Insurance Companies

Trev M

Recently involved in a bit of a ding.

Ive made a claim off the other drivers insurance company - to me its a pretty cut and dry case , but thats neither here nor there.

Whats bothering me Ive been waiting a fair while now and the other insurance company keep telling me they are waiting for the other dirvers report..... nearly 3 months??? Seriously how long can this go on? Is there some kind of legal obligation on them to ensure they get the other drivers report and reolve liability ?

They keep "advising me" to go through my own insurance company and my insurance can persue to recover the cost.

I dont want to do that as Im not convinced the process is very transparent and I suspect they would "roll over" and agree between the insurance companies load both policies rather than investigate the accident cause its a relatively small claim.

Thoughts?

Jo King

Have you an insurance broker?

RGS

Your anxieties about your insurance company are unfounded.
Your insurance company will chase the negligent insurer, if they pay out money that they can recoup they will chase it.

As far as the other insurer is concerned they have a different assessment on liability.

You have two choices allow your own insurer handle the matter or issue proceeding against the other driver and let the court determine the case.

NUTLEY BOY

You have no obligation to claim for the damage to your vehicle under your own policy.

You may also have losses that are not covered under your policy - so called "uninsured losses". These could include car hire, depreciation, policy excess and so on.

Leaving it to your own insurance company to follow this up is not satisfactory. It is also poor advice. Your insurance company's legal entitlement is to recover their outlays only. You may have outlays over and above this which you will still have to recover.

Three months is too long to wait. Technically, the other driver has a legal obligation to report the acident to his insurers and render relevant information to them (RTA 1961 - S. 71).

Give the other person's insurers a specific deadline e.g. mid - January. If you get no response by then instruct a solicitor as certain technicalities need to be complied with before proceedings issue in order to cover your tail legally especially if there is doubt about whether or not the other person's insurance is operative.

ondarack

Sorry if this is a little of topic. I was asked by a friend would I work 2 days next week for a courier firm he works with. The thing is, I have just been told to turn up and show my licence on the morning. My concern is that they dont have any of my details so I'm wondering will I be insured at all to drive for them. I'll be starting at 6am so they wont be adding me to thier insurance at that hour of the morning. Maybe i'm being too nervous but it just doesn't seem too legit. So to round up, im 23, not an employee of the company, all the vans are hired, would I be covered by thier fleet insurance, if they have any:eek:

Trev M

Many thanks for the replies, I actually got on to the financial services ombudsman, they couldnt intervene directly but did refer me to Irish Insurance Federation so I do intend to follow up.

What troubles me is the manner in which the whole thing has been handled by the other drivers insurance company, the seeming indifference at persuing the details on their drivers side is a bit strange.

Despite the reassurance above that my own company would persue the issue Im unconvinced to be honest and my reserveations are well founded in personal experience thanks RGS - Ive asked a couple of straight forward questions of my own insurance company and been given the run around.

Will you settle/admit liability without consulting me?

Based on the quoted estimate to repair my car what will the effect be on my policy if you fail to recover the cost?

Straight forward questions to my mind, that they have failed to provide a direct answer to. In short its clear to me that both insurance companies are not committed to establishing the facts in a hurry or providing clear information. This assertion is based on treh course of events over the last three month with no evidence to the contrary in my experience trying to resolve this issue.

Anyway I appreciate the responses from everyone, will let ya know how I get on with the Insurance Federation.

Our man in Havana

The other big issue with claiming under your own policy is that your insurance company may decide not to persue the other drivers insurance company at all. And there is nothing you can do about it. Of course your NCB is buggered up.

I would be getting a solicitor to deal with them on your behalf.

Trev M

Absolutely Mr Bond thats essentially my gripe in terms of the lack of transparency with this situation. As I said for all I know there could be a cosy little deal with the insurance companies were they accept shared liability and pass the cost directly to the customers.

Jo King

Once again, do you have a broker?

Trev M

No, I insured directly online

Our man in Havana

Solicitor then asap.

I had such a problem and my then broker was as much use as a chocolate fireguard. All he advised was to see a solicitor, which I did.
He sorted out all the problems without my insurance even knowing.

Trev M

Just thought Id post an update/whinge on this -

So after a bit to and fro-ing with the Financial Services Ombudsman and Irish Insurance Federation it is painfully clear that we, the insurance paying public are pretty much muppets as far as the insurance companies are concerned.

After speaking with a fairly decent chap in the IIF its clear that the claims process and how insurance companies choose to handle them is FAR from transparent.

He more or less made it clear that the insurance company had no legal obligation to ensure the other driver provided an accident report, even though they will have it writen into the policy, the may choose to decline an offer of renewal on the policy but thats about the height of it.

In the absense of the other drivers cooperation my options are to incur costs one way or another - regardless of the facts of the collision. I can either go through my own insurance company (I potentially loose no claims bonus etc etc), or I can persue legal action through a solicitor and sue the individual, i cant imagine thats cheap.

All in all as a process I cant help but feel Ive been shafted. The "who's fault was it" is hardly relevant it would appear and the only winners here are the insurance companies ....and/or legal representatives. When I rule this will change :pac:

RGS

Trev M---the problem currently rests with you as you are not making a decision on which way to resolve the matter.

there are only two ways to resolve the issue:

1 let your insurers repair your car and let them chase the other insurer or

2 issue court proceedings against the other driver and let the judge determine who is liable---The problem with this solution is you will have to pay for the repairs first and present the repair invoice to the court.
dont forget the judge did not witness the accident and he can only go on the evidence presented to him in court.

Dont forget, your insurance company are entitled to deal with the claim as they see fit - this is clearly stated in your policy dosuments.

Trev M

Hi RGS - yep thats pretty much it alright, as you said at the start ^, I take my chances with my own insurance company or go the legal route..likely Im just going to get a solicitor which I can ill afford, I havent the first clue about what this is likely to cost?

I guess the largest part of my frsutration is with your last statement "your insurance company are entitled to deal with the claim as they see fit" despite numerous requests I have not been able to get a straight answer on how liability is determined and by whom?

Jo King

Trev M wrote: »

No, I insured directly online

I thought as much. The cheapest is not often the best!

nuac

Trev-M you are in danger of paralysis through over analysis here. See a solicitor now. There are some time limits in these matters.

Trev M

Cheers for all the input - Nuac your right , to be honest Ive been a bit nieve thinkin "it would get sorted":rolleyes:

Jo King

If you had arranged your insurance through a good broker, you would not have all of this messing. I have had several rear enders. All were settled within days.