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If your accident has been caused by someone who has driven
off, or has given false details and is not traceable, or is
uninsured, you can still claim. Your claim will be
dealt with by the Motor Insurers' Bureau. The M.I.B. is a
body set up to provide a central fund for compensation of
victims of accidents involving either uninsured or untraced
drivers.
However, the way in which your claim is dealt with (and what
you can claim for) is different in each case.
Time Limits
To make a claim through the MIB you must report the incident
to the police. Your claim may be rejected by the MIB if you
don't. The time in which you must do this can be as little
as 5 days in some cases, but at most is 14 days. We therefore
recommend that you report it immediately. You should insist
on it being formally logged, even if the police try to tell
you it doesn't need to be.
Uninsured drivers
We will deal with your claim in almost exactly the same way
as if you were claiming against another driver who is insured,
although the negotiations will be with the Motor Insurers'
Bureau rather than an insurance company. The only real differences
are:
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There is an 'excess' of the first £300 of compensation
for any damage to property - i.e. your
bike/car/clothing (e.g. if the damage to your bike and
clothes costs £900 to repair/replace, you will only
get £600). However, if you have your own insurance (e.g.
through household or other insurance) you may be able
to claim from that. You will still receive full compensation
for injuries and other losses.
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It will inevitably take longer to settle than if the
other driver were insured, and usually means that court
proceedings will have to be issued and judgement obtained.
The time limits allowed to the Motor Insurers' Bureau
are longer than in normal claims.
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Untraced drivers
You will only be able to claim for injuries and any loss
of earnings if you accident happened before 13 February 2003.
You will not be able to claim payment for any damage to your
bike or other property for accidents before that date, as
this is excluded from the scheme.
For accidents which happened on or after 13 February 2003,
you can claim for damage to property, subject to the £300
excess, in certain circumstances.
The most important factor is that you must have reported
the accident to the police AND HAVE GOT A WRITTEN
ACKNOWLEDGMENT within 5 days (if you want to claim
for property damage and injuries) or within 14 days (if you
are only claiming for injury). We therefore strongly advise
that you report the incident to the police immediately. There
are only very limited exceptions to this requirement. In
either case, we must still show that the untraced driver
was to blame for the accident.
The other very important difference is Legal Fees. The
M.I.B. will only pay limited legal fees (dependent upon the
size of your claim) + VAT, plus disbursements (the fees that
we have to pay to other people e.g. medical report fees).
The work involved in most claims will be more than this,
which means that some of our fees for carrying out the work
for you will have to be deducted from your compensation,
but we will still not charge if you lose your claim.
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