Fupped by Insurance company after crash

romperstomper

posting this for my dad who is at his wits end and is about to go to a solicitor if no one else has a better suggestion.

3 weeks ago he crashed. his fault, no one hurt but car is a write off. He rings up (he has fully comp with 40 years NCB), gets sent out forms that I then scan and email into insurance company. 22 days ago.

since then no word back from them.8 phone calls and 9 emails later, there has been no response for the insurance company (his policy didn't include courtesy car).

So he has been borrowing a car thinking it would be a few days. Now he has to return it and doesn't have much choice but to rent one as insurance haven't even Talked to him about sending him a check.

what can he do to get a response and get the claim processed??

djimi

If its 8 phone calls and 9 emails and still no word from them then it might be time to pay their head office/branch a little visit I would have thought.

romperstomper

I was hoping there was an insurance ombudsman I could take it up with. walking into their head office (and taking the time off to do it) and being ignored by them, or worse, told it was in the queue and they would get round to it would result in me blowing my top. my real hope was that there was legislation that I could quote to them in order to motivate them

shamwari

Send them a registered letter stating all of the above. Include photo copies of all original correspondence, emails, and dates / time of phone calls.

Tell them how unhappy you are with their apparent lack of service, and insist that they issue a prompt response. Point out that the delay is causing excessive and avoidable aggravation and distress. Conclude by stating that you will be referring this matter to the insurance ombudsman if you do not receive a satisfactory response. Then refer it to the Ombudsman if you get nowhere. I don't know of any service level agreement (i.e. how long it should take to process a claim) enshrined in legislation which you could use to push them along.

If you go to a solicitor, he will do EXACTLY what I said re the letter, and charge you for the privilege.

djimi

romperstomper wrote: »

I was hoping there was an insurance ombudsman I could take it up with. walking into their head office (and taking the time off to do it) and being ignored by them, or worse, told it was in the queue and they would get round to it would result in me blowing my top. my real hope was that there was legislation that I could quote to them in order to motivate them

Perhaps, but how long is it going to take to go thru a third party (which Im not necessarily saying is a bad idea), compared to say going into your local branch or their head office? At least if you go in to speak with them youll get some idea of where you stand, and you can at least say you have spoken with someone.

romperstomper

I take the registered letter idea onboard, but in this case will it only be useful if the case goes to court? clearly they are ignoring me on purpose. i'm afraid they may go belly up in the meantime

Random

i don't know how any insurance company could ignore 8 phone calls and 9 emails. what company is it? have you checked their website for alternative contact numbers? is it just the claims department you can't contact - can you get on to someone about your policy and ask them to transfer you? what happens when you call up?

opinion guy

Incidentally I think you are being extremely hopeful/niaive to expect money to be paid after 3 weeks. These things usually take months or years as far as I know

romperstomper

random: I ring and ask for the claims handler (whose name & email I have). i then get told they will call me back. nothing happens

opinion_guy: thats total shíte. if it took years to sort every claim, NO ONE would buy anything other than TPO

Random

ring and ask to someone else in the same section as them or ask to speak to their supervisor. tell them you're willing to hold on the phone until someone is free to discuss.

is it an insurance company you're calling or is it through a broker or what?

mickdw

What company is it?
There is no way they can just ignore your claim like this. I would also just place myself at one of their service desks and not leave until I had some progress.
Also get a copy of their code of practice in relation to settlement of claims.

romperstomper

its a broker and unfortunately an english one at that. no offices listed in ireland on their website.

not naming until issue resolved for fear of giving them an excuse not to process

mickdw

romperstomper wrote: »

its a broker and unfortunately an english one at that. no offices listed in ireland on their website.

not naming until issue resolved for fear of giving them an excuse not to process

How did he manage to get an irish policy with an english broker that doesnt have an address here?

romperstomper

they could have an address here. its just not list on their .ie website

opinion guy

romperstomper wrote: »

random: I ring and ask for the claims handler (whose name & email I have). i then get told they will call me back. nothing happens

opinion_guy: thats total shíte. if it took years to sort every claim, NO ONE would buy anything other than TPO

Of anyone I know who has had to claim for car or home insurance its taken a minimum of 8 or 9 months for any cash to be paid - usually longer.

messymess

Is it the broker or the insurance company that the issue is occurring with? I'm going to presume the broker ... in that case call the insurance company and find out what's going on. Absolutely anything could be going on.

