insurance claim advice , can you help?

joanne_d_3

Hi , posting this to ask for some advice regarding an accident which my husband was involved in.

Anyways....my husband was stationary in a line of traffic when over the brow of a hill a young girl comes FLYING !

She leaves herself without enough time to react to the line of traffice and plows into the back of my husband.

My husband had left enough room between himself and the car in front of him and so luckily enough he was not shunted into any other car .

My husband , who already has a medical condition which effects his chest , suffered pain in his neck , back , shoulders and chest .

He visited A+E that day and then when he was still in pain a week later he visited his Gp.

Since then he has been consuming strong pain killers and has been prescribed a gel to rub on his back.

We reported the accident to the local police and also informed the insurance company.

The insurance company were all "oh , this will be an open and shut case , a rear end shunt is easily sorted and we shall gain personal injury compensation in a short period of time".

My husband has the legal cover on his policy and the insurance agent told him there was no need for a solicitor as this claim would be sorted at record speed owing to the circumstances.

We waited and waited and continued to keep in touch with the insurance company who we KNEW were fobbing us off with excuses until one day when i rang them for my husband they sheepishly admitted that the OTHER PARTY WERE ALSO INSURED WITH THEM!!

So we reckon this is why they have been dragging their heels.

Now this next paragraph may sound bad but we are off the opinion that my husband was involved in an accident for which he was TOTALLY BLAMELESS , his vehicle (a taxi of all things) was off the road and he TRUELY WAS INJURED. Owing to all this and the fact that it was a clear cut circumstance (as we had been informed by the insurance company the whole time) we believe this matter should have been sorted by now (REMEMBER , BEFORE THE INSURANCE COMPANY WERE AWARE THAT THE OTHER PARTY WAS SLSO INSURED WITH THEM THEY WERE QUICK TO TELL US WE WOULD BE FULLY COMPENSATED WITHIN A MATTER OF WEEKS!).

So , after getting passed about for ages i rung the company on behalf of my husband and told them that i would give them to the end of May to get this matter sorted and after that i was making use of the legal cover on the policy as in i would get a solicitor on to the case.

The end of may came and went without a word from the insurance company so i called up the broker and arranged to get a solicitor. A solicitor then telephoned yesterday morning and took on the case . He has written to use today to say that he will access my husbands medical records etc and has also arranged for my husband to see a consultant surgeon . He has also said in the letter that we are NOT to enter into any correspondense with the insurance company from now on , we are to direct their correspondense to him.

Now...heres where i need the advice.....

Today in the post we have received a letter from the insurance company (dated 23rd May) stating that they are now in a position to discuss a "claim value" with my husband . They state that they have received records from the family Gp and are satisfied that injuries were sustained . They ask us to telephone them to discuss a settlement figure.

Both myself and my husband just want this matter sorted out , we dont want it dragging on another 6 or 7 months (the appointment with the consultant surgeon is arranged for late August . )

What should we do ? What are we actually ALLOWED to do now ?

If we ring the insurance company and tell them that we had instructed a solicitor (just yesterday) but if they still wish to offer a settlement we would be willing to consider the amount and if satisfied then we would close the claim and inform the solicitor his help is no longer required WOULD THIS BE ALLOWED ?

OR now that we have instructed a solicitor do we HAVE to allow him to take on the case ?

If the insurance company are ok with offering a settlement , who would be liable for the letters etc the solicitor has sent to us today ?

Can a legal cover claim be opened and then just closed again because the insurance company and my husband come to an agreement?

Please please please , if you can offer any advice then it will be appreciated.

ps , i know some people will say just allow the solicitor to deal with it as we would (probably) walk away with a bigger sum of compensation BUT in that case the matter would drag on for longer and ultimately cost the insurer A LOT MORE MONEY as they would then have to pay the solicitor fee's ontop of compensation to us an if im honest my husband isnt out to run them into more money , he just wants compensation for his injuries. My husband also thinks that the higher the amount the insurance company has to pay out to settle this claim , the MORE the other parties insurance premium will increase at renewal , MY HUSBAND WORRIES ABOUT THIS AS THE OTHER DRIVER WAS AN "R" DRIVER WHO WASNT MUCH OLDER THAT OUR ELDEST DAUGHTER so my husband feels a bit sorry for her !

