Dissatisfied about resolved claim - what can I do?

RavCat

Hi guys, I appreaciate this isn't exactly classed as "money saving" but I'm not sure who else to ask:

I was hit back in 2006 by another driver who was insured, his fault. No witnesses were available and we exchanged insurance details. The other driver submitted a different set of events to his insurer as the cause of the crash, and we ended up blaming each other for the crash, even though the damage to my car represented my side of the story better.

To cut a long story short, a few months later my insurer has settled the claim 50/50, against my wishes, meaning I’m now out of pocket for the repairs on my car, and I’m suffering the same loss of no-claims as if it were resolved to be my fault..

I am disappointed at the result of the settlement, and I am also dissatisfied at the lack of communication from my insurer: all the information I’ve gained has been from actively ringing them up and hassling them, and the only reason I know the claim is settled is that I received a cheque for half my excess back directly from the other driver’s insurer. When I contacted my insurer about this, they said that they would not take the matter to court, despite my having legal cover with them, because they could not guarantee that I would win the case.

Is there anything I can do to push this further, or am I simply in an no-win situation, considering the dishonesty of the other driver?

Pandora_Peroxide

I'm interested in any advice here as I have a feeling I may find myself in the same position.

In August last year I was hit on a roundabout by a lorry. I was on the inside lane and he cut in front of me, the tail end of him damaging my wing mirror forwards.

I have chased my insurance company lots and have sent them a statement, diagram and lots of pics. They told me prior to Xmas that his insurance company were preparing a letter where he was going to say he did hit me but I was in his way but it was my fault. All along the insurance Co (not less than!) have told me it was clearly his error.

Yesterday I got a letter asking me to send info to their claims dept as the other guy has dispited the claim. I have to phone them today as they already have everything short of a video of the accident!

I only have 3 yrs no claims so it wasn't protected. I really want this fought as losing my no claims would not only be unfair but blinking costly.

Astaroth

At the end of the day an insurance company is legally entitled to settle a claim as it sees fit even if this is against their policyholders wishes.

Whilst this is the law (and will also almost certainly be in your policybook as well) they should explain the situation/ maintain appropriate communications etc.

As with any complaint against and insurance company you must first follow their own internal complaints procedure (should be in your policy documents/ book). Once you have received a final response from them and if you are still not happy you can escalate the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service for their adjudication. If you are still not happy then the last port of call is the courts - to date I havent seen any cases where the courts have rulled differently to the FOS though.