Insurance Claim Time Limits?

Anonymous · December 16, 2003, 20:44

Hi peeps.

Does anyone know if there is any sort of time limit on when a claim should be made in the case of a car incident?

Back in September Kerstie was behind a car at a roundabout. The car proceeded as the entire roundabout was clear, Kerstie then went, but for some unknown reason (highly dubious) the other car just stopped. Kerstie hit the back of it, at around 3mph.

The femail driver of the other car, and Kerstie inspected both vehicles and agreed that there was no damage, but the other woman was a bit snotty (car was a "really expensive BMW" (w reg 3 series LOL)).

We let our insurance co know about this as a matter of course on the day. They said if there was a claim from the 3rd party then they would let us know....we have heard nothing since.

I then get a letter today! stating "their engineers have inspected the 3rd parties vehicle and confirmed there was damage caused to their rear bumper due to this accident. In view of this they have settled the 3rd parties claim at a cost of £360"

Now I have two issues (aside from the fact I think the whole thing was a scam I think the woman deliberately stopped).

1. The insurance company did not inform me of this at all, and have inspected and already paid out on the claim.

2. More importantly why it has taken 3 months. My insurance company say they only got the claim in November, however in my view anything can have happend in the 2 months since the incident...SURELY this should have been reported immediately?

My Insurance say that the claim came from her solictor and these sort of cases do take a little while longer, but I demanded to know when her car was inspected originally by their dealer, my company say they cannot get this info!

They say the £360 was a one off payment that prevents the 3rd party claiming any more (example, extra labour, like for like hire cars etc). So it does look as if they have done good here.

I really think this sounds dodgy and surely we can appeal against this (for the sake of my claims history!!!!).

Anyone know where we stand or are we just stuffed!?!?!

P.S. It was the focus not the 2 - phew! But thats MY Insurance!

darrenjuggins · December 16, 2003, 22:27

Hi Craig,

No expert, but sounds like you got of lightly, £360 will barely cover labour for looking at it!

All I can suggest is always carry a small camera with a flash to take evidence at the scene which cannot be disputed, bit it digital or film, that way it dosent matter when it is inspected and you have evidence in case they try to pull a fast one.

Seeem the insurance has made a ex-gratia payment, AKA a one off, no come back settlement, end of story.

Insurance eh, can live with them, illegal without them!

better look next time craig.

Cheers

D s;-) ;-) s;-)

Anonymous · December 16, 2003, 22:33

Hey, guess what we now carry in both glove boxes....a disposable camera. I believe it has to be film, digital is inadmissable

darrenjuggins · December 16, 2003, 22:41

Hi Craig,

Excellent, I carry both, people soon shut up barking about things with cars when a camera appears out of the car, had an idiot pull in the side of me, caught my wheel, but luckly enough not the car.

Made a mess of his wheel arch, just pulled out to be spitful cause I was using an empty lane, idiot!. shut up when I started taking photos for evidence.

Also point to note craig, does your digital have an ability to record speech ?? if so keep it on you, just in case, it's amazing what people say at accidents without thinking....

Tips over s;-) ;-) s;-)

Cheers

D s;-) ;-) s;-)

Anonymous · December 16, 2003, 22:50

A useful tip someone gave me for remember stuff like reg numbers etc in the heat of the moment is to call you own mobile phone, you will automatically go to voice mail then you can leave yourself a message.

Anonymous · December 16, 2003, 22:58

Of no real use to you but when I bought my 2 there was a disposable camera & accident pack in the glove box s:)

s:)

Do i really look that dodgy s:?: :?: s:?:

Don't answer that s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

zud · December 17, 2003, 08:53

I once did something similar to Kerstie, and didn't spot the crease in my wing until I got home and took a second look! So chances are there was damage done, and it was just difficult to see at the time.

But I'm afraid I get a bit cynical with this sort of thing, and wouldn't be very happy either...

It does seem a long time to wait. I'm not sure why she'd wait so long if it was a scam in the first place. But it certainly gives her time to have reversed into something since and decided to get the repair done by you! I'd be very keen to know how long she waited before getting the car examined. And at least a verbal description of the damage they found, to make sure it wasn't something that Kerstie would have spotted at the time.

Secondly, the insurance company may have done a good job, but was it a good job for you? Will a £360 claim make any difference to your NCB/premium compared with a £800 bill? I'd expect my insurance company to ring me first. You might have preferred to pay the £360 yourself and save the money on NCB/premium. And if they'd rung you first you'd have had the chance to make sure they weren't paying out for something that might have happened since!!