Eight calls and Nine emails? Have you tried being incredibly caustic on the phone? Call these guys up and HORSE them out of it. Demand an explanation, demand an apology, demand a direct dial number a point of contact to deal with this, demand, demand demand!!!

mickdw

opinion guy wrote: »

Of anyone I know who has had to claim for car or home insurance its taken a minimum of 8 or 9 months for any cash to be paid - usually longer.

dont know what kind of insurers your mates were dealing with but thats not normal at all.
Quinn were known for settling in person by cheque at your house in a number of days.
Other insurers generally pay out in a few weeks provided a claim is straight forward. Now of course if there are iinjuries, dispute etc, things can and will go on for a year most likely.

djimi

opinion guy wrote: »

Of anyone I know who has had to claim for car or home insurance its taken a minimum of 8 or 9 months for any cash to be paid - usually longer.

What on earth are you on about? The last time I had to claim off my insurance they had the car fixed and back on the road in less than 10 days.

The only way it would take any length of time is if there is some kind of dispute or maybe the courts are involved, and Im sure there may be circumstances that might delay the process, but thats far from a normal situation.

dudara

opinion guy wrote: »

Of anyone I know who has had to claim for car or home insurance its taken a minimum of 8 or 9 months for any cash to be paid - usually longer.

I had a crash last year - other party's insurance company had a hire car for me in 2 days and I had a full cheque in my hand after 10 days. Claim handler even came to my house to make sure of everything.

L1011

opinion guy wrote: »

Incidentally I think you are being extremely hopeful/niaive to expect money to be paid after 3 weeks. These things usually take months or years as far as I know

You've no experience of Quinn then clearly! Claims - even for fairly messy fault situations - sorted in 2 to 3 weeks generally.

I've also had a car repaired (direct settlement with garage) and back on the road within 8 days of being hit by a Zurich driver.

alias no.9

MYOB wrote: »

You've no experience of Quinn then clearly! Claims - even for fairly messy fault situations - sorted in 2 to 3 weeks generally.

I've also had a car repaired (direct settlement with garage) and back on the road within 8 days of being hit by a Zurich driver.

I can second this experience as a third party claimant for repairs only, the insured was with Hibernian who now trade as Aviva. Only a highly contentious claim could take months, claims against your own comprehensive policy would need to be pretty whacky to be contentious, in fact sometimes people get the initial payout settled via their own comp policy with their insurer pursuing the third party to avoid being out of pocket during delays caused by contentious cases.

opinion guy

ok people i said 'Of anyone I konw who has claimed'

Maybe I'm wrong and you guys are right fair enough. Alls I'm saying is I kno 4 or 5 people who have had to claim and they all took ages. I know noone who claimed and got paid quickly. Now possibly that was all down to legal issues, but frankly my overwhelming impression has been that the insurance companies go out of their way to look for legal issues in order to delay things.

ytareh

Naaah ,usually sorted within 4-6 weeks

Del2005

romperstomper wrote: »

random: I ring and ask for the claims handler (whose name & email I have). i then get told they will call me back. nothing happens

Are you ringing/emailing as the son or "the policy holder"? By law they can't deal with anyone other then the policy holder. You'll need to get your father to ring and when he gets through he can then put you on the phone.

Did they say they'd except scans of the claim documents? Most companies require the originals or a fax.

old_aussie

Del2005 wrote: »

Did they say they'd except scans of the claim documents? Most companies require the originals or a fax.

So your saying "Most companies require the originals or a Copy".

Del2005

old_aussie wrote: »

So your saying "Most companies require the originals or a Copy".

From Wiki

In some countries, because electronic signatures on contracts are not recognized by law while faxed contracts with copies of signatures are, fax machines enjoy continuing support in business

Bonito

Who's the insurer? Is it Royal Sun Alliance or someone? If you give us the insurer we can advise you better.

old_aussie

Sorry to hear about your dad's insurance delays.

Most insurance matters are settled within weeks in OZ.

My back awning was ripped off the house by high winds several weeks ago and I had the go-a-head for repairs 3 days later from GIO Insyrance.

romperstomper

Bonito, you are correct the underwrite is royal sun alliance. are you suggesting that I go straight to them? I'd imagine they will give me the run around by saying 'oh we don't deal with the public'

Bonito

romperstomper wrote: »

Bonito, you are correct the underwrite is royal sun alliance. are you suggesting that I go straight to them? I'd imagine they will give me the run around by saying 'oh we don't deal with the public'

Zing! I'm good, aren't I.

They are indeed pulling from the Irish market (under private car insurance at least)

My father was with them for about 20 years and this year when he went to the broker he's been going to for those 20 odd years, he told him RSA are no longer affiliated with him so can't get him a new quote.

My father ended up transferring to Zurich and to get proof of his yeeeeeeears of no claims bonus we had to send a registered letter to Royal Sun Alliance with his policy number, address etc etc and request it.

You'll have to do as shamwari has stated above. By the way, I hope your father had his no claims protected?

L1011

Bonito wrote: »

They are indeed pulling from the Irish market (under private car insurance at least)

They've just bought 123. They're not pulling out of the Irish market, they're just changing the way they do business - to via 123.