Insurerer witholding settlement

pickup01

My car insurer is witholding settlement of my claim for the total loss of my vehicle, which was destroyed by fire. The insurers engineer has indicated that the fire was due to a manufacturer's fault and my insurer will not pay me the agreed settlement figure until the manufacturer admits liability. As I have comprehensive insurance, I don't see why I should wait for the manufacturer to admit liability - and what happens if they don't?

Does anyone have any advice or similar experiences?

Quentin

Your policy may not cover you against any damage caused by defects/manufacturing malfunction etc. Check it and see.

If that is the case, then you may need to pirsue the manufacturer yourself (or with any legal cover you have with the policy or your own solocitor). From what you say it looks as though your insurer has already embarked on this on your behalf!

vaio

I don't see why you should have to wait either, and I'm sure once you put a formal complaint in you won't be waiting much longer.

Quentin, don't suppose you have any links any motor policies that try and limit fire coverage along the lines you have suggested?

Ch1ckenlady

It's not uncommon for an insurer to arrive at a valuation for a vehicle prior to reaching a decision over policy liability. They should have stated the valuation was on a without prejudice basis.

As Quentin has stated, your policy may not cover you for manufacturing defects though your insurer appears to be liaising with the manufacturer already. If it is a defect, it would need investigating in case other car owners had a similar problem.

Who is your insurer (have you checked the policy wording)?

Do you have a courtesy car and if so, when does that benefit cease? If there is a 'cut off' time, if I were you, I'd ask the Insurers exactly what the situation is, what enquiries they're making and for a timescale.

pickup01

I've just spoken to a claims manager at my insurers (Swiftcover) and he has assured me that they will settle - but that they want to be clear as to where the fault lays before doing so.

I guess that it they were to settle before the manufacturer admitted liability (assuming that they do), then maybe that would weaken their case for obtaining costs from them.

Quentin

pickup01 wrote: »

I've just spoken to a claims manager at my insurers (Swiftcover) and he has assured me that they will settle - but that they want to be clear as to where the fault lays before doing so. .......

Don't know what he means, you are either covered or not.

It sounds like you are covered for this, but they are just stalling paying out.

You should now be making some noise to get them to quickly pay up as agreed (or maybe help you with a temp car till they do)!

pickup01

Yup - they may just be stalling on payout, but I will keep on their case. Fortunately I do have a courtesy car for a few more days and I can use another vehicle after then, so will at least be mobile.

The car in question was a Mini Cooper S and they are currently subject to a safety recall for a fault which BMW Mini admit can cause fires. Mine was booked in for the remedial work to be undertaken the day after it caught fire.

We actually lost 2 vehicles in the fire as it spread to my wife's car, which was parked alongside. Different insurer on that one - so 2 x the grief!

vax2002

Swiftcover, that says it all.
They are the pits....

Ch1ckenlady

That's really bad luck!

Given Mini's high profile, you could always try speaking to them. A word in the right ear with a few veiled (media) threats could move things along nicely!

vaio

pickup01 wrote: »

Yup - they may just be stalling on payout, but I will keep on their case. Fortunately I do have a courtesy car for a few more days and I can use another vehicle after then, so will at least be mobile.

The car in question was a Mini Cooper S and they are currently subject to a safety recall for a fault which BMW Mini admit can cause fires. Mine was booked in for the remedial work to be undertaken the day after it caught fire.

We actually lost 2 vehicles in the fire as it spread to my wife's car, which was parked alongside. Different insurer on that one - so 2 x the grief!

Actually, that might be a silver lining along the lines of if your car caught fire due to a manufacturing fault that Mini have accepted liability for then they are also liable for the OH car thus saving her excess & NCB

magpiecottage

I think it unlikely that a motor policy would specifically exclude manufacturing faults and, if it did, this ought to have been drawn to the OP's attention when the policy was purchased.

Clearly if the manufacturer was at fault you have a claim against it but that should be pursued by the insurer in your name using a procedure known as subrogation.

I would complain to the insurer that it is being unreasonable and that you want the matter settled promptly and, in the meantime, you want the provision of the courtesy car extended at its expense.

For the other car, it is a little more complex. BMW will be liable for the reasonably foreseeable consequences of its negligence. That the mini caught fire because of the fault is, I think obviously a foreseeable consequence. Whether you could persuade a court that the spread to another vehicle was reasonably is a little more tenuous - there is quite a lot of case law about this. However, an argument that it was reasonable to suppose it would be parked in proximity to another vehicle, particularly one belonging to the partner of the owner, seems quite strong.

I suggest contacting the other vehicle's insurer and making them aware that BMW has admitted liability for causing the fire which damaged/destroying it and allowing them to decide whether to pursue their own claim.