A road onto a slip road which leads to a roundabout. There was a queue of traffic waiting to enter the roundabout. I joined the queue and was stationary when a vehicle behind me failed to stop and ran into the back of my car with quite some speed. I was propelled forward and almost hit the car in front of me., luckily there was no impact as my car came to a stop before hitting them. The guy who hit me got out of his car and stated he was sorry and accepts full responsibility. He gave me his name and an insurance company but stated he had no ID and no insurance documents on him, he said he didn't need any details from me as he accepted full responsibility. I took a photo of his car and registration plate with my mobile. He apologized and drove off, almost causing a second accident by nearly missing a van that came travelling up the slip road. My car has considerable damage to the back, the bumper is cracked, the rear passenger side wing is coming off, the number plate and number plate light are broken, the boot hatch is dented and I cannot open the boot anymore. I have neck and shoulder injuries and now have got a tinnitus in both ears, the doctor hopes it should settle again over time and is a whiplash type neck injury which can also cause the ringing in both ears. I have TPFT cover on my car and phoned my insurers to start the claim, when I gave them the details of the other car it came back as uninsured, the details he gave me were false. They said they couldn't help me any further but going by the damages described they thought for insurance purpose my car would be a total loss. (10 year old Ford KA). I since got an estimate from a local repair garage for £300.- to fix it though (the same garage I originally bought the car from and the guy said he would do me a deal as I think he felt sorry for me to be honest, so he said he'd do it for £300.-) I also reported it to the police who gave me details of the MIB, I spoke to them and downloaded a claim form which I have filed out and returned today. Ha anybody got some experience what is happening next and what I can expect to be the outcome ?

Hi All.. It has been some time since I have been on these forums but need some advice regarding a accident in June 2012. A quick breakdown : I hit a car in the rear just off a roundabout as the person in question had just stopped behind a queue of traffic that had just come to a halt off the roundabout exit onto a bypass. I came off the same exit about 20-30 mph and was starting to accelerate when the traffic just stopped ( a lorry in front of her just braked suddenly) so I hit her car on rear bumper but she had a tow bar that took full impact.We both had estate cars , her car had minor scuffs to the rear bumper but no damage to the tailgate and tow bar was slightly twisted. My car was written off due to radiator pushed into engine compartment etc, my wife who was a passenger got whiplash injuries while the driver of the other vehicle got out and seemed fine. We all went to hospital and were given the all clear. Ok now the nightmare bit ! I was uninsured as I took out insurance with More Than that same morning ( 7am ) accident happened later at 8.30am but More Than did not start policy till 9pm. I had a print out stating insurance date( that same day ) but not a time stamp, More than refused to honour insurance saying it was not in place.I went to FOS who agreed with More Than but said if I could prove via a time stamp they would agree with my complaint but I was unable to get time stamp where as supposedly More Than showed FOS their computed generated insurance screen etc. As it turns out insurance got settled as my More Than was a sister company of the claimants so they settled between each other so I thought. Today got a court letter from Northampton and defendant is MIB claiming I owe money. It reads as follows : Claimants claim exceeds £5000 but does not exceed £15000 of which personal injury exceeds £1000 there are then a number of documents from her Dr plus a loss adjustors docs and a local garage giving details of repairs which apparently exceeded the cost of the current vehicle, these include : Claimants car written off total loss £3800 ( I have photos showing very light damage ) Car hire charge for five days from claimant - £1832 Storage charge- £300 Incident / Expenses - £50 The garage ( a refurb outfit who specialise in repair work ) wrote claimants car off is stating the following : New parts required -rear bumper,rear bumper armature,motifs,rear lower panel,rear panel,exhaust rear no plate surround and tow bar Repairable parts bootlid/tailgate No estimate for repair of vehicle but we have calculated - Labour costs - £959 paint and materials - £245 New parts - £1565.99 + VAT £554 Total cost £3323.99 with a labour rate of £27.40 Car was a 2003 model and had an estimated value of £3800 - subject to consideration of mileage etc Condition - Vehicle was found to be average condition Steering - no excessive play Brakes - Pedal travel satisfactory The claim also states : Particular of negligence: with my defence in brackets Failing to keep lookout - ( roundabout had long grass in centre obscuring views) Failing to look ahead or heed prescence of claimants car ( she entered roundabout from another entry to me I explained this to the MIB rep who was trying to say I was behind claimant all the time to which I was never until coming off roundabout) Driving to fast ( I was going around a roundabout and had stopped first so was in 2nd/3rd gear just before coming off the exit to join bypass) , I was never charged with driving to fast or dangerous driving Failing to allow sufficent breaking/ stopping distance - ( again as above claimant had stopped just off exit of roundabout next to white chevrons I might add and I was coming off roundabout from another entry point) Failing to give sufficent warning of approach - ( Claimant was stopped behind a large lorry , it was a single lane bypass and I had nowhere to steer onto ) Failure to stop , slow down or steer to avoid collision ( see entry above again single lane bypass no passing points and backed up with traffic) The Dr's report is laughable with soft tissue damage to her neck adding point 1 a hyperextension flexion injury to the spine and point 2 she was somewhat shaken Apprantley later the claimant was anxious when approaching junctions/roundabout and noticed an increased useage in her rear view mirror. Continues to suffer discomfort and symptons are aggravted over a long period of sitting down. She suffers Psychological issues when approaching junctions/roundabouts in case the similar happens again Claimant did not take anytime off work He then adds the following findings - very healthy lady who enters consulting room easily without any sign of pain or discomfort. She sits in front of me with no discomfort. Examination concludes that overall neck area is normal without spasm of deformity !! It does state on the medical form that she went to out local hospital where the accident had occurred and they have stated as follows - Claimant was given a lift to the hospital , in casualty she was fully assessed and advised of the soft tissue nature of her neck symptons and given specific instructions regarding neck care and to use analgesia as required ( IN OTHER WORDS THE ALL CLEAR ! ) I was cautioned for careless driving and given a breath test ( passed with a zero rating ) and was then asked to produce insurance docs etc at local station which I did , explained the situation to police with More Than but they were happy to release my car from compound due to date stamp on my printout. I was asked to go on a driver awareness course and if completed the Police would not prosecute . I passed and did not receive a fine , or court appearance for dangerous or careless driving ! So I will acknowledge the court claim to give me an extra 28 days but I need to know if I can defend this claim or settle with a payment arrangement. The court claim does not appear to have a specific amount to be claimed it just says - does not exceed £15000 I believe some of these areas are spurious claims especially regarding personal injury and although I am not denying the accident happened and by a case of bad luck/timing my insurance was invalid I would consider myself at some fault. So can I successfully challenge this in court or should I admit defeat and setup a payment plan ? Thanks JJ

