car insurance

patch28

hello everyone, im new to this site so please bare with me.
can a car insurance company settle a claim against you without informing you the other person had mad a claim?
A couple of years ago I pulled out on to a clear straight road and the other car came up (speeding) behind me, nearly crashing into the back of my car. There was no damage to my car and only scraches to the front wheel rim. He got out of his car and processed to threaen me for money which I did not hand over.
When I got home (I was still shaken) I called the insurance company and told them what had happened. That I did not think it was my fault and he had limit damage.
The operator said-
'Generally it would be the person pulling out that would be held a'....(I said 'yes')
'and so would you be happy for us to deal with his claim' I answered 'yes'
I did not hear anything else about it and got new car insurance a few months later and i thought all was fine.
I few months a go I tried to get new insurance again and was told I had a claim against me. I called the orginal insurance company and they had settled a claim of nearly a £1000 against me.
I have lost all my no claims (but will have to find out if I have lost last years NCD as well!)
It seems the company are basing the claim on the orginal call to them and never asked for a written account of the incident.
Now my insurance is sky high!
Hope someone can help me please.
Sorry for such a long thread.
Thankyou for reading.
Julie

huckster

Julie

I think the Insurance company that dealt with the claim, probably did not have much option but to make the payment to the 3rd party. They would have been given details of the 3rd parties statement about the accident, which would have matched with your own telephoned information i.e. that you pulled out on the 3rd party.

As you had since cancelled the policy, the Insurers probably though there was no point in contacting you.

I take it that when you arranged your new Insurance you declared that you had a claim pending with previous Insurers?

patch28

Thanks for your reply.
Thats just the point. I did not even know that there was actually a claim against me. I was not informed at any stage that a claim had been make.
I had spoken to the company and stated what happened just to cover my own back but I was not told anything after that at all.
I only switched company because the policy run out so there was say 6 months when I was still with that company and covered by that policy but even then nothing even though the claim had been put in before the policy finished.
Its so frustrating that I was not informed what was going on. I even called that same company for a quote this time and was not even told then.... It was another company that I called straight after!
Anyway it is not common practice and just polite to inform someone of what is going on especially when you will have to inform other companies about the claim?
How could I inform anyone else if I did not know myself?
Julie

huckster

Julie

When you telephoned the Insurance company after the accident, they would have recorded an entry to your claims record. This should have appeared on your renewal notice when it was issued, showing a pending claim.

If this is not the case and you now have a grievance, I can only suggest that you raise this as an official complaint with the company concerned. The complaint would be about the advice you were given when originally phoning them and then not contacting you when the 3rd party submitted the claim.

As you say, if the the Insurers did not note the claim and you have not been advises, how would you know to mention this to future Insurers. The Insurers do generallly ask for information on any accidents or claims during the last 3 or years, when arranging new Insurance.

patch28

Thanks for your help.
At the time I do not remember seeing anything about a pending claim on my renewals letter.
I am gonna go down the complaint aveune, which of course I really did not want to do, but I now feel this is the only option open to me as the company have been really unhelpful (and rude about it I must add)
Thanks again.
Julie

Quentin

huckster wrote: »

As you say, if the the Insurers did not note the claim and you have not been advises, how would you know to mention this to future Insurers. The Insurers do generallly ask for information on any accidents or claims during the last 3 or years, when arranging new Insurance.

The OP did know about the incident - and according to the first post instructed his insurer to deal with any claim that arose from the incident.

When taking out insurance since the incident the question regarding any incidents would have been asked, and it should have been declared!

Quentin

patch28 wrote: »

I am gonna go down the complaint aveune, which of course I really did not want to do, but I now feel this is the only option open to me as the company have been really unhelpful (and rude about it I must add)

If you check your policy you may find that you have no grounds to complain.

When taking it out, you will have agreed to allow the insurer to take over any claim and make a settlement. And from your OP, you gave them instructions to do this.

All they are "guilty" of (in your eyes) is not telling you how much they had to pay out to the third party, but this is not unusual.

huckster

Quentin wrote: »

The OP did know about the incident - and according to the first post instructed his insurer to deal with any claim that arose from the incident.

When taking out insurance since the incident the question regarding any incidents would have been asked, and it should have been declared!

Quentin

Yes I did realise all that. Sometimes the OP's have got to make enquiries for themselves and often to obtain the full facts they have got to make a complaint. As you will know phoning or just making a general written enquiry does always elicit the facts.

From what the OP was saying the Insurers did not note the claim, even though it appears she did give her permission to deal with the 3rd party. The complaint enquiry is to find out whether the Insurers did follow the correct procedure in all their dealings with the OP.

iamana1ias

patch28 wrote: »

A couple of years ago I pulled out on to a clear straight road and the other car came up (speeding) behind me, nearly crashing into the back of my car. There was no damage to my car and only scraches to the front wheel rim. He got out of his car and processed to threaen me for money which I did not hand over.

He must have hit you if there was damage.

patch28

No he scraped the kerb as he was speeding! Didnt touch my car at all. I do not know how that would cause nearly £1000 worth of damage! It just do not add up to me.
As far as I knew there had not been any claim arising from the 'incident'. I had asked them to deal with anything that did arise but I did not know anything had.
Too be honest, I am not bothered how much it cost them. I do not like the fact that they did not tell me a claim had actually been make or that my statement was taken from a phone call when I had been shaken up and I had just been threatened by the 3rd party (I did state this had happened in the call.) A written statement should have been taken. I think this is the only fair way of resolving the issue.
They had only quoted general facts at me like 'general its the car that pulls out is to blame' which in its self is correct but then they have not taken into consideration all the other facts (like he was speeding) is unfair.
Julie

iamana1ias

patch28 wrote: »

No he scraped the kerb as he was speeding! Didnt touch my car at all. I do not know how that would cause nearly £1000 worth of damage! It just do not add up to me.

patch28 wrote: »

They had only quoted general facts at me like 'general its the car that pulls out is to blame' which in its self is correct but then they have not taken into consideration all the other facts (like he was speeding) is unfair.
Julie

Even if he was you can't prove it.

Are you really able to tell when a car is speeding just by looking at it?