Accident abroad - who should we claim from

Jess

My daughter has been involved in a very serious accident abroad which was the fault of the airport transfer company. There were eight people involved - several seriously injured - and it is their intention to jointly sue the transfer company to claim compensation for their lost earnings, injuries etc. but this is obviously going to take some time.

My daughter had travel insurance which did not cover her iPhone but this is covered on our home insurance.

If we claim for her phone on the home insurance does anyone know if this will compromise any more major claim against the transfer company. Our home insurers have said that they will obviously try to reclaim the cost of the claim from the transfer company.

She is desperate to get a new phone but the last thing she wants to do is damage the claim against the company.

InsideInsurance

If you claim from your home insurance then yes the home insurer will attempt to recover their outlay but even after they do you will still have to declare the claim but with a £0 cost after the outlay has been recovered.

Home insurers also dont that often have another party to recover from and so are not as good at it as motor claims departments (though to be honest it wont make the greatest difference to your insurance premiums if they do or dont recover the outlay). In fact when I worked in claims the Home team would pass their files to Motor recovery on the occasions they felt they could get something back (normally when a car has driven into garden wall etc)

This will be complicated further because the accident happened overseas, further still if their is signed contracts involved and yet further still if the airport transfer company's insurers are overseas.

If you are already in the process of doing a PI claim against the other party it is worth speaking to the solicitors acting to see the best route forward

Jess

Any advice on whether it's best to find a local solicitor to make the PI claim or use one of the specialist claims companies? If it's the latter then any recommendations?

dacouch

You need to find a solicitor who specialises in overseas claims and ideally claims against holiday providers.

It may be better for the to sue the UK tour operator if they arranged the transfers, it's something a specialist will know if it' possible. It's easier to sue a UK company than a company abroad

Voyager2002

Firstly, what does her travel insurance provider say? (She did have travel insurance, didn't she?)

Secondly, check your home insurance policy carefully: it probably includes legal advice by telephone, and a chat with an advisor would help you see the way forward.

McKneff

OP did say in the original post that the had travel insurance in brackets.