Problems with Car Insurance Claim

jimc47

Hi
I had to make a claim last September when an Italian gently reversed into the side of my car whilst I was stationary. However, the insurer is still waiting for, I quote, "...the Motor Insurers Bureau for details of the UKL handling agents for the foreign insurer. We have the full details for the other driver and have no doubt that we will obtain the handling agent for them.
Unfortunately, with a foreign driver involved it slows down the claims process significantly"

Does anyone know of a way to speed this process up? And why does it take so long? The insurer has the details of the driver and her Italian insurance company...

Jim

Exemplar

It will take ages as this is being dealt with cross country. Wait. If the letter was sent within the normal 14 days by your insurance company to the UK handling agents they will sit on it for (normally) 28 days before processing it, then it will take another 2 weeks to get to the driver in Italy (after being translated), so we are at 2 months already......

jimc47

Thanks, but I still don't see why this takes so long... it's now four and a half months since I submitted the claim.

If someone from europe had hit my car in the UK, I (and my insurers) could look up on the Internet to see which UK company represents their Italian insurer in the UK. Why doesn't it work the other way?

And why would they write to the driver? They have their and their insurer's details on the paperwork we filled in at the time... (an excellent way to do things in my view - both drivers fill in the same form and sign it).

Maybe I could call the Italian company and ask them who represents them in the UK... meanwhile it's time to renew my insurance and I have to pay an increased premium because I have an outstanding claim! And, as you can imagine, no other company is offering a competitive premium because of that.

dacouch

I've dealt with a few of these types of claims and the simple way is to ring the other Insurer and ask who handles their UK claims and for their contact details. Ask the other Insurer have they accepted they are at fault and if so have they passed the details to their UK handler.

You can then give this info to your own Insurer.

P.S When you call say hello and ask if there is anyone in the office who speaks English at the start of the call