Warning on car claims

soups05

I post this with some trepidation, given the attitude some posters have to any claim lodged no matter how genuine. However I felt I would be remiss if I did not provide some sort of warning to anyone as inexperienced in claims as I am.

Basically I was rear ended by a guy who then left the scene, I was on the way to see my solicitor about an unrelated matter and by the time I got there my back,neck and shoulders were in bits. Missed a week off college, then had the mid term break luckily. So I lodged a claim after being encouraged by the solicitor.

Was fairly ok for a few weeks then back seized again at xmas. By the time a physio app came through I was mid exams so could not attend. By taking care of myself and using exercises provided by the Gp I made a good recovery.

Fast forward to april this year (18 months later) and my renewal was 987. I took the car off the road (fuel pump problem) and left it for the summer. I then went back to my insurer to renew and the premium was now 1347 with 350 upfront. decided to save that and went back to them last week, now they wont re-insure without 3 letters of refusal from other companies.

I would have been better off keeping the car on the road insurance wise even though it was not running ffs.

Still waiting to find out what they will charge me now, but to be honest there is no way the hassle, annoyance and frustration involved will be made up for by whatever piddling amount of money I receive.

The system of not taking on anyone with an open claim, even if they were the victim, is a joke. It restricts competition/consumer choice and given that this claim may take another year (so am told) it is not going to get better anytime soon.

Side note, the damn solicitor has been fobbing me off for months every time I ask for an update, is this normal? I read posts here about claims sorted in a few months but this has dragged on for 18 mths so far.

I cannot understand why anyone would bother with all this hassle more than once but hear on boards about serial claimants repeatedly. I can honestly say I don't think I will ever put myself through this again unless its a major crash. anything else is not worth it.

Just my own view, now let the flaming begin lol

Karma's a biotch eh?

grogi

Next time adjust the headrest...

soups05

headrest? sorry but that went over my head so to speak.

Sue Pa Key Pa

Is your claim with the MIBI, you say the other driver took off?

soups05

yes, i had never heard of them and assumed i was outta luck so i guess the solicitor was in the right place/right time. they seemed fairly excited when they asked why i was in pain and i said car crash lol.

Del2005

It's a personal injury claim going through and they always take a long time. My brother was knocked off his motorbike and broke his wrist, his insurance went up till the claim was settled even though the other driver was 100% liable. He got a refund from his insurance when the claim was settled but IIRC that was about 18 months after he was knocked off, so same as you he had a high premium for a year.

punisher5112

Have you claimed off your own insurance??

How long have you let insurance lapse exactly?

If 2 years no claims if any are gone.

Get refusal letters and speak to your solicitor about increases in premium.

Keep record of it all.

Did you not get reg or cat details from other car that crashed into you?.

punisher5112

Del2005 wrote: »

It's a personal injury claim going through and they always take a long time. My brother was knocked off his motorbike and broke his wrist, his insurance went up till the claim was settled even though the other driver was 100% liable. He got a refund from his insurance when the claim was settled but IIRC that was about 18 months after he was knocked off, so same as you he had a high premium for a year.

In the last 2 cases I had had insurance never increased.

That was with one non injury and one where I was.

Maybe different insurer do it differently.

soups05

punisher5112 wrote: »

Have you claimed off your own insurance??

How long have you let insurance lapse exactly?

If 2 years no claims if any are gone.

Get refusal letters and speak to your solicitor about increases in premium.

Keep record of it all.

Did you not get reg or cat details from other car that crashed into you?.

april 2nd this year, so about 5 months

contacted different companies today and letters are in the post.

can't get hold of solicitor, not responding.

other car hit me, then left, was not thinking straight and there seemed to be nothing wrong at first, adrenaline rush?

my passenger was not hurt but he is, ahem, a larger gentleman shall we say and i always had a dodgy back.

Sue Pa Key Pa

Well, if you always had a dodgy back, I'm not surprised it is taking time to establish what was pre-existing and what is the result of the accident

soups05

Sue Pa Key Pa wrote: »

Well, if you always had a dodgy back, I'm not surprised it is taking time to establish what was pre-existing and what is the result of the accident

Good point, i had not considered that. I recall making the objection with my solicitor during the initial discussion and she brushed it off, I raised it again during talks with MIBI and they were not interested either so assumed it was not relevant.

Although I was chided for playing down my injuries, its an irish thing, shur all be grand

oleras

What was the outcome of the accident 5 years ago, where you hurt your back also, aggravating a pre existing injury ? you know the one where you had no NCT or tax on the car ?

You never updated the thread.

soups05

whoops, thought i had updated that. In the end my insurance company denied her claim, the fact she drove off and failed to report it until a garda tracked her down made them side with me. I bought a dashcam after that and caught her by chance going through the same stop sign, junction is re designed now tho.

if you read that thread you will see i had a pre existing bad back and decided not to claim even though i was in the right. so i trust this proves am not some scammer jumping on the claims bandwagon lol.

is it worth updating now? for closure? maybe a mod can advise as i dont want to bump a 5 year old thread.

nice detective skills oleras. thank godness am honest or i would be digging my own grave lol.

Henry Ford III

Get a better and more responsive solicitor OP?

soups05

Ok, quick update. Things just took a random twist, Kennco contacted me direct, went through the usual insurance quote steps and decided to offer me a renewal quote. At less than they offered last april pmsl.

I am now insured for 891 euro rather than the quotes of 1350 i had been getting.

I am not sure what happened, nothing changed my end, so I am just blessing my luck and hoping that its not some awful mistake on their part.


this is on an 02 vectra, with 3 points and its fully comp

kennM

Be under no illusion the process, IMO, is an ass... it is a pain in the .... well you already have that!

For me it took 5 years! Yes you read that right... 5 years. Granted I was quite seriously injured. I wrote this a few years back in the hope it would help others. Back at the time I was a total novice to the process/what to do/not to do etc. I learned a lot through others and wanted to pass back the info and restore the karma pool: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=93328566

I hope some of it helps.