Insurance Extras

[ilaishley]

To clear up. My wifes car was parked outside our house. Almighty bang. Go outside and our car isnt where we left it and is wearing another car. I mentioned to our insurers that I wasnt happy about the car not being written off. They said the repair will be as good as new. I then said there is no way that my car is worth the same money as unrepaired car. They offered this dimunation or whatever and I was told that this was always available but as people dont know this it hardly ever gets used. Therfore my advice was to people was that if a 3rd party ever hits your car make sure you claim for this Dimunation..thingy.

Where my Mum and my non-existent son comes in here I have no idea !! I could make something up if you like.

Cheers

Ian

[anniesdad]

Ah haaaaaaaaaaaaa

I was right !!!!

It was a claim against own insurers !!

Ner ner....ne...ner....ner (sic)

[ilaishley]

anniesdad said:

Ah haaaaaaaaaaaaa I was right !!!! It was a claim against own insurers !! Ner ner....ne...ner....ner (sic)

I am not sure that you are right. I just asked my insurance company and they in turn would have gone to the 3rd party insurers and said "oi give us some diimmmunattion..thingy"

Mine was definateley a claim against 3rd party via my fully comp policy. Not sure if it would work if you smashed your own car, although in theory it should !

Where's Mr Insurance man on the forum when you need him.

Cheers

Ian

[anniesdad]

Thats actually what I said.

Your insurers pay the loss-->Your insurers claim reimbursement of the loss from third party insurers.

Ultimately you negotiated diminuition with your insurers, not the third party insurers.

[shnozz]

er, so you werent right then

dunno about Mr Insurance man, I have been doing insurance litigation for Claimants for 10 years if that is any good?

Its an uninsured loss, hence the claim was against the third party insurers. It was presented to them by your insurers the same way a solicitor presents the claim for any uninsured loss, diminution, personal injury, whatever it may be. I have never heard of one's own insurer paying diminution and from the policies I have examined in contractual litigation I haven't seen any clause to allow payment.

Irrelevant really, nice one on getting paid out and worthwhile to mention it. Its not very widely known about and useful information to pass on.

[shnozz]

anniesdad said:

Thats actually what I said. Your insurers pay the loss-->Your insurers claim reimbursement of the loss from third party insurers. Ultimately you negotiated diminuition with your insurers, not the third party insurers.

I would be amazed if this were the case. If its an insured loss then his insurers wouldn't pay it first. If we agree it to be an uninsured loss that is....

if its an insured loss, (and having seen a number of contracts I will eat my hat) then logical sense is for the insurers to pay up and then recover it in the event its non-fault. If its fault, claim for diminution could still be sought, which would make no sense...

[anniesdad]

shnozz said:

anniesdad said: Thats actually what I said. Your insurers pay the loss-->Your insurers claim reimbursement of the loss from third party insurers. Ultimately you negotiated diminuition with your insurers, not the third party insurers. I would be amazed if this were the case. If its an insured loss then his insurers wouldn't pay it first. If we agree it to be an uninsured loss that is.... if its an insured loss, (and having seen a number of contracts I will eat my hat) then logical sense is for the insurers to pay up and then recover it in the event its non-fault. If its fault, claim for diminution could still be sought, which would make no sense...

Shnozz mate,

I meant no disrespect whatsoever, sincerest apologies if this came across in my previous post, my last post was meant with tongue firmly in cheek. I am probably as confused as you are, that it seems to be the case the claimant insurers agreed to pay their own client diminuition. I think we both agree this to be extremely rare and again I totally agree is not normally part of an insurance policy contract. Ultimately whoever hands the money over, whether it be own insurers or third party insurers, the third party insurers should/will foot the bill.

Steve

[shnozz]

anniesdad said:

Shnozz mate, I meant no disrespect whatsoever, sincerest apologies if this came across in my previous post, my last post was meant with tongue firmly in cheek. I am probably as confused as you are, that it seems to be the case the claimant insurers agreed to pay their own client diminuition. I think we both agree this to be extremely rare and again I totally agree is not normally part of an insurance policy contract. Ultimately whoever hands the money over, whether it be own insurers or third party insurers, the third party insurers should/will foot the bill. Steve

i would suspect all that has happened in this case is the insurers have requested compensation for diminution from the third party insurers and they agreed to pay up. I dont see any suggestion his own insurers paid for the diminution and then recovered it. Was the cheque from your own insurers or from the other party? (even though of course it may have passed through his own insurers account so this may be a red herring)

Whilst insured losses can be recovered in non-fault cases, it wouldnt be commonplace for diminution et al to be paid to the insured to subsequently recover from a third party insurer. Why? Because both the entitlement to diminution and the amount of the claim are both subject to interpretation. It would be brave to pay, say, £2k in diminution and then find the third party insurer argue that it should be £1k, or none at all. Why would your own insurer take the risk of being out of pocket? Hence they simply pay the insured loss as covered by the policy and leave the uninsured losses to be recovered from the negligent driver's insurers, whether its with their assistance, the assistance of an LEI solicitor, or by the insured directly

[anniesdad]

You're probably right, that the client was negotiating with his/her own insurers and negotiations were going on, unbeknown to the claimant, between own insurers and third party insurers.

I'm just not sure from re-reading the original post that this is the case. It is very interesting all the same.

I agree that it wouldn't make financial sense for an insurer to pay an uninsured loss, when no contractual agreement exists to do so. However, when did insurers handle claims, using common sense as a parameter?

Probably both you and I profit from insurance companies inadequacies and long may this continue.

[shnozz]

anniesdad said:

I agree that it wouldn't make financial sense for an insurer to pay an uninsured loss, when no contractual agreement exists to do so. However, when did insurers handle claims, using common sense as a parameter? Probably both you and I profit from insurance companies inadequacies and long may this continue.

Oh I dont know, whilst common sense may not prevail, the tightness to hold onto their wallets is universal and I cant remember many cases where payouts have been generous

In my case, 9 years of doing Claimant work made me sick to death with the change in the culture. Unrealistic expectations of quantum and the timescale of the process, everyone having a "mate down the pub" who got £100k for a broken toe nail, blatent lying about accident circumstances and misleading information about the extent of their injuries. I moved to work for my opponents for many years and now act on behalf of the insurers.

[anniesdad]

Maybe a conversation best reserved for a beer in the pub.

Cheers

Steve

[shnozz]

anniesdad said:

Maybe a conversation best reserved for a beer in the pub. Cheers Steve

in view of the geography, highly unlikely

albeit if you want to give me some work, I can arrange a business trip on expenses might even be able to afford your beer if that were the case

[anniesdad]

shnozz said:

anniesdad said: Maybe a conversation best reserved for a beer in the pub. Cheers Steve in view of the geography, highly unlikely albeit if you want to give me some work, I can arrange a business trip on expenses might even be able to afford your beer if that were the case

Sorry, can't give you any work as you work for the enemy. You can always buy me a beer though.

[ilaishley]

Shnozz,

You are round the corner from me so for no other reason than that you can buy me a pint !

At the end of the day my intention was to let anyone who gets shunted know that they are quite rightly entitled to some compensation as to the now reduced resale value of their car. So if this happens to you dont forget to ask.

Cheers

ian