Insurance claim against me .. rip off

[ditman]

Hello,

 

I am writing here in the hope that someone might be able to say that I have some right or not, either way will allow me to continue.

 

I was liable for crashing my car into a brick wall a number of months ago. Now I am being asked to pay up £2,500 for the damages.

 

I find this bang out of order as I was never informed that this was happening until I received a letter saying I had to pay. When I called Elephant.co.uk they said they were happy with it, but really of course they would be because they were not liable.

 

I have gained quotes myself from reputable companies and both came to values around £1,300. This i wouldn't mind paying, but £2,500 (in-fact it was originally £4,500) I cannot afford in a lump sum.

 

 

Now I have to sign a letter giving my insurance company consent to act on my behalf otherwise I will be taken to court by the third party. This I cannot afford, and as I don't have much time left and because I wasn't told of this process when it was happening I have been cornered into just signing the form and paying up.

 

Does anyone know if I have any rights on these points?

1. I wasn't informed that a claim was being made

2. The claim is extortionately priced

 

Or .. is this how being liable for a claim works so I just have to suck it up and pay up?

 

Will I be able to pay this off on a monthly basis?

 

Thanks in advance for any points, either for or against this

 

Dan

[cazzaswfc]

What type of cover did you have?

 

 

what are the costs for? Is this to pay for damage to your car or the 3rd partys costs?

 

This seems a little strange, all insurance cover includes third party cover therefore any costs liable to another insurer/person are covered by your insurance already.

 

When you say you have to sign something to give your insurance co consent to act - are they not already aware of the claim? Have you given your insurance details to the Third partys insurance co?

[ditman]

thanks for reply.

 

to answer your Q's.

 

I am liable and although my insurance company pays (third party claims) they are now wanting to get the full amount back .. as it states in their T&C's

 

The costs are for the third party .. £2,500 to repair a brick wall.

 

And I have to sign a form to give them consent to pay the third parties insurance company. If I don't sign then they take no part in it and the other parties insurance company will take me to court to recoup the costs ... this I cannot afford as it will cost more.

 

 

I just think I'm stuck and have to pay a rip-off amount that I was never made aware off until the whole process was over with.

[cazzaswfc]

Ok - This is normal, if you cause an accident that causes damage to property this is treated the same way as if you had hit another car.

 

You are covered by your insurance so do you just not want to sign the form and let your insurance company pay?

 

Why would you want to pay out the costs when your covered under your insurance?

[ditman]

sorry, you didn't understand me.

 

I am covered, yes. But because I was liable the insurance company is taking their right to recoup all costs from me.

So I sign the form, they pay the 3rd parties insurance company, then my insurance take money from me.

 

I expect this, but what I need to know is if I have any rights to reduce or reclaim money back based on the fact that I wasn't told about this claim until the end when it was all finished or that the price invoiced for the claim is mega $$$$

[cazzaswfc]

Are you sure?

 

What type of cover do you have?

 

Who are you insured with ( I'll have a look at there T&C's)

 

any third party costs should be paid from your insurance NOT YOU. If you have claimed for damage for your car ( i.e you had comp cover) all you should pay is your excess, obviously you may lose any ncd you have accrued.

[ditman]

I crashed and failed the breath-test that's why I was liable

 

I lost most of my rights then

 

Edit :

 

I have fully comp .. but because of above bit, it doesn't really matter. This is why I am going to have to pay my insurance company back the money.

Edited November 11, 2009 by ditman

[cazzaswfc]

I crashed and failed the breath-test that's why I was liable

 

I lost most of my rights then

 

 

who are you insured with mate, it's still unsual for you to pay costs back regardless of the circumstances.

 

Plus you could argue that you were willing to replace the damage and had quotes at a lower premium

[ditman]

Elephant.co.uk :/

[cazzaswfc]

After reading through that policy booklet I'm not surprised why so many people are cynical of insurance companys........ I've never seen such stipulations before.

 

It does seem that they reserve the right to claim costs back from yourself.

