Admiral Insurance Drink and Drugs policy

Convicted Driver Insurance
Hi all

nearly 3 years ago the wife got in the car under drink influence and the car rolled down the hill dragging her outside of the car trying to get the handbrake back on, and hit a parked car. Convicted and still banned (Due to having another medical episode with drink but with no vehicle involved so ban extended)

A couple of months back Admiral sent a letter claiming nearly 5K. She has replied with a letter asking for a run down of thew costs etc but we had heard nothing up to this point.

I said to keep asking singular questions but they just said 2 payments options of 165 a month for 3 years or more for less time period. Neither of which is possible for us pay. Will they try to take us to court or send bailiffs round as it's a massive worry. We are not home owners and only have debt and no savings .

Would we still have to pay and what sort of payment deals would they accept or shall we stand firm?
 
Ironman1973 said:
Would we still have to pay and what sort of payment deals would they accept or shall we stand firm?
Click to expand...
This isn't my area of expertise, however I will answer this question. Don't pay a penny until you've got a breakdown of costs. If you pay any money to Admiral, I suspect that would be as good as accepting responsibility for the total of 'nearly' £5000.

There are some really knowledgeable forum members that have been in exactly the same situation you are currently in (some are still 'in the fight'). It might be worth reading through all of this thread (I know it's long, however there are some good points made throughout).
 
Xeronema said:
This isn't my area of expertise, however I will answer this question. Don't pay a penny until you've got a breakdown of costs. If you pay any money to Admiral, I suspect that would be as good as accepting responsibility for the total of 'nearly' £5000.

There are some really knowledgeable forum members that have been in exactly the same situation you are currently in (some are still 'in the fight'). It might be worth reading through all of this thread (I know it's long, however there are some good points made throughout).
Click to expand...
Cheers for the heads up. i have only just registered on here so not read the whole thread. Thanks
 
Ironman1973 said:
Hi all

nearly 3 years ago the wife got in the car under drink influence and the car rolled down the hill dragging her outside of the car trying to get the handbrake back on, and hit a parked car. Convicted and still banned (Due to having another medical episode with drink but with no vehicle involved so ban extended)

A couple of months back Admiral sent a letter claiming nearly 5K. She has replied with a letter asking for a run down of thew costs etc but we had heard nothing up to this point.

I said to keep asking singular questions but they just said 2 payments options of 165 a month for 3 years or more for less time period. Neither of which is possible for us pay. Will they try to take us to court or send bailiffs round as it's a massive worry. We are not home owners and only have debt and no savings .

Would we still have to pay and what sort of payment deals would they accept or shall we stand firm?
Click to expand...
Its a very grey area, Depressed Dad is very knowledgeable on the subject and I have some knowledge of this myself, as Xeronema pointed out you need to strip this back to the basics, you need a full breakdown of what the costing is they are wanting from you, unfortunately insurance companies are great at going "well it came to x amount so you need to pay", question it, why that much? Hire Car? Write offs, personal injury? They have a duty to inform you of how they got to the figure they got to.

Secondly although a minute % if any where admiral have taken someone to court from reading previous threads there is always that possibility, and can massively affect you if they do in terms of CCJ's, court and other things, that being said you cant get blood out of a stone, you need to make it clear in writing that you have no disposable income with you not owning your house etc they cannot take it from you, one of 3 scenarios might happen :-

1. They cease the claim as they understand the person liable for the debt cannot make the payments back (unlikely)
2. They will mitigate a longer period of payment with lower payments and recoup something from you (likely)
3. They proceed with court and aim for a CCJ/recover of the debt (unlikely but not impossible)

Before i did anything i would want a breakdown to the single penny of how they came to their figure, you can access this from them under the freedom of information act and as it being your case, you have a right to know as to how they got to the mythical £5000 figure.

Side note, these cases lapse after 6 years, so unless you can drag this out for 3 and a bit years where it becomes void attempt it, send 2nd class recorded letters (takes longer to receive their side), question everything and wait until the deadlines they give (typically 28 days) for a response send the letter day 25/26 of the deadline and send back, i know this seems like a desperate attempt but admiral at times at the sharpest nor the quickest with replies etc.
 
Ironman1973 said:
Hi all

nearly 3 years ago the wife got in the car under drink influence and the car rolled down the hill dragging her outside of the car trying to get the handbrake back on, and hit a parked car. Convicted and still banned (Due to having another medical episode with drink but with no vehicle involved so ban extended)

A couple of months back Admiral sent a letter claiming nearly 5K. She has replied with a letter asking for a run down of thew costs etc but we had heard nothing up to this point.

