Issuing claim against Irish insurers

Handbags-at-dawn

Hi,
My daughter's car was stolen in January. The insurers are XS Direct who are based in Dublin. They are being ridiculously slow in dealing with her claim - they've had all the information they need since the end of February (including having sent an investigator to interview her).

She has written 4 letters asking them to get a move on. All to no avail. The most recent excuse (two weeks ago) was that the person dealing with it had to get authorisation from higher up, and by mistake had not gone high enough. For Heaven's sake: it's not an exceptionally high claim (about £30k) so surely they must know their own routine procedures.

We've seen that under s13A Insurance Act 2015 as amended, insurers are required to pay any sums due within a reasonable time. So we are now looking at drafting a letter before claim. The trouble is, the only address we can find is in Ireland.

Does anyone know if insurers who issue insurance policies in England/Wales must have an adress for service within the jurisdiction? Or would we have to get leave to issue proceedings out of the jurisdiction?

Alternatively, this policy was arranged through the agents Insure Your Motor, which is a trading name for Hyperperformance Ltd which is a UK based company. She had no direct dealings with XS Direct until the car was stolen. Perhaps it would be better to go after them instead?

jonesMUFCforever

Yes for a court case to succeed in UK they must have an address here.
It looks as if they are Ireland based so any case would be subject to Irish law (where it differs to UK law)and you would need to start action in the Irish courts.
It does say that they are subject to 'limited regulation' by the FCA so my first course of action would be to contact them for advice.
Any kind of court action will be expensive so take care before proceeding.

Handbags-at-dawn

Thank you - I shall see if the FCA can help.
Just another thought meanwhile: the XS Direct terms of business for UK motor insurance states the the law of England and Wales will apply. So perhaps the agents - who are based in the UK - would/should provide a useable address for service?

Quentin

Get proper legal advice on your chances before embarking on a court claim for £30k

You have to pay all court fees upfront and only get these back if you win and the defendant pays out

Just to issue a claim is around £1500

More to pay if it goes to a hearing

dacouch

I would just pressure them and your broker (Who I assume is One Call).

If you start making complaints or issuing court prceedings at this stage it may delay your claim while they investigate.

An "Official Complaint" after the claim has been settled and then the Ombudsman may result in compensation for the delays

agrinnall

Their T&Cs (Point 4. Complaints Procedure) says that you can contact the FOS if you are dissatisfed with their handling of a complaint, so that would be the sensible zero cost first step to take.

http://www.xsdirect.co.uk/documents/XS%20DIRECT%20Terms%20of%20Business%20UK.pdf

Handbags-at-dawn

That's all really helpful advice - thank you. She's fired off a letter to the company complaints dept today. Next step FOS.

Handbags-at-dawn

Well it's worked. She's got her cheque. Great relief - thanks very much for the advice.