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Admiral Insurance refusing to pursue hit and run

I hope to have put this in the right section, thanks all in advance.

My parked vehicle was hit outside my parents home by someone who drove off without stopping, despite people trying to flag him down. It was outside a school and fortunately i was able to obtain CCTV footage of the incident happening and various other photo stills of the driver and the vehicle before and after the collision showing significant damage to their vehicle.

I contacted my insurer and had to pay my excess for the vehicle to be repaired. There was a 2 month wait before my vehicle could be repaired and my insurer Elephant (Admiral) refused to begin any chasing work until the repairs were completed. This was completed, vehicle returned to me, and I was then told they would pursue the third parties insurer. 

Another two months go by, and whilst chasing the insurer I am told because I don't have the third parties name (only his registration), and because his insurer hasn't replied to them, Elephant are unable to pursue any further and will simply write my claim off. 
According to them, they can't legally force his insurer to respond, and cannot pursue any further as their Solicitors require the third parties name. 

As a side note, i also have reported this to the police twice, and have had no response.

I find it insane that someone can commit an offence like this and be rewarded for driving away because I now do not have their name to be able to do anything. Is this correct? And is there anything further i can do to pursue this? I want him to get some form of punishment and hassle like i have had, but equally i of course want my £500 excess back.

Thank you for reading, and many thanks in advance for any guidance.
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Comments

  • DullGreyGuy
    DullGreyGuy Posts: 15,678 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    To force the third party insurer into action they have to have a court order against the driver... to get a court order you must issue against a named person, you cannot issue against "the driver of S123 EAB at 12pm on 1 July". This is why if a vehicle is stolen and crashes into someone/something whilst under the control of the thief the insurer of the vehicle only has to settle the TP claim if the thief is identified. 

    That said the vast majority of the time your insurer would do a DVLA check and get the registered keepers details and write to them, similarly they'd do a MID check and write to the insurer. In most cases one or the other responds and gives the necessary information (or may say it was after a vehicle was stolen or their insured has a known issue with a cloned plate and his car was in Germany at the time)

    It's not clear how much effort Elephant has put in before throwing in the towel. Unfortunately some insurers have big backlogs and long call waiting to speak to them. Just look on here of people complaining having to wait 1hr to speak to their insurer... as a claims handler I cannot afford the time to sit in a queue for 1hr when I'm handling circa 600 claims at the same time. 
  • sevenhills
    sevenhills Posts: 5,938 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Gezmc1 said:
    As a side note, i also have reported this to the police twice, and have had no response.
    What proof have you got that you reported it twice?
    Send them an email, or contact your MP.


  • Gezmc1
    Gezmc1 Posts: 17 Forumite
    10 Posts Name Dropper First Anniversary
    Thank you, appreciate the replies.

    It doesn't seem like any effort at all has gone into it from my insurers side. If they just picked up the phone to his insurer surely that would resolve things? Insurers (should) have a duty to me and themselves to not allow things like this to go unpunished. The fact that insurers don't effectively resource themselves is not an excuse.

    Just doesn't sit right with me that someone can do something, as serious as a hit and run, and effectively be rewarded for not pulling over because the Police and insurance don't see it as important.

    Regarding the second point, I have reference numbers and email confirmations on both occasions which lists my full report. 

  • user1977
    user1977 Posts: 16,726 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Sixth Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    Gezmc1 said:

    It doesn't seem like any effort at all has gone into it from my insurers side. If they just picked up the phone to his insurer surely that would resolve things? Insurers (should) have a duty to me and themselves to not allow things like this to go unpunished.

    Where did you get the idea that it's insurers' job to "punish"? It's their own money that they've paid out, it's up to them to decide whether it's worthwhile trying to recover it from the other party. Others have already pointed out why it's not as simple as "picking up the phone".
  • DullGreyGuy
    DullGreyGuy Posts: 15,678 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Gezmc1 said:
    It doesn't seem like any effort at all has gone into it from my insurers side. If they just picked up the phone to his insurer surely that would resolve things? Insurers (should) have a duty to me and themselves to not allow things like this to go unpunished. The fact that insurers don't effectively resource themselves is not an excuse.

    Just doesn't sit right with me that someone can do something, as serious as a hit and run, and effectively be rewarded for not pulling over because the Police and insurance don't see it as important.

    Regarding the second point, I have reference numbers and email confirmations on both occasions which lists my full report. 

    When people will switch from a household name insurer with an ethical stance to an unknown offshore outfit to save less than £1 a year then the reality is everything will go through cost benefit analysis and it can very easily be not cost effective to have so many technical claims handlers to be able to make less than 1 call per hour whilst they sit in call queues to speak to third party insurers.

