When can I be sure claim is over?

ey_up

Hi all. I am hoping for some advice following an accident I was involved in. Another driver hit me but immediately claimed it was my fault at the scene. I didn't get the feeling at the time he would ever accept anything but it being my fault. I put the call into my insurer who sometime later sent me a letter to confirm they had completed their investigation and the other parties insurer had agreed to foot the bill having appeared to accept it was not my fault. I am still awaiting repairs to my car but does this mean the matter is essentially over or could the other party appeal? There was at least one witness but I don't know if she was contacted but may have swung things. Can anyone reaasure me this is now closed? Thank you

InsideInsurance

The statute of limitation gives the TP 6 years from the date of knowing for property damage and 3 years for injury.

Car accidents the date of knowing is almost always the date of the accident itself (though if the accident was your parked car being hit then it could be a few days later) but for minors then the date of knowing is defined as their 18th birthday.

Unfortunately if they were to approach an accident management company or such there is plenty more time for them to make a claim but in all cases your insurers at the time of the incident would continue to defend the case and if there has been an admission from the third party insurers then it'd be very hard for that to be reconsidered unless there were major injuries (not your typical whiplash)

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InsideInsurance wrote: »

The statute of limitation gives the TP 6 years from the date of knowing for property damage and 3 years for injury.

For injury it is knowing about the injury: that could take years to discover that some medical condition can be attributed to the accident, then they have 3 years from discovery, not the date of the accident.

Hopefully that won't apply.

ey_up

Thanks for the replies guys. I didn't think about the six year rule so suppose this could happen although there were no injuries to either party. Certainly didn't claim injury myself and the other party would be mad to given the accident speed and type.

Would you get a formal letter from the insurer to say everything is complete once work is completed? I am just wary of the other party not accepting their insurers decision and appealing responsibility, if that is even possible? Presumably their insurer wouldn't support that appeal if they had already found against him?

I have also been asked to submit written summary and diagram showing scene but the accompanying letter clearly says his insurer has accepted the cost. Is this just formalising what I verbally said on the phone?

I also need to start my search for my renewal, can I safely say the matter has been settled in my favour or do I need to get my quotes saying this inncident is unsettled?

As you can tell, I haven't been through this process before! Thank you

InsideInsurance

Some will write to you when they close their files but others don't. Those that do normally will have a caveat saying they would have to reopen the files in the future if they were reapproached by the other party(s)

You cannot say its been settled in your favour because you've not repaired your car. Your either have to say its still open or that its an incident and no claim was made.