Driver Uninsured or Didnt Stop

What would happen if the other driver is uninsured, or didn't stop?

If the other party in your accident 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. They are a body set up to provide a central fund for compensation of victims of accidents involving either uninsured or untraced drivers.

Time Limits

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.
You should insist on it being formally logged, even if the police try to tell you it doesn't need to be.

Uninsured drivers

• A claim is negotiated with the Motor Insurers' Bureau rather than the other sides insurance company. However, 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 £600 to repair/replace, you will only get £300).  However, if you have your own insurance (e.g. through household or other insurance) you may be able to claim from that. You will receive full compensation for injuries and other losses.
• 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.

Untraced drivers

You can claim for damage to property, subject to the £300 excess, in certain circumstances, and injury.

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). 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.

Costs

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 cap this and we will not charge if you lose your claim.