LV Insurance - Scandalous!

SamTheMan

Good evening all,

So we've had a little issue with LV whom provided our current car insurance. Looking for a little advice or any experiences others may have relating to this particular issue :mad:

My partner bumped into the back of a car back in October at a roundabout travelling less than 5mph. There was no damage evident which is proven by photographs. The middle aged chap driving waved my partner to pull in further along the road. She is pretty sure no contact was even made.

He was acting very strangely complaining of a shoulder injury and a sore neck. She's a doctor and knew full well he was pulling a fast one so offered to call an ambulance. No surprise that he turned down the offer. So they shared details and set off on their separate ways.

She was so concerned of a fraudulent claim that she got in contact with LV to raise concerns that no damage was caused and mentioned that his behaviour was odd. Photographs were forwarded and LV never said anything more.

So jump nearly 9 months later to July and us obtaining renewal quotes. It became apparent that LV had processed a 'claim'.

1) LV contacted the chap to ask if he would like his car inspecting at an 'approved' garage helpfully offering to process the claim against us and provide a courtesy car

2) Surprisingly the garage paid for by the insurers identified £500 worth of damage which was subsequently 'fixed'

3) At no point did LV communicate that this would be their approach or that the claim had been processed

4) They did not record any of the concerns raised by my partner and are refusing to provide a transcript of the initial telephone conversation

5) At no point did LV contact us to clarify details of the incident

Apologies for the rant but we are rather annoyed to say the least. Our insurance premium has now increased significantly. Whilst LV have admitted they should have contacted us once the claim had been processed and have offered compensation of £100, we still think this is wholly unreasonable. Looks like the Financial Ombudsman is the next port of call.

Has anybody else experienced this at all? Would appreciate any sage words of wisdom! The insurance industry should be ashamed.

Thanks,

Sam

Quentin

Take the £100 - it's a good offer. (If you decline it and escalate to the FOS it will be taken off the table)

Your partner admits negligence and causing the collision.

The other sides damage could have only been apparent when the car was inspected properly, and not show on photos taken at the scene.

Your insurer is allowed to deal with claims as they think fit and FOS cannot change this.


(You can see if any lost NCD can be reinstated by reimbursing LV the £500 the claim cost them if that is cost effective)

dunstonh

Insurance companies have to balance the cost of investigation and the available evidence. £500 of damage does not make it cost effective to create an investigation most of the time.

Our insurance premium has now increased significantly.

The way the claim was handled hasnt change that.

Looks like the Financial Ombudsman is the next port of call.

Nothing to be gained from that as its not for you to decide how the insurance handles the claim and how they have handled that has not impacted on you.

rudekid48

Your wife rear ends an innocent victim at a roundabout and it's the insurer that should be ashamed?

Astronaughtwannabe

And £500 of damage also means injury could have occured (not that it even takes damage to prove that it could have).

Whiplash is the mechanism by which injury can occur. A very subjective issue. It's very real and even very low velocity impacts can cause life long injuries. It's commonly dismissed nowadays But shouldn't be.

Yes, I've had it (with complications) more than once and no I have never claimed (because I consented to it - call it occupational hazard)

SamTheMan

Ok appreciate the comments all, however honest.

The real issue here is that of customer service. LV processed a claim without informing their customer. They also did not ask us, as customers, whether there was any damage to our car and whether it would need inspection. In hindsight should never have informed them as the claimant may never have even made a claim unless approached.

Thanks

Aretnap

LV will have been anxious to take control of the guy's claim and get it settled as quickly and cheaply as practical, rather than waiting for him to go to an accident management company who would charge them a massively inflated bill for a hire car, and encouraged him to make a dubious personal injury claim. From their point of view, £500 to make it go away is a pretty good deal. Not telling them could easily have resulted in a bigger claim (not that the size of the claim makes much difference to you)

It's quite possible for a car to have damage which isn't visible externally, eg modern bumpers are flexible and tend to snap back into shape after a knock,mconcealing whatever damage has been done behind them. If the garage found damage when they took the bumper off then your wife saying "but it didn't look damaged to me" isn't going to carry much weight.

Agree that it was poor of them not to update you on the outcome, but that's just about the only ground for complaint I can see - and it wouldn't have changed the end result if they had.

Quentin

SamTheMan wrote: »

Ok appreciate the comments all, however honest.

The real issue here is that of customer service. LV processed a claim without informing their customer. They also did not ask us, as customers, whether there was any damage to our car and whether it would need inspection. In hindsight should never have informed them as the claimant may never have even made a claim unless approached.

Thanks

They didn't do anything wrong by not asking you if you wanted to claim for your own damage - that was up to you.


Your wife admitted causing the collision when she phoned them, so they were entitled to deal with the incident as they thought fit.


Your wife was bound by the policy terms and conditions to report the incident as she did.


You really have nothing to gripe about!


As posted that £100 offer is a good one - snatch their hand off!


(And consider paying them back if you are concerned at the loss of NCD - the cost to you over the next three to five years of increased premiums may be well over the net £400 it will be to get the NCD reinstated)