Saga of insurance claim

mobpd

Hi
Would appreciate if anyone who has good knowledge of how motor claims should be dealt has any comments on the following situation.

Sept 2007: we were involved in a minor accident where our car bumped the one in front.
The driver of that car then submitted a claim for car damage and our insurer was advised by their solicitor that a claim would be made through the Personal Injuries Board.
Our insurer has since paid out for write off of their car (which is a joke but we leave that debate out of it)
We understand that there is a 2 year time limit for claims to be actually made to the Injuries board and then when a claim is made that we we would be officially notified direct. so far there has been no notification.
however our insurer doubled our renewal insurance premium in 2008 because there is a potential Injuries Board claim - we cannot get a quote from any other insurance company as this claim is pending.
After chasing our insurance company they eventually arranged an appointment with their own doctor on 29 Jan 2009. I understand that they did attend but so far there is no report back from the doctor. I was told today that there is no actual deadline or even expected time for the report. So again we are left in limbo and our renewal date for 2009 is next month where I expect we will be hit with a further hike.
I wonder why they havent made the claim to Injuries board yet - surely they wouldnt wait til the last day (deadline Sept 2009) and all the while we are being hit with exorbitant premiums - and our insurer seems reluctant to push for settlement...

Ginger83

A few questions.

Who was the policy holder of the car at the time. If it was you why dont you put your wife down as main policyholder and go under her and visa versa. This sort of claim can take years to settle all the while you will be held to ransom for extremely large insurance premiums.

Another option would be...
If you were the main policyholder at the time ask your wife to look for quotes off other companies and do not state the accident as if you were driving at the time she should still hold a clean record therefore taking her out of her current awkward situation. Then you may be able to go under her as name driver for a fraction of what you are currently being asked for.

Emmets4Life

Not trying to sound big headed or put any one down but take it from me that the above advice in the previous comment is incorrect. Firstly you can indeed swap policy holders on the policy but whether as the policy holder or named driver on the policy you HAVE to disclose any accidents claims or convictions. Their will be a loading applied to either the policy holder or named driver for this. Failure to disclose a claim can in turn invalidate your policy meaning that your insurance company will not pay out on a claim whether it be own damage or damage to a third party.

As regards your policy being loaded this is common practice. Make sure going forward you chose to protect you no claims discount. It might cost circa 40 each but it will entitle you to two claims in a three year period with affecting your bonus. You obviously did not have this option on your current policy.

In relation to the claim take it from me someone who is working in the insurance industry that this is common place. Whether the claim is frivolous or not is not up to me to comment. The only thing I will say that if it goes to a court of law the settlement amount could be any amount. Most insurance companies will chose to minimise costs and expenses in the hope that settling a claim early will help minimise these cost. As an independent board too the PIAB have replaced a cetain element of unscrupulous solicitors. They do not deal with solicitors and aim to minimise and settle claims fairly and efficiently. Finally one point i would recommend is to get a good insurance broker

mobpd

Emmets4Life wrote: »

Make sure going forward you chose to protect you no claims discount. It might cost circa 40 each but it will entitle you to two claims in a three year period with affecting your bonus. You obviously did not have this option on your current policy.

In fact the policy DOES have protected no claims discount, but they are still insisting that they are obliged to load the annual premiums whilst the claim is unresolved.....could i take this up with the insurance ombudsman?

Toots

Might be worth while contacting them and see what they say. You've nothing to lose by asking.

JD24

Emmets4Life wrote: »

They do not deal with solicitors and aim to minimise and settle claims fairly and efficiently.

FYI

http://claims.ie/index.php?id=101

Toots

JD24, please stop dragging up old threads. The OP hasn't posted on this thread for over a month. If they wish it to be reopened, they can PM me and I will unlock the thread.