Insurance Claim Advice

Soups123

Hi Guys

Hoping one if you could help me with an issue I am having with 123.ie.

My mother was in a crash yesterday evening which resulted in her car being a write off. The driver of the car that crashed into her admitted to the guards and the insurance company that he was at fault, he was turning into a side road and turned into my mams car which was coming the opposite direction. A witness also provided an account to guards and gave their contact details which we too shared with the insurance company.

So... at the time the guards came and called a Tow truck to remove the car. We rang the insurance company today for a replacement car and to start the claim process. They will not provide a replacement car until the car is in one of there network garages, to get the car from the tow company they need to pay €357, they are saying we need to pay this and claim it back from them but thay they will only cover up to €200, the driver who accepted responsibilty is also a customer of 123.ie. The said for now we have to treat this as a claim against my mothers policy and that only allows for a tow charge up to €200.

We asked them how come we have to pay anything because liability has already been admitted and we shouldn't be out pocket and they said that the other driver is a non national and it will take weeks before he can provide them with a written account as he will need to get a professional to translate it.

Do we really have to pay this? Every night its left with the Tow company the fee goes up €50. I was going to call them tomorrow and say stick your courtesy car and leave it in the Tow garage as along as you want and once the liability piece is done then you can pay what ever the bill is. Either way this is going to be a 123.ie claim expense as both drivers are with them.

Would really appreciate your advice with this. Let me know if I left out anything important.

Its a fully comp policy.

Cheers
Soups

kkelliher

Right or Wrong you have a legal requirement to mitigate your loss. An insurance policy is not a guarantee. It is based on the limits and wordings that are detailed in the policy and conditions. If you claim against your own insurance company then you are bound by the limits of the policy. If you can claim directly against the third party then you are not.

Insurance claims have to work through a process, they will not jump through hoops for you and in most cases it is a case of reinbursement as apposed to payment in advance of incurring costs. If you claim against your own policy you will be covered for x andhave uninsured losess of Y. You or your insurance company on your behalf will then make a claim against the other driver (assuming liability can be proven) for both insured lossess (ie the money they paid out) and uninsured losses (your uninsured element).

You will however only receive reasonable costs so if you leave the car in the tow yard you have no hope of receiving all the cost of it as you have to where reasonably possible mitigate the loss.

Soups123

kkelliher wrote: »

Right or Wrong you have a legal requirement to mitigate your loss. An insurance policy is not a guarantee. It is based on the limits and wordings that are detailed in the policy and conditions. If you claim against your own insurance company then you are bound by the limits of the policy. If you can claim directly against the third party then you are not.

Insurance claims have to work through a process, they will not jump through hoops for you and in most cases it is a case of reinbursement as apposed to payment in advance of incurring costs. If you claim against your own policy you will be covered for x andhave uninsured losess of Y. You or your insurance company on your behalf will then make a claim against the other driver (assuming liability can be proven) for both insured lossess (ie the money they paid out) and uninsured losses (your uninsured element).

You will however only receive reasonable costs so if you leave the car in the tow yard you have no hope of receiving all the cost of it as you have to where reasonably possible mitigate the loss.

Thanks for the above. Just a couple of questions, ultimately we are claiming a 3rd party who is also with 123.ie he has admitted liability verbally to them. We are not looking to claim against our own policy but they have said for now that is what we need to do until liability is formally resolved.

I get your point regarding paying and reimbursement so its normal for us to have to cover the expense pf the Tow now and then make claim on that?

Also we are claiming the 3rd party and 123.ie advise it could take weeks or months to resolve but that our policy only allows for a car for 9 days but again I would think we should have a replacement car until resolved as part of the expense laid on the 3rd party?

kkelliher

Soups123 wrote: »

Thanks for the above. Just a couple of questions, ultimately we are claiming a 3rd party who is also with 123.ie he has admitted liability verbally to them. We are not looking to claim against our own policy but they have said for now that is what we need to do until liability is formally resolved.

I get your point regarding paying and reimbursement so its normal for us to have to cover the expense now and then make claim on that.

