Hi all

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Recently, my wife's insurer made an error which has caused us quite some inconvenience.

In 2013 my wife was driving her Megane and was involved in an accident in which 2 other cars contributed. She was in no way at fault. (I can describe but it's not relevant).

She had a £400 excess. She was fully comp.

She received a payout less the £400 excess and any other costs.

When we asked about the excess and any other costs, she was told that she didn't have legal cover so they won't pursue it and she would have to do it herself.

(It took a LONG time to even get to this point, because of the complexity regarding the 2 other parties who were arguing over fault).

We hired a solicitor, who was nearly useless too because we told them we didn't have legal cover.

In the last month, I convinced my wife to start chasing up the excess and that we would have to ring the (third party) company and battle through to try and get it back.

Before she did that, she rang her insurer to confirm some information.

The lady she spoke to was very helpful, and said that it actually looks like she DOES have legal cover.

The helpful lady further researched this, and it seems that online when taking out the insurance, my wife didn't select legal cover but on the phone to confirm the policy, she took out the legal cover at the last minute.

So basically what has happened:

My wife bought legal cover.

She tried to use the legal cover.

The insurer said she didn't have it, when she actually did.

1 - 2 years later, the insurer are finally providing the legal cover service and beginning to reclaim the excess from the third party.

Is there any trouble that the insurer should be in?

We plan on writing a letter of complaint, are there any particular things we should include?

Any response is much appreciated!

Not a lot of trouble as such, unless they have in any way prejudiced your claim. Errors can be made.

A lot of it will depend on who you have bought from, is it a direct insurer who administer the legal expenses insurance and should be activating as a matter of course, or a broker who sold you a policy.

Possibly you can claim compensation for your inconvenience, £100 - £150 (could be more, could be less) possibly interest on the excess for the period in which you would most likely have had received the excess back had it all gone ok.

Not a lot of trouble as such, unless they have in any way prejudiced your claim. Errors can be made.

 

A lot of it will depend on who you have bought from, is it a direct insurer who administer the legal expenses insurance and should be activating as a matter of course, or a broker who sold you a policy.

 

Possibly you can claim compensation for your inconvenience, £100 - £150 (could be more, could be less) possibly interest on the excess for the period in which you would most likely have had received the excess back had it all gone ok.

Thank you for your time and effort.

I will request some compensation for the inconvenience, it doesn't cost anything to ask.