Insurance Rant!

[SimonMac]

For those who don't venture into TPD last week I ran into the back of someone coming out of a junction as they had stopped in the middle of the road, entirely my fault and I admit that, on first inspection there was no damage to their car and a bit to mine but not enough to worry about it, she mentioned something about renewing her policy in a few days so trying to avoid going through our respective insurers and looking at the damage (or lack off) I was happy with this. Few days later I get a call saying there is damage to the boot and "behind the bumper" so it will have to go through the insurance, again no worries.

Get a letter through yesterday from their solicitors claiming "in excess of £10,000" due to whiplash, driving anxiety and lost earnings, **** sake I thought I was on a good rate as given they only had one day off (the form stated this). So I go back to the photos I have taken off the cars and again confirm there is no visible damage to her car and given the speed of impact was below 5mph I spoke to my insurers saying I wanted to contest the level of the claim, only to be told that with fault established it is not in their and thus my, interest to negotiate the claim and just settle.

Are things that ****ed up with our legal system that it is cheaper to just settle than try and negotiate a fair deal? I wonder how much the case would cost if third party claims management firms were not involved, or no win no fee cases were abolished.

[doodab]

Are things that ****ed up with our legal system that it is cheaper to just settle than try and negotiate a fair deal? I wonder how much the case would cost if third party claims management firms were not involved, or no win no fee cases were abolished.

Ask yourself is it cheaper for a £million IT system to go live with a few bugs than to delay by two months while the 10 person x £500 a day project team irons them out?

[eek]

Ask yourself is it cheaper for a £million IT system to go live with a few bugs than to delay by two months while the 1 developer in the 10 person x £500 a day project team irons them out?

FTFY HTH

[DirtyDog]

I wonder how much the case would cost if third party claims management firms were not involved, or no win no fee cases were abolished.

A lot less.

Some years back, we were in an accident where we were hit from behind (I indicated, slowed down to turn right, stopped for traffic and got hit by a motorbike). We were all OK, but the pressure from the claims management agency to open up a whiplash claim was unbelievable - they made me get my daughter (2 at the time) to run through the house to check whether she was OK or in any pain "because these things are hard to tell with children".

They weren't impressed when I said that I wouldn't be making a claim, and all I wanted was the car repaired so that I could get back to using it again.

[eek]

I thought this was in the news earlier this week and I found BBC News - Whiplash targeted in car costs drive so basically (and annoyingly) she is making hay while the sun still shines...

[VectraMan]

Last week I too nudged the back of someone in a traffic jam. Entirely my fault. We both agreed it looked nothing worse than a couple of scuffs on each bumper, and so I said the same - get a quote and we'll keep the insurance companies out of it, thinking £100 at Chipsaway. Sure enough they went to a proper insurance accident repair place and the quote was £1500: new bumper, brackets, toe cover, paint, labour etc.etc. So it's now an insurance claim.

Perhaps it's fair to say as it was my fault they shouldn't lose out and deserve a good as new repair. But again, this is why we all pay so much. No mention of bogus whiplash claims yet, but maybe that's to come.

I think we should do away with third party liability. So everyone has their own insurance that covers their own car, whether an accident is their fault or not. It means there's no incentive to load up claims, which will make everybody's premiums less, and everybody will gain far more than they're ever likely to lose. It would also mean no issue over uninsured drivers - if you want to drive a £500 banger there's no need to spend £2000 insuring it (or not insuring it as is most likely).

[RedSauce]

When i was at uni i had a similar situation. I was driving down the road and there were some kids letting off fireworks on the side of the road, I was too busy watching to make sure a firework wasn't coming my way and hit the car in front at less than 10mph. The guy was absolutely fine, I admitted fault and phoned my insurance company.

A few weeks later, a letter came in the post informing me he was claiming for a similar set of or ailments and advising me to settle, I refused and in the end he dropped his claim.

[mudskipper]

Yet when I got hit up the rear - very hard - woman hit me at full speed causing five car shunt with my car a write off - and genuinely had a stiff neck, it took me months of hassle just to get my chiro bill paid. At no point did anyone suggest I should claim compensation. Wonder why some companies treat it so differently to others?

[RedSauce]

Last week I too nudged the back of someone in a traffic jam. Entirely my fault. We both agreed it looked nothing worse than a couple of scuffs on each bumper, and so I said the same - get a quote and we'll keep the insurance companies out of it, thinking £100 at Chipsaway. Sure enough they went to a proper insurance accident repair place and the quote was £1500: new bumper, brackets, toe cover, paint, labour etc.etc. So it's now an insurance claim.

Perhaps it's fair to say as it was my fault they shouldn't lose out and deserve a good as new repair. But again, this is why we all pay so much. No mention of bogus whiplash claims yet, but maybe that's to come.

I think we should do away with third party liability. So everyone has their own insurance that covers their own car, whether an accident is their fault or not. It means there's no incentive to load up claims, which will make everybody's premiums less, and everybody will gain far more than they're ever likely to lose. It would also mean no issue over uninsured drivers - if you want to drive a £500 banger there's no need to spend £2000 insuring it (or not insuring it as is most likely).

But what happens if you hit a person? Or a lamppost?

[VectraMan]

But what happens if you hit a person? Or a lamppost?

Perhaps then your insurance does pay as no other vehicle is involved.

It's the same as your house. If a tile fell off your roof and it hit a passer by, your home insurance would cover it (I think it would anyway). If somebody burgles your house, you don't expect to claim on the burglar's insurance, you expect your insurance to pay. You insure against the risk of being burgled; in the same way your car insurance would insure you against the risk of being driven into, as well as the risk of you injuring a pedestrian or crashing into a lampost.