Insurance Claim Unsettled - 2 years 5 months and counting

Leanne031283

Hi all,

My mum had a bump in June 2023. She wasn't at fault but the other driver is disputing this. The claim is for repairs to both vehicles, no injuries (the other vehicle is a van registered to a company). The claim has been passed from the insurance company to a litigation company. 

The litigation company are very slow to respond and as far as we know they haven't progressed any further than asking the other driver to accept responsibility.

My mum's insurance renewal is in a few weeks and this will be now her 3rd renewal where she has had to pay a premium of around +£400 because she has an open claim.

I have a couple of questions I was hoping to get some help with:

Is there a "reasonable" timeframe for claims to be settled?

If we complain, do we complain to the insurance company or the litigation company? 

Is there any specific wording we should include in this complaint?

Thanks in advance

Car_54

Your mum's contract is with the insurer, so complain to them in the first instance.

MyRealNameToo

Leanne031283 said:

Hi all,

My mum had a bump in June 2023. She wasn't at fault but the other driver is disputing this. The claim is for repairs to both vehicles, no injuries (the other vehicle is a van registered to a company). The claim has been passed from the insurance company to a litigation company. 

The litigation company are very slow to respond and as far as we know they haven't progressed any further than asking the other driver to accept responsibility.

My mum's insurance renewal is in a few weeks and this will be now her 3rd renewal where she has had to pay a premium of around +£400 because she has an open claim.

I have a couple of questions I was hoping to get some help with:

Is there a "reasonable" timeframe for claims to be settled?

If we complain, do we complain to the insurance company or the litigation company? 

Is there any specific wording we should include in this complaint?

Thanks in advance

Presumably her vehicle has been repaired and it was done by her insurers not an accident management company?

The quickest settled claim I had was in about 2 weeks end to end, longest was over 6 years but it had complex injuries, challenges with liability given our insured has no memory of the accident and the other driver died etc. Reasonable is very much dependent on the circumstances. 

You can complain to either, both are regulated entities but you'd complain to the one thats caused the problem so if it only went to litigation a week ago its your insurers, if it went to the lit firm 2 years ago then complain to them.

They should be able to advise what is the actual cause of the delay and what is required to get matters resolved. 

Leanne031283

Thanks for the replies so far.

The car has been repaired already, through the insurance company and she paid the excess (which can be claimed back if she is found to not be at fault). The claim was passed to the litigation company 2 years ago and little to nothing has happend since. As far as I'm aware this wasn't a choice, the insurance company just passed it on.

There's no injuries and nothing more complicated than a straightforward bump. The only complication is deciding fault, which should be standard enough.

Mildly_Miffed

That's ultimately the way it works.

She should be happy that her insurer are putting the time and effort into fighting it - they clearly believe her.

Ultimately, it will go to court, and either the other driver will be found totally at fault and she will get her excess back (plus interest and any other costs), or she will be held to hold some fault, in which case she won't.

What's most likely to happen in practice is that the other driver's insurer will cave on the eve of the court case.