Sorry for the long post and if you made it this far then an extra big thank you !

Quentin

The size of the payout won't affect the other drivers future premium (which is going to be affected anyway by this incident) - also your premium may well be loaded as a result, so don't waste any more thought on that angle.

You now have instructed your own solicitor, so speak to them over this letter, and take their advice. There is no doubt you should have an independent solicitor acting for you.

joanne_d_3

Quentin wrote: »

The size of the payout won't affect the other drivers future premium (which is going to be affected anyway by this incident) - also your premium may well be loaded as a result, so don't waste any more thought on that angle.

You now have instructed your own solicitor, so speak to them over this letter, and take their advice. There is no doubt you should have an independent solicitor acting for you.

Hi , Quentin and thanks for such a speedy reply .

dont think our premium will go up owing to this accident for two reasons , 1) My husband held no fault in the accident and 2) We have protected no claims bonus .

I know exactly what the solicitor will say if i contact him and that is that we are to refuse the settlement offer and let him handle it which is just going to take ages !

In saying this i do see where you are coming from though....

In answer to the question asked though , if we telephone the insurance company and they are now aware that there is a solicitor on the case , can they still offer a settlement or will the offer made HAVE to be retracted?

Thanks again

Quentin

joanne_d wrote: »

dont think our premium will go up owing to this accident for two reasons , 1) My husband held no fault in the accident and 2) We have protected no claims bonus .

1) It is the incident that alters your risk profile. Having a no fault incident does affect the premium (and will have to be declared when getting quotes from other insurers in the future for some years)

2) You misunderstand protected NCB. All that does is "protect" your level of discount, not the base premium (from which the discount is deducted)

joanne_d_3

Quentin wrote: »

1) It is the incident that alters your risk profile. Having a no fault incident does affect the premium (and will have to be declared when getting quotes from other insurers in the future for some years)

2) You misunderstand protected NCB. All that does is "protect" your level of discount, not the base premium (from which the discount is deducted)

Quentin , thanks for explaining the points as above but thats not really our concern at the minuite.

The question i wanted an answer to was specifically THIS :

If i telephone the insurance company on Monday to accept / discuss the offer they have made me today are they going to say "sorry Mrs**** but as you have now instructed a solicitor on this matter im afraid we must now WITHDRAW the offer previously made and advise you that we can no longer communicated directly with you/your husband"

OR

Are they likely to take the approach of "good god YES , please take the offer of settlement which we have offered to you as it will save us a lot of solicitor fee's !" (lol).

Any hows......THATS basically what i want to know.

Thanks again

Quentin

If you have instructed a solicitor, and go against his advice, then check your agreement with the solicitor about what costs (if any) you may incur by accepting any offer not negotiated by the solicitor.

joanne_d_3

Quentin wrote: »

If you have instructed a solicitor, and go against his advice, then check your agreement with the solicitor about what costs (if any) you may incur by accepting any offer not negotiated by the solicitor.

Thanks.

We only contacted the solicitor yesterday by telephone so at this point in time we dont exactly have an agreement with him!

All he has done at this stage is write a letter to us asking us to sign it to agree to the release of my husbands medical records concerning the accident.

Think we are just guna go ahead and accept the insurers offer , its quite a good offer and is on par with what we were expecting to receive.
Thanks again

Quentin

At the very least get someone who knows about these things to check your offer before you accept - you really ought to get independent advice.


And are you sure he is now fully recovered? (If not act in haste and repent at leisure!!!)

daveyjp

If the medical situation is not yet resolved don't be too hasty in accepting a figure.

stator

You may have to pay the solicitor his costs up to this point, particularly since he has probably paid a referral fee to your insurance company for them to give him the case.

joanne_d_3

Quentin wrote: »

At the very least get someone who knows about these things to check your offer before you accept - you really ought to get independent advice.


And are you sure he is now fully recovered? (If not act in haste and repent at leisure!!!)

Hi again .

My husband isnt "fully recovered" , hes actually still on painkillers . The pain he is suffering is chest , back and shoulder pain but we are confident this will clear up in time . The accident was fairly recently.

Thanks again