Motor Insurance Taking Too Long To Payout

*MF*

yasmeen wrote: »

Yeah i have 3rd party fire and theft.My insurance are involved in sorting my case out.
Angel assistance are acting on my behalf and I got the courtesy car from Help Hire.

I have been ringing my insurance company every 2 days and they fob me off saying different things.
1st) I was told that it will take 3 months after the accident to take legal action.
2nd)After the 3 months passed on 13/05/06 i was told they will take legal action a month later on 13/06/07.
3rd)And now iv been told by my insurance company that they will take legal action after 13/07/08(which will be 5 months after the accident)

The other driver was in a new car it was a 08 plate vectra and he seemed like a good bloke who gave me address and other details.His insurance company wont disclose the nature of their inquiries and will not say how long they gonna take.

My car was classed as a write off by a engineer and was taken away.The car was valued at £2000 which I agreed to.I sent my log book and MOT away to my insurance soon after the accident.

thank you

yasmeen

Hi again yasmeen ...

Sorry, I am still confused, perhaps more so ...

I know who Angel Assistance are and what they do (or should do) - but you say you "My insurance are involved in sorting my case out." But because you are insured on a Third Party basis your Insurer should not be involved at all - because they are not insuring you against any damage to your car. You also say " I sent my log book and MOT away to my insurance soon after the accident. But again that does not make sense for the same reason - your insurance should not be involved in that.

Do you see why I, and I think others are confused?

Can you tell us:

Who your Insurers are, please? So that we do not get confused between them, or Angel Assistance.

Who exactly you sent the Log Book and MOT to?

Who sent the engineer? was it for instance the Insurer for the other driver?

Who is the Insurer for the other driver? Do you know?

You also say " iv been told by my insurance company that they will take legal action after 13/07/08(which will be 5 months after the accident)" But again, for the reasons I have given, that does not make sense because your Insurers should not be involved.

Sorry for so many questions, but nobody can advise you for the best unless we can better understand what exactly has been happening.

NB: An earlier post suggested you might continue hiring a car - be very very careful - that could be the wrong thing to do - a claim of this type requires you to "minimise your losses", and given the level of confusion involved, I am worried about seeing it get worse, ok.

Smi1er

yasmeen wrote: »

My car was classed as a write off by a engineer and was taken away.The car was valued at £2000 which I agreed to.I sent my log book and MOT away to my insurance soon after the accident.

Which insurance company was the engineer from?

Who valued the car at £2,000?

Who instructed you to send the log book and MOT to your insurance company?

Did you get the £2,000 offer in writing? If so from whom?

Generally speaking once a value is agreed you accept, send of MOT and keys and log book and they send cheque by reply.

yasmeen_2

Quentin wrote: »

Why are your insurers "helping you out" - you are on your own when it comes to sorting out any damage to your own car.

Who told you to send your log book to your insurers? They definitely won't be paying you the write off value.

You need to get someone working for you - maybe contact a claim handler or solicitor.

Hey Quentin thanks for your reply.

My insurance are helping me because the accident wasn't my fault.
Angel Assistance asked me to send in my log book and MOT.

yasmeen_2

*MF* wrote: »

Hi again yasmeen ...

Sorry, I am still confused, perhaps more so ...

I know who Angel Assistance are and what they do (or should do) - but you say you "My insurance are involved in sorting my case out." But because you are insured on a Third Party basis your Insurer should not be involved at all - because they are not insuring you against any damage to your car. You also say " I sent my log book and MOT away to my insurance soon after the accident. But again that does not make sense for the same reason - your insurance should not be involved in that.

Do you see why I, and I think others are confused?

Can you tell us:

Who your Insurers are, please? So that we do not get confused between them, or Angel Assistance.

Who exactly you sent the Log Book and MOT to?

Who sent the engineer? was it for instance the Insurer for the other driver?

Who is the Insurer for the other driver? Do you know?

You also say " iv been told by my insurance company that they will take legal action after 13/07/08(which will be 5 months after the accident)" But again, for the reasons I have given, that does not make sense because your Insurers should not be involved.

Sorry for so many questions, but nobody can advise you for the best unless we can better understand what exactly has been happening.

NB: An earlier post suggested you might continue hiring a car - be very very careful - that could be the wrong thing to do - a claim of this type requires you to "minimise your losses", and given the level of confusion involved, I am worried about seeing it get worse, ok.

OK MF I must apologize when I said ''my insurance'' I meant Angel Assistance.
My insurance company is Centurion.
I sent my Paperwork to Angel Assistance.
Engineer was from a company called Help Hire and so was the courtsey car.
AIG are the other drivers insurance.

Angel assistance told me that it will be sorted after 13/07/08.

I dont have any money to hire a car out.

Thanks MF for taking time out and helping me;)

yasmeen_2

Smi1er wrote: »

Which insurance company was the engineer from?

Who valued the car at £2,000?

Who instructed you to send the log book and MOT to your insurance company?

Did you get the £2,000 offer in writing? If so from whom?

Generally speaking once a value is agreed you accept, send of MOT and keys and log book and they send cheque by reply.

