A guide to motor insurance & FAQ's

ullu

Sue Pa Key Pa wrote: »

In my experience, Gardai know very little about insurance. Not bashing them, they do a fine & difficult job

Agreed.

I used to work in litigation relating to motor claims. There is definitely a misconception among the public that the average Garda is an expert in the assessment and apportionment of liability. Obviously some know their stuff but most know the bare minimum or less in my experience.

I lost track of the amount of claimants who thought the third party driver was entirely liable for causing a collision based on a Garda's erroneous comments.

loveisdivine

I had a claim on my husbands policy in August 2015. In October 2015 I took out my first policy in my own name with my own vehicle. It has just come to light that for the last 2 years my insurance providers have had the claim down as open, even though it was settled back in 2015.

I would imagine my premium was higher because of this. I actually paid ridiculously high premiums to begin with because it was my first policy in my own name and I had the accident. First year was 3k, second year was 2.5k.

Is there any possibility of trying to claim back some of the premium I paid as the details were incorrect. Or is it just a case that I should have noticed at the time and told them?

In fairness, they made a number of error on the original statement of fact in 2015 and I sent back a revised copy correcting them all, I just missed the one that said claim still open.

Sue Pa Key Pa

loveisdivine wrote: »

I had a claim on my husbands policy in August 2015. In October 2015 I took out my first policy in my own name with my own vehicle. It has just come to light that for the last 2 years my insurance providers have had the claim down as open, even though it was settled back in 2015.

I would imagine my premium was higher because of this. I actually paid ridiculously high premiums to begin with because it was my first policy in my own name and I had the accident. First year was 3k, second year was 2.5k.

Is there any possibility of trying to claim back some of the premium I paid as the details were incorrect. Or is it just a case that I should have noticed at the time and told them?

In fairness, they made a number of error on the original statement of fact in 2015 and I sent back a revised copy correcting them all, I just missed the one that said claim still open.

It is possible that they settled up your damage, while at the same time defending a claim against you by a 3rd party. In that case, they were right to keep it open.

What were the circumstances and was liability an issue?

loveisdivine

I bumped into the back of another vehicle. My fault. Claim was for €1400 for the damage to the other car. No personal injury. No claim for damage on my own vehicle.

I just went back and checked the renewal docs for that policy from September 2016 and it lists the claim as settled.

So the last years policy (10/16 - 10/17) was perhaps incorrect then. They had it listed as open when it should have been closed since Sep 16 at the latest.

Is it worth following this up? I wouldnt mind as much but my premium was so expensive, it was a real struggle to pay it but obviously I needed my vehicle. Knowing I could have paid more than I should have is really frustrating.

Sue Pa Key Pa

You got lucky that an injury claim did not follow a rear end accident. It is also possible that, having settled the property damage claim, something prompted your insurer to reopen it. These things don't happen by themselves.

You need to ask your insurer for a premium and claim breakdown for the last couple of years. The high premiums might just be down to loss of your NCB.

DaveyDave

Hi all, didn't see this in the FAQ on the main post.

I'm picking up a new car next week. I just got the reg but it isn't showing up online for quotes, I'm assuming because it's new, dealer just got it Friday. If I call insurance crowds on Monday, should it show up for them?

Also, the spec of my car isn't showing up on any quotes but they all seem to have the UK equivalent. Will this be an issue for me? I have a ballpark figure of the car and I'm hoping it doesn't change dramatically considering the same engine and similar value.

If the car needs to be added, will it take long?

cplwhisper

DaveyDave wrote: »

Hi all, didn't see this in the FAQ on the main post.

I'm picking up a new car next week. I just got the reg but it isn't showing up online for quotes, I'm assuming because it's new, dealer just got it Friday. If I call insurance crowds on Monday, should it show up for them?

Also, the spec of my car isn't showing up on any quotes but they all seem to have the UK equivalent. Will this be an issue for me? I have a ballpark figure of the car and I'm hoping it doesn't change dramatically considering the same engine and similar value.

If the car needs to be added, will it take long?

You’ll need the full title of car that would be on the VLC.

Newer smaller cc cars have larger Bhp output so what may look an obvious straight swap may not

Wish you many Smiles-per-gallon

DaveyDave

cplwhisper wrote: »

You’ll need the full title of car that would be on the VLC.

