Case still pending after 5 months!

[danisahne]

My husband is doing part time cabbing. A fellow cab driver opened the car door when my husband was passing him and our car was damaged on the passenger side. This was back in January and since that time the 2 insurances are in limbo. The 3rd party solicitor closed the case, they say our insurance accepted liability. Out insurance says they never did. Also the 3rd party insurance says they don't know anything about a damage to the side of our car, they say we hit the other cab with our front (even though they had an expert come and check our car out). In addition to that the 3rd party insurance people said several times they cannot find the file which I find very odd. Our insurance told us to chase the 3rd party insurance ourselves Whenever we speak to our insurance we are promised call backs which never happens.
What can we do not that both insurances obviously don't want to settle this case?
Thanks for anyone that can give advise.

[BankFodder]

Have you got the expert report?

[danisahne]

No, we weren't given any copy. However, the police report lists the damage. The 3rd party insurance said they don't know of any police report. Looks like their driver didn't tell them that the police was onsite.

[BankFodder]

Have you any kind of statement from the other guy? What damage did he suffer to this car? Do you have pics?

I would assemble all of the evidence. I would ask to the police for the damage report and the crime reference number.

I would then send a 14 day warning of legal action to the other guy and then sue him. Don't send the warning if you don't intend to follow it through. Stick rigidly to all deadlines which you give.
As far as the insurers, I would write to them immediately making a formal complaint to each of them and tell them that youwill be going on to the Ombudsman if they don't sort it out immediately. Tell each of them also that you are beginning legal proceeding against the driver, that you may add his insrurers as a second defendant and that you will expecct to recoup any unpaid costs from them if they fail to adopt the claim onyour behalf.

I think that in the new CPUT regs there is a paragraph which seems to apply to insurers. Tell you insurer that their failure to respond to your calls is an unfair commercial practice and that you are sending a formjal complaint to the OFT about this. Makew sure that you do it.

Make no threats or promises unless you intend to carry them out.

What I am telling you to do here is to very firmly take control of this matter. Brush aside any excuses or nonsense from the insurers. Just go ahead regardless and stir it up with complaints and aggravation everywhere.
Keep a log of all unretruned calls or all unanswered letters. Don't be a sheep, don't be a victim. Set the pace and make sure that you are moving so fast that it is hard for the insurance companies to catch up. This will worry them and they will be more likley to get involved. Even if they do get involved, keep on top of it and "manage" the claim throughout.

[danisahne]

Thank you very much. The information really opened our eyes.

We opted not to sue our insurance but there are new developments causing us to think if it was the right decision.

Until now we did not get a single letter or phone call from the insurance updating us on the status of our claim or telling us what they are doing to get the matter sorted. We received a few letters from the solicitor they involved but that was it. That solicitor said, too, they closed the case. At the beginning of June we found out that our insurance never asked the police for any police report and also until then they did not send anyone to verify the damage. So at the beginning of June we sent them pictures and a letter stating exactly how the accident occured and what the damages are. We sent it with sign for so we know exactly they received it. All the time they said they wrote to the 3rd party insurance again and are waiting for a reply. They probably could have waited 20 or 30 years, they would never have got a reply as they did not escalate the matter. What is more important is they claimed they received our letter but did not receive the pictures which were sent in the same envelope! I was really wondering how they could make a decision without any kind of proof!
Week after week we were chasing them and were told to be patient, some cases take 1-2 years to be solved. We got in touch with the solicitor who agreed to open the case again and yesterday they let us know that they found out our insurance payed they 3rd party expenses, so they basically accepted liability. All the time they were telling us they were still investigating which was obviously a big lie. And we never received any letter stating they accepted liability. Instead, every time we called them they would tell us the case is still open!

The problem is, at the time of the accident we only had a 3rd party insurance. So how do we go about now to get our expenses for the car repair payed? This is a big issue because we had a loss of quite a bit of money due to the damaged car (the insurance never gave us a courtesy car because according to them the car was and is still driveable) and my husband is due to renew his cabbing licence which is a real stuggle with a damaged car!

[Mossycat]

If you only had third party insurance then you will need to claim for the damage for your car off the driver who opened the car door which damaged your car.

Send an estimate for repair to their insurers or if you don't know who they are send it to the driver of the other car and ask him to pass it onto his insurers. Advise them you will wait 14 days and if you hear nothing you will undertake the repairs and then you will forward the invoice which if they don't pay you will issue County Court Proceedings.

