Information regarding a current claim

coolchan1

Does anyone know if my insurance company claims handler is telling me the correct information as I don't believe them. I currently have a claim going through for a non fault accident with a foreign driver who refused to give me his insurance details. I got lots of other information about him but not his address or insurance information. It's currently with the MIB to find out if he was insured and if so whom the UK handling agent is to claim from. I have been told this can take months. My car has been deemed written off as a category N, which means the value of the repair work is more than the value of the car. My insurance company have agreed a settlement figure and apparently they pay this to me now and take away my car, which means it sits against me until they have recovered the money from the third party. They have also told me that if he's not insured it would also sit on my record as a fault accident. Is this true? I have also been told that I still have to pay my insurance premiums on the car for the rest of the year, even though the car has been taken off me as the claim is still pending. Is this true as again I don't believe it is and see why I should pay premiums on a car I no longer have or am driving as surely the insurance is to protect you on the road not to cover the cost of the claim? 

Muskey

Everything is true.
An insurance premium paid in instalments is actually a loan from the insurance company to cover the full premium which is repaid being repaid monthly, so in the event of a claim, the company will expect payment of the outstanding balance before paying out your claim. This is often done by them offering you a settlement value minus the outstanding instalments. Perfectly legal and to be expected.

facade

All true as above, also 

• a "fault accident" simply means that your insurer paid out and couldn't get their money back from someone else (the other driver whose negligence is responsible for your loss)
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• most insurers will allow you to transfer the remainder of the policy onto a replacement car, but you have to do it within a time limit, e.g. 28 days.

Bigphil1474

OP, use the settlement money to get a replacement car, add that to your existing policy and you may not have any extra to pay for this year. Your premium will likely be higher until the non-fault claim is sorted, but as above it's an at fault claim if your insurer ends up footing the bill (even though it wasn't your fault on the road).

coolchan1

Ok. Thanks everyone for the information and sharing your knowledge. 

coolchan1

@Muskey so does this mean then if they pay me I will need to settle the remaining premiums on the policy straight away or just continue paying them monthly until I get another car to add to the policy and get it changed over? 

coolchan1

If there are extra costs involved and they do find the third party responsible for it can I add all these additional costs on to the third party like the extra premiums, loss of excess, loss of earnings when the accident happened etc or do we have to suck it all up unfortunately? 

Muskey

You will normally be given the choice of either payout minus the outstanding premium, or you’ll be given a short time to buy a new car that will be put on the existing policy and you can then continue regular payments for the policy. If you don’t buy a car within the time limit, you become liable for the premium balance and your policy becomes null and void.