Delays with European Insurers.

Gastines3

We had an accident in Belgium on July 2nd last year. The Belgian driver completed the Continental Accident form, admitting fault and giving all details,his insurers full details etc.etc. My insurers were Axa. The claim was put in within days on our return to U.K. We have just had cheque for our excess and letter,which we requested, to state it was a no-fault claim settled by other party's insurers. I may add that I have sent several e-mails to get this matter cleared up with various responses of ,lost paperwork,delays because of translation,couldn't find insurers etc.etc. Is it about time the Insurance Companies sorted out these delaying tactics or is it purely a means of holding onto our cash,putting up premiums due to pending claims, or just hoping you give up!!

dacouch

That's actually very quick to settle a accident with an european driver.

forgotmyname

My mum had a fairly simple no fault claim take almost 2 years in the UK, They just took forever at every stage.

Mums insurance obviously in no hurry as they were probably making a fortune from the brand new hire car that got delivered within 2 hours of the accident.

bbk87

Once you insurance claim on your car has been settled in full, that is the point when they start to seek a recovery from the other side, sending allegation letters and waiting on responses from the other side.

It was only 8 months from the accident, to receiving excess cheque back, which is pretty quick considering the other insurers were in a different country, speaking a different language.

Gastines3

I think you are missing the point. As far as I'm aware Europe ,especially E.U. have internet etc. therefore back to my original query,Why does it take so long? I did have one reply saying the translation of documents was causing a delay.This was from the U.K. agents of the Belgian Insurers,I think that sort of answer is virtually an insult to anyone's intelligence. After payment was alledgedly had by the Agents the next reply was that it takes an average of 6-8 weeks to issue a cheque.Treatment that shows that money in their bank is their prime interest.

FlameCloud

This may come as a shock to you, but dealing with someone who isn't their client probably isn't their number one priority.

InsideInsurance

Much of the insurance processes hasnt entered the 21st Century yet. Processes therefore are clunky and often involve writing letters and sending by post rather than email or web systems.

Whilst I have never done any work explicitly with Belgium certainly some of our continental friends are fairly close to the dark ages in comparison to us and the pace of life, including insurance, just goes much slower.

At 8 months you havent done too badly at all, in my day I'd have advised 9-12 months to a customer on a simple claim.

dacouch

FlameCloud wrote: »

This may come as a shock to you, but dealing with someone who isn't their client probably isn't their number one priority.

Especially if they sent the agent the payment as a cheque drawn from a foreign bank, these can take between 4 and 6 weeks to clear (coincidently)