Car Insurance not refunding money

takoo

Some years ago I lost parked two cars- write-offs. My insurer paid within two weeks on the fully comprehensive.

The other insurer delayed for six months on the third party claim. In the end I phoned and after a protracted discussion the poor clerk agreed interest (six months) on the amount due for my loss.

Another month past and I rang for another months's interest. First clerk on holiday. Second clerk denied interest was agreed - from his firm's case notes. Another long discussion and he eventually agreed another month's interest.

My argument was based on the established compulsory purchase principle of interest on the compensation from the date of possession to the date of completion.

My own view is that Parliament should sought out the delaying tactics of "owers"

Takoo

V_tricky

Travelqueen...

This might all sound a bit obvious, but have you tried asking one of the management team in the claims department to reinstate your ncd as a gesture of goodwill?

If not, I would highly recommend doing it on the basis that you have a judgment against this chap. Whilst they will still be out of pocket for the claim, it's upto them to pursue this matter. Even if this guy contacts them and offers to pay £10 a month, are they really gonna hold your NCD up til he's paid them off in full? I think not.

Insurers aren't beasts, and although strictly speaking, they are not obliged to, they may well reinstate it, so I can't recommend this course of action enough.

V_tricky

Elstree:

These are the questions you need to be asking Swiftcover:

On what grounds are NU disputing liabilty?
Is it because the other person hasn't reported the accident?
Is it because they have outstanding indemnity enquiries (ie is he paid to date on his policy, was the policy in force - was the right person driving for the right useage etc)?
Have they provided their allegations of negligence against you?
Have they provided any independent witness evidence to support their allegations?
How many times have Swiftcover contacted NU - how many by phone? how many by letter?
Have Swiftcover sent a copy of your excess receipt to NU?

Once you have this information from Swiftcover, you will then be able to have a clear picture of what action (or lack thereof) has been taken on your file.

If you're not happy that they are chasing this up for you efficiently, then ask them for NU's telephone number and claim reference and call them yourself to find out what the delay is.

If the delay is genuine, then you should somewhat be appeased, if it's not, you can either get your receipt sent off to them yourself, or get back onto Swiftcover and break their balls.

If this guy hasn't reported it, or is disputing liability without providing evidence, then ask Swiftcover how long they normally leave it before instructing solicitors to recover their losses (and yours if you have legal expenses cover) and press them to do it ASAP.

They can always send a letter before action to the third party directly to see if they can put the wind up him and to get things moving.

Hope this helps

Elstree20 wrote: »

Hi there

In early January my wife was involved in an accident where another car drove into the back of ours. No problems really and not too much damage but got all the necessary details and informed our insurers( Swiftcover). The other car was insured with Norwich Union . I have a £200 excess which I had to pay as the other partys insurers had not agreed liability at the time. I was assured that this would be refunded fairly quickly . The car was repaired at the end of January.

However we are now nearly 3 months down the line and no refund and the claim is still open. I have contacted Swiftcover who come back with the standard response of Norwich Union have not admitted liability so they cannot refund the money!

Is there anything else I can do to try and get this resolved? My feeling is that although the accident was no fault of ours the insurers are in no rush to sort this out as I have already paid.

Elstree20

V Tricky thanks very much for the advice . I have written to Swiftcover and await a response.

Steve1981

Elstree20 wrote: »

V Tricky thanks very much for the advice . I have written to Swiftcover and await a response.

Swiftcover are a waste of time - there are so many people who thinks it great doing everything online - but the feed back I have had is that whenever there is a problem your stuck - the only time they are interested in talking to you is when you are trying to leave them.

Just had a check on their website and when there is no contact number on the whole site - I'll be keeping clear.

I feel for you but dont see they are going to pull their finger out on this one

dunstonh

Swiftcover have done nothing wrong here so there is no point slagging them off.

The normal process has occured. This is why legal expenses cover is worth while. If the OP had this, then they would already have submitted their out of pocket expenses and allow the legal team to do all the work to get this back. Use of another solicitor is fine but the insurance company is not required and not expected to do this.

Steve1981

dunstonh wrote: »

Swiftcover have done nothing wrong here so there is no point slagging them off.

The normal process has occured. This is why legal expenses cover is worth while. If the OP had this, then they would already have submitted their out of pocket expenses and allow the legal team to do all the work to get this back. Use of another solicitor is fine but the insurance company is not required and not expected to do this.

Agreed - perhaps the red mist did decend in front of me a bit too quick:o

Elstree20

Just to let you have a quick update. After writing to Swiftcover a couple of times I recieved my excess payment back on the 25th March and the incident has been settled with no loss to my no claims bonus. All in all a great result. Thank you for the advice given as it was a great help

caela_2

Travelqueen wrote: »

I have a similar situation, ish.


I am really hacked off with the whole situation and don't seem to be able to move it forward at all despite calling the solicitors & diamond and depsite having a clear cut case it seems as though I am going to be the one to lose out.

Anyway got any suggestions at all of anything I can do?

Thx

TQ

If you have been hit by an uninsured party, the motor insurance bureau (MIB) can help you, but I'm not sure how it works! I think they operate a £300 excess, which is steep, but cheaper than losing your no claims!

Here is the link if it helps: http://www.mib.org.uk/Default.htm