Before i start if this is in the wrong section im sorry. Basically a stolen car hit my parked van which was a write-off. We have identified the the driver and he has pleaded not guilty. We are going through the MIB for compensation. My insurance company was not used to make a claim only to make them aware of it. Now according to the letter off MIB. If the MIB identify the insurer of the stolen car and the driver is convicted in court i can claim through the the third party's insurer (Innocent victim). The MIB would not be able to assist me if it came to this. Now is this true? and how would i make a claim for compensation from the insurer. I thought that's what the MIB did for me acted on my behalf to get compensation. That was the whole point of me going through them as i didn't want to lose my NCD, incur a accident in last 5 years and pay excess on the vehicle that was written off. I am rather confused so any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks Michael

Hi, I'm looking forsome advice where the MIB are looking to recover £6825 from me. At no point did they contact me that they will be settling this amount despite me being in touch with them. I contacted them about this and the customer service manager has replied stating that they had sufficient evidence of the damage and injury so proceeded to settle. Is this right? Their site says the following - Why do you need the permission of the uninsured motorist to deal with my claim? Even uninsured motorists have the right in law to deal with their own affairs, and the agreement does not permit us to ignore their rights. However, if the uninsured motorist does not co-operate, we will tell you what options appear to be available to progress your claim. I would have disputed the amount although I admitted liability as it was a very very minor rear end bump with no damage to my car and none appearing on the other drivers except scuff marks. Any advice would be much appreciated.