    Its not too hard to do the maths on what the cost of chasing a claim is, what percentage get paid out and therefore set rules as to when to draw the line... insurers cannot recover unallocated claims costs from the third party and small track court prohibits legal fees being recovered. It just doesn't make sense to spend £3,000 to try and get back £4,000

    The law across the UK doesn't support punitive damages, it's purely about indemnifying the innocent not punishing the guilty in civil law. Assuming they have claimed for the damages to their own vehicle then if their insurer pays out for your damages or not will have no additional impact on the third party themselves, in most cases a claim is a claim and the value of the claim isn't considered in pricing. Likewise there is no excess to pay on TP claims so the direct and immediate impact to them is if they claim for own damages not if you claim for yours. 


  • Gezmc1
    Gezmc1 Posts: 17 Forumite
    10 Posts Name Dropper First Anniversary
    Yes and it's cost me my excess because they can't be bothered to follow it up. They haven't contacted me once about the claim, I've had to chase it everytime, and from our conversations it's clear that all they've done (4 months after the incident happened) is send a letter and then write it off. So as a customer I have a right to be annoyed when I have received a poor service, for the reasons "already pointed out".

    But of course you are in no way biased as someone who clearly works in insurance, and has a chip on their shoulder over irritating customers like me.
  • Aretnap
    Aretnap Posts: 5,530 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Gezmc1 said:
    Yes and it's cost me my excess because they can't be bothered to follow it up. 
    Collecting your excess is not typically a job for your insurers anyway - it's an uninsured loss which you have to take up with the third party insurer yourself. If the claim is straightforward your insurer might offer to do it for you as it's little or no extra effort for them, but it's not something they have any actual duty to do. Or if you have legal expenses cover on your policy they will appoint a solicitor to assist you in the process - but ultimately a solicitor needs a name to proceed with court action so this isn't a magic wand in a bit and run.

    If you have more patience/determination than you insurer then you can get the details of the third party insurer yourself from ASKMID for a small fee and see if you can get through to them to demand your excess back. If they don't pay you can issue a court claim online - but that still requires a name for the driver. Your first move therefore might be to hassle the police again who should at the very least be able to send an s172 request to the registered keeper demanding the details of the driver.


    But of course you are in no way biased as someone who clearly works in insurance, and has a chip on their shoulder over irritating customers like me.
    Ranting at anonymous strangers on the internet might make you feel better, but it's unlikely to get you better advice or improve your situation in any other way.
  • DullGreyGuy
    DullGreyGuy Posts: 15,678 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Gezmc1 said:
    Yes and it's cost me my excess because they can't be bothered to follow it up. They haven't contacted me once about the claim, I've had to chase it everytime, and from our conversations it's clear that all they've done (4 months after the incident happened) is send a letter and then write it off. So as a customer I have a right to be annoyed when I have received a poor service, for the reasons "already pointed out".

    But of course you are in no way biased as someone who clearly works in insurance, and has a chip on their shoulder over irritating customers like me.
    Who's said you don't have a right to be annoyed? We are not rational creatures and just because there is a reason why things are done as they are doesn't make everyone feel better about it. 

    There are multiple ways you could take this forward but as you clearly have issues with anyone associated with the Insurance industry and so I will bow out
  • Gezmc1
    Gezmc1 Posts: 17 Forumite
    10 Posts Name Dropper First Anniversary
    My "rant" was solely at user1977. That was not aimed at DullGrey.

    I'm a Pensions advisor and advise on Life, CIC and IP. I do not have an issue with anyone in the insurance industry, just my insurer who hasn't cared or been bothered from the outset and who I've had to chase constantly.

    I get it, it was a small amount and there only bothered about their own pockets. I still expected some sort of service from them after being a customer of Admirals for 8 years plus. Which again of course, will mean nothing.
  • DullGreyGuy
    DullGreyGuy Posts: 15,678 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Options:

    1) Log a complaint with Admiral that they have made insufficient efforts to make recoveries and as such you are out of pocket your excess and will be having to declare a fault claim/impacted NCD (if applicable) for the next 3-5 years

    2) You can do some of the work yourself, I agree you shouldn't have to but we are where we are and the reality is you potentially can sit listening to hold music for an hour when an Admiral claims handler cannot. If you did speak to the third party insurer it would be a case of confirming if they claims reported, how you can report if its not, their claims reference and if there is a reason why they've failed to respond to your insurers. 

    These are not mutually exclusive but 1 may trigger them to take additional actions possibly making 2 unnecessary 
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