I said to keep asking singular questions but they just said 2 payments options of 165 a month for 3 years or more for less time period. Neither of which is possible for us pay. Will they try to take us to court or send bailiffs round as it's a massive worry. We are not home owners and only have debt and no savings .

Would we still have to pay and what sort of payment deals would they accept or shall we stand firm?
Click to expand...
Stand firm! I would echo the strategy set out in the post above mine.

I’ll specifically highlight that you are the one feeding the monster in this case. I wouldn’t be too eager to engage with them at any speed. Take your time. You have a lot of lengthy complaint procedures to work your way through to really drag it out over the next year plus. The person dealing with your claim is not infallible, they are human just like the rest of us and will make mistakes. Find these mistakes, inconsistencies and things to complain about - they will exist - and use them to poke holes in their argument and drag things out.

I managed to wriggle free from them chasing me for 50K without paying a penny. My circumstances obviously will have been different to yours but the future has yet to be written, don’t think it’s case closed already. Personally, I don’t believe this has ever been to court. I’ve spent many many years looking and checking court cases and multiple internet forums. The only one or two references that exist are on here but they’re hearsay and, to be frank, I do not believe them for several reasons. You absolutely do not need to be worrying about bailiffs or court at the minute. They will want to avoid court nearly as much as you. Having said that, I have no doubt a day will come when an insurer goes right foot fully down and straight to court. Don’t bury your head in the sand and take the process and all potential outcomes seriously. You will get through it, hang in there
 
TCB1989 said:
It’s a long window BKKB they have 6 years to enforce and rare they come straight after convictions due to peoples financial situations, losing jobs, marriages because of it etc.
Click to expand...
when does the 6 years start? from the date of the accident or from the date of the convcition?
 
TCB1989 said:
Its a very grey area, Depressed Dad is very knowledgeable on the subject and I have some knowledge of this myself, as Xeronema pointed out you need to strip this back to the basics, you need a full breakdown of what the costing is they are wanting from you, unfortunately insurance companies are great at going "well it came to x amount so you need to pay", question it, why that much? Hire Car? Write offs, personal injury? They have a duty to inform you of how they got to the figure they got to.

Secondly although a minute % if any where admiral have taken someone to court from reading previous threads there is always that possibility, and can massively affect you if they do in terms of CCJ's, court and other things, that being said you cant get blood out of a stone, you need to make it clear in writing that you have no disposable income with you not owning your house etc they cannot take it from you, one of 3 scenarios might happen :-

1. They cease the claim as they understand the person liable for the debt cannot make the payments back (unlikely)
2. They will mitigate a longer period of payment with lower payments and recoup something from you (likely)
3. They proceed with court and aim for a CCJ/recover of the debt (unlikely but not impossible)

Before i did anything i would want a breakdown to the single penny of how they came to their figure, you can access this from them under the freedom of information act and as it being your case, you have a right to know as to how they got to the mythical £5000 figure.

Side note, these cases lapse after 6 years, so unless you can drag this out for 3 and a bit years where it becomes void attempt it, send 2nd class recorded letters (takes longer to receive their side), question everything and wait until the deadlines they give (typically 28 days) for a response send the letter day 25/26 of the deadline and send back, i know this seems like a desperate attempt but admiral at times at the sharpest nor the quickest with replies etc.
Click to expand...
Hi TCB1989, with regards to the case lapsing after 6 years, is that 6 years from the date of the accident or 6 years from the date of conviction?

Thank you
 
I think the 6 year limit is a bit of grey area with somewhat of a complexity which we don’t fully understand. I am still credit checked by Eui Ltd (Admiral) every 3 months, as I have been since I crashed, and I am well out of scope of the 6 years from the crash. I was also talking with someone on another site last year where they were being pursued by Admiral 7 years after their crash albeit their claim was practically 6 figures.

In large part I think these 2 examples can be explained by sizeable claims as well as what my solicitor advised me at the time which was that by engaging with them via letters, emails or phone calls, they may argue they have the right to reset this 6 year clock as you could be seen to be admitting liability for it.

I personally am of the view they don’t currently take court action at all anyway but going beyond this - I don’t see the logic in pursuing any legal action with this added level of post 6 year complexity. If they are going to do anything it would surely be within the 6 years regardless but in most cases I think it will be resolved in some shape or form / they’ll get bored before this.

For the avoidance of doubt I am not suggesting anyone attempt to avoid engaging with them for 6 years - but I do mention it so you are aware that it is not entirely unprecedented for them to follow you in one way or another after the 6 years.
 
Afternoon all,

Has anyone ever known admiral/any other insurer to resort to selling a claim debt incurred by a DUI Collision to a debt collection agency in these kinds of cases?

