People often have trouble believing that they could possibly be to blame for an accident. This is especially true of older drivers who have not had an accident in 30 years of driving or those holders of advanced driving certificates. I recall an accident claim form which said ' this accident was not my fault - I am an advanced driver and he should not have stopped in front of me!' (The advanced motorist had just driven into a stationary car.)



The actual truth is that even the best of drivers can suffer a moment of insanity. And of course there are drivers with an aggressive or overly timid style of driving which is just asking for trouble on today's overcrowded highways.

When you send a claim form to your insurance company, give them all of the facts! It is OK to tell your insurance company that it was your fault. They will be very unhappy if you falsify the truth to attempt to make out that you were not to blame as they might try and deny claims made against you, lose and thus increase their costs. They would much rather you told them simply and clearly what happened than make up a tale that might make you feel better but will set them on a long and costly dispute they can't win. For example ' I drove out of the minor road without looking and was hit by the other vehicle' is definitely better than ' I halted at the junction and checked for oncoming traffic, the road was deserted so I pulled out when he hit me. He must have been driving well above the speed limit and it was entirely his fault'

By reporting honestly, holding your hand up and telling your insurers exactly what happened, you provide them a much better opportunity of coming to the right decisions about how to deal with the third party aspect of your claim. If they are aware that that they must pay the other drivers claim, they can start to invoke procedures to control and limit the amount of money they have to pay to the other party.

You will probably receive loads of letters from the other drivers insurers, his brokers, his legal expense insurers or his solicitors, maybe his employers (if using a company car) etc. Just forward them all on to your insurance company, unanswered. They will look after this for you. Some solicitors in particular can seem to be very threatening and intimidating with the wording of the letters they use. They say things like 'You have to admit liability in writing within one week or we will issue a summons against you' or 'you must tell us the name and address of your insurers plus your policy number or you will commit an offence against the Road Traffic Act and will be reported for a criminal offence' and so on. Just ignore such letters! Don't let them upset you. Let the insurance company deal with it. I have had numerous telephone calls from my customers and friends who have become extremely worried by this style of letter. There are some extremely aggressive lawyers around who have found a 'gravy train' by taking on this type of work. Since the implementation of the Woolf Report in April 1999, solicitors should now use a standard 'letter of claim' but it remains somewhat intimidating and I would ask the authorities to 'tone it down a bit'.

You could also get a Summons through the post. The two possible types are as follows: (for my dear readers in Scotland, this bit applies to English Law but similar actions happen in Scotland

- A summons to answer a criminal case e.g. careless or dangerous driving in the magistrates court (or Crown Court if the charge is extremely serious such as causing death by dangerous driving)

- A county court 'claim form' (or maybe a writ from the high court) seeking payment of 'damages' in a civil action.

In both of these cases, send this immediately to your insurance company. They will look at it to see what the summons is for and decide what action they might take. They might appoint (and pay for) a solicitor to defend you or if it is a civil matter, they might just decide to admit guilt and to pay up rather than take the case through the courts with the chance of substantial costs being awarded against them should they fail to win the case. If you feel that you have to talk to the insurance company, please do so but do not let it stop you passing on the Summons. That would be the worst thing you could do. There are strict time limits in which a response must be formulated.