Open claim - am I screwed?

DrPhilG

Had an accident this year, reversed into another car in a car park.

My fault, fair enough.

Unsurprisingly she has entered a personal injury claim. I personally think the claim is completely BS but that's tough luck. Such is life.

Anyway, it's been 8 months and the claim is still not settled. I've been in touch with my insurance company a few times and they keep telling me that they're in discussion with the other party's solicitor but nothing has yet been settled.

It bugs me that someone is going to walk away with a big profit from this, but my main issue is that because I have an open claim, I am prevented from changing insurance company when my renewal comes up.

Everyone I speak to these days is reporting that their premium has gone up drastically, but that after shopping around and haggling they have been able to match or better their previous price.

I am not able to shop around or haggle because of this nonsense. And it could easily drag on another year so I'll get stung next year too!

Is there nothing I can do? Why am I tied to the insurance company?

Skatedude

It's not even that the claim is against you. Once there is a claim in progress you are blocked from even getting a quote of any insurance company.

I got rear ended, so there was a claim from me on their insurance as they admitted complete liability, absolutely no claim on my policy, but i was still blocked from getting a quote on a replacement car for almost a year until i settled for 1/3 the value of my car. completely stupid system.

You are stuck with your current policy till it's all done.

DrPhilG

Thanks, as I feared then.

Is there any time limit on the other party? I know there is a limit for them to open a claim, but now that it's open they can just take as long as they want?

It could quite conceivably be my next 2 renewals before its done then. My insurance last year was €500. I had step back protection but I can see them billing me a grand because they know full well that I'm stuck with it.

Is there anything to prevent them doing that? I mean in theory they could turn around and give me a renewal of €5k because they know I'm not in a position to argue.

There must be some regulator who would prevent that?

Atlantic Dawn

You might be lucky enough for her case to be struck out for fraud and her name be plastered all over the media like similar cases recently.

DrPhilG

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

You might be lucky enough for her case to be struck out for fraud and her name be plastered all over the media like similar cases recently.

God I'd love that...

Don't want to say too much on a public forum but the other party is a work colleague of a friend and I know enough about them to know that they're full of crap.

Not enough to stand up in court of course....

Dero

As a matter of interest, what sort of car park reversing incident could possibly cause any sort of significant injury? I could be way off, but I'm imagining you hitting a stationary car while reserving in/out of a space.

My point is, if it was something like that, how could anyone take her claim seriously?

And apologies for the derail, just curious...

ASOT

Dero wrote: »

As a matter of interest, what sort of car park reversing incident could possibly cause any sort of significant injury? I could be way off, but I'm imagining you hitting a stationary car while reserving in/out of a space.

My point is, if it was something like that, how could anyone take her claim seriously?

And apologies for the derail, just curious...

Because it's Ireland and we pay out 1000s and 1000s for minor incidents.

Dero

ASOT wrote: »

Because it's Ireland and we pay out 1000s and 1000s for minor incidents.

Yep, that's what I was getting at. It boggles the mind some of the claims that are taken seriously, even by judges/solicitors. More people need to be laughed at when trying it on.

And yes, of course there are genuine cases, even some wouldn't initially appear so, but some are clearly chancers.

Jesus.

With the greatest of respect Dr Phil you somehow managed to reverse into a stationary car in a carpark. How in the hell did you manage to do that?

salamanca22

It is important to realise a person who has been injured in a car crash will be examined by doctors on both their end and the end of the insurance company that is being claimed against. The human body is very fragile and very susceptible to soft tissue injuries in the extremities and neck (Whiplash) Because you cannot see these injuries people tend to call the injured party out on faking their injuries. This is not right and can lead to stress on the injured party. You have insurance, they know how to handle it and if there is a fraudulent claim they will take care of it.

It takes a very little amount of acceleration to cause whiplash. What happens when a car is hit the car will jolt in the direction of the force being exerted on causing everything inside it to also jolt, the problem occurs when extremities which are not fixed in place like the torso is (via the seat and seat belts) don't move as fast and are hyperextended causing the injury. This can happen at very low speeds and it does, all the time.

Only the doctors can tell though what the actual extent of the injury is though, we can talk about it all night here and that fact won't change.