Newer smaller cc cars have larger Bhp output so what may look an obvious straight swap may not

Wish you many Smiles-per-gallon

I'll call the dealer tomorrow, he was supposed to email me the details but never did. The engine on the UK spec one is the exact same engine as the one here though so there shouldn't be any difference. I'm just concerned about the car not being on the system. The 1.0 is a new engine, but they have the UK models listed. I just want to be able to pick the car up on Wednesday if I call the insurance company on Monday...

hashbones

Looking for a bit of advice/information regarding a recent claim made due to a car accident i was involved in.

I was involved in a car accident last month and i have recieved no blame. However while the fault was pending i was forced to pay 1100 euro excess to the repair shop to get my car back.

Both myself and the other party involved in the accident happen to be insured by the same company. I was wondering how do i go about getting the 1100 euro back. Talking to the claims handler after the accident i was told "they would do their best to get the 1100 excess back if i wasn't found liable".

This doesn't sound a sure thing so just wondering does anybody have any experience in this regard

Sue Pa Key Pa

If the other party are deemed to be liable, they are obliged to pay you your "uninsured losses" and the policy excess falls into that category. It is irrelevant that you are both with the same insurer. It is essential that liability is decided in your favour.

As a side issue, €1,100 seems an odd figure for an excess.

hashbones

Sue Pa Key Pa wrote: »

If the other party are deemed to be liable, they are obliged to pay you your "uninsured losses" and the policy excess falls into that category. It is irrelevant that you are both with the same insurer. It is essential that liability is decided in your favour.

As a side issue, €1,100 seems an odd figure for an excess.

Ok so does the 1100 come out of the other partys insurance or do i have to chase this person for 1100 of their own money?

In regards to the excess unfortunately i increased the vouluntary portion of the excess to 550 to lower the premium and there was a mandatory of 550

ullu

Is there anything enshrined in case law regarding uninsured losses and excesses specifically?

I used to deal with recoveries in motor cases myself. While 99.9% of cases where liability was resolved in our favour saw full reimbursement of the excess, there were one or two where the excess was not reimbursed by the third party insurer. It has been a while but I think they were UK based. In any case, I remember referring the matter to a couple of senior colleagues who said excess reimbursement is actually discretionary but most/all companies do it anyway because it's fair practice and it would probably cause uproar among customers if it wasn't done.

Uninsured losses also need to be reasonable and vouched for so it's not guaranteed that you'll get back 100% of what you paid. At the extreme end, I had plenty of cases where people hired something like an S class when their Corolla was in the garage and assumed it would be covered without question. Also had a case where the claimant expected us to pay high end restaurant bills because they couldn't get to the shops to buy groceries without a car. This was despite their home address being less than 200 metres from a Tesco. There definitely seemed to be a misconception among a lot of customers that their uninsured losses would effectively be dealt with by a blank cheque.

hashbones

Thanks for the information. Literally just got the email today after work informing me of the result of the liabilty so i havnt had an opprotunity to talk to the insurer to find out anything further.

Sue Pa Key Pa

Ullu, you've explained it well. I don't imagine a scenario where you wouldn't get your excess back. You cannot be financially disadvantaged by the negligence of another. If the OK had a repair bill e.g. of €10k, that will be the recovery amount due by the 3rd party. It doesn't matter if it is €8,900 back to the OP's insurer and €1,100 to the insured for his excess or €9,500 back to an insurer and €500 excess back to a policyholder if that is the case

Muahahaha

Can anyone recommend a company/broker for a quote in my situation- full license 10yrs but havent had a car insurance policy since 2013. Have 7+ years NCB on a motorbike but insurance companies done seem to count this as experience so I am starting from scratch. Allianz quoted me 1,600 to insure a 1.6 which is crazy. Last time I was insured I was paying about 500 a year.

RenewalDiary

Would people be happy to share where they got the best value and some information so others can filter a leaderboard for people like themselves?

Renewal Diary is looking for people to tell each other where they got the best value for any insurance, phone plans, streaming services, utilities that renew.

We are just starting off but if you could tell us where you went for your car or home insurance that would be appreciated.

Masala

RenewalDiary wrote: »

Would people be happy to share where they got the best value and some information so others can filter a leaderboard for people like themselves?

Renewal Diary is looking for people to tell each other where they got the best value for any insurance, phone plans, streaming services, utilities that renew.

We are just starting off but if you could tell us where you went for your car or home insurance that would be appreciated.

Any link??????..