Also we are claiming the 3rd party and 123.ie advise it could take weeks or months to resolve but that our policy only allows for a car for 9 days but again I would think we should have a replacement car until resolved as part of the expense laid on the 3rd party?

again they will only cover you on your own policy to the levels allowed on the policy. If it says 9 days then that is all you will get. If you have to rent a car until you replace it with a new one then you could try and claim this as an uninsured loss against the third party but there is no certainty that you will get it. Your own claim should be settled quickly not in months and then you will should have some money to buy a car and then wait for the reinbursement from the third party at some stage

Soups123

kkelliher wrote: »

again they will only cover you on your own policy to the levels allowed on the policy. If it says 9 days then that is all you will get. If you have to rent a car until you replace it with a new one then you could try and claim this as an uninsured loss against the third party but there is no certainty that you will get it. Your own claim should be settled quickly not in months and then you will should have some money to buy a car and then wait for the reinbursement from the third party at some stage

Cheers

They said today it will take weeks/months to resolve the 3rd party claim I wasnt aware you effectively had to claim your own policy and then seek reinbursement, thanks for informing me they never mentioned this.

So ultimately I should pay the tow for now, follow through with the claim on my mams policy and then wait for them to seeks reimbursement for the car replacement expense and the Tow.

Should the fact they are both with 123 speed it up?

dudara

Moved to Banking & Insurance & Pensions

dudara

Soups123

Just an update on this.

Managed to get these guys to deal with me, spoke to them re the fact the car needed to be collected and they agreed to collect and pay the full expense and it will be considered as part of the 3rd party claim. Now the vehicle is in there possession thy are also willing to provide a replacement car.

I had to go through about 10 transfers and 10 refusals of a call back before being finally dealt with, I advised them I was on a recorded line and would be raising a complaint, my next transfer was to a very helpful administrator who addressed all of the above.

Really feel like yesterday they where making us jump through hoops and trying to get us to make payments and claim later.

wmpdd3

A relative had this with a different company, I've never heard of it but they wanted her to claim for all damages on her policy, renew her insurance with an open claim on her policy and pay the full insurance payment with out any no-claims bonus and pay other charges up front and hope for them to be reimbursed by the person who admitted fault.

She had no money at all as it was 2 weeks from payday!

She called back, refused to claim under her policy and said she would have to employer her own claims manager( or accessor I think), she was transferred to a supervisor and then told, no problem, everything will be covered by the person at fault.

To me this seems like something the insurance companies try, but will forget about when pushed.
The story about the person at fault not speaking English is just unprofessional on the insurance company's side, how did the person agree to insurance without a grasp of English?

cookie1977

It is. There was a great channel 4 dispatches program about insurance companies (in the UK but I presume it happens here too) on there a while ago and how they offer "extras" if you go with their garages and how they pressure a garage if you choose not to go with there's. Car manufacturers were complaining that the insurance companies were using non official parts when repairing cars and using cheaper items. They also said that some of the insurance companies are the largest paint purchasers in the UK as they bulk buy cheap paint for car repairs. It was fascinating and a little scary.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/articles/car-insurance-reporter-feature

Soups123

wmpdd3 wrote: »

A relative had this with a different company, I've never heard of it but they wanted her to claim for all damages on her policy, renew her insurance with an open claim on her policy and pay the full insurance payment with out any no-claims bonus and pay other charges up front and hope for them to be reimbursed by the person who admitted fault.

She had no money at all as it was 2 weeks from payday!

She called back, refused to claim under her policy and said she would have to employer her own claims manager( or accessor I think), she was transferred to a supervisor and then told, no problem, everything will be covered by the person at fault.

To me this seems like something the insurance companies try, but will forget about when pushed.
The story about the person at fault not speaking English is just unprofessional on the insurance company's side, how did the person agree to insurance without a grasp of English?

Yep kinda along the line of what they did with me, said to claim it all under my mothers policy and then claim the 3rd party once liability is found. Either way its a 123.ie expense as both parties are with them.

Still waiting on replacement car they are saying they wont provide until liability is formally confirmed. They are also telling me to claim the replacement on my mothers policy by issuing a comp claim.

They are moving the goal posts every call so I have told them every call is recorded and everything followed up by email with details, seem to be slowly getting there.