Insurance claim

Emtee · 18 January 2020 at 9:39PM

Hi, just wondering what to do. My daughter was in an accident and received compensation.
She was paid 9months ago, now the insurance company say she has been paid £900 too much and they want her to call to arrange how to pay this back.

The compensation money has been spent in good faith and as my daughter is a student with no income she can’t repay.

Question is can they do this..?

The insurance company told us how much she was getting and paid it.

Thanks.

unholyangel · 19 January 2020 at 1:38AM

So the figure they paid out is the same as the figure they told her they were paying out?

So why are they now changing their answer? Is it because they miscalculated or are they disputing information your daughter provided them with?

Her being a student or being able to afford to repay it doesn't come into the question of whether she is legally due to repay it, unfortunately.

Ectophile · 20 January 2020 at 1:19AM

I'm sure they can ask for the money back. Whether or not they will get it is another matter. There's nothing stopping her phoning them back and saying "no".

If she refused, they would have to take her to court, and then win the case. Which would mean persuading the judge that she really does owe them £900 back.

Emtee · 21 January 2020 at 11:29AM

Yes. The figure they told her they were paying has been paid. They have just changed their minds now as they have messed up. I guess it came up at year end for them.

victor2 · 21 January 2020 at 1:09PM

Emtee wrote: »

Yes. The figure they told her they were paying has been paid. They have just changed their minds now as they have messed up. I guess it came up at year end for them.

If they accidentally paid her for an element she didn't even claim, they might have reason to ask for it back. If they just gave her the wrong amount for a valid claim, I would think that's harder to recover. If she doesn't have details of why they are claiming the £900 due to them, then perhaps it's worth phoning them to find out.

However, advice from a solicitor is probably worth seeking first. Many will do an initial consultation for free, in hope of getting further business, and that might be enough to establish the daughter's rights.

At the end of the day, £900 isn't a lot to an insurance company, and probably less than it would cost them to take legal action to recover it, especially if it isn't a clear cut case.

jimbo6977 · 21 January 2020 at 2:06PM

Too little information in the OP but:

Supposing the daughter made a claim against her own insurance policy.

Then, recently, the daughter's insurance policy term comes to end and she is invited to renew.

At renewal she informs her insurer of a change of circumstances that in fact pre-dates the incident that lead to the claim.

In the above situation the insurer could look to pro-rata the claim to account for the previously un-declared riskier circumstances.

Maybe? Need more information really.

Emtee · 21 January 2020 at 4:26PM

Hi. This claim came about as she was in a car as a passenger when they were struck by someone else.
Claim took around a year to sort and they sent out the cheque.
The letter that we have now received, albeit 9 months later, says they forgot to take their fees and the medical expenses out of the claim before sending to my daughter. As everything tallied up with the numbers stated in the letter and the cheque we had no reason to believe that it was incorrect.
We are not trying to get out of anything that we owe it just feels wrong.

Jumblebumble · 21 January 2020 at 8:31PM

Emtee wrote: »

Hi. This claim came about as she was in a car as a passenger when they were struck by someone else.
Claim took around a year to sort and they sent out the cheque.
The letter that we have now received, albeit 9 months later, says they forgot to take their fees and the medical expenses out of the claim before sending to my daughter. As everything tallied up with the numbers stated in the letter and the cheque we had no reason to believe that it was incorrect.
We are not trying to get out of anything that we owe it just feels wrong.

They presumably offered a sum in full and final settlement and she accepted the figure she was given
I cannot see why the insurers should be entitled to change this
Perhaps she should say she should tell them that on reflection she feels they paid her £900 too little and awaits them ponying up

unholyangel · 21 January 2020 at 9:10PM

Jumblebumble wrote: »

They presumably offered a sum in full and final settlement and she accepted the figure she was given
I cannot see why the insurers should be entitled to change this
Perhaps she should say she should tell them that on reflection she feels they paid her £900 too little and awaits them ponying up

From what OP has said, it sounds like it wasn't directly through the insurers but that OP's daughter used a claim management company. So not the insurer asking for money back.

In other words, it sounds like its a fee the daughter probably agreed to pay, rather than any mistake over the settlement amount.

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