The engineer was from Help Hire.
The engineer valued the car.
Agel assistance asked for the paperwork.
The engineer told me that he valued the car at £2000 and I agreed with him verbally.

thank for trying to help me;)

MarkyMarkD

I don't understand why Help Hire are valuing the car and declaring it a write-off, nor why Angel Assistance have taken it off you. It's down to the third party's insurers to make decisions like this as it's them who are going to have to pay up.

The whole situation sounds very messy and it sounds like Angel Assistance are hindering, rather than helping, the situation.

Have you spoken to the TP's insurers directly to check their view of the true situation?

advantix

A question has just sprung to mind. If the accident happend on 13/02/08 then how was the other party driving an 08 plated car? These were not released until 01/03/08 i beleive. This could be a reason for some delay i suspect as unless it was on trade plates then it could not legally of been on the road.

yasmeen_2

advantix wrote: »

A question has just sprung to mind. If the accident happend on 13/02/08 then how was the other party driving an 08 plated car? These were not released until 01/03/08 i beleive. This could be a reason for some delay i suspect as unless it was on trade plates then it could not legally of been on the road.

Sorry this was my mistake as I was tired last night.The car was 07 plated.

yasmeen_2

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

I don't understand why Help Hire are valuing the car and declaring it a write-off, nor why Angel Assistance have taken it off you. It's down to the third party's insurers to make decisions like this as it's them who are going to have to pay up.

The whole situation sounds very messy and it sounds like Angel Assistance are hindering, rather than helping, the situation.

Have you spoken to the TP's insurers directly to check their view of the true situation?

Hi markymarkd

I have not spoken to the 3rd parties insurance.Do you think I should speak to them?
thanks markymarkd

*MF*

Hi again yasmeen ... thanks for clarifying the position. Now we can move on (I hope) to helping you - I have seen posts from other members who I am guessing have day to day involvement with Companies like Angel Assistance - so I am hoping if they see your posts - they may also contribute to this, where I can't, ok.

First, lets clarify that Angel Assistance is a subsidiary of HelpHire - so that might help because we are at the end of the day dealing with "one" source, not two independent Companies - I say that if we have to seriously complain either to them or to their regulator.

I have copied in below an extract from the Angel Assistance website:

Angel can help if you have been involved in an accident, anywhere in the UK or Europe. We can provide you with legal expertise and legal expenses, of up to £50,000, making sure you are professionally represented so you don’t lose out.

Accidents do happen, and apart from being traumatic, they can also be expensive and time consuming as you fight for the compensation you deserve. Solicitors and experts can be costly, but essential to your case. Angel will not only provide you with the legal experts you need but will also cover the costs, taking the financial outlay, risk and worry away from you.

Where possible, Angel will negotiate a case settlement for you, but if proceedings are unavoidable Angel will support your claim through the courts of the relevant country.

Helphire can also help if your vehicle is written-off by providing you with replacement transport until you receive a cheque for the pre-accident value of your vehicle.

Angel Assistance Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

From here:
http://www.angelassist.co.uk/home.html

The link to HelpHire site is here:
http://www.helphire.co.uk/faq_main.htm

I have outlined 3 bits in red - that is what Angel say is to happen - and we need to start there - because in your case it appears what they say they will do is not happening - not least because they are causing you worry not relieving you of it.

1: In my earlier posts - I suggested there may be a problem with the other party's Insurance - that is a total guess on my part - but I think that has to be the main question you ask Angel Assistance - do they think the delay is caused by that, and if not what exactly do they think is the cause?

2: You will see that they try to negotiate a settlement - but if they fail, then they will take legal action. Taking legal action obviously costs them money - so they will want to avoid that - and that will be why (IN PART) they are saying what they are saying - but it doesn't explain why there is a delay - thus the first question. But, when you contact them - please ask them to confirm that the next step in July is that they will be taking this matter to court - let's see if we can tie them down to that and preferably get them to do so in writing.

3: You mentioned that you had a replacement car - then it was taken away. you will see from the paragraph above - that is not what they say will happen - they say you get that replacement car - until you get the settlement cheque. So you need to ask them why that didn't happen, and that they now honour their promise which is in published form and in the public domain.

I suspect (but again it is a total guess) that they may have sensed a problem with the other party's insurance - and saw their costs escalate - but I don't know that, and that is the risk THEY take in offering to provide you with cover, it should not mean they break their promise. You haven't got a settlement cheque, so their promise is you should STILL have a replacement car - ask them to fulfil their promise or explain fully why not, ok?

Now this has been a long post, (sorry - it's the only way I can do it), some of it is guesswork, some of it is meant to help, ok. If you again contact Angel and ask them to clarify the position, and then let us know how they respond/reply - maybe then we can see what may be the next steps.

One of them will be to start to build a picture of ALL your losses that you can claim - and that will not just be the loss of your car, but let's see how you get on first, ok?


PS: I don't think you should contact the other party's Insurer (not yet anyway) - in case it affects the way Angel help you - let's not give them any excuse to argue on. Just my opinion, ok.


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