Insurance claim

roundabouthere

My wife's car was hit by another driver in October 2011 who pulled straight out into her after dropping someone off on the pavement as she was driving past.

Both cars were wrote off and the other driver contested (read lied) the version of events failing to admit liability. We had the usual string of letters from solicitors after the other other driver claimed for whiplash (bless) which we forwarded straight onto our insurers underwriter, Allianz.

Fast forward to now and this is still not resolved. The last conversation my wife had with Allianz was 4 weeks ago when she was told that the other parties insurance policy had been voided although she was not told why. Allianz are saying that the other insurance company can't just get out of this by voided the policy and are still pursuing/investigating the matter with them.

This has been hanging around our next for 18 months now and I'd like to try and get this resolved as its annoying/costly that every car insurance policy we both take out (we are both named on each others policy) we have to declare this ongoing saga. (we received a cheque for our car for £9200 and I think his claim was roughly the same without the additional whiplash claims so not insignificant amounts)

Is there anything we can do to speed this up as sometimes I feel like we are at the bottom of pile of paperwork that never gets looked at.

Quentin

It's not unusual for disputed liability to take years to be finalised so apart from monthly nudges to your insurer all you can do is be patient.

Though even when it's concluded the claim will still have to be disclosed for both your insurance policies.

roundabouthere

Thanks for that. Didn't know if there was some sort of time limit on resolving claims where after a certain date things are just put to bed.

The ongoing saga of the outstanding claim is annoying me because it appears to be difficult to catagorise the current state when filling in the online comparison sites. I tend to end up ringing up to explain the situation rather than filling in online then worst case scenario I find my insurance voided due to not disclosing something correctly.

When insuring my car recently I ran through the comparison sites and got some quotes I was interested in and then rang up, first and second wouldn't insure after about an hour of waiting and reaffirming the info I'd already put in online.

It's just annoying that all this should have been resolved by the person causing the accident admitting liability. I suppose it's up to each individual how they lead their life in the end.

Quentin

If the third party had their policy voided prior to the incident then it may be that they were uninsured at the time of the crash.

If that is the case, then this will go down as a fault claim against you, assumimg that your insurer cannot get reimbursed their outlay. So it might be worth establishing when the policy was voided.

roundabouthere

If the driver was uninsured could Allianz not pursue a claim through the MIB or is that down to private individuals not insurance companies to do.

TSx

Exactly what will happen depends on a large extent as to why the third party insurer has 'voided' their policy.

If they can get a declaration from the courts that the policy is void ab initio (from the start - the reason is significant enough that if they had known about it then they wouldn't have issued the policy) then they obtain what is known as 'article 75' status. This means they are liable only their driver was 100% liable, and it also means they are not liable for subrogated claims - which means that your insurer would not be able to recoup their outlay from them and it would be classed as a fault claim.

If they do not get a court issued declaration, then they will still be liable for your insurer's outlay.

RTA Insurer on Wikipedia

It's odd though that this would only have cropped up now - especially after they have already paid out their policyholder.

As has been said above, there's little you can do in practice other than keep chasing, these types of claim can take several years to sort out.

edit: the MIB do not pay out for subrogated claims either, they can only deal with claims directly.

roundabouthere

Thanks for your help.

I guess we'll just keep harassing Allianz to get updates and hopefully things move along eventually.

Ultimately it would be nice to get our £370 excess but I'm not hopeful of that happening.

Could in theory Allianz go after the individual to recoup their costs?

(I've just read your link and I'm getting out of my depth here so I'll leave everything with Allianz to sort out and whether to pursue the driver for costs etc as a result of the reason for voiding the policy)

Quentin

roundabouthere wrote: »

.......Ultimately it would be nice to get our £370 excess but I'm not hopeful of that happening.

Could in theory Allianz go after the individual to recoup their costs?.....

You need to pursue the third party yourself for your excess and any other uninsured losses you had as a result of the crash.

If you have uninsured loss recovery/legal expenses with your policy you can get them to do this, otherwise you need to DIY (or use a solicitor). Though pointless unless they have funds to pay you! (But if they were insured, then pursue their insurer).

Allianz will only pursue the third party (assuming they were uninsured) if there is a reasonable chance of getting paid - they would need to first get their admission of liability, which seems unlikely as they have persuaded their solicitor to act for them against you, so a court case may be needed (which would be a pointless extra expense if the third party has no funds to pay if a court decides they are liable).

roundabouthere

Quick update

Get home tonight to find a letter addressed to my wife from Allianz. Lo and behold, a cheque for the £370 excess was at the bottom of the letter which confirmed that the third party's insurer has paid up.

Only taken 28 months but we got there in the end.

Thanks for the previous replies