I ask because I’ve recently heard of this happening to someone. They allege that they’d been chased by admiral for costs, subsequently responded asking for all the evidence etc, then after a substantial period of radio silence had been contacted by an independent company stating that they’d “purchased” the debt from EUI and were now seeking payment.

Sounds incredibly irregular to me, wondering if anyone’s known this to be a possibility? Could be one of their methods of washing their hands of these types of claims once they’ve settled the matter with the third party.
 
Rob988 said:
Afternoon all,

Has anyone ever known admiral/any other insurer to resort to selling a claim debt incurred by a DUI Collision to a debt collection agency in these kinds of cases?

I ask because I’ve recently heard of this happening to someone. They allege that they’d been chased by admiral for costs, subsequently responded asking for all the evidence etc, then after a substantial period of radio silence had been contacted by an independent company stating that they’d “purchased” the debt from EUI and were now seeking payment.

Sounds incredibly irregular to me, wondering if anyone’s known this to be a possibility? Could be one of their methods of washing their hands of these types of claims once they’ve settled the matter with the third
Click to expand...
 
Yes in some cases this happens.I got a letter from Allianz demanding an extra £6694.50 for car storage plus £5000 excess . They demanded full payment within 14 days then would start proceedings against me . The letter was dated 11/10/2022 and I received it months later. I then got a letter from DWF demanding a bacs transfer to DWF law LLP . I contacted my insurance company who had also received the letters who said not to pay as they were dealing with it as the claim was paid in full at the time . I’ve not heard anything since so hopefully it’s been sorted .
 
nats said:
Yes in some cases this happens.I got a letter from Allianz demanding an extra £6694.50 for car storage plus £5000 excess . They demanded full payment within 14 days then would start proceedings against me . The letter was dated 11/10/2022 and I received it months later. I then got a letter from DWF demanding a bacs transfer to DWF law LLP . I contacted my insurance company who had also received the letters who said not to pay as they were dealing with it as the claim was paid in full at the time . I’ve not heard anything since so hopefully it’s been sorted .
Click to expand...
Interesting, it sounds like in this case you were being chased by third party agencies who had had involvement in administrating elements of the claim on your insurers behalf right? Whom would have all been paid by your insurer, who would then subsequently pursue you for reimbursement of all sums paid out by them in relation to the claim?

In the instance that was described to me, the claim was completely settled (all third parties compensated) and the insurer (admiral) were pursuing the policyholder for costs. The policyholder asked for evidence of costs of course which they never received.

They’ve now been contacted by a dedicated , independent debt collection agency (I believe called Lowell?) who have stated that EUI Ltd have sold the debt to them, entitling them to pursue payment of the debt. Surely it requires evidence of non-cooperation for an insurer to take this step?

I suppose in this instance the action plan should be the same, at least that’s what I’ve recommended them to do. To challenge the debt collection agency and ask for a breakdown of costs etc.
 
Rob988 said:
Interesting, it sounds like in this case you were being chased by third party agencies who had had involvement in administrating elements of the claim on your insurers behalf right? Whom would have all been paid by your insurer, who would then subsequently pursue you for reimbursement of all sums paid out by them in relation to the claim?

In the instance that was described to me, the claim was completely settled (all third parties compensated) and the insurer (admiral) were pursuing the policyholder for costs. The policyholder asked for evidence of costs of course which they never received.

They’ve now been contacted by a dedicated , independent debt collection agency (I believe called Lowell?) who have stated that EUI Ltd have sold the debt to them, entitling them to pursue payment of the debt. Surely it requires evidence of non-cooperation for an insurer to take this step?

I suppose in this instance the action plan should be the same, at least that’s what I’ve recommended them to do. To challenge the debt collection agency and ask for a breakdown of costs etc.
Click to expand...
I agree with you, there is a distinct difference between the debt being “sold” to Lowell and a third party contracting a debt collection agency. Unfortunately I know Lowell are non-relenting and this will probably be a lot harder to deal with compared to Admiral’s claim department.

I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if Admiral was starting to use debt collectors as I think that probably makes sense, but I would be surprised that they have offloaded the debt (as they appear to have in this instance) as opposed to contracting the debt collector to rattle the cages on their behalf. It will be interesting to see how this pans out and how Lowell deal with it. I wonder if this is the first of such cases and what the longevity of this arrangement between Lowell and EUI will be like.

After my crash I, for various personal reasons I won’t go into, got into a lot of debt and defaulted with multiple payday lenders. Many were wound down or went bust and the debt was sold. I know there is a legal requirement for them to inform you the debt is sold - so if this hasn’t happened this is a feather in the hat to use as a way to complain and delay things as well as raise official complaints about lack of due process and see where that goes. As far as I am aware there must be some form of default as well, legally they can’t just throw your debt around the table. But I don’t know as much about this legislation to give advice on it. I would get this person to contact Citizens Advice, StepChange or National Debtline, they will be able to advise on what the proper procedures and limitations are. I would then completely pause disputing the costs or asking for evidence and go off on a tangent about this for a good while and see where it leads.
 
