Why does Ins co hang back from paying out
Discussion
It doesn't work like that in regards to personal injury.
If the accident happened in either England or Wales it follows the MOJ protocol which gives a set period once medical evidence has been submitted to an offer being made.
If its Scotland or Northern Ireland there are similar protocols - it would follow the voluntary protocol in Scotland and the pre-action protocol in Northern Ireland which means nothing as most solicitors make up the rules as they go along.
Either way - OP - you should have had an offer by now?
If the accident happened in either England or Wales it follows the MOJ protocol which gives a set period once medical evidence has been submitted to an offer being made.
If its Scotland or Northern Ireland there are similar protocols - it would follow the voluntary protocol in Scotland and the pre-action protocol in Northern Ireland which means nothing as most solicitors make up the rules as they go along.
Either way - OP - you should have had an offer by now?
I've been reading through the MoJ protocol pages, It doesn't make a lot of sense to me as far as time scales are concerned.
To recap-----
August-September time my Ins co/solicitor said they have submitted all the relevant paperwork to third party Ins co who had previously admitted liability. They then told me that they have until Dec 2nd to respond, if they haven't by that date then it will all be submitted to the court system.
January-----I rang my solicitors to be told that everything was submitted to the courts and are waiting for a response from them.
February----I rang again to be told there is no change and these things take time.
So as far as I am aware now, it is waiting for a court date. This doesn't sound right as I thought the MoJ protocol was set up to speed things up and stop this happening. Going to ring solicitors this afternoon to see if anything has changed
To recap-----
August-September time my Ins co/solicitor said they have submitted all the relevant paperwork to third party Ins co who had previously admitted liability. They then told me that they have until Dec 2nd to respond, if they haven't by that date then it will all be submitted to the court system.
January-----I rang my solicitors to be told that everything was submitted to the courts and are waiting for a response from them.
February----I rang again to be told there is no change and these things take time.
So as far as I am aware now, it is waiting for a court date. This doesn't sound right as I thought the MoJ protocol was set up to speed things up and stop this happening. Going to ring solicitors this afternoon to see if anything has changed
So the claim against the TP is for;
Write off value of the car - payable back to your insurers
Loss of earnings - payable to you
Hire car - payable to the hire company or you mention your insurers have paid this already - presumably in that case you had a policy that guaranteed you a replacement if your dual control was off the road following an accident regardless of liability?
Personal injury - payable to you
Policy excess(?) - payable to you.
My guess is the at-fault insurers are playing the system and the court diary backlogs. If everything is fully quantified then your solicitors (assisting with the recovery of your insurers paid losses and your uninsured losses) could/should have issued proceedings by now to speed up the process. Have they done so? If not, then I'm not surprised that the at-fault insurers are dragging their feet. Once issued the file goes from the desk of the insurance claims handler to their preferred law firm for something to be done about it. £15k in the at-fault insurers bank is better than £15k spread across yours and your insurers bank accounts.
edited: to add it looks from re-reading what you wrote that proceedings have now been issued. The Solicitors should have sent a copy of the claim form to you outlining your heads of claim and value. AFAIK you should have signed this after reading and agreeing it.
Write off value of the car - payable back to your insurers
Loss of earnings - payable to you
Hire car - payable to the hire company or you mention your insurers have paid this already - presumably in that case you had a policy that guaranteed you a replacement if your dual control was off the road following an accident regardless of liability?
Personal injury - payable to you
Policy excess(?) - payable to you.
My guess is the at-fault insurers are playing the system and the court diary backlogs. If everything is fully quantified then your solicitors (assisting with the recovery of your insurers paid losses and your uninsured losses) could/should have issued proceedings by now to speed up the process. Have they done so? If not, then I'm not surprised that the at-fault insurers are dragging their feet. Once issued the file goes from the desk of the insurance claims handler to their preferred law firm for something to be done about it. £15k in the at-fault insurers bank is better than £15k spread across yours and your insurers bank accounts.
edited: to add it looks from re-reading what you wrote that proceedings have now been issued. The Solicitors should have sent a copy of the claim form to you outlining your heads of claim and value. AFAIK you should have signed this after reading and agreeing it.
Edited by anniesdad on Tuesday 7th March 23:22
anniesdad said:
So the claim against the TP is for;
Write off value of the car - payable back to your insurers
Loss of earnings - payable to you
Hire car - payable to the hire company or you mention your insurers have paid this already - presumably in that case you had a policy that guaranteed you a replacement if your dual control was off the road following an accident regardless of liability?
