car insurance....claiming back excess

emandden

Hi our car was hit by a bus june 2011 and we paid £200 excess for the repairs.As we have legal cover we asked to claim this back in july 2011.We have been totally messed around by the insurance company.When we have called them regarding the claim they give excuses about the person dealing with it is on holiday etc etc.The last contact from our insurers was february 2012 saying that the 3rd party have filed a defence.That was the last time they bothered to tell us anything.What im wondering is are we being messed around or does it really take this long to claim back our excess!!!

Quentin

It seems the issue is that liability is in dispute.

Until that is resolved you cannot get paid, and liability disputes can take a long time to be agreed.

But keep prodding your legal people.

Cariann

It seems to be a policy not to be clear about whether they are claiming it for you or not....perhaps in the hope it gets forgotten! This is something another company said they did on a TV programme only last week!! Keep at them if you have Legal Expenses in with your Insurance - that is needed or no chance of them doing it.

Quentin

Cariann wrote: »

It seems to be a policy not to be clear about whether they are claiming it for you or not....perhaps in the hope it gets forgotten! This is something another company said they did on a TV programme only last week!! Keep at them if you have Legal Expenses in with your Insurance - that is needed or no chance of them doing it.

An insurer won't normally ever be claiming back your excess for you.

Neither will they claim back any other uninsured losses for you (eg hire car charges/.taxi fares/lost earnings/compensation for injury).

You can DIY, use any ininsured loss recovery "legal" cover you have or use a solicitor/claim handler