I'll start from the beginning. I am an engineer and made decent money when i was in the job i had from leaving school at 17, im now 33. Back in 2006 i had debts close to 40k, which i was paying all ok, as listed below: Barclays loan - 19k Barclaycard - 8.5k Halifax CC - 8k MBNA CC - 8k A sudden, unwanted change of job meant i couldnt afford the repayments on above debts. I contacted all the above and after defaulting on payments (adding charges for late payment etc) etc and sending SoA's they all eventually agreed to freeze interest and enter repayment plans (Barclays were v.helpful with the loan and offered a Resolve loan for the 19k completely interest free over 10 years, so instead of paying £400 p/m the repayment was down to £170) the others were all £100 p/m each. As of now the Barclays Resolve loan stands at £8k and all the CC's are down to around 4.5k each. So total was paid down to around 20k from original 40k Around 6 months ago I received a demand for £18500 for an uninsured car accident from 2007 from Weightmans DCA Via MiB (Motorist Insurers Bureau) I hired a solicitor to deny any involvement in this accident and Weightmans have now dropped the claim and returned the file to MiB. However i have since read that MiB,s next step will be to take me to court where they *may* be able to prove my involvement and therefore my liability to pay the £18500 I now find myself working a 2.5 day week on minimum wage, earning £670 p/m. I have Vanquis/IMPACT DCA chasng me for a further 2k CC debt and 1.4k owing to Very catalogue as well as the above debts. I am sinking, really stuggling to pay the bills, let alone all the debt repayments. I really think Bankruptcy is my best option, I have no assets and no savings. I have some questions if anyone is kind enough to help: 1) My wife and her father own our home, I have never owned the house or even been on the mortgage, will bankruptcy have any affect on this? 2) My wife is currently on maternity leave, however she will be made redundant in March 2013 and get a payout of 17k, will bankruptcy have any claim on this money? 3) Our family car is registered on my name, however it is owned by my wifes father, he paid a £1500 deposit and financed £4.8k and we currently pay standing order to him of £140 p/m which covers the payments, The car is legally his and untouchable in Bankruptcy, right? 4) What should my first steps be regarding the CC debts as I have so-far ignored all calls, (Vanquis/IMPACT are making lots of noise about doorstep collection etc) should i offer a £1 payment or such in the meantime? 5) I also owe approx £1500 to HMRC which will be due on 31st Jan 2013 which i already know i wont be able to pay, how should i deal with this? Any help on the above is much appreciated, Thanks in advance

I was involved in an accident back in 2000, in which i hit a car from the rear.As the car was a works car i had borrowed i believed i was covered by my employer, But this turned out Not to be the case. 2 days later i was sacked. I recieved no conviction for no insurance and just assumed the matter had gone away However i have recieved a few letters from MID stating they paid out the 3rd party almost $17,580, and they believe it was me and want a payment in full. Surely an incident that happened 12 years ago cant be brought up now, or can it? does my case fall into statute barred? please help Regards

