Quinn Direct claims handling

SelbyJay_2

Hi all, first of all, can i apologise for the length of this thread? I could really do with some help and advice but need to include details of the problem in full. So, here goes....

In March last year (2007) i was involved in a road accident with a motorbike. I was emerging from a junction, across 2 lanes of stationary traffic, when the motorbike (cutting up the inside of traffic) collided with the front right corner of my car.

QD were notified of the accident and advised that they would allocate 100% liability on my behalf. Based on the simple rule that, as the bike was coming from my right, he had right of way.

I contested the 100% liability decision and QD finally agreed that i was only 20% liable for the accident (Powell Vs Moody case law). However, in the mean time, they had paid the costs of the claim (£1000) from my policy.

Now, if the 20% liability decision had been reached sooner, QD would have given me the opportunity to pay back my portion of the costs of the claim (20% of £1000 = £200) before my renewal date and protect my NCB. But, as they didn’t come to this decision quickly enough, it got to the point where they had to try and reclaim the costs of the claim from the third party insurers. Needless to say, the third party insurers aren't playing ball and won’t even correspond with QD.

It is my view that, if I was only 20% liable for the accident, I should only be made to pay 20% of the costs. But, as QD have so far failed to recover the third party’s costs of the claim (i.e. £800), I have had to suffer the losses of a £360 rise in premium, after loosing my NCB. As QD admit that they were wrong to allocate 100% liability on my behalf, I have requested that they refund my additional premium. This they have refused to do.

I have written to FOS who, 10 months after being made aware of the complaint, have been unable to make any progress whatsoever. I now face a further wait of 6 months or more before a final decision can be made about who’s right and who’s wrong.

Bit of an odd situation but has anybody been here before or know if I’m just wasting my time trying to fight against QD’s decisions? I'm at the end of my tether and have had nearly 2 years of battles with QD and FOS and I would just like to put the whole thing behind me.

Any help or comments would be massively appreciated! Cheers