Would someones 3rd party car insurance pay out if someone sued them?
A woman gave a friend a run every week, a couple of weeks ago they bumped into another car, there was no damage to either car. Her friend the passenger claimed she had whiplash, she was off work for 1 week and is now planning on suing driver.
The driver only has 3rd party car insurance and was just wondering if her car insurance would pay out to passenger or would she have to pay out herself if claim goes through?
September 10th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Yes, the claim wuould be against the insurnace company, not the driver.
September 10th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
That’s what third party insurance is for. The passenger would be considered the third party and can sue the driver of the vehicle in which she was travelling. If there is negligence on the part of the driver and damages as a result then there could be a valid claim.
xxR
September 10th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
That is the idea of third party insurance, it means that they will pay out anything against the policyholder but not TO the policyholder if it is their fault, fully comprehensive is needed for that.
September 10th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
YES IT WILL
September 10th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Yes – the passenger is a third party.
Here is more information to help you.
The insurance policy is evidence of a contract between two parties. The first party is the insurance company and the second party is the driver. Anyone else is a ‘third party’ i.e. not involved in the agreement between the driver and the insurer, and the insurance policy agrees that the insurer will indemnify (i.e. pay the losses incurred by) the driver against all losses the driver may incur due to a claim by a third party.
Now the passenger cannot sue the insurance company as there is no contract between her and the insurer. All she can do is sue the driver. The driver then asks the insurer to indemnify them against the claim. At this stage the insurer takes over the negotiations to come to an agreement with the passenger.
It will be best if the driver responds to any question by saying “I have advised my insurance company and they will deal with it” – this does not admit liability (which would be in breach of policy conditions and could result in the insurance company refusing to deal with the claim). The driver I assume has already advised their insurance company. If they receive any further communication they should forward it (unanswered) to their insurers.