Insurance, dealing with
Discussion
A few (7) months ago one of my work vehicles was in a non fault accident.
Don't want to give full details but what is a reasonable time for payment of loss of income / expenses?
Very detailed financial info was passed to them almost 2 months ago to support the claim.
To date they have not done anything other than acknowledge they have the claim. I call them once a week to get an update and am given the same answer each time "its being looked at". I have started to follow up the phone calls with emails and to date not had a single reply. Its a big insurance company too...
Is there any kind of framework set out which says how long they should sit on their hands for?
Don't want to give full details but what is a reasonable time for payment of loss of income / expenses?
Very detailed financial info was passed to them almost 2 months ago to support the claim.
To date they have not done anything other than acknowledge they have the claim. I call them once a week to get an update and am given the same answer each time "its being looked at". I have started to follow up the phone calls with emails and to date not had a single reply. Its a big insurance company too...
Is there any kind of framework set out which says how long they should sit on their hands for?
If it's non fault presumably vehicle has already been repaired and a suitable alternative provided for the duration of the repair work?
If so this should be a straightforward bent metal claim the insurers will deal with between themselves and there shouldn't be a need for a loss of income claim unless there's a lot more to this story?
If so this should be a straightforward bent metal claim the insurers will deal with between themselves and there shouldn't be a need for a loss of income claim unless there's a lot more to this story?
Hi yes it was a specialist custom vehicle for our business and there was no way to provide a temp vehicle (I tried, insurance tried, 3rd party tried) hence the loss of income. The only real solution was to buy a replacement but they refused to do that so had to wait just under 3 months for the repairs.
The repair is all sorted but they are ignoring the loss of income claim. I think we have been very reasonable and we are a small company so its not a huge claim but that's part of the problem as we are small we rely on that income.
The repair is all sorted but they are ignoring the loss of income claim. I think we have been very reasonable and we are a small company so its not a huge claim but that's part of the problem as we are small we rely on that income.
No, and they are not the best like I said. They tried to force us to accept £2800 for a vehicle that was worth well over £10,000.
Only then when I got involved with the 3rd party they agreed to repair. I don't know what on earth was going on with our insurance I can only assume they get some kind of back hander if they keep the 3rd party claim down. Anyway they refused to do anything else for me so I went direct and sorted it myself.
Only then when I got involved with the 3rd party they agreed to repair. I don't know what on earth was going on with our insurance I can only assume they get some kind of back hander if they keep the 3rd party claim down. Anyway they refused to do anything else for me so I went direct and sorted it myself.
You'll probably find they haven't understood the modifications and just quoted glass guide price or similar initially.
Are you dealing via your insurer or direct with the third party insurer? If via yours they probably won't be that motivated to chase up loss of income (unless it's specifically covered by your policy, check the wording) so start dealing with the 3rd party directly.
You need to state to the third party what you're claiming for, why and the resolution you want. If you've already done this ask for their complaints process and follow it to the letter. They have timescales they must respond in (although they are allowed to notify you of extensions at certain points) and ultimately must give you a final response.
If you're not happy with the final response at this point you can refer the case to the ombudsman for independent review.
Having said all that I'm not sure how successful you'll be, the road traffic act as far as I'm aware only covers death/injury and physical property, so I'm not convinced the third party insurer is going to be under any obligation to pay out. Presumably you have business insurance, is business interruption covered? If so you may have more luck claiming there.
Are you dealing via your insurer or direct with the third party insurer? If via yours they probably won't be that motivated to chase up loss of income (unless it's specifically covered by your policy, check the wording) so start dealing with the 3rd party directly.
You need to state to the third party what you're claiming for, why and the resolution you want. If you've already done this ask for their complaints process and follow it to the letter. They have timescales they must respond in (although they are allowed to notify you of extensions at certain points) and ultimately must give you a final response.
If you're not happy with the final response at this point you can refer the case to the ombudsman for independent review.
Having said all that I'm not sure how successful you'll be, the road traffic act as far as I'm aware only covers death/injury and physical property, so I'm not convinced the third party insurer is going to be under any obligation to pay out. Presumably you have business insurance, is business interruption covered? If so you may have more luck claiming there.
we had a pay out for business interruption from a fire.
Took a year to pay but equally took a year whilst we were out of the premises. That was paid out from building insurance with specific loss of business cover tho..
just to clarify - does your own car/van insurance cover you for business interruption or are you claiming on the other parties car insurance?
ie should be fairly fast if on your own cover I would hope.
Took a year to pay but equally took a year whilst we were out of the premises. That was paid out from building insurance with specific loss of business cover tho..
just to clarify - does your own car/van insurance cover you for business interruption or are you claiming on the other parties car insurance?
ie should be fairly fast if on your own cover I would hope.
Its heavy commercial equipment that's been damaged. Damaged by another commercial entity driving a goods vehicle into the side of my euqipment. If that makes any sense. They accepted liability from day one, its all on CCTV.
Legally it happened on the highway but both are going to be covered under commercial policies. We went through our own insurance to a point until they tried to write it off for 30% of the replacement value. That's when I went direct and got the repairs sorted rather than write it off (cheaper for both of us).
IYSWIM.
Legally it happened on the highway but both are going to be covered under commercial policies. We went through our own insurance to a point until they tried to write it off for 30% of the replacement value. That's when I went direct and got the repairs sorted rather than write it off (cheaper for both of us).
IYSWIM.
I previously worked in insurance for 12 years and a large loss of use claim will petrify most claims handlers so it's probably being pushed to the bottom of the pile. I would ask a solicitor to cast an eye over the documentation that you have (I'm more than willing to look at it as well but IANAL), and then send a letter before action and issue proceedings. It's important to work out how the LOU claim has been valued though as you won't have incurred certain expenses whilst it's off the road so that will need to be taken into account (small things like diesel etc... insurance companies are pedantic!)
Thanks
Thanks
chml said:
I previously worked in insurance for 12 years and a large loss of use claim will petrify most claims handlers so it's probably being pushed to the bottom of the pile. I would ask a solicitor to cast an eye over the documentation that you have (I'm more than willing to look at it as well but IANAL), and then send a letter before action and issue proceedings. It's important to work out how the LOU claim has been valued though as you won't have incurred certain expenses whilst it's off the road so that will need to be taken into account (small things like diesel etc... insurance companies are pedantic!)
Thanks
We came to an initial figure (with no real background on how to work it out) of a loss of earning/income talked to the loss adjuster and he laughed and thought we were joking/pulling a fast one. Thanks
O how we laughed later when we got in an accountant to forensically work out and project/estimate loss of income for the cover period which was of a magnitude larger. They didn't laugh then and paid out the higher amount with raising any further questions.
OP make sure you work out your loss/potential loss/growth/etc as detailed as you can and good luck. The loss adjuster will try to reduce the loss to the ins co!
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