let down by insurance co

[terri1973]

Hello
Back in March this year my partner had a prang in his car.About 5 mph and had my 6yr old in the car taking her to school so not speeding at all. The other driver worked near the scene and told my partner to hang on and she sent someone from the surgery where she worked to give her details as she was late for work. The other person had none of her details but took my partners and next day we got a letter making a claim.
There was a small dent in her car and she wrecked our front bumper we took photos as evidence.
It was his first ever claim so we was not really sure of things.


To cut a long story short our insurance company sent our renewal today and it was only on ringing them to find out why it has gone up so much we were told it was the claim that was in march and they settled giving the other party £2300 for a dent within a few weeks of the claim made. They settled on the basis of the 5 minute phone call my partner made to record the prang.(set questions). And saying he was at fault.(thats not the full story)
The only contact we have had was a accident report form which was filled out and sent back asap(they say it was not recieved.)

We see this car everyday and the dent has not been fixed since the incident, they said the investigator reckoned that how much it would be to repair the car now i'm no car body specialist but that aint £2300 worth of damage plus its not even been fixed.

Surely your insurance company should get both full accounts of what happened and stand by your side even trying to defend you. Now we are left with the accident we were trying to dispute, a huge insurance bill, 0 no claims, and someone with an extra £2300 in their pocket and a small dent in their car.
Sorry if some of this don't make sense but i'm fuming, we can't run the car now we just can't afford it.:m ad:

[moneydragon]

Hi terri

Seems to me that the other party may of made a fradulent claim - I would report this to the police.

md

[terri1973]

Thats what we thought so will see this through, i'm just miffed as to why our insurance company paid up within weeks without contacting us.
Should they not of got reciepts for work carried out to ther parties car etc photo evidence etc.
Are we intitled to see reports made in this claim?
Just feel so ripped of but its hard to know what to do next and where we stand with insurance company and the law etc i searched the internet and cant find anything.

[terri1973]

Well spoke to our insurance company today and in a nutshell the have paid the other party out directly (not through their insurance company)which would explain a letter from the other partys insurance company threatening court action as they have never heard anything from us or our insurance company.

Can anyone clarify if its normal practise for
1. Someone to make a claim against you through insurance company and then accept a payout direct from my insurance company without telling thier insurance company.

2.Someone to take the payout and not get work done (surely the work should be done then invoice be sent of to reclaim payment) Apparently its down to the insurers to ensure work is done or not.

3.For your own insurance company to not contact you at all for your side of events or to at least fight your corner as best they can. And have no explanation on the phone as to why all the money you have paid them over the years meant nothing and they screw you over first chance they get?

[BaldyBaldwin]

when you say your front bumper was wrecked, did you drive into them or did they drive into you?

[terri1973]

my partner was just coming out of the manouvre from a side road and she put her foot down to try and get past him. He had plenty of time to complete his manouvre. He went into her back drivers side wheel arch.
Turns out she was late for work so she got out looked at the cars then said wait there and drove off into her works car park sent someone else out to sort out details.

[BaldyBaldwin]

exactly the same thing happened to me a few years ago, i was hit by an uninsured driver will i was reversing, my insurance company paid out very quickly to him on the basis that he had,nt put in a personal injury claim!!! my insurance company were then very happy to raise my premiums from 700 pound to over 2,000.

[BaldyBaldwin]

Is it worth contacting the Insurance Ombudsman Service, they have an online Dispute form,

IOS - Home

best of luck BB

[terri1973]

yeah but is there anything they can really do? Not gonna get out no claims back or reduce our premium which we just can't afford.
With 2 young children its gooona be a tough year without transport.

[BaldyBaldwin]

i,m no expert here, but what you are discribing just does,nt seem right. it is just so unusual for any insurance company to admit liability with out hearing both sides of the argument, especially as the third party left the scene of the accident!
I would delinatly contact the IOS to get some expert advice and guidance

[silentscream]

Originally Posted by BaldyBaldwin

exactly the same thing happened to me a few years ago, i was hit by an uninsured driver will i was reversing, my insurance company paid out very quickly to him on the basis that he had,nt put in a personal injury claim!!! my insurance company were then very happy to raise my premiums from 700 pound to over 2,000.

My Dad once commented that the main problem with driving is the other drivers on the road, and he was right.

My partner was hit by what has turned out to be an uninsured driver who shot out of a side road into the side of my partner's car, writing it off. I'll be posting separately on it later this week but suffice to say that Direct Line and the Police have totally let him down. He's lost his precious old mondeo and incurred a huge expense with hire cars (on the basis of instructions from his insurer) and a replacement vehicle. It's awful that a complete stranger can knock your world apart like this.

Don't give up, keep on at your ins co. and don't let these people get away with it.

[vusys1]

Has to be D/Line or Tesco, we throw money away.

The high amount paid could be in relation to TP injury claims (whiplash), this sounds like the usual settlement figure. (

You can ask for the claim to be reopened as you confirmed you returned the form, if they didnt receive it usually send a reminder etc.

I would also mention to claims that the TP left the scene of the accident and did not provide any details

[daviet1976]

Agree with the first and second points! (Ex NUI you see!)

If your husband was reversing, then the onus is on him to ensure that he had enough room to complete the manoeuver. Regardless of the other driver's alleged speeding (which cannot be proved).

It sounds as if the other driver has claimed for some form of injury. If not, you have the world's worst claims handler!

[zed007]

Hi all

I agree with daviet1976. looks like there is a Personal Injury Claim.

Also the third party driver could ask for repair money from your insurers as: cash in lieu.


the driver can take this money (and it is up to them how / when to repair there car, etc etc)

[richardedward]

worthless