No Win No Fee Solicitor Has Delayed My Case About A Car Accident

[sasha82]

A year ago I had a 4x4 car running on the side of my car while I was driving on the main road. The 4x4 was coming from a small road and I clearly had priority.
My car was wrecked enough that it would cost me more to repair it than get a new one.
I found no win no fee solicitor from an advert and gave him all the details of the accident. He brought a mechanic and wrote a report and he also sent me to a doctor to write down a report about the whiplash that I had.
At the accident I got the name and telephone of the person that hit me and the number plate.
It has been a year now and my solicitor told me that he can't really find the address of the person that hit me so he can't claim any money. The car was registered with an insurance company.
Last time I called my solicitor to ask about my case he was rude and he told me that he was not going to discuss about the case with me and he hanged up on me.
I feel annoyed by that behavior and I want the money for my car.
Can I replace this solicitor with someone else? If I can replace him is this solicitor obligated to pass the doctor's report and mechanics to the new solicitor? or am I just stuck with this solicitor?

[DJHawkes]

why on earth did you use a solicitor before you made a cliam via your own insurance?

[factor-fiction]

Were you insured?
You must have reported it to them. They would sort out the car claim aspects

[ummmm]

What about your insurance company?

[DJHawkes]

did you contact the police at the time? they will have the other drivers details, this sounds abit odd.

[society]

When did you report this incident to your insurance company? How long after?

[TWR]

Find all details regards the Accident, ( Police report & contacted the Police) the garage that repaired your car, your G.Ps report ( This will cost you) your Insurance should have sorted this out "NOT YOU"

[sasha82]

I had reported the incident to my insurance straight away. The police was not called at the incident and the car was not repaired. It was crushed after the report from the solicitor's mechanic was being written. After I made the agreement with the solicitor, he called the insurance company and informed them that he was going to deal with my case.

[Canary42]

Contact the SRA and report him.

http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems.page

[joko]

i agree, why get a no win no fee solicitor involved here?

this is a car insurance issue, not a no win no fee claim situation


what did your insurance do?
how can he just tell them he is dealing with it - its their job to deal with it.

[sasha82]

That was done ages ago. I had no experience and my ex took initiative.
All I want to know is if I can hire someone else to deal with it.
I have no insurance at the moment because I have no car.
And the doctor that did the report and the mechanic were working with that solicitor so I don't know if the reports could be passed to a new solicitor.
This accident happened a year ago. So I can't get any new reports.

[FredPuli43]

And now you may find that the insurers wash their hands of the case. They normally have a term that all litigation is to be conducted and controlled by them. I know they allowed, or didn't prevent, this solicitor when he butted in, but insurers are not slow to take advantage. The SRA may be your best bet.

Still don't understand why you allowed this solicitor to act. Your insurers should be doing it all.

[Barmaid]

First of all you need to write a letter of complaint to the original solicitors firm. Ask them to invoke their inhouse complaints system and deal with it.

Secondly, it matters not that you are not insured now, what matter is who you were insured with at the time. Contact them and ask them what they are doing with the claim - presumably you must have reported it to them.

Your solicitor is talking out of his bottom. IF he can't find the address of the person to whom the car was registered a) he should be able to ask the DVLA for a report and b) assuming they were insured sue that insurance company.

[Maydup]

Sorry to say you've probably lost this one. No win, no fee. They don't see any prospect of winning so they will get no fee and have therefore abandoned.

Had it been left with the insurers they would pursued the case, but since it was taken form them and a year has passed i can't think that much can be done now. Try the citizens advice bureau for guidance just in case.

[Barmaid]

No Maydup - she can still get redress through her insurance co or another firm. If it has only been a year limitation is nowhere near expired. She just needs to do something (like complain, go to her own ins co etc).

[DJHawkes]

this whole story is crazy, who pays for insurance on a car and then hires a solicitor? Where did the car go? Your insurance policy would not lapse or be cancelled even if the car was off the road, you have a year before your no claims expires after your insurance runs out,

[boxtops]

I don't understand this at all. You had insurance, you should have let them deal with all of this. They must really have laughed when your no win no fee chap told them to close the file - whyever did you allow that to happen? The insurance companies are the experts and it doesn't matter if you have no cover now, they were your insurers at the time of the accident. Go back to the insurance company and explain that it was all a dreadful mistake instructing someone else (who clearly isn't doing anything) and ask them to reopen the claim.

[joko]

have you actually spoken to your insurers about this in person?

if not, it seems odd that they'd just let him take over... i wouldn't be surprised if never spoken to them at all, and they know nothing of this


regarding whether you can get someone else to take over - you could - but you shouldn't!

people are trying to tell you that it is down to your insurance co to sort this out, not you - this is why you pay them... otherwise whats the point of insurance?

you made a mistake by hiring a solicitor instead of letting your insurance co sort it ... don't go and do it again.

[boxtops]

Agree with joko and others - if anyone was going to appoint a solicitor, your insurance company would do it - that's what the legal cover part of motor insurance is for. I just cannot imagine what it was that made you pick an unkown solicitor out of the paper, when you had perfectly good car insurance which would do all this for you, for no fee (the other side would pay any legal fees when found liable).

[DJHawkes]

the ex that took the initiative, did he have any dealings with this solicitor before he went to jail for the GBH?

[DJHawkes]

and if you are still in touch with your solicitor from the case in march, as his advice on this if you don;t agree with what we are all telling you here, your worst case scenario is that your ex ripped you off with the help of the dodgy solicitor, but that's just me looking on the dark side