Car insurance closed my claim

mikemusic_2

Hi

I'm looking for some advice I had a small car accident back in 2010 where another car went into the side of mine. The third party denied any fault and the insurance claim was ongoing for a while. In the end my insurance company advised me that they would have to take the third party to court and would provide me legal assistance and I should wait for a court date and contact them as soon as I get it. They also said it could take a while (as you would expect) for the court date to come through.

I have recently contacted my insurer regarding a minor complaint against them and while doing so asked about the previous claim. They looked into it and said they had already closed the claim the third party had "accepted liability without prejudice" and my insurer had accepted this. I was not asked if I was happy to accept there liabilty claim or even if I was happy to drop the claim for the damage to my car.

There was significant damage to my car passenger door which due to the length of time the claim was taking I had repaired at my own cost. I had discussed this with my insurer who advised me this was ok to do as long as I keep my receipts and they can claim the cost back for me when the claim is settled.

Can my insurer just drop my claim like this without discussing it with me first?

spacey2012

Why did you claim on your insurance instead of the persons who drove in to your car ?

Quentin

Send the bill(s) to the third party insurer and ask them to reimburse you for the costs their insured caused.

mikemusic_2

I didnt claim on my insurance I contacted my insurer to advise them of the accident and gave them the insurance details of the third party involved and they told me they would seek to claim the cost of repairs from their insurer.

vaio

mikemusic wrote: »

Hi

I'm looking for some advice I had a small car accident back in 2010 where another car went into the side of mine. The third party denied any fault and the insurance claim was ongoing for a while. In the end my insurance company advised me that they would have to take the third party to court and would provide me legal assistance and I should wait for a court date and contact them as soon as I get it. They also said it could take a while (as you would expect) for the court date to come through.

I have recently contacted my insurer regarding a minor complaint against them and while doing so asked about the previous claim. They looked into it and said they had already closed the claim the third party had "accepted liability without prejudice" and my insurer had accepted this. I was not asked if I was happy to accept there liabilty claim or even if I was happy to drop the claim for the damage to my car.

There was significant damage to my car passenger door which due to the length of time the claim was taking I had repaired at my own cost. I had discussed this with my insurer who advised me this was ok to do as long as I keep my receipts and they can claim the cost back for me when the claim is settled.

Can my insurer just drop my claim like this without discussing it with me first?

Your insurer will only be interested in recovering any money they have actually paid out.

As you paid for the repairs yourself then you need to recover the cost of repairs and any other consequential costs from the other insurer. This *should* be easy as they have accepted liability.

mikemusic_2

The other insurance company accepted liability "without prejudice" which basically means they have accepted liability to simply close the case but the "without prejudice" part means this cant be used as proof of them actually accepting liability. (I had to look that up)

Essentially they said we will accept liability if you close the case and dont claim and costs from us and my insurer accepted this. What I really need to know is can my insurer just close this case without notifying me? If they had contacted me I would have said I am not happy to accept their offer and close the case as it would mean they are not paying to repair my car.

vaio

I suspect the "without prejudice" bit is standard insurer legal speak and actually means they will pay for the repairs. If they weren't accepting liability they would have said "we deny liability".

Your insurer had no real case to close as you didn't claim off them and they aren't responsible for chasing your losses unless you do claim on your own policy.

Do what Quentin suggested in post #3 and take it from there

Quentin

They have accepted liability.

Ignore the without prejudice bit.

Do as already advised, then if they won't play ball go back to your own insurer and make a claim, as so far you haven't donr so!