Can I take action against third party insurance?

[MummySS22]

Back in June I was involved in a car accident. Rear ended whilst in traffic at 30mph causing me to hit the car in front and bounce back. Driver who hit me admitted fault at the scene, police were called, hospital trip etc etc no one was seriously injured thankfully! My car was taken away for recovery. I reported it to my insurance company who said because it was non fault that they would pass me to a claims management company. They have been dealing with the claim since and have been providing me with a hire car at the expense of the third party insurance company. the third party insurer hasn’t even acknowledged my claim! And my car is sat there in a recovery place awaiting an inspection to assess the damage Etc etc for FIVE MONTHS and no acknowledgment or contact from the third party insurer. Endless emails and calls from my claims manage my company’s and NOTHING. This can’t be right? Surely? I’ve googled and googled but can’t get a definitive answer.. can I report them to the ombudsman? For the simple fact the claim hasn’t even been acknowledged and surely there is a time frame? Apparently this insurer is notorious for messing around and playing silly beggars.

Your contract is with the people you pay the premium to.
I'd email again - given them 72 hours and then report to the ombudsman
https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/complaints-can-help/insurance

I think OP is complaining about the third party's insurer, not the claims company or her own insurance.

OP - If I'm right, you don't have any standing to make a claim against them. Your claim is against the driver who rear ended you. However, your insurance policy may well contain a clause limiting your ability to take action. You need to pursue your own insurers for the fact the claims management company isn't progressing your claim.

@prh47bridge yes my grievance is with the third party, I spoke to my insurer and they literally couldn’t care less and the claims management company said that they can’t do anything because they have been chasing it and it’s not their fault they aren’t getting a response basically

Your insurance company will have a complaints procedure. Follow that. If you don't get anywhere with that, you can refer your insurers to the Financial Ombudsman.

I'm confused why your car is sitting for five months without being inspected etc? We were in a serious no fault accident earlier this year, our car was recovered by our insurers and we had a hire car in a few days. Our insurers sorted the damage assessment and repairs, and our car was back with us two months later. This was a couple of months ago - we've just had the communication that they're now going after cost recovery from the insurance of the person who's fault it was. Surely that's how it's meant to work? Your insurers sort your car and pay for it, then go on to claim costs from the other persons insurance? No idea why they're letting your car just sit for so long!

Because it was a non fault accident my insurance appointed a claims man agent company to handle it. It’s the third party insurer that have not acknowledged the claim against them and the car is just sitting; I could claim on my own policy and my insurer would assess and pay out but I’m not going to claim on my policy when it wasn’t my fault.

I’m not going to claim on my policy when it wasn’t my fault

Why not?

A few years ago my car was hit by another driver when parked in a car park. They left their details and admitted liability. I made a claim against my insurance and my insurers sorted everything out - repairs for my car and a courtesy car until it was fixed. Since the other driver was clearly at fault, there was no impact on my premiums or my no claims discount. If you had made a claim, it would probably all have been sorted by now.

You don't have any standing to take action against the third party's insurers. You can either make a claim against your insurance or, if your policy allows it, take action against the other driver.

I had a non-fault claim last year, the third party insurer are still refusing to acknowledge it. I claimed through my insurance and they're recovering the cost from the third party. It's currently going to court. I would have been without a car for over a year if I'd waited for them.

Do you have a courtesy car? If you're going through a claim management company, it's likely a hire car. Be mindful that they could argue that you had the car for too long as you didn't make a claim on your insurance.

This is all what I don’t understand. I rang my own insurer and explained that it’s been a long time and no progress. My insurer said I can claim on my own policy but if they can’t recover the costs it will increase my premium and they may seek to recover a portion of the cost from me. Even though it wasn’t my fault!! They then just put me back to the claims manager company who are saying said insurer is notorious for this type of behaviour. They have also said that as long as the case goes on I can keep the hire car as I’m classed as vulnerable so I need the car to carry out my daily life. I did call my insurer and they are the ones who arranged the claims management to make the claim against the third party, so I don’t really see how I can be blamed for “not claiming on my imsurance”. I’m so confused.

No-one is blaming you. Your insurance company is right that your premium will go up if you claim and they can't recover the costs, but that is unlikely when the other driver has admitted they were at fault. Your choices are:

• Keep waiting for the other driver's insurer to do something, in which case there is no way of predicting how long this will take
• Take legal action against the other driver (if your insurance policy allows you to do this), in which case you will have to fund the legal action and, if you need to use a solicitor or barrister, you probably won't get all your legal costs back
• Make a claim against your insurance, in which case your car will be fixed quickly but there is a small risk they won't be able to recover the costs from the other driver's insurers, leaving you with increased premiums and possibly a bill to pay

Repairs are taking a huge length of time at present. Combination of Brexit, covid backlog, delays in parts manufacturing. I had a small shunt in a car park last week of May, car was assessed as needing a new bumper mid July, isn't going in to have the work done until the first week of December - six months. My car is drive-able though.

It's maybe not all the insurance company being hopeless, but also the general backlogs in the sector.

I am in the same boat at the moment but my insurance company covered the cost of writing off my car and are seeking to reclaim that money from the third party’s insurance company.

It is Admiral. A car insured by them set itself on fire and destroyed 4 other vehicles including my own. All reported per usual process but to date Admiral has just not responded either to the claim from my insurance company or to my personal claim for uninsured costs. My insurance company doesn’t seem that bothered about the £13k but I am bothered by the costs I have incurred and by the fact I may lose my 15 years of no claims discount.

I have complained direct to Admiral which they are dealing with now and I will go to the Ombudsman and the press if I get no joy. I find it astonishing that an insurance company can get away with just ignoring correspondence but, I have to say, it all feels like a big gravy train where they just all take money from the customer and it sloshes around in the system with no care for fair or due process.

My car is not drivable and likely a total write off. They guy that recovered it said likely a total loss with the damage being far to expensive to fix. The whole frame of the car is bent.
the issue I have is it I claim on my own policy, the car is on personal loan so they would likely give me a lot less. Leaving me to still have to pay the finance and possible not have enough. Im not well off by any means and could not afford to have a bill to pay. The whole point of using a claims management is that they are supposed to get stuff done at no cost to myself and why should I pay when I’ve done nothing wrong? It’s her whole process is just taking too long. I did claim on my insurance policy but only for my car seats as the claims management said they are only claiming for the damage to car and not contents.

I don’t understand how there isn’t a claim on your policy already if you went into the person in front?

Is your car with a salvage agent or still at the repair garage?

Who is the claims management company? You don't have to say. They are a nightmare to work with sometimes but it's not always their fault.

If the car is with a salvage agent, I'd be tempted to ring them and see if I could get to speak to someone who deals with the other parties insurance and see if they can push from the inside. They will want the car cleared and sold so they can make their profits. There's only so long they will allow it to take space.

You're going to end up in a massive battle regarding the hire charges at some point the longer this goes on. Have you been signing a new hire agreement every 60 (I think, may be 90) days? (Credit hire isn't my thing.)

Also, people with cars on finance need to buy gap insurance for if an accident occurs and the vehicle's PAV (pre-accident value) ends up being below the finance still owed. If this happens it's your loss to bear, unfortunately, so don't delay because of that.