Insurance company (1st Central) stalling on payout

Debbo1

Sandtree said:

miniemma said:

Have you started a complaint?  

https://help.1stcentralinsurance.com/kb/FAQ/content/PROD-6082/How-do-I-complain-about-my-car-insurance

"If you wish to complain please call 0333 043 2077 (we're open Monday to Friday, 9am - 5pm)."

This will at least give you a time frame for resolution, they have 8 weeks to resolve the issue from the date of complaint and then you can take it to the ombudsman for assistance.

An injury payment is made by the third party insurer and you have no right of complaint or escalation to the FOS for an insurer that you are a third party.

Debbo1 said:

Hi, my daughter was slammed into earlier this yr by another driver and her car written off. She suffered whiplash resulting in time off work. She attended the physio appointments as instructed by the insurers and is due a payout however every time she calls she is fobbed off that they don’t know how much it will be. She is passed from pillar to post to phone numbers which ask her to leave a voicemail, which she does, without response, or to numbers which just cut out. This has been going on for weeks now. She has followed their process .. I suspect they’re evading having to pay out. She is only young and is becoming distressed about this. Is there anything my daughter can say/do to expedite this process? Would the mention of reporting to financial ombudsman make them settle this? Or is there an insurance regulator who could influence? Advice on how she can bring this to a close wd b appreciated.

Its really not clear if she is self representing to the third party insurers or if 1st Central is her insurers and they are assisting her claim against the third party?

As mentioned above you can only complain to your own insurers and escalate to the FOS however it wont be your insurers that set the value or settle the claim and so your complaint is highly limited at best and will not actually result in a quicker payment if you have any at all.

Where is she on the medical report process and if its been done, what did it state about prognosis? Whiplash now has a fixed tariff but its dependent on the anticipated duration of the injury. 

Hi,  the insurers are presumably assisting with the claim as she's not been involved.  She has undergone 6 weeks of physio for whiplash at the behest of the insurers and is now recovered, so surely this payout is now due.  Are you saying that continuing to call 1st Central is pointless and she has to just wait for the third party's insurer to respond?  The problem is the constant push back from 1st Central and sending her to cut of phone numbers and no response to voicemails wihtout any advice.  Surely this should be a straightforward process and we shouldn't need to be considering going to a small claims court etc.  Isn't this what we pay car insurance for?  

I plan to be with my daughter on the phone to try to get some action later today.  Am I wasting my time? From this end, it just feels like they don't want to pay out and are avoiding the matter. 

Sandtree

Manxman_in_exile said:

Sandtree said:

Ectophile said:

But she should be very careful to make sure she does put a claim before the court if they do just keep stalling.  Let that time expire, and they win.  That's the point at which she needs a lawyer.

Though as it is now a Small Claims Court claim it is where finding a lawyer may be difficult.

Is there already a claim?

If there is, was it wise to initiate a personal injury claim themself?  In small claims?

The "now" bit refers to the fact that laws around whiplash claims changed recently and its now a fixed tariff and small track whereas previously it was the same as any other claim in that anything over £1k of injury would be Fast Track... the now wasn't explicit to this particular incident.