Highest insurance payout?

[Andehh]

What the highest insurance payout anyone has ever heard of? I was thinking that say a double decker coach (one of those 60+ seater ones) full of children was (god forbid) involved in an accident caused by someone driving a very small, very cheap car paying next to nothing for their insurance. Say (again, god forbid) that a couple dozen+ (all?) of the children were rendered disabled/in need of life long care...what stops the insurance company from being rendered bankrupt by one massive insurance payout for potential 100s of millions of pounds over a long period of time?

I know its a horrible thought, but this is bound to have happened at some point & was wondering if the insurance companies ever have a cut off point (I know I am covered by £20million this and £10million that fort various accidents/injuries I might sustain in an accident) for when the potential payout could render them bankrupt.

[Davey S2]

Well this is a cheery topic!

Your example is different as it would be covered by the operators public liability cover not standard motor insurance.

[Andehh]

I know, slightly morbid but my curiosity does tend to swing that way now & then!


Even if the car directly caused the accident, ie driving the wrong way down the road?

[DavidHM]

Operator has no public liability if the accident is caused by the negligence of a third party.

Simple answer is that this is what reinsurance is for and the whole Lloyds market. Don't forget that a hurricane, earthquake etc. can cause a claim to reach the billions.

[Animal]

WTC - $4.55bn?

[hairyben]

Animal said:

WTC - $4.55bn?

Wasn't it over-insured for 7 billion odd a few weeks before a certain date?

[ZOLLAR]

If your talking specifically about car accidents, then a third party is covered to an unlimited amount (the 20 million you refer to I believe is damage to property not people) insurers pay a lot of attention to what's called "risk of association" basically it means if an insurer insures say a sports coach they have to check to see what sport and who they train because if they train say david beckham and he's a passenger in the car of the policyholder during an accident and say loses a leg the insurer has to pay his "potential earnings" for the rest of his life and as you can imagine that's huge! I've seen claims in the millions simply due to a disability and the need to pay for care for the rest of the third parties life ( sorry for lack of paragraphs doing this on my phone!)

[Stu - B]

Highest insurance payout I ever dealt with was a Porsche 911 driver I insured who hit an American dentist and his wife who were crossing a road in London, but looking the wrong way as we obviously drive on the other side of the road. Claim £530K.

NB: I obviously acknowledge that my client was at fault!

Edited by Stu - B on Thursday 21st January 18:24

[paul26982]

someone i know was knocked of his bike and paralised weaist down for life by a AA van driver, got 1.1m

[sniff diesel]

Wasn't this one about £50 million?:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selby_rail_crash

[Magog]

I seem to remember hearing that the insurers footed the bill for the selby (train) crash... that must have been a big payout. Ten people dead, two trains destroyed, mainline rail route closed for a significant amount of time.

[Stu - B]

Train crash insurers were Fortis.

[AndrewW-G]

If you mean Car insurance payout, for the metal bits, Charles Brockets little escapade with an angle grinder (pre arrest)would have to be fairly high on the list

[Magog]

There's an article here about the Ufton Nervert Crash. Sounds like it was probably covered by the MIB, gives the cost of the Selby Payout as £30 million.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2004/nov/10/ufton....

[pinchmeimdreamin]

hairyben said:

Animal said:

WTC - $4.55bn?

Wasn't it over-insured for 7 billion odd a few weeks before a certain date?

So you think it was a dodgy insurance claim

[eltax91]

pinchmeimdreamin said:

hairyben said:

Animal said:

WTC - $4.55bn?

Wasn't it over-insured for 7 billion odd a few weeks before a certain date?

So you think it was a dodgy insurance claim

I used to work for the broker who insured the towers. Only 1 was insured, as it was expected the there was very very little chance that both could be destroyed. The US government paid out on everything in 1 tower.

[Noger]

Magog said:

There's an article here about the Ufton Nervert Crash. Sounds like it was probably covered by the MIB, gives the cost of the Selby Payout as £30 million.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2004/nov/10/ufton....

Total reserve on Selby was about £50m, with £30m incurred so far. The claim isn't closed and they continue to pay out.

Due to the wonders of reinsurance it doesn't really matter to Fortis anymore, once it had passed the £1.5m limit, it was all Munich Re's money they were spending.

[flemke]

hairyben said:

Animal said:

WTC - $4.55bn?

Wasn't it over-insured for 7 billion odd a few weeks before a certain date?

The leaseholding had changed hands a few weeks earlier, hence the new insurance cover.
The leaseholder was then involved in a dispute with the underwriters over whether the attacks had comprised one single claimable incident, or two separate ones.

[Noger]

flemke said:

hairyben said:

Animal said:

WTC - $4.55bn?

Wasn't it over-insured for 7 billion odd a few weeks before a certain date?

The leaseholding had changed hands a few weeks earlier, hence the new insurance cover.
The leaseholder was then involved in a dispute with the underwriters over whether the attacks had comprised one single claimable incident, or two separate ones.

Yes. $3.6ish limit per event. Two planes, two events, so $7bn claim. Courts settled on the lower figure.

[flemke]

Noger said:

flemke said:

hairyben said:

Animal said:

WTC - $4.55bn?

Wasn't it over-insured for 7 billion odd a few weeks before a certain date?

The leaseholding had changed hands a few weeks earlier, hence the new insurance cover.
The leaseholder was then involved in a dispute with the underwriters over whether the attacks had comprised one single claimable incident, or two separate ones.

Yes. $3.6ish limit per event. Two planes, two events, so $7bn claim. Courts settled on the lower figure.

I think there was one court-imposed payout and a second, negotiated settlement (with a different portion of the underwriting syndicate), so the blended decision was sort of 1.3 occurrences - a bit like the average family's having 2.2 children.