Excess claim

mercibeau

I wonder if someone could help me with something. Another driver drove into me earlier this year and accepted responsibility and my insurance company has closed the case. My insurance company farms out the excess claim to a solicitors and they have said they will need to file a claim to court now as the other insurance company havent paid up. The forms are ridiculously long and I didnt want to go to court when I filled the original claim form in and said as much.
My question is - well there are 2 - firstly if I fill in the form surely the other company will not go to court as it is too much agro/cost so is it therefore an empty threat?
Second question - do all insurance companies do it this way as I may consider changing next year. In the dim and distance past insurance companies got your excess back for you. I am assuming that this is another thing that no longer happens in the modern world.
Please could someone be kind enough to enlighten me.
many thanks

McKneff

You have to chase for your own uninsured losses these days.
What you should have done was dealt directly with the other partys insurance directlty as there was no dispute then no excess is applied. You get the car repairedor otherwise. The other party pays in full. Ive been through it twice with everything being sorted within 2 weeks

mercibeau

thanks very much for your reply.
I didnt know I could deal directly with the other person's insurance.
I am now stuck with solicitors wanting me to complete forms and I'll probably be charged for pulling out despite the fact I said I didn't want to go to court. Wish I had no bothered now.

FestiveJoy

mercibeau wrote: »

I wonder if someone could help me with something. Another driver drove into me earlier this year and accepted responsibility and my insurance company has closed the case. My insurance company farms out the excess claim to a solicitors and they have said they will need to file a claim to court now as the other insurance company havent paid up. The forms are ridiculously long and I didnt want to go to court when I filled the original claim form in and said as much.
My question is - well there are 2 - firstly if I fill in the form surely the other company will not go to court as it is too much agro/cost so is it therefore an empty threat?
Second question - do all insurance companies do it this way as I may consider changing next year. In the dim and distance past insurance companies got your excess back for you. I am assuming that this is another thing that no longer happens in the modern world.
Please could someone be kind enough to enlighten me.
many thanks

"In the dim and distance past", insurance excess only applied if you were making a claim against your own insurer
e.g. for damage you caused accidentally to your own vehicle, damage caused by fire or loss due to theft.

As I only renewed myy insurance cover a couple of days ago, I can confirm this was still the case very, very recently.

However, T&Cs may differ between insurers, so you need to check your own cover. Either you were charged an excess as your own insurer was required to pay at least part of the sum you claimed (at least the amount of excess you have been charged), or you have a cheapo insurer who has trousered the amount for themselves, a bit like I understand US insurance seems to work with their deductables system (according to Judge Judy).

Either way, I don't think your insurer will help you any further.

BUT

If you have not recovered the full cost of all your losses from the third party with regards to this incident, then you must advise any new insurer accordingly and your NCD will be affected accordingly.

You probably can't take any action of your own against the other party either, as you appear to have put this in the exclusive hands of your insurer (the only way insurers will take on a claim) and any settlement they would have reached with the third party would have presumably been in full and final settlement of your claim against them.

You suggest the other insurer didn't pay up (perhaps because their client admitted responsibilty), so perhaps your insurer paid your claim themselves as they thought there was little chance of getting the money direct from the person who claimed it was their fault, hence why you have had an excess applied.
In such a case, you presumably could take your own action directly against the other driver, but I would suggest it would be futile (as that is the decision your own insurer has already come to)
You would need to let your own insurance know if you do this, as they will want their money back if you successfully recover all your losses from the other driver.

(As I understand it from Judge Judy, if you were in the US, you would only be able to recover the deductable from the other driver as that would be the extent of your loss)

Enjoy the festive season whilst it's still with us

:xmastree::xmastree::xmastree: