Back in September this year I was driving on my way to work. I came to cross roads with traffic lights, mine were green and so I carried on. As I was crossing a car from the opposite direction decided to turn across my path (to save confusion his lights were also green but he was supposed to give way to on coming traffic when turning). He couldn't see me due to a van being in the way, waiting in his lane to cross the traffic like he was supposed to.

My car was subsequently damaged and repaired and I have paid my excess. My insurance company told me that it was the third party's fault and was clear cut.

Now I hardly hear from them and when I ring them up they tell me that the third party insurers have disputed liability, that they are making enquiries and that they are speaking to their client. They are the only responses I get to any questions, and if I ask more than five questions in a phone call they just repeat those statements in a loop until I agree to go away.

How can I actually get them to be proactive and do anything? I am currently £500 out of pocket and frankly completely fed up with their attitude.

Sorry about the long post and thanks in advance.

Your insurers will not recover your excess that's up to you to do.

You need to write to the other persons insurance company, state why they are liable and ask for your excess back

Mossy

your insurer will only chase your excess back once liability has been established. You got to keep calling your current insurers & ask for updates on liability.

your insurer will only chase your excess back once liability has been established. You got to keep calling your current insurers & ask for updates on liability.

????????

An excess is an uninsured loss and the OP's insurers will not recover it, it is up to him to get his excess back. It's a waste of time the OP contacting their own insurers.

Mossy

Whether or not I can claim my excess back through my insurers, I will not be able to get it at all unless liability has been admitted which is my main problem. If I cannot get my insurance company to do something I'll never get it back!

You are completely missing the point here.

Your insurers will not get your excess back, the best way to speed things up is for you to detail your claim against the other person for your uninsured losses, you do this by writing to them, stating what happened, why you hold them responsible and get them to admit liability.

It's as simple as that

Mossy

Not to be pedantic, but it's actually you that is missing the point in that I am not actually asking how to get my excess back.

However, thanks for the advice on how to speed up them admitting liability!!

You asked for advice on how to speed things up, you said that you were £500 out of pocket ( that will be an uninsured loss then probably your excess), and you said that you were fed up with how long it was all taking.

The point is that YOU NEED TO START MAKING WAVES and not with your own insurers but with the other side.

Your insurers will not be chasing your uninsured losses and it is the recovery of these that establishes liability.

The key to achieving what you want is as I have stated, it's quite possible that your own insurers have an inter-company agreement with the other insurers and don't recover monies from each other, hence why it has been left in abeyance for so long.

The title of your thread is How can I get my insurers to actually do something?, what exactly would you like them to do, they've paid for your repairs, they are presumably dealing with third party correspondence, what else is there for them to do?

Mossy

Well they could of advised their client better Mossy! For example; let him know where they stand on recovering un-insured losses and how to recover them. Its the same old story; you only find out how good your insurance co is when you need them!

Write to the third party directly (NOT his/her insurers) stating that you hold them liable for your un-insured losses (which can be you excess and hire car costs if applicable). detail your losses in the letter giving him/her 14 days to settle or you reserve the right to commence recovery action via the small claims court. End the letter by saying; 'I would advise you to pass this letter to your insurers who may wish to settle on your behalf as no further reference will be made to you prior to proceedings''.

Send by recorded delivery, keep a copy and wait for the cheque to arrive. Simple... 'quich'

Send by recorded delivery, keep a copy and wait for the cheque to arrive. Simple... 'quich'

apart from the fact that there is not yet an admission of liability- maybe not so simple eh

and lets not start with the old "you only find out how good your insurance co is when you need them!" - you are making assumptions, without seeing the insurers file notes, we would not know what they have done, they may be preparing to issue, they may be on their last review. then again, we can't all be perfect ULR employees can we.

trinity, who are the insurers; one of us may then be able to advise you on their litigation tactics.

have you sent a diagram & description to your insurers?

I'm with Direct Line, and to be honest they have been pretty good until now. At the beginning of the claim they were all go, its just lately I'm not getting anything from them.

I can only assume that they reckon they will recoup their losses as they gave me the choice about whether my car was written off of not (as there was about £5500 worth of damage and was very little between that and the value of my car) and I guess they would only do that if they thought they would get the money back.

Anywoo... I really just want it all sorted out so any info you can given me on Direct Line would be handy. (And for reference the 3rd party was with NFU)

Thanks very much.

apart from the fact that there is not yet an admission of liability- maybe not so simple eh

 

and lets not start with the old "you only find out how good your insurance co is when you need them!" - you are making assumptions, without seeing the insurers file notes, we would not know what they have done, they may be preparing to issue, they may be on their last review. then again, we can't all be perfect ULR employees can we.

With respect IG in the OP, he states his insurers told him "it was the TPs fault and it is clear cut". Clearly the OP isnt getting much information on progress from his insurers or advice on how to claim his un-insured losses so what assumptions am I making?

If the insurers do not recover the excess as Mossy states, then writing to the TP seems to be the obvious avenue to go down. As for liability, well according to the OPs version of events I would agree with his insurers 'pretty much clear cut'.

I can only assume that they reckon they will recoup their losses as they gave me the choice about whether my car was written off of not (as there was about £5500 worth of damage and was very little between that and the value of my car) and I guess they would only do that if they thought they would get the money back.

 

In borderline total loss claims it is standard practice to offer the insured the choice between write-off and repair, it has nothing whatsoever to do with liability or chances of recovery from the other side.

Any insurer is under a duty to mitigate losses, so just because they might recover their outlay does not give them carte blanche to pay out whatever they want.

Mossy

With respect IG in the OP, he states his insurers told him "it was the TPs fault and it is clear cut". Clearly the OP isnt getting much information on progress from his insurers or advice on how to claim his un-insured losses so what assumptions am I making?

 

If the insurers do not recover the excess as Mossy states, then writing to the TP seems to be the obvious avenue to go down. As for liability, well according to the OPs version of events I would agree with his insurers 'pretty much clear cut'.

Sailorsam you are assuming that the OP is telling the whole truth, and whilst they may well be doing just that, you don't know what the other person is claiming.

If the OP's insurers stated it was the TP's fault then that would have been based on what the OP told his insurers, however, if the other person does not say the same then it's far from clear cut.

The other person may disagree that the OP's lights were green for example, or they could have any number of versions. Since no-one here has seen either a sketch, a road layout or even heard what the other party is claiming happened then it's impossible to speculate.

The OP has an outlay that they feel they shouldn't pay because they feel they were not at fault, so the thing they need to do is attempt recovery of that outlay from the other insurers. By doing this, it will open up a line of communication directly between them and then they will find out what the other person is claiming happened and can then attempt to dispute that.

Mossy

From what I gather from what the third party said to the police, his version of events is the same as mine. His words were that we couldn't see each other. He couldn't dispute the traffic lights as they are either green north/south or green east/west. Also there are two independent witnesses who were travelling in a vehicle behind me who have given statements to my insurance company who have passed them onto the 3rd party insurers.

I know that it is possible for liability to be disputed in many ways, but I'm really having a hard time seeing what NFU could be disputing here. Obviously it is possible that the 3rd party has given an entirely different story to his insurers, but I have no idea how he could make it sound like it wasn't his fault.

Also I have sent a sketch to my insurers.

From experience of dealing with motor claims it's really not unusual for a guilty party to change their story after the accident, immediately after an accident they will tell the truth, but when they are over the shock of the situation they often change their story in the hope of retaining their NCD, so the fcat you have witness statements should make it easier for you to prove your case in this one.

Mossy

If you want your own insurance company to recover your excess, it's going to handled as part of the subrogation process. You're getting in a queue that's probably a mile long, and they'll get to your case if and when they can. That's their right because they don't owe you for the excess. They're doing it as a courtesy to you. The third party's insurer can't *just* refund your excess without admitting liability for all of your insurer's costs.

So to answer your question, chase the third party insurer and do like was recommended, threaten them with small claims court by recorded delivery, naming a reasonable time for them to get back to you. Provide as much information as you can to support your case, even if you have already submitted it.

Best of luck! People who don't own up to accidents are despicable. I hope if the third party in this case is at fault, they own up to it.

