Damage to car by a horse, rider refuses to pay!

Unfortunately your insurance company will not be willing to pursue a claim against a horse rider especially if she is uninsured and the fact that she has conjured up all these witnesses does not bode well for you. If they haven't already, insist your insurer sends out claims investigators to take formal statements from all of the witnesses, yours and theirs, and you. These would be signed statements of truth for use in court so the false witnesses would more than likely be extremely unlikely to agree to have a statement taken and attend court, which would cast doubt over their evidence. Make a complaint to your insurers and don't let up till until they do this. It would cost them relatively little money and it may win the case. Also get photos of the damage and insist they send out in independent assessor to comment on how the damage occured.
 
blueneonrainbow said:
Unfortunately your insurance company will not be willing to pursue a claim against a horse rider especially if she is uninsured and the fact that she has conjured up all these witnesses does not bode well for you. If they haven't already, insist your insurer sends out claims investigators to take formal statements from all of the witnesses, yours and theirs, and you. These would be signed statements of truth for use in court so the false witnesses would more than likely be extremely unlikely to agree to have a statement taken and attend court, which would cast doubt over their evidence. Make a complaint to your insurers and don't let up till until they do this. It would cost them relatively little money and it may win the case. Also get photos of the damage and insist they send out in independent assessor to comment on how the damage occured.
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This sounds like really good advice I would do as Blueneon says!! xx
 
OP, I have a feeling I might know you....as I know of an incident exactly as you describe. can't give advice, but you do have my sympathy. If you are who I think you are, then good luck pursuing them!!
 
Why do people assume that this rider is an eventer? I have re-read the OP as I was puzzled and can still find no reference to eventing!
OP, I would search for legal advice, which could be covered in your house insurance, through BHS if you are a member, or through your union if you are a member of one. You might even be able to access legal advice through a bank account. It is amazing what you are covered for sometimes without realising it.
Otherwise I would follow blueonrainbow's advice.
 
As the collision happened on a road then one or both of you SHOULD have reported this to the police even though you were parked and stationary.

Any collision of anything from a dog upwards in size needs to be reported to the police by law within 7 days of the incident taking place.

In this day and age insurance companies are reluctant to take third parties to court as its a lot of money and can be a waste of their time as well with a result that they do not like hence why they just tend to pay out and then whack up the premiums.

sorry to hear of your other woes though - very bizarre and strange! Usually to have statements done and handed to insurance companies they tend to be sworn affidavits.

Sounds like a total nightmare for you
 
For Pearlsinger:

CEH said:
Has anybody had this experience or can anybody give me advice as to what to do? A horse being ridden on the road, and totally misbehaving was ridden close to my parked car. It bucked as the rider was trying to control it and in doing so caused considerable damage to my car. The rider left the scene and I had to chase up names and address etc. I do have a very sensible witness who saw the whole thing. However the rider produced a very doubtful insurance policy and also 3 so called witness statements giving a totally untrue version of events - I was supposed to be driving along, when the car was actually parked in the side of the road, with me sitting in it. There was also a character witness about me and my supposedly dreadful driving from the proprietor of a local livery yard, who I have never met and do not know what she looks like. My insurance company has decided not to pursue in view of the number of their witness statements, and my solicitor advises not to pursue livery yard proprietor for libel as she has no assets. Any advice from anyone?? I should add that I have been a horse rider for years and have done the BHS road safety course. They are a disgrace to the horse riding fraternity. I do know the rider competes in affiliated eventing.
Any advice??
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OP - Good luck

FWIW - CCJ's etc ARE a pain in the butt for all concerned and if nothing else - IF you were (hypothetically) successful the CCJ would totally STUFF the rider up in MANY areas of their life!!!! (speaks the person who has just discovered they have a CCJ lodged against them - INCORRECTLY!!!! - like nothing to do with me!! Screwed my credit rating and now gonna take me FOREVER to get the blinkin thing removed off my unblemished record!!!! My point being, its a good revenge tactic if nothing else....:rolleyes:
 
You could try contacting the Insurance ombudsman to put pressur on the insurance company to act.
Alternatively you could put the rider in a locked room with the low life who stole my sons motorbike at the weekend & I'll sort the lot out!
 
Has your insurer repaired your car? If they have, check your wording to see what it says about recovering payouts from other parties. It is probably at their discretion and if damage wasn't too bad, they may consider it uneconomical to attempt recovery given they will have to disprove witness evidence etc. I know it doesn't seem fair, especially if you lose your no claims.
Unfortunately if they have repaired the car its likely only they have the right to subrogate and so you can't pursue the rider. However it is worth discussing further with your insurer, asking them to explain why they won't pursue and asking (should you wish) if they will allow you to do so, with any recovery going back to them.
If they haven't paid out, I would repair damage myself (if not too expensive) and take her to small claims. It's not difficult to bring the claim and will cause her problems.
I work for an insurer in claims, if you want any help with it, pm me.
 
Lydz13 said:
Ooopsss...

I think you're out of order, it is after all my opinion, if you don't like it don't pay attention!

As for wrong place wrong time, I can assure you it HAS happened before, and WILL happen again no doubt. Sometimes life stinks. Fact.

May I remind you that you are only hearing one side of the story???
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IF it has happened to you before then you should understand that it is not OP's fault. It is a rediculously stupid comment to make. OP does not even know the rider, yard owner, nor friends so how on earth can they have some kind of ventetta against OP? Oh, lets think, there is of course the fact that they are not insured and don't want to pay up - oh crikey, perhaps that's it - would never have thought of that eh!
 
foraday said:
As the collision happened on a road then one or both of you SHOULD have reported this to the police even though you were parked and stationary.

Any collision of anything from a dog upwards in size needs to be reported to the police by law within 7 days of the incident taking place.
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Only collisions resulting in injury are reportable by law. This didn't.

Hope you get it sorted, OP. I imagine the sheer number of witnesses is what's putting your insurance company off, but it might be worth taking the advice above to discredit the witnesses, particularly if they are all personally known to the other party. I'm assuming of course that you have a clean licence and insurance record, which would verify your being a competent and careful driver?
 
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