BMJD

^^^Lionel Hutz^^^

salamanca22

BMJD wrote: »

^^^Lionel Hutz^^^

http://www.splittinghairs.org/simpsons-reference/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/vlcsnap-2012-11-15-17h08m49s203.png

Jesus.

salamanca22 wrote: »

It is important to realise a person who has been injured in a car crash will be examined by doctors on both their end and the end of the insurance company that is being claimed against. The human body is very fragile and very susceptible to soft tissue injuries in the extremities and neck (Whiplash) Because you cannot see these injuries people tend to call the injured party out on faking their injuries. This is not right and can lead to stress on the injured party. You have insurance, they know how to handle it and if there is a fraudulent claim they will take care of it. It takes a very little amount of acceleration to cause whiplash. What happens when a car is hit the car will jolt in the direction of the force being exerted on causing everything inside it to also jolt, the problem occurs when extremities which are not fixed in place like the torso is (via the seat and seat belts) don't move as fast and are hyperextended causing the injury. This can happen at very low speeds and it does, all the time.Only the doctors can tell though what the actual extent of the injury is though, we can talk about it all night here and that fact won't change.

lol!

Korat

salamanca22 wrote: »

Only the doctors can tell though what the actual extent of the injury is though, we can talk about it all night here and that fact won't change.

If that were true there'd be no bogus injury claims.

If you describe the right symptoms an honest doctor will certify you for a fake soft tissue injury.

These injuries are usually once in a life-time. A public register of injury claims through the courts would make it easier for honest citizens to see if they're the victim of a fake injury scam by serial claimants.

hi5

Skatedude wrote: »

It's not even that the claim is against you. Once there is a claim in progress you are blocked from even getting a quote of any insurance company.

I got rear ended, so there was a claim from me on their insurance as they admitted complete liability, absolutely no claim on my policy, but i was still blocked from getting a quote on a replacement car for almost a year until i settled for 1/3 the value of my car. completely stupid system.

You are stuck with your current policy till it's all done.

You could shop around anyway and if you could potentially get a much cheaper quote ask them to match it. If they won't then when all the claims are settled you demand the difference back off your next premium.
They'll laugh at you of course, but at least it would expose the scam for what it is.

DrPhilG

The other person wasn't stationary. I drove into the car park, turned left, but then reversed past the entrance to the car park (foolishly) they drove in as I reversed.

Speed was minimal, as was the damage.

I fully understand that even a small knock can cause injury but as I say, I know of this person by others who know them to know that they are at least exaggerating the injury and at worst completely fabricating it.

That is not the question here though. Whether the injury is real or fake, the insurance company will still pay out.

My worry is that I will be punished twice. Pay the insurance excess and take a premium bump, but also I will likely be hit with a freeze on being able to shop around at least once and maybe twice which will probably cost me a few hundred € each time.

Kristopherus

DrPhilG wrote: »

The other person wasn't stationary. I drove into the car park, turned left, but then reversed past the entrance to the car park (foolishly) they drove in as I reversed.

Speed was minimal, as was the damage.

I fully understand that even a small knock can cause injury but as I say, I know of this person by others who know them to know that they are at least exaggerating the injury and at worst completely fabricating it.

That is not the question here though. Whether the injury is real or fake, the insurance company will still pay out.

My worry is that I will be punished twice. Pay the insurance excess and take a premium bump, but also I will likely be hit with a freeze on being able to shop around at least once and maybe twice which will probably cost me a few hundred € each time.

Has the injured party been off work with that injury?

DrPhilG

Kristopherus wrote: »

Has the injured party been off work with that injury?

No

Skatedude

hi5 wrote: »

You could shop around anyway and if you could potentially get a much cheaper quote ask them to match it. If they won't then when all the claims are settled you demand the difference back off your next premium.
They'll laugh at you of course, but at least it would expose the scam for what it is.

I pay 400 a year for my 97 bmw 8 series 4.4L Dont think i'll find any cheaper And the claim is settled as i lost the free storage area i was keeping the damaged car in for months so i would have to rent storage to keep my damaged car any longer and that made it unfeasible to wait , otherwise i would have let the solicitor go at them for years as it was no win, no fee solicitor.

Think the main issue was that we were both with the same insurance company, so no gain for them.