Why does Ins co hang back from paying out
Discussion
Back in June I was ran into head on, writing off my 12 month old Clio.
The other driver admitted it was 100% his fault at the scene to police officers, backed up by witness statements from drivers behind him. He has since been on a driver improvement course and the police have closed the matter. His Ins co accepted liability to my Ins co but have refused to respond to about paying for damage etc
On Dec 2nd my Ins co told me they are now submitting the case to the courts to progress it on from there. Why would his Ins co be hanging back ? Surely by going to court on a already admitted fault is going to hit them with more expense, court costs etc.
I am around £3k out of pocket through loss of earnings and extra expense of acquiring a new car and things so this is really annoying
The other driver admitted it was 100% his fault at the scene to police officers, backed up by witness statements from drivers behind him. He has since been on a driver improvement course and the police have closed the matter. His Ins co accepted liability to my Ins co but have refused to respond to about paying for damage etc
On Dec 2nd my Ins co told me they are now submitting the case to the courts to progress it on from there. Why would his Ins co be hanging back ? Surely by going to court on a already admitted fault is going to hit them with more expense, court costs etc.
I am around £3k out of pocket through loss of earnings and extra expense of acquiring a new car and things so this is really annoying
Edited by TOPTON on Friday 20th October 10:20
TooMany2cvs said:
TOPTON said:
I am around £3k out of pocket through loss of earnings and extra expense of acquiring a new car and things so this is really annoying
I wonder if that's why they're refusing to settle - because they think the out-of-pocket is high.My Ins co have said apart from accepting liability they haven't even answered communication, never mind disputing the amount
I lease my cars direct from Renault. I claimed through my own insurance and they have paid Renault the write off value and for the hire car I had a month, so they are also waiting for the other Ins co to pay them back too.
I was told my loss of earnings and other expenses have to be claimed from the third part Ins co and not my own. I'm guessing the overall claim to the other Ins co is around £15k. Everything is listed and with receipts so they can't really argue against it, but are still dragging their feet.
I was told my loss of earnings and other expenses have to be claimed from the third part Ins co and not my own. I'm guessing the overall claim to the other Ins co is around £15k. Everything is listed and with receipts so they can't really argue against it, but are still dragging their feet.
elanfan said:
OP - it sounds like your insurers are only looking after suing for their own losses - is that right? If so you need to make a formal claim on the third party which you should invite him to pass to his insurers. You need a full record and receipts of your out of pocket expenses. The injury part of your claim will likely mean they will ask for access to your medical records or appoint their own medical practioner to produce a report for them. If none of this has been submitted or asked for you'll be waiting a long time as it looks as if no third party loss/injury claim has been made.
My Ins co put me in touch with a firm of solicitors they use. All paperwork was given to them back in July when they contacted the guy's insurance. My medical records and a follow up appointment with an independent Doctor were all submitted. They admitted liability but have given zero response since. So there is my Ins co and my solicitor's company waiting for payments 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
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.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff