Car Insurance company withholding excess - liability not established

[itsboiledeggsagain]

Any advice please? I was hit by a lorry, foreign vehicle and car written off. As the lorry was foreign it is taking time for them to admit liability - thry have been given 3 months.

In the meantime the insurance company want to pay out settlement but withhold my excess until this is established. I am not happy about this. Can they do it?

Anyone got any advice please?

Normal. It can take months. Just keep chasing them for a decision.

I didn't get my Excess back for about six months - and the other driver was actually prosecuted for driving without due care & attention, so it was pretty clear who was at fault.

Yes, it'll be part of the terms of your policy.

Your excess is payable whenever there is no admission of liability. If your car was repairable you'd have to pay the excess to the garage but because it's a total loss the excess is deducted from the settlement instead.

As it's an uninsured loss it's not standard for your insurer to recover the excess anyway. It would often be recovered by solicitors. Check if you have legal protection included in your policy to do this for you.

I'm sorry you've been involved in an incident and that the fact it's a foreign vehicle is slowing things down but I work in car insurance claims and this is standard practice. You've agreed to the excess figure when you took out the policy so doubt there's anything you can do.

Thanks, really helpful. I think we are going to need to go with it.

I quite liked my vehicle. All this faff is such a faff