Paying back insurance

wayne72

Heres a strange question. A few years ago i had a car accident and 2 days later i went to work abroad without giving it much thought. Now i've come home to find that with planning the move i'd let my insurance lapse (stupidly i know).:o

Can i deal directly with the other insurance company to settle the outstanding bill so it doesn't stay on my record as unresolved or am i screwed. I'd also be more than happy to pay any excess the other driver suffered from my stupidity.

Any advice welcome but no need to berate me i know it was stupid and i'll make sure it doesn't happen again.

djimi

So you were uninsured at the time of the accident?

dh0011

Best advice would be to get proper legal advice. You have broken the law by not being insured. You may be in line for a driving ban when the accident is reported to the gardai.

wayne72

Yes i was uninsured.

I appreciate i broke the law and am very ashamed of that,I'm not sure if it was reported to the gard and i really don't want to phone up the gard and ask in case it wasn't and it opens a can of worms. Can a driving ban be implemented now i've returned?

Has anyone dealt directly with an insurance company before to settle a claim?

djimi

Unfortuantely you had an accident while uninsured and then (as far as it looks) you fled the country for five years. I cant see there not being consequences to your actions. Does the other party in the accident have your details?

wayne72

Yes i gave them to them at the time. I do understand that i'm likely to end up in trouble.

Is there anyway i can minimise the damage by dealing with the outstanding cost of repairs? Will the insurance company even deal with me if i offer to repay costs?

ironclaw

You need proper legal advice, but I would imagine there are statue limitations for reporting the accident i.e. You can't show up at a Garda station X amount of years after and report the accident. If the other party did report it at the time and started a claim, there might be some trouble ahead if you couldn't be found.

MugMugs

wayne72 wrote: »

Yes i gave them to them at the time. I do understand that i'm likely to end up in trouble.

Is there anyway i can minimise the damage by dealing with the outstanding cost of repairs? Will the insurance company even deal with me if i offer to repay costs?

If the other side made a claim then your last insurer would have probably dealt with it. If it's still running then the costs will be huge how long ago are we talking?

wayne72

3 years october, as far as i know my insurance just said i wasn't covered .:o

I know it was stupid and i only have myself to blame but now i'm trying to put things right.

Guy:Incognito

ironclaw wrote: »

I would imagine there are statue limitations for reporting the accident .

If he gets planning he can probably make it as big as he likes.

MugMugs

wayne72 wrote: »

3 years october, as far as i know my insurance just said i wasn't covered .:o

I know it was stupid and i only have myself to blame but now i'm trying to put things right.

Can we ascertain a few facts here?

Did the other party intimate a claim (to your knowledge) for the damage that you caused to them?

Did your insurer ever send you any correspondence about a claim?

Did the other side ever send you any correspondence?

wayne72

MugMugs wrote: »

Can we ascertain a few facts here?

Did the other party intimate a claim (to your knowledge) for the damage that you caused to them?

Yes they did as far as i know.

Did your insurer ever send you any correspondence about a claim?

No nothing i received but as i said i was out of the country so mail could have been sent and i just didn't get it.

Did the other side ever send you any correspondence?

Again not that i received.

But there must be something on file for the insurance to have picked it up.

MugMugs

wayne72 wrote: »

Again not that i received.

But there must be something on file for the insurance to have picked it up.

Okay, I am just trying to get a handle on what happened here.

wayne72 wrote: »

3 years october, as far as i know my insurance just said i wasn't covered .:o

If nothing was ever received, how do you know that they declined your claim?

As it stands, the only thing that you can do at this stage is to call the Insurer that you were insured with BEFORE the accident and speak to them.

Dig out your policy information and obtain details of any claims made against that policy.

Once you do that, then you'll have an idea where the land lays with respect to a claim being made against you.

If it has been settled, it due to the amount of time that has lapsed it is unlikely you will be able to pay it back.

wayne72

MugMugs wrote: »

Okay, I am just trying to get a handle on what happened here.


If nothing was ever received, how do you know that they declined your claim?

Because when i went to get insurance on my return the insurance company said there was an unresolved claim against me. This was the only thing it could have been and when they checked the dates of my last insurance i realised it had lapsed before i went away.

As it stands, the only thing that you can do at this stage is to call the Insurer that you were insured with BEFORE the accident and speak to them.

Dig out your policy information and obtain details of any claims made against that policy.

Once you do that, then you'll have an idea where the land lays with respect to a claim being made against you.

If it has been settled, it due to the amount of time that has lapsed it is unlikely you will be able to pay it back.

Ok thanks, I just wanted to settle it and put things right.

MugMugs

wayne72 wrote: »

Ok thanks, I just wanted to settle it and put things right.

Okay, it's starting to make a bit of sense now so.

Right, so you've spoken to them and they have confirmed that a claim exists against your policy. Irrespective of it being lapsed or not, the MIBI would have called on them to deal with the claim as Insurer Concerned.

If it is running three years then it's going to be expensive. Injury, damage and legal costs are going to be high. You could be looking at up to 20k variant on what's being claimed for.

wayne72

MugMugs wrote: »

Okay, it's starting to make a bit of sense now so.

Right, so you've spoken to them and they have confirmed that a claim exists against your policy. Irrespective of it being lapsed or not, the MIBI would have called on them to deal with the claim as Insurer Concerned.

If it is running three years then it's going to be expensive. Injury, damage and legal costs are going to be high. You could be looking at up to 20k variant on what's being claimed for.

Thanks.

Ouch that's a lot. There was no injury as it was an unoccupied parked car but even without that it'll be a lot. I am glad they would have been paid though.

Why would my lapsed insurance be told to pay it?

MugMugs

wayne72 wrote: »

Thanks.

Ouch that's a lot. There was no injury as it was an unoccupied parked car but even without that it'll be a lot. I am glad they would have been paid though.

Why would my lapsed insurance be told to pay it?

Well then it would be value of repairs or the vehicle only and would most likely be already settled.

They'd be instructed (if the other guy didn't have comp cover) to deal with his claim as Insurer Concerned and act as an agent for them.

It's generally the last known insurer that has to do this.