 

Personally I would seek legal advice, the issue you have is that you feel you are being charged an excessive amount ( you had quotes for less for the damage to be repaired) you may want to speak to the other insurance and see if you can arrange to pay the amount directly and in instalments ( I would speak to Elephant first to see if they are ok with you trying to do that - after reading their terms!!!! )

 

Sorry I can't help more

[cazzaswfc]

it's also worth noting that if you pay all costs to the other insurer directly you may keep your ncd ( unless you also got your car reparied by elephant) as no claim would have being made on your insurance

[ditman]

Insurance companies do seem to be win win in many situations.

 

People do make mistakes and accidents happen hence the reason of having insurance to cover them, its just a shame that not only will my next load of insurance premiums be higher (which I think should be the only penalty), I have to pay all costs.

 

well it's a harsh expensive lesson I learn

 

i'll try some legal advice see where I stand with the quotes.

 

re my car: I am definitely not making any claim through insurance company

 

thanks anywayz Cazza

[Mossycat]

It's NOT an insurance fiddle or a [problem]. The OP was doing committing a crime at the time of the accident by driving a car whilst over the legal limit. Had he not being under the influence of alcohol chances are that the accident would not have happened.

 

Most motor insurance policies state this, it's very common and had been for quite a while.

 

Mossy

[merlin100]

It sounds correct to me too.

The insurance company will say that they only insured you to drive safely and in accordance with the laws of the land. The drink-driving element has invalidated the contract/terms etc between you and the insurance company. Therefore they will want any money they have to pay out, back from you.

 

My son is awaiting quite a large payout from an insurance company. He was deliberatly run over on a pavement by a young driver. The driver was convicted of careless driving ( we didnt risk "dangerous driving" because of the element of provable intent). He is now permanently disabled with a fused ankle.

Because the driver now has a conviction for careless driving, the insurance company will go after him for any monies paid to my son ( which is now forecast to be £50000 to £60000 because of loss of future earnings).

They will say that they never would have covered him with insurance to drive carelessly therefore they are entitled to the money back ( though how they will recoup that much from an 18 years old is another matter)

[sailor sam]

Agree with the above. while your insueres will cover the damage to the third party, you have invalidated your insurance policy by driving illegally. The only advice I can offer you is to attempt to obtain your own quote to repair the wall to see if you can get it done for less and try to come to an arrangement with your insurers. If you are sincere, you are more likely to reach an agreement. As for getting you own car repaired, that will be the hardest part because I doubt if you would be able to claim for that anyway.

[Mossycat]

Agree with the above. while your insueres will cover the damage to the third party, you have invalidated your insurance policy by driving illegally. The only advice I can offer you is to attempt to obtain your own quote to repair the wall to see if you can get it done for less and try to come to an arrangement with your insurers. If you are sincere, you are more likely to reach an agreement. As for getting you own car repaired, that will be the hardest part because I doubt if you would be able to claim for that anyway.

 

The OP cannot claim for his own car, and his Insurers are only prepared to offer to deal with the TP if he signs a letter of consent. Basically if the OP wants to deal with this matter personally then he refuses to sign the letter of consent and then he can request alternative quotes, but he cannot insist on who does the work, although he can offer to send in his own chosen firm to put the damage right, the problem with that is that if the TP doesn't accept the standard of work then it becomes a mess.

 

The OP has already stated that he doesn't have the lump sum available to pay it all now, so his only real alternative is to sign the letter of consent and let his insurers deal with it, that way if there are any problems later on with the quality of work it does not come back to the OP.

 

Whilst the OP's insurers know they will get the money they pay out to the TP back, they are still under a duty to ensure that any quotes are fair and reasonable, what you have to remember is that Insurers deal with claims on a daily basis, if the estimates supplied didn't sound reasonable then they would have requested alternatives, and at the value stated I would be fairly positive that they would have inspected the damage.

 

The OP has two choices,

 

1) Tell his Insurance Company that he will deal with it and not sign the letter of consent. Then he has to deal direct with the TP, and try and negotiate getting alternative quotes or even getting the TP to accept a repair from the OP's chosen people. If the TP refuses and issues proceedings, he has two quotes and would probably win in Court for the lesser of his two quotes.

 

2) Sign the letter of consent and let his insurers deal with it and then pay them back.

 

It's one or the other, not a combination or a mix and match.

 

I'd advocate option 2, I can see it blowing up in his face and becomming very acrimonious otherwise.

 

Mossy

[Mossycat]

it's also worth noting that if you pay all costs to the other insurer directly you may keep your ncd ( unless you also got your car reparied by elephant) as no claim would have being made on your insurance

 

There is NO other insurer involved.

 

The only insurance company involved is that of the OP, the TP is claiming off the OP's insurance.

 

The OP invalidated his insurance by being over the legal prescribed limit for alcohol, so cannot claim anything back in relation to the damage to his own car, but the TP, who is totally innocent in all this, can claim off the OP's insurers, but they will only act on the OP's behalf if the OP signs a letter of consent agreeing to pay back all the costs they incur. If the OP agrees to this and does pay back the money then his NCD discount will not be affected, and after he gets his licence back he will still have to disclose this accident when applying for insurance (so that will load the premium) and he will also have to disclose his conviction (so that really will load the premium).

 

Mossy

[ditman]

Thanks for your replies

 

I think I am just going to sign the letter and let Elephant deal with it. I can't afford to go to court, and as Mossy says it might go really wrong for me.

 

Just FYI, the wall was repaired before I even knew about it, I was just annoyed that I wasn't informed about the claim being made against me especially as I was the one person who was going to pay, and I was only told about it when I was demanded topay £2,500 ... after it had all been done and dusted.

 

As far as my car is concerned, the front was messed up but I'm getting it repaired without insurance company involvement.

 

 

I always believe it if you make a mistake you have to pay, that's life, but I have been ripped-off and nothing now I can do. I can only pass on my experience to anyone else who is unfortunate to have a similar situation.

 

I just wish that I had approached the owners of the wall before they contacted their insurance with an extortionate quote and then I would have got a fair price for it, but they did say they wanted to make me pay. ba****ds

 

thnx again

[cazzaswfc]

There is NO other insurer involved.

 

The only insurance company involved is that of the OP, the TP is claiming off the OP's insurance.

 

If the OP agrees to this and does pay back the money then his NCD discount will not be affected, and after he gets his licence back he will still have to disclose this accident when applying for insurance (so that will load the premium) and he will also have to disclose his conviction (so that really will load the premium).

 

Mossy

 

Could be - judging by what the op has declared on here the tp could be claiming off their home insurance who in turn would get all costs back through Elephant.

 

In theory if the op pays back his costs this should not affect his ncd however after reading through their policy booklets!!!! It would not surprise me in the slightest if they still reduce this.

 

 

What interests me further is that 2 of the Uk's leading insurers ( 2 that everyone is always quick to slam and complain about) would have settled the TP costs WITHOUT claiming costs back from the policyholder

 

I guess it safe to say that you really do get what you pay for!

[Mossycat]

Thanks for your replies

 

I think I am just going to sign the letter and let Elephant deal with it. I can't afford to go to court, and as Mossy says it might go really wrong for me.

 

Just FYI, the wall was repaired before I even knew about it, I was just annoyed that I wasn't informed about the claim being made against me especially as I was the one person who was going to pay, and I was only told about it when I was demanded topay £2,500 ... after it had all been done and dusted.

 

As far as my car is concerned, the front was messed up but I'm getting it repaired without insurance company involvement.

 

 

I always believe it if you make a mistake you have to pay, that's life, but I have been ripped-off and nothing now I can do. I can only pass on my experience to anyone else who is unfortunate to have a similar situation.

 

I just wish that I had approached the owners of the wall before they contacted their insurance with an extortionate quote and then I would have got a fair price for it, but they did say they wanted to make me pay. ba****ds

 

thnx again

 

OK something isn't stacking up here.

 

I might, and I say MIGHT have a strategy for you, but I need your definitive answers to the following questions

 

1) Did you fill in an accident claim form with elephant in which you mentioned the damage to your car and to the wall

 

2) Did the owners of the wall send you any letters or estimates or did they send them direct to elephant

 

3) Did you arrange to get quotes for the wall before it was repaired and if so did someone you asked to quote go and visit the damaged wall

 

4) Has the wall definately been repaired now, ie has the work been carried out, ie have you physically seen it in a repaired state.

 

As mush as I don't condone drink driving and I agree that drunk drivers should pay all the costs of any accident they cause I also don't agree with them being ripped off.

 

Mossy