Car Collision/Injury Insurance.

Elincolnah

Hi, I'm posting again to see if I can get some advice on a now sensitive matter.

I posted a while back about being in a road traffic collision, we were driving along as normal when an elderly gentleman crossed lanes and hit us head on.

We were all taken to hospital and dealt with, however we learnt the gentleman unfortunately passed away from catching pneumonia in hospital. So the crash itself isn't being treated as a fatality.

We are obviously extremely sympathetic towards the gentlemans family especially at this time of the year, however we have to move on from this.

His insurance company are still denying liability, and despite the police confirming he crossed into our lane (photographic evidence too with cars locations clear). I've been contacting our insurance company since and they cannot progress until they accept liability and they seem to not be helping (should be on our side!). Is there anything we can do?

Both me and my partner have been off work for 4 weeks and currently signed off for another 4. We are without a car and left with just £800 to replace this.

Does anyone have any advice on how we can progress?

rs65

Elincolnah wrote: »

I've been contacting our insurance company since and they cannot progress until they accept liability and they seem to not be helping (should be on our side!).

Have they dealt with your car?


Can you not take out new finance for a new car?


Presumably you are taking legal advice on this? Are you with Admiral - do you have legal cover?

alchemist.1

Get the vehicle fixed/PAV paid (with your excess paid/deducted). I'm assuming you were insured fully comprehensively.

Insurance Companies are only on their own side. Not yours or anyone elses. It's going to be a long drawn out process especially with a fatality.

No insurance company will be admitting fault straightaway or in the next few months when there is a fatality involved.

Quentin

In your original thread (why start another?) you said you had legal cover with your policy, and they should be dealing with your uninsured losses claim (injury/loss of earnings/excess etc)


But if the other side are not responsible (ie no negligence involved, which may be the case if eg. the third party had an unexpected seizure whilst driving) then there may be no liability in which case there is no-one to claim your uninsured losses from.

Elincolnah

Our car was written off and finance subsequently cleared (minus our excess and remaining premium) which is why were slightly out of pocket, but we're just grateful to still be here. However we now need to move on with the process and our lives.

Our main concern is with the third party later passing away and his insurance still disputing despite photo evidence and police statements even an independent witness. Where do we go from here?

Yes unfortanately with Admrial. It seems they have some bad reviews when it comes to claiming. Fully comprehensive with legal cover who were instructed on the claim side of things however not actually heard from our solicitor and not been able to get in direct contact with them in 2 weeks.

Quentin

Elincolnah wrote: »

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Yes unfortanately with Admrial. It seems they have some bad reviews when it comes to claiming. Fully comprehensive with legal cover who were instructed on the claim side of things however not actually heard from our solicitor and not been able to get in direct contact with them in 2 weeks.

You look to have had your claim processed by Admiral satisfactorily??


You now are awaiting the outcome of your uninsured losses (injury etc) claims and the conclusion of those will take months rather than weeks even if the liability was clear cut which doesn't seem to be the case here

Elincolnah

Quentin wrote: »

In your original thread (why start another?) you said you had legal cover with your policy, and they should be dealing with your uninsured losses claim (injury/loss of earnings/excess etc)


But if the other side are not responsible (ie no negligence involved, which may be the case if eg. the third party had an unexpected seizure whilst driving) then there may be no liability in which case there is no-one to claim your uninsured losses from.

Original thread was based on Finance & GAP insurance, this is a bit different. Apologies.

Elincolnah

Quentin wrote: »

You look to have had your claim processed by Admiral satisfactorily??


You now are awaiting the outcome of your uninsured losses (injury etc) claims and the conclusion of those will take months rather than weeks even if the liability was clear cut which doesn't seem to be the case here

I wouldn't quite say satisfactorily, but yes I guess the insurance side of things is dealt with.

I understand it'll take time, I'm in no doubt about that.
Third party was conscious and talking at accident, police have confirmed he crossed lanes and hit us head on, independent witness confirms along with photographic evidence. I don't know how much more "clear cut" you can get. However his insurance still deny liability.

Quentin

Elincolnah wrote: »

..... police have confirmed he crossed lanes and hit us head on, independent witness confirms along with photographic evidence. I don't know how much more "clear cut" you can get. However his insurance still deny liability.

As previously posted, if the third party had some unexpected medical problem which caused him to lose control (throughout you have said the switch of lanes was unexplained) then there was no negligence.

Elincolnah

Quentin wrote: »

As previously posted, if the third party had some unexpected medical problem which caused him to lose control (throughout you have said the switch of lanes was unexplained) then there was no negligence.

Would it be so different if he had caused a fatality? I don't want to bad mouth the poor guy after passing away, but why should we be penalised for someone else's mistake.

Quentin

It would make no difference had there been a fatality.


If there is no negligence there is no-one to blame.


If there is no-one to blame then there is no-one to claim compensation from.


If it does turn out there has been no negligence then although you are blameless you won't be able to get a payout for any uninsured losses