Personal injury - payable to you
Policy excess(?) - payable to you.
My guess is the at-fault insurers are playing the system and the court diary backlogs. If everything is fully quantified then your solicitors (assisting with the recovery of your insurers paid losses and your uninsured losses) could/should have issued proceedings by now to speed up the process. Have they done so? If not, then I'm not surprised that the at-fault insurers are dragging their feet. Once issued the file goes from the desk of the insurance claims handler to their preferred law firm for something to be done about it. £15k in the at-fault insurers bank is better than £15k spread across yours and your insurers bank accounts.
edited: to add it looks from re-reading what you wrote that proceedings have now been issued. The Solicitors should have sent a copy of the claim form to you outlining your heads of claim and value. AFAIK you should have signed this after reading and agreeing it.
That about sums it all up. I have agreed to and signed all relevant documents months ago.Write off value of the car - payable back to your insurers
Loss of earnings - payable to you
Hire car - payable to the hire company or you mention your insurers have paid this already - presumably in that case you had a policy that guaranteed you a replacement if your dual control was off the road following an accident regardless of liability?
Personal injury - payable to you
Policy excess(?) - payable to you.
My guess is the at-fault insurers are playing the system and the court diary backlogs. If everything is fully quantified then your solicitors (assisting with the recovery of your insurers paid losses and your uninsured losses) could/should have issued proceedings by now to speed up the process. Have they done so? If not, then I'm not surprised that the at-fault insurers are dragging their feet. Once issued the file goes from the desk of the insurance claims handler to their preferred law firm for something to be done about it. £15k in the at-fault insurers bank is better than £15k spread across yours and your insurers bank accounts.
edited: to add it looks from re-reading what you wrote that proceedings have now been issued. The Solicitors should have sent a copy of the claim form to you outlining your heads of claim and value. AFAIK you should have signed this after reading and agreeing it.
Edited by anniesdad on Tuesday 7th March 23:22
I've spoken to my solicitors and they said that they have all the information needed apart from the at fault drivers address. They have his name, reg number, policy number and admitted liability details from his Ins Co. They instigated court proceedings on Dec 2nd apparently, but it cannot proceed any further until his Ins Co give them this info, why I don't know.
This morning I rang his Ins Co to try and push them along and give the extra info to my solicitors. They were very cagey as expected and told me nothing but when I rang my solicitors back they said they now have all that is needed.
Update time-- yes, this is still going on
Months ago I got a letter from my solicitors with an offer of £x's from the third party insurance. My solicitors said this offer was well below what they would expect and didn't even cover the price of the written off car, never mind anything else. They strongly recommended I turn it down and proceed with court action. So I did just that.
Apparently, working with the law, every letter written to the defendant, they have at least 30 days to respond and the 3rd party are taking full advantage of that. I asked my solicitors what the other party's reasons for non payment were and it seems they are disputing everything, no reasons given, just saying no, not paying that
-my policy excess
-hire car cost
-write off value (I thought what Renault were happy with was extremely low)
-my loss of earnings, including other monetary losses caused purely because of the crash
-my injuries (apparently they weren't caused by the accident)
I don't know how it can be disputed, using my excess as an example. That figure is fact, £150 I paid out.
So the case has been set for my local court on the--------------------------12 March 2018. I have to appear too, not sure what this will achieve but I have no choice.
IF THIS IS TOO MUCH INFORMATION FOR AN ON GOING CASE, LET ME KNOW AND THE MODS CAN DELETE IT.
Months ago I got a letter from my solicitors with an offer of £x's from the third party insurance. My solicitors said this offer was well below what they would expect and didn't even cover the price of the written off car, never mind anything else. They strongly recommended I turn it down and proceed with court action. So I did just that.
Apparently, working with the law, every letter written to the defendant, they have at least 30 days to respond and the 3rd party are taking full advantage of that. I asked my solicitors what the other party's reasons for non payment were and it seems they are disputing everything, no reasons given, just saying no, not paying that
-my policy excess
-hire car cost
-write off value (I thought what Renault were happy with was extremely low)
-my loss of earnings, including other monetary losses caused purely because of the crash
-my injuries (apparently they weren't caused by the accident)
I don't know how it can be disputed, using my excess as an example. That figure is fact, £150 I paid out.
So the case has been set for my local court on the--------------------------12 March 2018. I have to appear too, not sure what this will achieve but I have no choice.
IF THIS IS TOO MUCH INFORMATION FOR AN ON GOING CASE, LET ME KNOW AND THE MODS CAN DELETE IT.
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