We all know that it is compulsory to have third party insurance for any motor vehicle you have on the road - and I do mean “on the road” whether being driven or not - and you will be vigorously prosecuted by the police if you don’t have it. We also all know that the police cars all have direct access to a national database which tells them immediately whether a particular vehicle is under cover at that instant of time. * Furthermore, we all think we know that companies that offer motor insurance are fine upstanding honest and fair examples of capitalism at its best. Well, forget that. Recent events have shown me that they can be on a par with banks - lying, conniving, greedy, and incompetent. * Fewer people are aware of what happens if an accident is caused by a driver who is not insured. How can the person who has suffered loss claim recompense? Just after World War 2, the Government of the day pressured the insurance companies into setting up a special company - the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB) - to pay the due compensation which would be funded by a charge on the insurance companies proportionate to their premium income. The thinking behind this was that if the driver at fault had been insured then one or other of the insurers would be paying out, so a joint fund would be fair to everyone. It is now compulsory for the motor insuring companies to contribute and the victims of hit and run drivers are also covered. Apparently the cost of MIB to UK motor policyholders is £30 per annum each and every one. * What is even less well known is that MIB do not simply pay out compensation, they also take action against the uninsured driver to recover what has been paid out. That sounds reasonable on the face of it, and if done in a practical, straightforward, and honest way, who could complain? AH! but that's a big IF. Read on to see how I discovered the reality of how this organisation works. No, I was not driving without insurance, BUT …... When my daughter first passed her driving test and bought a small second hand Mazda Micra at the age of 18, we discovered that it was cheaper to insure it under my name with her as a named driver, than for her to be the main insured. The cheapest quote we found on internet comparison sites was from Quinn. That was in January 2009. In the August I happened to be driving the car when it was smashed into by another driver swerving to avoid a lunatic who pulled out in front of him. Fortunately no-one was injured and the lunatic's insurers paid up for the damage – the Micra being a write-off. We had a “free” hire car for a time for which Quinn issued a cover note. This company, based in Eire and now in liquidation, turned out to be an outfit to avoid. Of course it would be wrong to say that it was a front for the IRA; it just sounded and acted like it; strident female voices with a thick Irish brogue going at the speed and reasonableness of a machine-gun. They wanted more money for covering the hire car, they wanted more if my daughter drove it. But it was her car written off and she was already on the policy. No matter – more money. After some weeks my daughter bought a Clio and informed Quinn to change the insurance again. They issued a temporary cover note – and wanted more money. Why temporary? We wanted a permanent one for the Clio. They argued about the car being registered to my daughter but insured by me. OK the other way around, but they didn't like it this way. Why? “It's a rule we just made up.” Then on 12th November 2009 they issued a new permanent cover note – on the Mazda Micra which had by now been written off and SORNed. I later learned that it is illegal to insure a car under SORN. I rang and told them that this was no good, they couldn't insure a non-existent car, and I told them to re-instate the Clio. Just six days later my daughter was involved in a minor accident. The details are complicated and would take up too much space here. Suffice it to say the her car suffered very minor damage but the other had a badly crumpled front end and bonnet and was a write off. The police were called and decided two important things: that they could not apportion blame and (having consulted the database) that my daughter was insured. I rang Quinn later that morning and they again claimed that the Clio was not insured but the non-existent Micra was. They then reinstated the Clio but would not admit to a mistake. Four months later – February 2010 - my daughter was contacted by MIB (ah, got to them at last, now the plot thickens) who wanted to send their man to see her. So we welcomed him in and asked why he was involved. My daughter dictated a long statement explaining a) that she was insured, Quinn had made an error they would not admit; and b) she was not responsible for the accident anyway. The other driver claimed that my daughter had driven into her side but the photographs we had proved that it was the other way around. The MIB rep was sympathetic and understanding. He said he was “a middle man” in such disputes and that he needed my daughter to sign a form/agreement and he would take it with the statement and we would hear no more about it. I read the form/agreement and realised that it was ambiguous because in effect it gave MIB authority to act for or against the signatory. “Don't worry about that,” he assured us, “The position here is quite clear, but without your authority to act, we can't sort it out for you. Let us handle it and it will go away.” If he had been selling double glazing or something, I would have been dubious of such an assurance in the face of what was written, but this fellow was from a government instigated organisation, a national body essentially controlled by statute. Surely he wouldn't be lying through his teeth and conning us? ! Oh yes he was ! Some months later, when we thought it had “all gone away” we received a letter from the MIB's solicitors demanding nearly £6,000 (actually the first letter may have indicated less than that but the figure escalated over time, now being over £6,000). They had, without further contact with us decided that my daughter was not insured and was responsible for the accident, flying in the face of police decisions taken on the spot. They had proceeded to pay £300 to write off the other car, nearly £3,000 for whiplash injuries which I don't believe for a second, and close to another £3,000 for legal costs. These are rip-off merchants with the same ethics as banks – never give a sucker an even break! The propaganda says “the MIB recognise that the innocent victim has rights of full legal redress once fault is proven. This assumes that the MIB's own claims criteria are met “ but obviously they don't believe in bothering to prove fault and their claims criteria are as described above. There followed a lengthy correspondence in which I proved that the other driver had misreported the accident and she was responsible. They had a letter from Quinn claiming that the policy had “lapsed” on November 12th and I proved that this was a lie, but it is far easier to take on an impecunious student than a crooked insurance company, so earlier this year they issued county court proceedings for summary judgement. My daughter had to hire a solicitor to enter a defence and apply for Legal Aid, but before we had a decision on that and with only three working days notice, we had to go to court on October 3rd 2011 with a hastily hired and briefed young barrister. The barrister for MIB just took the line that my daughter had signed the form/agreement which gave them authority to do as they damn well please (he didn't actually use that term but it amounted to that) and so she had no basis for a defence of any merit – which is what has to be proven to avoid an actual trial and obtain a summary judgment. He used the letter from Quinn and the other driver's claim about the accident, without mentioning that both had been proven untruthful, and suggested that the police would not have been bothered to prosecute an uninsured driver (!! a laugh a minute this guy!) He also claimed that the MIB rep had offered my daughter the chance to get legal advice before signing the agreement. Fortunately our barrister had absorbed enough info to parry him and show that there were a number of issues that had to be addressed before any definite decision could be made. She pointed out amongst other things that the Witness Statement mentioning the suggestion of legal advice was signed by someone who was not present, so how could she know? [in fact, no such suggestion was ever made] She told the court, as I had previously told MIB, that we intended to force Quinn in as co-defendants so that they could be challenged on their refusal to take responsibility. The judge wasn't hoodwinked either and she asked in detail about the statement that the MIB rep took before declaring that there were issues for a trial and even said that there was a possibility of misrepresentation. So now we have to drag the Receiver for Quinn into the case and prepare for a trial. My own expectation is that Quinn and MIB will eventually come to some agreement. If Quinn had not been so stupid and oppressive in the first place they would have had to pay nothing, now they will pay at least half of the claim, maybe all of it. The morals of this story are: Never trust an insurance company Never give them even a paper-thin chance of dodging their obligations Never trust the Motor Insurance Bureau Never sign an agreement without legal advice Never mind what verbal assurances are given, it's what written down that matters

My sister was in a small crash in 2006, she was uninsured. she went to court, lost her license for 6 months and receieved a £1200 fine. 5 years have gone and now shes just receieved a letter saying she has to pay £6938.08 to motor insurence bureau. Didnt she pay her mistake already??? please help