Insurance Claim - Deceased Persons

Lux23

A car crashed into my fathers car last April, he was being chased by the Gardaí as they had reason to believe he had just robbed a couple of houses. He ran away from the car, but they recognized him and crucially the car he left behind was actually his!

Anyway, my father died in December, yet the claim is still live and my mother has contacted the insurance company several times to ask what is going on. They have said repeatedly that they have not received a report from the Gardaí, so my Mum went to the station on Monday and they said the report was issued several months. She asked the insurance company again, and they said no, we haven't received anything from the Guards. She spoke to the Guard again this morning and he said, they have the report.

My first question is, will the claim run out after a set period as the claimant, my father has passed away?

My second question is, what is going on with the insurance company? Have they lost it or are they dragging their feet? Should we make a formal complaint?

Any advice would be most welcome.

To Elland Back

If you are claiming under your late Father's policy, the Garda report should have no impact on the speed on which you are compensated for the damage and it should have been sorted ages ago

If you are claiming against the other car owner's insurance, the 'reasonable' period to wait for documents has passed and you should be pressing for settlement

If you are claiming from the MIBI, these things can take ages

Lux23

It was the MIBI because he claimed against initially, but the car turned out not to be stolen (the guy went robbing in his own car, ran home and reported it stolen).

If it takes ages that is fair enough, but my mother will be out of pocket about €5,000 if the claim does indeed die with the claimant?

To Elland Back

I presume that the incident was reported to your own insurer at the time, so put in a claim for own damage now and let them recover from the 3rd party's insurer in due course. It is important that they seek recovery, as insurers usually transfer the no claim bonus in to the name of a spouse, when a client passes away

The MIBI will be handing the claim back to the other party's insurer, seeing that it is no longer an unidentified, uninsured driver. That insurer cannot stall you forever just because they are having obvious difficulty with their client.

The right to indemnity for damage is not lost for property claims, it passes to the estate. Personally, I would get a solicitor on the job. You are being left isolated by the tangled mess this lad has caused

ullu

Your father's insurance company should deal with this claim assuming valid comprehensive cover was in place, premium payments were up to date etc.

Best practice for a claims team in circumstances like this one is to settle the policyholder's claim and then seek recovery once settlement has been finalised. The Gardai need to confirm in their report if insurance was in place and if so, who with and the policy number. Gardai do not generally provide this information in a formal report until their investigations and any associated prosecutions have concluded. If it turns out the third party in this case had a valid insurance policy in place on the date of the accident, your father's insurer will seek recovery of their material damage outlay from them. If no insurance was in place, the insurer just have to take the hit and your father's NCB would have been unaffected had he not passed away.

From personal experience dealing with similar cases, the Gardai can take their time responding to insurers looking for reports. A minimum fee of €60 applies for these reports (cost borne by the insurer) so check with the insurer to make sure it has been paid for. If the Gardai are stating the official report has been sent and the insurer are saying it hasn't been received, the best thing to do is get the relevant guard's name and pass it on to the claims team so they can call the station to discuss. Otherwise it could result in a never ending cycle of passing the buck.

Given the amount of time that has elapsed, the best thing to do would be to lodge a formal complaint. Even if it happened that your complaint is baseless, it would still be prioritised for a full review by someone more senior than the handler dealing with the file and a speedier resolution would be likely.