Also include any other uninsured losses, hire car, telephone/postage costs, loss of use or loss of earnings etc.

Your insurers will do nothing for you because you are not covered for damage to your car, they will defend or deal with any claim that the other driver makes against you and that it is.

I suspect the solicitor has closed their case because nobody was injured and therefore there will not be a big fee for them to claim in respect of representing someone.

Likewise the police report won't really help, it wont comment on liability which from what you say is fairly straight forward, you were on amain road and a stationary car opened its door into your path causing damage. The onus is on the driver of the other car to ensure it is safe to open the car door therfore they are at fault.

Mossy

PS You cannot sue your insurers in this instance because you are third party insured therefore they have nothing to do with sorting out the damage to your car. All they really needed to do was send you a letter confirming they had received your claim form notifying them of the accident and asking you to forward any correspondence that you receive relating to a claim against you. If they did that then that's all you paid for and all you can expect. If I was dealing with this claim as your insurers I would tell you to stop bothering me and get on with persuing your own claim directly

[Mossycat]

Originally Posted by BankFodder

As far as the insurers, I would write to them immediately making a formal complaint to each of them and tell them that youwill be going on to the Ombudsman if they don't sort it out immediately.

Tell each of them also that you are beginning legal proceeding against the driver, that you may add his insrurers as a second defendant and that you will expecct to recoup any unpaid costs from them if they fail to adopt the claim onyour behalf.


What I am telling you to do here is to very firmly take control of this matter.

As far as the insurers are concerned there is no formal complaint that could be made against the OP's own insurers, they have no obligation to sort out the damage to the OP car, the OP was third party insured.

You do not issue against the other insurers as a second defendant. You issue against the third party, if his insurers indemnify him they will deal with it, if they don't then he is on his own. The OP cannot force the other insurers into this.

The OP should have taken control from Day 1 because they were third party and as such were always responsible for sorting this out themselves.

Mossy

[Mossycat]

I just realised that your insurers have paid the third party out, this means that they have acceptec that you were liable for the accident.

This will make it virtually impossible for you to win in a claim against the other party.

Ask your insurers on what basis they made a payment, did they accept full liability, or was it split and if so what percentage was the split.

Mossy

[danisahne]

Originally Posted by Mossycat

I just realised that your insurers have paid the third party out, this means that they have acceptec that you were liable for the accident.

This will make it virtually impossible for you to win in a claim against the other party.

Ask your insurers on what basis they made a payment, did they accept full liability, or was it split and if so what percentage was the split.

Mossy

The problem is that for us the case is basically still open. Other parties like 3rd party insurance and the solicitor that was involved told us that the case is closed and our insurance paid. We never heard anything from our insurance regarding that except that they sent a letter to the third party and are waiting for a reply. They never sent us a letter stating we put in a claim, they never sent us a letter confirming they received the pictures or updating us on any other status or development. And they did not send us any letter saying the case is closed or anything. For us a decision is still pending.

[Mossycat]

Originally Posted by danisahne

The problem is that for us the case is basically still open. Other parties like 3rd party insurance and the solicitor that was involved told us that the case is closed and our insurance paid. We never heard anything from our insurance regarding that except that they sent a letter to the third party and are waiting for a reply. They never sent us a letter stating we put in a claim, they never sent us a letter confirming they received the pictures or updating us on any other status or development. And they did not send us any letter saying the case is closed or anything. For us a decision is still pending.

Your insurers WOULD NOT send you anything relating to your claim, you did not have a claim against them because YOU ARE NOT COMREHENSIVELY INSURED with them, they have nothing to do with the damage to your car and any pictures you may have sent them would simply be held on file to help defend a claim that was made AGAINST you and not BY you.

For the record YOU DID NOT put in a claim against your own insurers YOU NOTIFIED them of the accident you were involved in. Until you get that into your head you will never understand the situation!

There is no decision still pending between you and your insurers! They were notified of the accident by you, the other person claimed against you, they decided you were at fault and they paid out. Decisions made, case closed. End of.

If you had a claim to make and one to pursue it would have been against the insurance company of the other driver, you should have done this from day 1, and it is to them who you should have sent your pictures.

If your insurers have paid the other person out then it is case closed as far as they and the other claimant is concerned, the only open issue now is between you and the other persons insurers, which in view of the fact that your own motor insurers have paid the other person would suggest that they think you were at fault and would help strengthen the denial of liability from the other persons insurance company.

