Insurance company slow to confirm liability

Jim_bop

Hi,

Someone ran into my car along with a number of others, which were all parked, almost 3 months ago. I claimed of my own insurance and hope to recover off the 3rd party who was at fault. Now, the person hasn't admitted liability but the guards have completed their investigations and plan to take a criminal case against the driver. His insurance company, same as mine, are telling me that no abstract report has been sent in so liability can't be established and I've read that it is likely that the abstract report won't be sent in till after the court case which could be a year away. The insurance sent out their own investigator and my fear is that they will try to push it to MIBI. As it stands, I'm looking at a serious hike in premium through no fault of my own. What are my options? The investing garda said liability establishment should be very straight forward.

Thanks in advance.

Eggs For Dinner

There's nothing you can do. You have been indemnified by your insurers under the terms of your contract and the right of recovery passes over to them. They are under no obligation to even attempt recovery, but all of them do as a matter of course where there is a reasonable chance of success.

The only thing you are entitled to do is take an action for your "uninsured losses", such as your policy excess, car hire, incurred additional expenses, injuries etc. There is no point in you taking action privately if your insurer is still trying to establish liability

If they succeed in gaining an admission of liability from the other insurer, they will usually tag on your uninsured losses to their recovery (excluding injury), if you send them in your paperwork

BTW, if there is an insurance policy in place for the 3rd party, it's not going to the MIBI

Jim_bop

Thanks Eggs For Dinner,

Can I also claim for the loading on my policy renewal premium?

The 3rd party is insured so if it can't go to MIBI, why is the insurance company dragging its heals? Especially as the 3rd party and I have the same insurance company and as all cars were legally parked, shouldn't rational thinking prevail?

Eggs For Dinner

If your policy is loaded and the other party eventually found fully liable, then your insurer will refund you. If your car was parked, it's very odd to be slow to resolve. Must be more to it. I know you say you're both with the same insurer, but it will be dealt with as if you weren't. Must be more to it

Jim_bop

That's what I'm starting to think alright, the insurance company sent out their own investigator and the insurance person I spoke to last week loosely alluded to there being something. I thought before I posted this that they may be seeking to pass it to MIBI through some non disclosure breech etc. but if that can't be the case, is there anyway I can find out what's going on and what can I expect will happen? I'm going to email the superintendent but I doubt I'll get much joy there.

Eggs For Dinner

If the other party is liable, their policy has to pay a 3rd party, even is there has been a breach of policy conditions. The only reason they could be dragging this on over liability is in case there is someone out there who might be claiming for an injury

Jim_bop

All cars were empty, he got a bit of a bump on the head himself but was home the next day so all good I think.

Is it standard practice for the Gardaí to hold an abstract report till after the criminal court case has taken place (for dangerous driving or something similar I'm guessing) - just wondering?

Would the ombudsmen be of any use to move this along?

Eggs For Dinner

You need to go through the complaints procedure with the insurer before you can go to the Ombudsman

This is very strange. If there is no doubt that you were parked and if there is no doubt that the other car is the one that hit you, there should be no reason liability is found in your favour. Now if they have a problem with their driver and cover, they might be relying on the Garda abstract to decide what action they will take against him. That shouldn't affect you.

Push it up the food chain and ask them to log it as an official complaint and get that process going

Jim_bop

Thanks Eggs For Dinner for giving your time to this thread, really appreciated!

I will check in to the complaints procedure tomorrow. Something is off but I don't know what.

Crunchymomma

Jim_bop wrote: »

All cars were empty, he got a bit of a bump on the head himself but was home the next day so all good I think.

Is it standard practice for the Gardaí to hold an abstract report till after the criminal court case has taken place (for dangerous driving or something similar I'm guessing) - just wondering?

Would the ombudsmen be of any use to move this along?

Abstract definitely cannot be issued until court in finalised

Jim_bop

Allianz came to its senses and recovered off the third party. The court case and the abstract report they were waiting for never materialised, as the third party had moved property with no forwarding address so the guards couldn't find them to issue a summons. As everyone on here and An Garda and my solicitor said, there was absolutely no reason why this couldn't have been sorted months ago. I'm lucky in that my renewal hadn't come around but others whom were impacted had to pay a few hundred extra in premium renewals.

Can't say I'm impressed with the insurance company, although I'm lead to believe that this behavior is common across the board.

One final question, trying to claim for uninsured loss but I'm being told the car is over 3 years so no joy? This also seems unreasonable, what options do I have here?

Eggs For Dinner

I think you are referring to depreciation, which is only one aspect of uninsured losses. Uninsured losses generally are financial costs incurred in addition to your repairs. These include car hire, your policy excess which may have been deducted and depreciation. Depreciation is calculated as a % of your repair bill on a sliding scale based on the age of the vehicle. It is rarely given on older cars

Jim_bop

Thanks Eggs For Dinne,

You are right, I was referring to depreciation. Looks like I'd be wasting my time pursuing it, so I think I will leave it be. Annoying as I had paid 12k for the car 8 weeks prior, however, I did get my excess back so at least that.