Right after all that, I can only repeat my advice I gave in post #9.

sailor sam, are you trying to suggest that the comments between 9 and 17 were not useful? As I would strongly disagree- we have established for the OP that it will not be "Simple... 'quich', thus avoiding giving a false sense of hope, and also Mossy has explained the benefit of having witness statements, and also established that they need to support their claim, proceedings cannot be issued if the claimant has not co-operated on liability disputes, so would it not be much easier to avoid any litigation and try to negotiate, people shouldnt threaten litigation unless they are 100% prepared to go through with it, and ensure that steps were taken to try to avoid such action.

sorry if I sound to be rambling on, but to issue, or threaten to, is like working as a fee earner, not as a claimant with no legal representation.

sailor sam, are you trying to suggest that the comments between 9 and 17 were not useful? As I would strongly disagree- we have established for the OP that it will not be "Simple... 'quich', thus avoiding giving a false sense of hope, and also Mossy has explained the benefit of having witness statements, and also established that they need to support their claim, proceedings cannot be issued if the claimant has not co-operated on liability disputes, so would it not be much easier to avoid any litigation and try to negotiate, people shouldnt threaten litigation unless they are 100% prepared to go through with it, and ensure that steps were taken to try to avoid such action.

 

sorry if I sound to be rambling on, but to issue, or threaten to, is like working as a fee earner, not as a claimant with no legal representation.

No IG, i'm not saying posts between 9 and 17 were not useful. And I agree that you should'nt threaten litigation unless you are going to actually persue it.

But ACCORDING to the OPs version of the events and the comment made by his insurers (although I think this was inapropiate), the OP was not at fault. And there are 2 independant witnesses who have provided statements and apparently the TP gave the same account to the police as the OP. So where is the 'liability dispute? I see no reason (based on the OPs information) why the OP should 'negotiate' his losses and not persue recovery in full via the small claims court if necessary. I do conceed however that I'm assuming the OP is '100% prepared to go through with it'. Therfore, I see no reason why he should'nt write to the TP giving him the oppotunity to refund his excess before taking such action.

Hi, sorry to bring this old thread up but as it's about the same accident and claim I thought it might be easier.

Anywho, I have my excess back. I took the advice and basically just asked for it. In fact I got it back quite a while ago, probably atleast 6 weeks.

The thing is that I'm concerned my insurers still aren't do anything. They have been "working" on this claim for just over 6 months now and don't seems to be anywhere different to where they were at the beginning.

I'm getting concerned that this isn't going to be finished with within the next 2 months when my renewal is up and quite frankly after the amount of time they've taken to handle this claim I don't want to go back with them. If they don't get the liability for this accident sorted soon then I'm going to lose my two years no claims or atleast not have it for when I renew which I think is a tad unfair.

Any advice?

If you have recovered your excess then liability has been accepted by the other persons insurance company.

Advise your insurers about this, they then have no excuse for not recovering their losses and allowing your NCB

Mossy

I have told them I got my excess back. I think it was about 6 weeks ago- I rang them up to tell them about a change of address and thought while I was on the phone I'd be asked to put through to someone who would tell me what was going on with my claim. They did seem surprised I had got my excess back when they hadn't sorted liability.

To be fair to them I think most of the problem is with the other insurers as usually when I speak to mine they seem to be chasing them for a response. Isn't there a time limit or something on this?

Also if they are still chasing the other insurers for a response when it comes to my renewal time, is there any chance they will give me my NCB despite the claim not being closed?

Thanks for your advice

I have told them I got my excess back. I think it was about 6 weeks ago- I rang them up to tell them about a change of address and thought while I was on the phone I'd be asked to put through to someone who would tell me what was going on with my claim. They did seem surprised I had got my excess back when they hadn't sorted liability.

 

To be fair to them I think most of the problem is with the other insurers as usually when I speak to mine they seem to be chasing them for a response. Isn't there a time limit or something on this?

 

Also if they are still chasing the other insurers for a response when it comes to my renewal time, is there any chance they will give me my NCB despite the claim not being closed?

 

Thanks for your advice

If it's confirmed as a non fault accident it should not affect your NCB .. however & assuming you haven't had any fault accidents in the last few years it's worth adding NCB Protection to your next policy to ensure you don't go through this grief again. Also add legal expenses insurance & in the event it happens again their ULR Unit (often an outside law practice) will recover any uninsured losses for you

Well this is only my second year of no claims, but I might think about NCB protection.

As far as I know they are viewing it as a non fault accident, but if they are still trying to recover their losses doesn't that mean my NCB is lost until they oficially sort out libility?