Car insurance claim - long dispute

[kwiatek999]

Hi,

I had an accident in July last year, the other driver's fault - he was driving between the lanes in a slow traffic on a 3-carriageway road. Damaged my car and 2-3 others, finally stopped on a hard shoulder. His insurer - Zurich - is disputing my claim based on the fact that he reported he did not remeber anything, hence they suspect some unforseen medical condition which would imply it was not his fault. My case is handled by an assistance company - Albany Assistance, which I have been advised to use by my insurer - Elephant. The claim is going on for a year now, it took several monts since they decided to dispute the claim, another few months getting the medical files of the driver. Over a month ago I got a letter from Albany saying:

"We refer to the above and write to inform you that at present we are pursuing detailed enquiries regarding the incident. A further update will be provided once these are complete."

No update since then. Preparing for making a complaint to FSA I asked both Elephant and Albany for all documentation regarding my case, including any correspodence with the third party insurer. I got a form to complete from Elephant to send back together with a £10 cheque and no response from Albany.

What would you suggest I should do? Many thanks for your help.

BTW: I have already done the repairs (£500)

[daviet1976]

1. Get rid of Albany. They are the biggest waste of space I ever had the misfortune to work with.

2. Pursue a claim through your Elephant. if that means submitting your receipts etc, then so be it.

3.Call Elephant once/twice a month (or whatever) and ask how their recovery is coming along. They will chase the Third Party Insurer much quicker than Albany will.

I am unsure how the Third Party can dispute your claim. I would be interested to see what their Liabilty wording states under the heading "things we do not know about, but are prepared to quite you for.

4. Get the offeding Third Party insurers' details from elephant and give them a call. Find out what's holding things up. They might not want to talk to you (given Data Protection). Threaten them with court action.See what they say. Also get the 4th/5th/6th party details from elephant and call them too. Find out what's going on with them.

This should take you no more than 30 mins. maximum.

point 1 is the most important!!!!

Ps I'm 10 years NUI motor. Now ex NUI.

[kwiatek999]

Thanks for the response. I will chase Elephant more frequently.

The only letter they mentioned the liability dispute details says:

"...The 3rd party insurers applied for a copy of their insured's medical history, as it has transpired that the third party suffered from a fit whilst driving, and this is what caused the accident. They are currently not in a position to deal with your claim, and we await the outcome of their enquiries.

In order for us to be able to make a recovery of your losses, we must be able to establish negligence against the 3rd party. If the 3rd party's fit is found to be an isolated incident, and was unforeseeable, than we will be unable to establish negligence against him, and it is likely that the 3rd party insurers will not consider your claim. ..."

I remeber the accident very well, the driver was going at a constant speed, passing me slowly after hitting my car. I saw him through the window just before he broke my mirror of - he looked as any other driver focused on driving, both hands on the steering wheel etc. He then hit the rear of the car in front of me (which almost stopped him), corrected his direction and kept on going between the lanes. Very unlikely he was unconcious of what he was doing. On the other hand he was a BT engineer (mid fifties) coming back from work, did not react nor respond to any questions after he stopped on the hard shoulder. It is a difficult case but there is no explanation for it going on for over a year.

[zed007]

Hi

Zurich is a insurer that does not / trys not to pay out to third partys.

They drag cases on for years over small stupid points, causing headache for the non fault drivers.

purse with the claim (if you have fully comp then claim of your own insurance and get them to take Zurich to court etc)

best beat is to ask abbany to issue court precedings (or treaten court procedings).

let us know what happens

[JonCris]

Zurich seem to be suggesting that their insured caused the accident because of an unknown medical condition which caused him to lose consciousness.

If this be the case then there is no negligence which must be present if fault is to be apportioned. Therefore you will have to rely on your own policy to pay for the repair. However you insurer should NOT let this fact affect any of your no claims bonus

Finally zed is correct Zurich are an appalling company in every possible way

[Slimm]

The defence is called 'Automatism' - they're essentially saying that their insured has not done anything wrong so should not be responsible for damage caused to other people/property.

It's not used often because the of the time/money of obtaining sufficient evidence to prove that 1) Their client passed out/had a fit and 2) They had no way of knowing such a thing was likely to happen.

You probably wouldnt keep your no claims if you made an insurance claim - your insurance company will just view it as an accident where no-one was responsible.

Your only real recourse in the short term would be to hope your insurers are feeling generous (Doesnt sound like it) or to issue legal proceedings yourself against the insurers of the person who allegedly had a fit. Given that you are only down by £500 you'll have to decide whether its really worth it.

If you're familiar with the terminology sent a letter to Zurich claiming your £500, plus any other expenses (Send copy evidence) and then send a letter threatening legal action 14 days later. Probably wont get you much but will only cost 15 mins and 2 stamps.

If matters drag on for 3 years you'll lose most of your rights. I would hassle your own insurer once a week until you get a useful response. If the other persons insurers want to argue automatism they are going to have to supply proof.

[kwiatek999]

Finally after 14 months I got the money from Zurich. After they had been waiting for the medical files of the third party driver for 4 months I called my insurer and mentioned sueing the driver directly. A week later I got a letter from Albany Assistance that Zurich agreed to repair my car and that I had 2-4 days to contact the other garage than the one they initially chose and I did the repairs with! Desperately avoiding using swear words I responded with a VAT receipt which I quickly got from my garage (as it was a delayed-collection receipt). A month later I got the cheque.

Many thanks for your help.

And Zurich - if you're reading it - you don't mess with the Polski !

;^)