2mph accident - insurance have paid out £5K to other party!!!

[Deleted User]

A few months I reversed out of a parking space and just nudged the car by the side of me (driver was sitting in it at the time).

Anyway, few days later had a letter saying my insurance were investigating since the person was claiming injury (yeah, right!). In the end, they cancelled the investigation for some reason.

Now I find out they paid out £5K to this person without telling me!!!!

I'm concerned that now rather than a claim for £500 on my record I've got a claim for personal injury of £5000 which is going to cost me more for future insurance.

Can my insurance company do this and just decide to settle how it suits them? Or is there anything I can do about it?

[Deleted User]

Apparently, according to insurance company, she had independent medical evidence to support her claim. Yeh right.

lisyloo

Yeh right.

How do you know she didn't already have pre-existing disease/injury?
You are responsible for the damage you have done regardless of the pre-existing injuries/diseases of the person involved.
Clearly the medical evidence has convinced the insurer that it's not worth disputing.
The medical evidence would have come from a doctor/consultant and very possibly someone representing your insurer.

Can my insurance company do this and just decide to settle how it suits them? Or is there anything I can do about it?

Pretty much they can settle things how they like.
I suspect in this case they didn't think it as worth going to court becasue the legal costs would exceed the payout.

You could complain, but I don't think you have much chance, because firstly their decision is a commercial one and secondly you have no access to the medical information and even if you did you wouldn't be able to understand the implications of it.

Sorry, but I think you are stuck with it.

[Deleted User]

lisyloo wrote: »

How do you know she didn't already have pre-existing disease/injury?
You are responsible for the damage you have done regardless of the pre-existing injuries/diseases of the person involved.
Clearly the medical evidence has convinced the insurer that it's not worth disputing.
The medical evidence would have come from a doctor/consultant and very possibly someone representing your insurer.

Pretty much they can settle things how they like.
I suspect in this case they didn't think it as worth going to court becasue the legal costs would exceed the payout.

You could complain, but I don't think you have much chance, because firstly their decision is a commercial one and secondly you have no access to the medical information and even if you did you wouldn't be able to understand the implications of it.

Sorry, but I think you are stuck with it.

Yeh, its obviously a commercial decision by them.

Just shows what a mess the insurance industry is in when its so easy to claim compensation like this.

lisyloo

Just shows what a mess the insurance industry is in when its so easy to claim compensation like this.

It's not obvious to me what the alternative would be.
There is no doubt the accident occured and where the liability is, so if there is medical evidence of pain/injury then there is compensation owed.
That part doesn't appear to be in dispute.
Do you think it would be better for her to get £3K but £3K is spent on legal fees (remember medical consultants are involved).
That only increases the costs and makes it worse for the OP.

Having been on the other side of it I don't think it's "that easy"
Taking time off (and paying the expenses like travel) to be medically examined by someone not on your side and dealing with solicitors is not "that easy".
My MIL has a recent case and she was in tears over all the paperwork, stress and worry (her choice to make the claim of course).

sarahg1969

The trouble is that no objective testing is used for whiplash. It's all based on what the claimant says.

[Deleted User]

sarahg1969 wrote: »

the trouble is that no objective testing is used for whiplash. It's all based on what the claimant says.

exactly!!!!!!

lisyloo

The trouble is that no objective testing is used for whiplash. It's all based on what the claimant says.

Agreed.
Which means whilst you might disbelieve them, you have absolutely no proof whatsoever that it's not genuine and therefore can do nothing about it.
That's exactly why they aren't pursuing it because there is no way to disprove it.

The only thing you can do is to try to avoid it in future (by getting out of the car 10 times if necessary if there is no-one around to help).

InsideInsurance

The checks and balances in the system are supposed to be the independent medical experts who ultimately get paid the same amount irrespective of what they say and risk being "black listed" if found to be giving bad evidence.

The challenge of cause is the fact that the independent expert is almost always appointed by the claimant's solicitor and therefore can equally be "black listed" if they consistently say the claimants faking it. They therefore tend to lean towards the claimants story but not to the extent of out and out lying about it.

FlameCloud

[quote=[Deleted User];47844369]exactly!!!!!![/QUOTE]

Thats a problem with medical science, not insurance.

Just_Some_Guy

You can't disprove whiplash and it can theoretically happen at 1mph if the angles are right. Often insurance companies just bung a cheque at the claimant without resorting to the legal process just to avoid the time and expense of dealing with lawyers and medics.

This kind of nuisance claim is exactly the reason why 18 year olds get quoted £5k a year for insurance. Teenage drivers are idiots and have prangs all the time, ten years ago a low speed impact would have no repercussions beyond your dad yelling at you but these days every bump costs thousands.