Claim Settlement

[top_driver]

I had a claim from 2008 that settled as 50/50 split last month which should have gone in my favour. But I am not happy that the insurance company that I am with did not update my contact details since the accident considering I had updated any changes on my cover policy so every time I rang I had been told they would contact me back only after it went to court did they finally get me on the phone to say it settled. If my no claims is impacted is there anything I can do maybe with this information

[bednobs]

no - your insurance company were acting as your agents

[EDDIE51]

Nothing you can do at all it is up to the insurance companies.
You are going to find your premiums will be a LOT higher for the next 5 years!

[top_driver]

Well is it not up to the insurance company to keep in contact considering I had things that would have changed the outcome I had contacted a number of times the way I am looking at it is the insurance company should take responsibility for their crazy administration error although my insurance should not be crazy effected because if the crash was in 2008 I still should have 9 year no claims left

[top_driver]

Only in Ireland can they mess up enough to have a split when someone makes an illegal right turn into an oncoming car haha

[EDDIE51]

Insurance companys contest claims between themselves , when you sign a policy you hand all responsibility for claim handling to them, you play no part in it!
Just accept that you have lost your NCB and in addition now have a 'claims history' which will increase your premiums for the next 3 to 5 years!

[top_driver]

Not really. They said they had contacted me a number of times. Because they needed information it wasnt settled between the insurance companies it went to district court which is something they had to inform me of in advance But kept my information from 2008 instead of looking on the system for my new number and address. There was no mention in complete loss of no claims in fact that would be illegal considering the crash was a very long time ago. They can only eliminate to the time I crashed not to the time it was settled.

[top_driver]

One thing on my policy I have that I do not know how it works is I have no claims protection the last 2 years

[EDDIE51]

NCB protection is a waste of time and money.
They just increase the base rate the NCB is deducted from .
If for example your base rate was £500 before the claim it will be £1000 or £1500 now and they use the new rate to calculate the NCB !

[woofgang]

have you spoken to the Insurance Ombudsman’s office?

[top_driver]

Well my no claims discount for my car is currently 2000. When would i find out what the impact if, there will be one is, going to be

No i wasn't aware of an ombudsman for insurance do i wait to see or.

[EDDIE51]

As this claim has already gone to court it is far too late for the ombudsman to deal with it. The court ruling takes precedence over the ombudsman . Plus it seems this case is in Ireland , I do not know if there even is an ombudsman for Ireland
( I am assuming you mean the Irish republic?)

[top_driver]

Yep irish republic. Well even if the claim remains settled i would be disputing that my insurance company is solely responsible for the outcome due to incompetency and any amount paid they take the hit for it

[Peter Pedant]

No

you're screwed - I dont think you have screwed yourself but anyway there is no going back

the principle is subrogation here
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/subrogation.asp

and you now have no rights in the matter
This caused chaos on the law thread a few days ago
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Law/Question1555888.html

probably would have gone this way if you HAD been contactable
knock for knock
MUCH cheaper for the insurance companies as there are no court costs and quicker ( so admin costs go down)

principle of agency does NOT apply here (or else you would have some rights)

[Peter Pedant]

no dont bother to dispute diddly squat
even in the ROI

you are wasting your breath
you have no rights
( contractually you gave them away when you signed and paid the insurance contract)

[top_driver]

But surely as it is basically a finance company there would be some differences than to an agent. I had a witness but....