Refund of Excess - other party insurer settled "without prejudice"

Fritz12

Hi all

A while back I was involved in a motor accident and my car was written off and I received payment from my insurer (minus Excess).  My claim has recently been closed with the other insurer settling "without prejudice".  My insurer says this means I claim the incident as "No Fault" for any future insurance policies.  They also said I would have to go directly to the other insurer to get my excess back (I didn't have Motor Legal Protection on my policy so I would have to pay my insurer's law branch if I were to go through them).

As the claim was settled without prejudice does that mean that I may not get my excess back?  Can the other insurer review the claim and possibly find me at fault and therefore claim the original settlement back from me?   

Initially my request for the refund looked like it was going to be simple but they have gone back to my insurer for more details and are asking me directly about the location of the incident.  I'm concerned that I may end up further out of pocket and also thinking maybe I should ask my owner insurer to get involved in this.  Note the excess is over £500 so not a small amount of money but may be less than any legal costs.

Any advice/past experiences of this appreciated
Fritz.

Ectophile

As far as your insurance company is concerned, the case is closed.  They have their money back.  There's nothing more to do.

If you want your excess back, it's now down to you.  There's no way the excess is going to be over the limit for the small claims procedure, so you won't get legal fees refunded anyway.

So the only option to you now is to send a Letter Before Action to the other driver (not their insurance company) asking for your excess to be paid.  They pass it on to their insurance company.  The insurance company will either pay up, or stall you in the hope that you'll go away.

If that gets no response, then it's small claims procedure at the county court.  Again, naming the other driver as the defendant.

Ectophile

As far as your insurance company is concerned, the case is closed.  They have their money back.  There's nothing more to do.

If you want your excess back, it's now down to you.  There's no way the excess is going to be over the limit for the small claims procedure, so you won't get legal fees refunded anyway.

So the only option to you now is to send a Letter Before Action to the other driver (not their insurance company) asking for your excess to be paid.  They pass it on to their insurance company.  The insurance company will either pay up, or stall you in the hope that you'll go away.

If that gets no response, then it's small claims procedure at the county court.  Again, naming the other driver as the defendant.

Fritz12

Thanks for your reply.

My concern was that their insurer may decide they acted in haste to settle with my insurer and then put in a claim against me if I push things, especially as they are saying they didn't get any "allegations" from my insurer.

I shall look into this Letter Before Action, although I only have a phone number for the other party.
The other party was very unwilling to even go down the insurer route and didn't even report the accident.

I shall learn a lot from this experience and I thank you for your advice.

Fritz

Ectophile

If the other party's insurance company really thought it was your fault, they wouldn't have paid out.  By offering a settlement without prejudice, they have made your insurers go away, without ever actually admitting it's their driver's fault.

And, as you've discovered, that means they haven't admitted that they owe you any money.  You're left on your own trying to fight a case against a big insurance company.

Jenni_D

If you only have a phone number for the other driver, try phoning/texting them for their name/address? Or send the LBA to them c/o (care of) the insurance company?

Fritz12

Hi all
An update on this.  Seems we were very lucky on this one as, after giving a few details about the incident, the insurance company agreed to pay our excess back.

Many thanks to all who offered advice on this.