[/b]

Anonymous · December 17, 2003, 09:05

Yes, this is my point really. I have a claim on my record, so it doesnt really matter if it was for £10k.

I am going to call them again and demand a bit more info.

zud · December 17, 2003, 09:44

Quote from: "cstevens"Yes, this is my point really. I have a claim on my record, so it doesnt really matter if it was for £10k..

It might do. A few years back I ran into the back of a transit van less than a month after refusing the offer of protecting my NCB... d'oh!! While discussing with a woman from Direct Line she mentioned that I'd only lose 2 years from my NCB as the payout was less than £x. I can't remember the value of "x", but the claim was about £600.

As it turned out, what I lost in NCB over two years was a bit less than taking the protected NCB! (DL charge quite a high percentage for protected)

Liz · December 17, 2003, 11:24

Roger is the expert on insurance, maybe worth a PM to him?

mrsmr2 · December 17, 2003, 11:42

I had an accident many years ago (my fault) and the insurance company told me the third party had either two or three years to claim.

Anonymous · December 17, 2003, 12:45

I agree that it seems quite possible that the woman has reversed into something since, and decided to claim for it against you!

But there's also the chance that she couldn't see any damage at the time, so forgot about it... at the next service she mentioned it to the garage, who took the bumper off and discovered the mounts were bent or something.

This could be consistant with the cheap repair.. I can't imagine any bodywork repair on a BMW to be as low as £360?!

Still, my condolances for your unfortunate situation!
Tim

Anonymous · December 17, 2003, 13:30

Quote1. The insurance company did not inform me of this at all, and have inspected and already paid out on the claim.

Unfortunately, one of the policy terms will be that you submit all your rights etc to them. Once reported, an incident becomes entirely their responsibility, and you have no further say in the matter.

Quote2. More importantly why it has taken 3 months. My insurance company say they only got the claim in November, however in my view anything can have happend in the 2 months since the incident...SURELY this should have been reported immediately?

Not exactly the same situation, but when I was hit a while ago, my insurance co had to allow 6 months (an industry agreed figure) for the other party to submit their accident report form (which, incidentally, they never did). As I had independent witnesses, I had to wait 6 months for anything to happen (and then a further 6 to get my losses back s:evil: :evil: s:evil: )

Anonymous · December 17, 2003, 14:20

Sounds like I am pretty much stuffed then.

Surely though I have a right to know what damage is claimed to have been done and see any paperwork?

Anonymous · December 17, 2003, 18:25

Craig,

It's a general condition of pretty much all motor insurance policies that the insurer has a the right to

a) conduct the settlement or defence of a claim on your behalf
b) admit negligence on your behalf for an accident or claim

and yours has pretty much done both s:(

s:(

They might give you a copy of the claim file and if they don't you can start making noises that include reference to the Data Protection Act which would eventually get you large parts of the info. you want.

The problem you have is that even if there are no images of the damage, there will at very least be a garage estimate or receipt detailing damage to the third party's rear end and as you had already informed them of the incident they probably concluded that on the balance of probabilities that the one led to the other.

One option still open to you is that you could pay the £360 to your insurer and they will then record the claim as a nil-payment and reinstate your NCD (or reinstate one of you "lives" if your NCD is protected s:)

s:) This is common practice with low-value claims. Most companies take account of claims for 3 years (some look at the past 5 years) when giving you a quote. It may be worth doing the maths to work out what it'll cost you in additional premium over the 3 years and balancing that against the £360 upfront payment you would have to make now in order to get the claim treated as a non-fault.

HTH

Ray

Anonymous · December 17, 2003, 20:28

Thanks R2

I have already had a barny with them over the details of the claim - they told me they cannot give me them due to the data protection act. I responded with "er, the data protection act is protecting me not you" their response was they would call me tomorrow with the details of the claim...that was easy!

Anyway, they have not once said that I can pay them. Problem is, I think a claim is a claim in their books. My renewal is next month, so we shall see. I did a quote on line and it looks like this.

Me driving 1 year - Kerstie 5 years with 3 points
£700

1 Claim - Damage by unknown thirdparty
£900

2 Claim - Kerstie a careless idiot!
£1100

Crap Crap Crap!!!!!

The bloody 2 only costs us £700!

Slacey · December 18, 2003, 08:02

Quote from: "cstevens"Kerstie a careless idiot!

Oooh, you's in trouble now boy! s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Anonymous · December 18, 2003, 08:46

I have been dying to say that all week - I am SO MAD!