Reclaiming excess from other parties insurer - Aviva

Wiggles25

I was involved in a car accident in May 24 which was deemed to be partial fault by Esure (my insurer) and Aviva (the other party's insurer). Unfortunately, I didn't have motor legal cover so Esure told me I had to go directly to Aviva to get a refund for my excess.

I've been chasing Aviva for over 4 months and the communication has been shocking. They don't respond to emails and never call you back. The only time I have had a response was when I stated I would be going the ombudsmen.  But even then Aviva gave me incorrect information - stating they had raised the money with Esure, however Esure informed me the funds didn't include the refund for the excess. 

Has anyone had any experience trying to get a refund from the other party's insurer? It seems as though it has been deliberately difficult and obstructive (probably because they want you to pay for motor legal protection!) 

TheSpectator

You can't go to the Ombudsman about the behaviour of the other parties insurer - you are not their customer.

You should be making a claim directly to the other driver but seems strange you are seeking to claim the excess when you are deemed partially at fault.

You will need to go down the formal legal route if no response and you think it worth pursuing.

DullGreyGuy

TheSpectator said:

You can't go to the Ombudsman about the behaviour of the other parties insurer - you are not their customer.

You should be making a claim directly to the other driver but seems strange you are seeking to claim the excess when you are deemed partially at fault.

You will need to go down the formal legal route if no response and you think it worth pursuing.

Pre-litigation you would deal with the insurer as otherwise you are just adding a delay as the TP passes the information onto the TPI and then wait for them to action it. It can be a tactic if the insurer is being poor at responding but that tends to work better when coming on headed paper from an insurer or law firm. 

In a split liability situation you can recover a proportion of your losses inline with the percentage the others were to blame. So if it was a 75/25 in your favour you could recover 75% of your losses. 


Ideally the OP should get a statement from the their insurer in writing that they haven't received the Excess and forward it to the TP insurer, copying in their own insurer if done by email, and hopefully it will trigger the two insurers to resolve it properly.