Personal Accident Claim

frustratedofearth88

I need some help and advice.

My brother suffered a motorcycle accident on the 1st Jan 2013.

The person that caused the accident was from Belgium.

The police were called both were checked to see if they had been drinking (they had not) she told the police that in her country she was allowed to drive on the roundabouts that way

(she cut him up and knocked him off)

Since the accident the police have informed my brother that there will be no prosecutions bought against either of them and that it was purely an accident, she just made a mistake!

He suffered some injuries and the bike was damaged along with his crash helmet and clothing.

His insurers Zenith have arranged for the bike to be collected and assessed, this has now been done and he is waiting for the decision on that.

The problem we now have is with the 'personal accident claim'

He kept getting calls from a company called 'Action Direct' who say 'They work for Zenith' and that they wanted to send out some papers for him to sign from a solicitor group so that they could get on with making his claim.

These people sent out a courier with the papers for him to sign, not explaining anything properly but as soon as they were about to go out of the door the guy said ' I guess I had better give you all this information' he then left the house.

I read through the terms and conditions and I was very uneasy with what I was reading, there were statments such as 'You have informed us that you do not have any personal injury cover' 'We base this claim on a no win no fee,' You will not have to pay anything' however we must inform you by law that could you incurr charges' or words to that effect.

We cancelled with that particular company, but I have since discovered that the Solicitors are based in the same building as Zenith.

Yesterday Action Direct (who have pestered my brother to go ahead with his claim for personal injury) phoned my brother and said 'We can not put you over to a particular solicitor for your claim because the woman that caused the accident is foreign!

He is now waiting for some papers from a different solicitor to be sent out.

I don't understand what the problem is.

He has a fully comprehensive policy with Zenith, he has Personal injury cover and Legal expenses cover included, so why are they putting him in contact with solicitors that deal on a 'No win no fee basis'

Surely Zenith should be dealing with the claim as one complete package.

Zenith never answer their phones, they don't respond to e mails and I am waiting on a complaint letter that I sent 3 weeks ago which I understand can take up to 8 weeks to 'possibly resolve'

I have never come across such incompetence and bad customer service, you deal with faceless people in a call centre and it is just so frustrating!

Zenith seem to outsource everything and none of their employees seem to know what the answers are (that's if you can get them to answer their phones!)

Has anyone out there suffered a similar problem and can you advise me, i would be thankfull for any advice and guidance

Foxy-Stoat_3

This is what insurance companies do now with any non fault accidents, assuming the other driver is insured and is not blaming your brother.

Your brother WILL be getting phone calls for the next 12-16 months after the accident trying to get him to claim for personal injury. The best single piece of advice I would give anyone who has been involved in an accident is to buy a pay and go sim card, give this number to the insurers, no landlines and set up a new email account.

Once you have settled the claim, throw the sim away.

No win no fee means that in the terms of the contract they wont charge you anything, but in LAW they need to prove to the third party that you are responsible for paying all costs. Also it makes it complicated to claim for personal injury off the third party if you already have person injury insurance in place.

What injuries did your brother suffer and is he looking to claim compensation?

Quentin

His injuries won't be covered by zenith.

They have referred him to their pet pi solicitors (hoping for a bung which they are not now going to get as he has retracted his instructions), so it is up to him to instruct his own solicitors.

Google cash back injury solicitors to find firms who pay bungs (£100s) direct to clients who come directly to them and cut out the middleman insurance company.

frustratedofearth88

Foxy-Stoat wrote: »

This is what insurance companies do now with any non fault accidents, assuming the other driver is insured and is not blaming your brother.

Your brother WILL be getting phone calls for the next 12-16 months after the accident trying to get him to claim for personal injury. The best single piece of advice I would give anyone who has been involved in an accident is to buy a pay and go sim card, give this number to the insurers, no landlines and set up a new email account.

Once you have settled the claim, throw the sim away.

No win no fee means that in the terms of the contract they wont charge you anything, but in LAW they need to prove to the third party that you are responsible for paying all costs. Also it makes it complicated to claim for personal injury off the third party if you already have person injury insurance in place.

What injuries did your brother suffer and is he looking to claim compensation?

He has quite a badly injured knee (which he is still limping on) and a lot of cut's and bruising.

He had damage to his cycle helmet and his clothing, I think he would like to get something back for the injuries etc but I am not sure if it's all worth the hassle.

I do think this insurance business these days is a rip off compared to when I had to make a claim 10 years or so ago, the company I was with were really good!

Foxy-Stoat_3

If that's the case then I would proceed with a no win no fee solicitor, one that someone else can recommend and no one that has a slick/funny advert on telly.

Insurance, rip off.....surely not....unfortunately a whole immoral industry has been spawned on the back of non fault accidents, its the way of the world now.

redux

The first problem might be that insurers tend to view roundabout accidents as 50-50. However good you think your case is, sometimes they can't be bothered to argue too much.

I had a case a few years ago which they told me that to begin with and I refuted it, as it wasn't a collision actually at the roundabout with someone from another direction, but about 100 yards away on the approach to it with someone overtaking me on the inside and then pulling across in front of me., but not quite in front

If they regard it as 50-50, then each insurer might repair their own insured's vehicle only and it might be harder to claim against the other party for injury.

Does his policy also include any injury cover in itself? If so that can pay up then the two insurers can argue the toss later.

dacouch

redux wrote: »

The first problem might be that insurers tend to view roundabout accidents as 50-50. However good you think your case is, sometimes they can't be bothered to argue too much.

I had a case a few years ago which they told me that to begin with and I refuted it, as it wasn't a collision actually at the roundabout with someone from another direction, but about 100 yards away on the approach to it with someone overtaking me on the inside and then pulling across in front of me., but not quite in front

If they regard it as 50-50, then each insurer might repair their own insured's vehicle only and it might be harder to claim against the other party for injury.

Does his policy also include any injury cover in itself? If so that can pay up then the two insurers can argue the toss later.

You're getting confused with "Knock for Knock" which has not existed for many many years.

50/50 means the OP's brother and his Insurer can claim 50% of his losses from the other Insurers, they in turn can claim 50% of their loses from the OP's brother's Insurers.

If the liability is split 80/20 then the same applies just one Insurer / Person can claim 80% from the other and the other can claims 20%

fivetide

I would suggest he gets on a biking forum and asks about local solicitors that might have helped others out before.

Best to get someone recommended as already said, plus someone who appreciates the finer points regarding bikes will be a bit of a bonus.

BertTheRaccoon

http://www.whitedalton.co.uk/