Need help about car insurance- they are withholding important information.

ilovemybabies1

Hi, I am really hoping someone can help me.

Towards the end of last year, another driver (also happened to be my new neighbour) drove into the back of my car while I was stationary at a junction, waiting for it to be safe for me to join main road.

3rd party has lied and also changed her story. First she said I reversed off the main road into the junction and into her car (1st central told me to contact 3rd party to claim from her policy and it was her insurance that told me what she said), she has since changed her story and is now saying that there was an incline in the junction and I rolled back into her (junction is flat).

I have since bought a new car and as my original insurance company couldn't insure my new car I had to go elsewhere.

I have been dealing with the accident through solicitors as my insurance company had said as I hadn't had my policy for 2 weeks (I had the car 3 days before she drove into me!) I would have to pay remainder of my policy (I pay monthly) and my excess and I would have to scrap my car for £350 in return.

I have pointed out to my solicitor that she has changed her story and I need to prove it, however my solicitor hasn't bothered about this. So I decided to contact my old insurance company myself. Before I did this I found a letter they had sent me 2 days after the accident saying "we have now recieved correspondence from the 3rd party insurers who advise that they are holding you responsible for the above incident" so I thought they should have some record of what her side of the story was at the beginning, as it wasn't until a few months later she changed her story.

So I phoned 1st Central HOPING to get somewhere to prove she is lying. But No! They guy seemed barely interested and told me they recieved no correspondence from the third party at all. But my sister (who works as a claim handler but I can't contact at the moment) says they should have that information as the third party would have had to give a reason why they hold me responsible.

But how do I go about getting that information from them?

InsideInsurance

Who is the letter from? 1st Central are brokers/ MGA and so there will be an actual insurer too.

Assuming its branded 1st Central contact them on the number on that letter rather than the generic number for 1st Central as it should go through to the correct team and possibly is the actual insurer rather than them.

The "correspondence" could well have been a phone call rather than a letter so you may not get anywhere.

The other option is to do a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act and ask for a copy of all data they hold on you for the statutory maximum fee of £10

ilovemybabies1

Thank you for your reply. The letter is from 1st Central themselves. I phoned the number that was on the letter and it took me to the usual if you are insured through us press 1 if not it's 2 knd of thing.

I did think that maybe it could have been a phone call as the letter was sent 2 days after accident but thought that maybe they would have recorded something as to a reason why I was being blamed.

I did not know I was able to request that information, how do I go about that? Do I phone them or write to them? Would it include any notes of phone conversations from 3rd party if they did phone?

rs65

ilovemybabies1 wrote: »

But my sister (who works as a claim handler but I can't contact at the moment) says they should have that information as the third party would have had to give a reason why they hold me responsible.

She is sort of right. They would ultimately need to know why you were being blamed but not necessarily at such an early stage.

InsideInsurance

ilovemybabies1 wrote: »

I did not know I was able to request that information, how do I go about that? Do I phone them or write to them? Would it include any notes of phone conversations from 3rd party if they did phone?

A SAR request must be done in writing. They can ask for up to £10 and the vast majority of companies do charge the full fee so to prevent delaying things is often best to enclose the fee with the request. There are plenty of template letters on the internet but ensure you explicitly ask about the claim and you can also ask for transcripts of recorded calls etc.

What it includes does vary for a variety of reasons. Many companies are a little lazy and will do simple data dumps from systems and not go about cleaning it up too much so theres a fair chance of getting notes. Doing call transcripts or providing CDs of calls is a bit more of a pain and so they are less likely to include TP/TPI calls in those but you could again explicitly call them out asking where they were discussing you/ your case.

First response call centres often will make a quick call to the TPI to check what the state of liability is. If its all good then they sell your details to credit hire companies etc. If its disputed/ no report etc then it goes down a different path. These are not normally highly trained staff and so their options are very basic but what they select may trigger generic system letters.

So "the TP is blaming you" may have been as simple as the TPI saying they dont accept liability as they are awaiting a claim form (a few insurers do still use them)

Of cause you could also do a SAR request to the TPI and in particular ask for the transcript of calls if you say it was her insurer that told you a different set of circumstances