Until you answer my earlier question about the liability split I cannot advise you any further, if it was on a 100% basis then you are highly unlikely to get anywhere in a claim now.

For the record if you have third party insurance (which you have) and you have an accident this is what will happen.

You fill in a claim form to notify your insurance company you were in an accident (You did this)

They send you a letter letting you know they have received the claim form and will deal with any claim made against you (They did this)

The other party makes a claim against you, your insurers defend this or pay it out by writing to them and NOT to you (They did this)

Either a payment is made or a payment isn't made and the case is closed (They did this).

That's basically all that happens, quite where you get the idea that they should have sent you letters updating you about the status or developments is beyond me. Why would they?

It looks to me like they have done all that was required of them, whereas you have done nothing to pursue your claim against the other person.

Mossy

[danisahne]

Originally Posted by Mossycat

Your insurers WOULD NOT send you anything relating to your claim, you did not have a claim against them because YOU ARE NOT COMREHENSIVELY INSURED with them, they have nothing to do with the damage to your car and any pictures you may have sent them would simply be held on file to help defend a claim that was made AGAINST you and not BY you.

For the record YOU DID NOT put in a claim against your own insurers YOU NOTIFIED them of the accident you were involved in. Until you get that into your head you will never understand the situation!

There is no decision still pending between you and your insurers! They were notified of the accident by you, the other person claimed against you, they decided you were at fault and they paid out. Decisions made, case closed. End of.

If you had a claim to make and one to pursue it would have been against the insurance company of the other driver, you should have done this from day 1, and it is to them who you should have sent your pictures.

If your insurers have paid the other person out then it is case closed as far as they and the other claimant is concerned, the only open issue now is between you and the other persons insurers, which in view of the fact that your own motor insurers have paid the other person would suggest that they think you were at fault and would help strengthen the denial of liability from the other persons insurance company.

Until you answer my earlier question about the liability split I cannot advise you any further, if it was on a 100% basis then you are highly unlikely to get anywhere in a claim now.

For the record if you have third party insurance (which you have) and you have an accident this is what will happen.

You fill in a claim form to notify your insurance company you were in an accident (You did this)

They send you a letter letting you know they have received the claim form and will deal with any claim made against you (They did this)

The other party makes a claim against you, your insurers defend this or pay it out by writing to them and NOT to you (They did this)

Either a payment is made or a payment isn't made and the case is closed (They did this).

That's basically all that happens, quite where you get the idea that they should have sent you letters updating you about the status or developments is beyond me. Why would they?

It looks to me like they have done all that was required of them, whereas you have done nothing to pursue your claim against the other person.

Mossy

But the point is that every time we call them they say the case is still active and they are waiting for a reply from the 3rd party insurance and they need to chase them for that reply. Even when we told them that we found out the 3rd party insurance and our solicitor closed the case because our insurance accepted liability they said it is not so, they did not accept liability and the case is still open. So we have got 2 conflicting stories: 1 from 3rd party insurance and the solicitor that was involved and another very different one from our own insurance who said to us

Be patient, the case is still open and we are waiting to hear back from the other insurance. Some cases take 1-2 years to be solved.

They are flat out lying!

Also, we never filled a form in. We opened the claim on the phone. As I stated we were never in any kind of postal contact with the insurance. Not for opening the case and not during the case.

[Mossycat]

OK so you didn't write out a claims form (or more correctly in your case an acciedent notification form), you did it over the phone. Same thing basically.

You need to ask your insurers if they have made a payment to the other person, and if so why and was it 100% of the claim they made.

Until you post the answers to that back I cannot advise you further

Mossy

[Mossycat]

OK write this letter to your own insurers, DO NOT ring it through, write it out and send it to them

Dear Sirs

RE: <insert your policy number or claims reference number>

I refer to the above regarding an accident on <insert date of accident> and would appreciate clarification of the following.

Have you dealt with a claim from the third party, if so have you made a payment and if so on what basis did you make that payment

I am currently persuing my own claim for uninsured losses as I hold the other party responsible for this accident and I am somewhat confused by the different responses I get whenever I discuss this matter with your office.

Please confirm in writing the exact current position at your earliest convenience.

Kind Regards

<insert your name>



When you get a response (in writing) post back what it says and we will be able to advise you further

Mossy