Insurance Advice

kdevitt

Need some advice -

Bought a new car 6 weeks ago (2000 BMW 328i Coupe) Am insured with Hibernian, who wanted a lot to cover me for the remaining two months on my policy, which I paid to get the extra years no claims, at this stage I had cheap quotes from two companies - €1100 TPFT and €1400 FC

Problem being that two weeks ago an uninsured driver ploughed into the side of me in Kilkenny. This means theres now an outstanding claim - the other driver is totally at fault, but I'm stuck with Hibernian - and they've sent through a renewal notice for €3216...

Does anyone know for definite what my options are???

Cheers...

Seanie M

Sue the fecker for being uninsured and leaving you with a huge bill...


Seanie.

kdevitt

Seanie M wrote:

Sue the fecker for being uninsured and leaving you with a huge bill...


Seanie.

Well thats the plan, but it'll be two years before it'll all be sorted.... car is being repaired courtesy of the uninsured drivers fund, but I'm left with having to pay two and a half times what I should be paying on insurance! (6 years NCB and 28 y/o)

Seanie M

Hhmmm... maybe it would have been a good idea to have not told your insurance company - thats what most poeple do if the damage can be repaired cheaply, and/or by the offending party.

Do you think at this stage you can revoke your claim?

If the other driver is willing to pay for all the damage done, it will look good on him when it comes to court, as he may receive a leniant sentence of sorts for being co-operative. Now, saying that, I DO NOT condone taking advantage of that situation and start flogging him for all sorts of phantom costs, know what I mean?

Seanie.

kdevitt

Theres €5500 worth of damage done to my car - the guy did a legger when I sussed he wasn't insured, then got his panel beater mate to phone and tell me to get my own car fixed because we were both at fault :rolleyes: This is despite me being on the main road, and the little knacker pulling straight out from a junction without looking...

I'm pushing the claim through and pushing the guards cos I want to see him go to jail - and the MIBI can aparently sell his posessions to recover their costs.

I'm also pursuing a personal injury claim because my shoulder was wrecked by the seatbelt in the accident, so I don't think its something that he'd be able to sort out...

An extra 2K a year in insurance hasn't been budgeted for this year though!!

Seanie M

I hear ya.

its a sneaky business when someone like that hits you. He's in the wrong because of no insurance, but he'll be a cute little fcuker and try and bring as much annoyance onto you as possible - to me thats what it looks like it will be, sorry to paint a bleak picture for you!

Look, its something you are going to have to deal with. Now I can't speak from experience, but all you can do is go with it. Try and get a small loan (if possible under your circumstances) and make up the difference some how.

I can't really offer anymore advice, as I have never been in this kind of dilemna - and hope to never be!

Sorry for your troubles kdevitt!

Seanie.

rander00

Yeah,,, keep after the guards to do something. That skanger/knacker should be off the road for the next 5yrs. Did the guards come to the scene, and had the **** spa left the scene by then?

I get the impression this was a young lad that hit you??

Follow it all the way,,, dont let him bull**** his way out of it, thru paperwork and his "panel beaters" mates.

Nuttzz

You dont really have any options, you have gone through the correct course of action (mibi) and the extra premium will be refunded to you once the claim is settled, but until then your stuck with it.

shoegirl

Uninsured drivers are generally sneaky feckers - thats why they drive uninsured.

Your best best unfortunately is to go through the entire courts procedure, which will take years. He will probably be banned from driving for about a year and possibly also done for dangerous driving and fined about €1,000. Also its very difficult for him to deny blame unless you literally deliberately drove into him - generally an uninsured driver hasn't a leg to stand on in court.

According to the MIBI http://www.mibi.ie/faqs.asp#faq1

"6. Should I claim on my own Comprehensive policy first?
If you have comprehensive insurance, you are advised to make a claim on it initially. MIBI have an agreement with all motor Insurers whereby they will deal with all such claims WITHOUT AFFECTING YOUR NO CLAIMS DISCOUNT.
Inevitably, we have to carry out some investigation on the offending driver. While we do this as fast as we can, it does take longer for us to be in a position to pay a claim. Therefore you will be able to get your claim processed more quickly via your own Insurer, without any NCD penalty to yourself."

Not sure how this helps you but I would contact your insurer and ask them about that. I am assuming that the other driver has accepted 100% liability, or been forced to.

Now you really must get a solicitor to advise you on the rest. But as far as I know you can personally sue him for damages and then make a claim back to MIBI if he cannot afford it. I don't know exactly what the story is there but they normally do compensate drivers who genuinely end up paying significantly more because of an uninsured driver. Unfortunately what he will probably do is claim to be even more injured than you are and go on "disability" for the rest of his life so as to limit the amount of compensation MIBI can claim from him.

"13. Will the uninsured motorist get away without paying?
When we settle your claim we will pursue the offending motorist who is legally obliged to pay. While difficulties can arise, we have put in place a programme to make recovery easier and more effective."

You really need to speak to a solicitor to keep a written record of all the extra costs you have related to this accident. It gets me very angry when a genuine driver like yourself ends up in so much crap because of some idiot who is too mean and selfish to pay the cost of motoring like the rest of us. Unfortunately your pal will probably get a few penalty points and a fine. They only jail uninsured drivers if they have previous convictions for uninured driving.

Seth Brundle

I would question the insurance company to see if you will be compensated for the extra €2k spent each year during the claim. If not I would try and recover it by other means!