Last edited:
Solicitor Needed!
Hi,
I've read all of these posts, and at least I now know that Admiral's pursuit of me is not discriminatory, - they obviously are after everyone who has made the same massive mistake that I regretfully did.

They have sent me a Final Payment Letter and a threat to pass the debt to a collections company for court action.

I can't afford to have a claim against me, -I have a very low income but I do own my home. I have barely been able to sleep after getting these letters. I would like to speak to a solicitor about my options, to try and stop the process.
Does anyone know of a solicitor who will defend me against Admiral? I have been trying loads, but none of them wants to take this on.
Thanks in anticipation!
 
Frightened43 said:
Solicitor Needed!
Hi,
I've read all of these posts, and at least I now know that Admiral's pursuit of me is not discriminatory, - they obviously are after everyone who has made the same massive mistake that I regretfully did.

They have sent me a Final Payment Letter and a threat to pass the debt to a collections company for court action.

I can't afford to have a claim against me, -I have a very low income but I do own my home. I have barely been able to sleep after getting these letters. I would like to speak to a solicitor about my options, to try and stop the process.
Does anyone know of a solicitor who will defend me against Admiral? I have been trying loads, but none of them wants to take this on.
Thanks in anticipation!
Click to expand...

It's a specialist area that is probably beyond the knowledge of most solicitors.

What is it that you want to fight?
The amount of the claim, or the whole amount and their right to cancel your policy?

Have you asked for a breakdown of the costs and started to challenge them. They are usually over the top and likely to be negotiated down.

Final demands and using debt recovery agencies are a ploy to ramp up pressure, hoping for a settlement before starting court proceedings.

See if you can get the amount down and consider approaching a debt management charity like Citizens Advice or Stepchange.
They can advise on the best way to deal with any debt. There are various ways to deal with it.

You cannot pay more than you can afford.
That might only be £5 per week. Worst case they could put a charge on your house but there are probably other options before it gets that far.
 
Depressed Dad said:
It's a specialist area that is probably beyond the knowledge of most solicitors.

What is it that you want to fight?
The amount of the claim, or the whole amount and their right to cancel your policy?

Have you asked for a breakdown of the costs and started to challenge them. They are usually over the top and likely to be negotiated down.

Final demands and using debt recovery agencies are a ploy to ramp up pressure, hoping for a settlement before starting court proceedings.

See if you can get the amount down and consider approaching a debt management charity like Citizens Advice or Stepchange.
They can advise on the best way to deal with any debt. There are various ways to deal with it.

You cannot pay more than you can afford.
That might only be £5 per week. Worst case they could put a charge on your house but there are probably other options before it gets that far.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your reply; it has made me question myself as to exactly why I want a solicitor! That is good, because it has helped me reduce my panic and be more focussed. I guess the reasons are so that I have someone on my side, and so that I can try and minimize the financial impact.

I can't deny what I have done. It was my fault. It resulted in job loss, damage to family relations, and a sense of shame that won't go away. The amount claimed following the accident seems high, but I understand that this is normal with personal accident claims.

What I need is a solicitor who can negotiate with Admiral something that I can afford, without increasing my personal debt, and hopefully without them claiming a charge against our house.
 
Frightened43 said:
Thank you for your reply; it has made me question myself as to exactly why I want a solicitor! That is good, because it has helped me reduce my panic and be more focussed. I guess the reasons are so that I have someone on my side, and so that I can try and minimize the financial impact.

I can't deny what I have done. It was my fault. It resulted in job loss, damage to family relations, and a sense of shame that won't go away. The amount claimed following the accident seems high, but I understand that this is normal with personal accident claims.

What I need is a solicitor who can negotiate with Admiral something that I can afford, without increasing my personal debt, and hopefully without them claiming a charge against our house.
Click to expand...
Don’t overestimate the ability of a solicitor you are yet to find whilst underestimating what you can achieve yourself.

The solicitor who defended me in court was part of a larger practice and had colleagues who dealt with financial matters, I used them briefly when Admiral started chasing me but stopped shortly after. It was costly and they weren’t doing anything I couldn’t do myself. If you have read this entire thread you may not believe it but you are probably in a better and more knowledgeable position about how to deal with this than most solicitors.

Don’t jump to negotiating what you can afford to pay them yet either, focus on disputing the claim costs first.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Enter code DRINKDRIVING10 during checkout for 10% off
Top