How long do car insurance claims take?

At the end of February I was hit by a van driver who was then arrested for drink driving and subsequently convicted for it. He didn’t give me his details at the roadside but his real name was later confirmed by the court service to me.

As I had no insurance details off him to pursue against I went to my own insurer and explained everything, they are pursuing it as a non fault claim and have already paid out for my written off car, minus my excess.

Every time I speak to them they just say the third party insurer hasn’t yet responded to them on the ‘portal’ and speaking to others at work these things can take years to resolve even when someone has admitted fault.

Should I be doing anything more to pursue this at this stage, mainly because I have other insurance policies to renew soon which I’ll need to declare an unsettled claim on, and ive yet to get my 500 quid excess back.

I thought that a convicted drink driver would be considered at fault pretty quickly especially as he came onto my side of the road and hit me head on… Why are his insurers not responding to mine?

Because they don’t want to pay?
Insurers don’t work as we’d expect and claims can be made (and paid) years later
https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/complaints-can-help/insurance

Would he be insured being drunk – MIB perhaps. Insurance takes ages.

Would he be insured being drunk

IME, companies won’t pay their insured but will settle third party in full

Why are his insurers not responding to mine?

So they don’t have to pay out. There’s no motivation to do so.

IMO, an answer from your insurer of “we can’t make them answer” isn’t good enough. They indemnify you against loss – and that’s thier job now to organise.

I got side swiped by someone in February last year. The car’s repaired but the claim is still ongoing.
My insurers, or at least the sharks who are managing the claim, just say that the third party insurer isn’t repaying to them.
It’s bollocks. There’s no way they should be allowed to just ignore things like this.

I had an uninsured driver rear end me a few years back. My insurance company were pretty good, I didn’t pay anything out, buy they didn’t seem that fussed about chasing up the third party. I have no idea how it ended, but it seemed a farce from my perspective.

It took 2 years to settle my claim when a lorry sideswiped the front wing of my stationary car even though it was caught on CCTV. The other insurer just dragged it out with slow responses or none at all to correspondence from my insurer even though liability was cut and dried. In the end we had to go as far as instructing solicitors before they paid. Meanwhile I was down the xs and an increased premium for a renewal while a claim was pending. I’m just guessing they reckon keeping a few k in the bank for 2 years was a better deal for them than making a prompt settlement.

Bunch of assholes.

Sounds like it’s not uncommon then. Bit of a joke all in all really.

I’ve had a straightforward (minimal damage rear-end shunt) settled in less than 2 months. But, Awkward claims take longer.

All I’ll say is don’t, ever, get driven into by the MOD Police. 100% their fault, I had very credible witnesses, minimal damage to my drivers side wing, no injuries etc. Took over two years.

So 3 weeks ago I was hit by someone pulling out of a junction, all relatively low speed but significant damage to my car meant it wasn’t drivable.

Other guy gave details and I took photos and witness details saying he pulled out on me.

I reported to my insurers within an hour and on the same phone call I was passed on to a claims handler – my insurer basically sold on the replacement car and repair aspect immediately.

The claims handler offered me a replacement car, recovery of my car and repairs assessment there and then at no risk to myself as long as I was willing to go to court of necessary if 3rd party insurers contested the claim.

I took then up on it as they convinced me all of this was normal.

2 hours later I get a phone call from the 3rd party insurers saying they won’t be contesting claim and asking would I like a replacement car and recovery of my car to a repair centre. I advised then I had a claims handler dealing with everything and they told me the replacement car rates were likely to be seen as unfair and they probably wouldn’t pay them out.

At this point ( yes I know) I checked the hour rates – £170 / day!

I immediately phoned claims handler and they assured me all would be OK.

Anyway 2 weeks later and 3rd party have repaid value of car (deemed total loss) and repaid replacement car costs without any fuss.

In hindsight I would not have gone with the claims handler and would have given the 3rd party insurers a little more time to offer a replacement car and recovery and repairs simply due to the extortionate rate of car hire the claims handler was charging.

This to me is why insurance premiums are going up every year because these handlers are taking the mickey.

they told me the replacement car rates were likely to be seen as unfair and they probably wouldn’t pay them out.

At this point ( yes I know) I checked the hour rates – £170 / day!

Sounds like it worked out OK for you but just for anyone else reading this / unaware – DON’T USE A CLAIMS HANDLER. They are close on scam artists and there have been some horror stories of people on here and elsewhere where folks have had to go through huge hoops and hurdles when the third party insurer has fought back over excessive replacement car costs.

Previous thread here:

Car insurance claim question

and a follow up

Embroiled in the car insurance credit hire scam

We had our van written off in 08 and had Police report and witnesses that it was completely the other driver’s fault.

We were told that there was an initial 3 month window where the other insurer was allowed to “gather evidence” during which our insurer couldn’t chase. And at the end of that period there will be some stalling where the other insurer has “lost” various things. So your insurer covers initial items like car payout and keeping you mobile, but injuries and claiming back consequential losses takes a lot longer. All sorted in about a year I think.

I can see the logic to this as there are contested and fraudulent claims. But if you are a completely innocent party it is very unpleasant and feels like an eternity.

We had our van written off in 08 and had Police report and witnesses that it was completely the other driver’s fault.

We were told that there was an initial 3 month window where the other insurer was allowed to “gather evidence” during which our insurer couldn’t chase. And at the end of that period there will be some stalling where the other insurer has “lost” various things. So your insurer covers initial items like car payout and keeping you mobile, but injuries and claiming back consequential losses takes a lot longer. All sorted in about a year I think.

I can see the logic to this as there are contested and fraudulent claims. But if you are a completely innocent party it is very unpleasant and feels like an eternity.

Thanks, it sounds like this is probably what’s happening then.

Over a year on and this still isn’t settled – i’ve had letters from my insurer stating they believe i am not at fault and confirmed if i wanted to move to another insurer they will provide proof of my NCB being unaffected.

I’ve had my full payout some time ago now but my insurer still haven’t had any money off the other party so are out of pocket and have instructed solicitors to take them to court (them being the driver, not their insurer as i understand it…).

Doesn’t that just cost everyone involved far more money??

No wonder premiums are going up and up.

Over a year on and this still isn’t settled

I’m not the slightest bit surprised. I posted on this thread already that it took over 2 years to settle a claim I had, you’re doing better than I did because it took that long before I got my excess back! I’ve nothing more to say except to repeat the sentence I closed that post with –

Bunch of assholes.

I’m 18 months into my claim.

We got hit by an unlicenced, uninsured crack head in a borrowed car on cloned plates who fled the scene with his front wheel hanging off. All caught on photos and video. Identified the lad using Facebook in less than an hour.

Open and shut case? Nope.

We had to transfer the family car to my Mrs because I can’t afford to insure it.

About 6 months for me. My fully comp paid out as soon as practical, but it too the other driver not sticking to their story when going to an ambulance chaser to get it finalized.

I was pulling out of a junction turning right, they decided to overtake the stationary queue of traffic claiming here were two lanes (there weren’t) . Which you’d think would be easy enough to prove……

“We had to transfer the family car to my Mrs because I can’t afford to insure it.”

This would really screw us over because I drive for work. The industry needs a big shake up, the silly part is that some insurers are seemingly making a loss so nobody is really winning out of all this.

A couple of weeks back I got an email from my insurer asking for details of the accident I was supposedly involved in.

On the day in question I was at home all day and didn’t drive. I have spoken with my insurer and all they can tell me is it was at a retail park in Bromley, 30 miles away!

They say the other party have 2 months to produce evidence.