insurance claim - time limit for admiting liability?
 

anyone clued up on this? had a pretty major shunt back in july after a woman came straight across a crossroads through a give way into my path and resulted in a big mess.

although my insurance paid out for my car i'm getting nowhere with them as to actually getting it wrapped up which i can see causing me big problems in spring when i want to insure my kit car etc.

when i contact equity redstar who were underwritters on my policy they seem to have the attitude that well we've paid out for your car so what's the problem. They say the other party just hasn't replied, now i know the woman who was driving the car was in a pretty bad way as she suffered a fractured skull and broken pelvis amongst other things. i had a letter from her insurers in august saying i had hit their "correctly proceeding vehicle"! my insurers replied with copies of the police report from the scene clearly showing i had right of way etc but to this day there has been no responce.

anyone know how long they can get away with not responding? i personally have no doubt that it's 100% going to go against her as i did absolutely nothing wrong other than go to work that morning! i could just really do with some closure on the situation but with it being the 1st time i've ever been through something like this i don't know what is a realistic time frame for it being dealt with.

I had a massive shunt on my bike in 2007.
Woman initially denied liability and even her insurers agreed it was her fault after seeing the Police report and independent witness statements.
It was 12 months before I had a letter stating the ghirlandaio party has finally accepted liability.
It caused major headaches as I had 2 cars and a bike all in seperate policies that came up for renewal in the meantime.
I had to go to each insurer and provide a copy of the letter to claim my increased premiums back!
Nightmare.

there could be a seperate court case to establish the liability side of things. It took a bus company over 2 years to admit liability for my accident. it ended up 75% 25% split. i was given 25% as i should have slowed down on the approach to the junction (just incase he pulled out in front of me) Stupid yes, you are always partly to blame in one way of the other, ie you were on your way to work and you should have slowed down approaching the junction just in case.

contact the insurance ombudsman. i was getting fucked about by my insurer adrian flux retards for 18 months until i did the same. a genuine no fault 100% admitted by the other party . plus my no claims had been cut back until these things are 100% resolved so it was costing me more each year i renewed. once the ombudsman was involved it was miraculously resolved within 6 days.i got everything back i was entitled to.

it makes sense. you should always slow down approaching a junction.its like the fuckers that approach a roundabout at full speed because theyre in the main flow of traffic and they get annoyed because youve pulled onto the roundabout from a side street even though you were at your junction first and onto the roundabout first.

If you can see them coming then you shoudnt pull out in front of them on a roundabaout, whether they not at the junction or not....there arent double white lines to enter roundabouts so you know they arent going to stop, i hope thats just a shit example and not how you drive!

yes , if theyre at or near the roundabout but if theyre way back and im actually at the junction then im going.im generally sitting higher so can see further back.the single broken white line at a roundabouts give way to traffic from the right but you/they still need to slow down on approach . how far back do they need to be before you dont go? i go if i feel its a long enough distance but if they havent slowed down for the roundabout then theyr quickly up close.

to answer your question, the limitation period is 6 years or 3 years if you were injured.

If you have uninsured loss recover service with your insurer then they ought to be pursuing the other party in order to get your excess back for you. Threaten to complain, to the ombudsman if necessary but you usually have to utilise the insurer's internal complaints system first.

i had slowed, it's a nasty crossroad at the top of a pretty much blind crest but it wasn't a case she pulled out, she never even slowed down for it! the damage to and positioning of the cars imo showed that she was traveling at pace so has no defence of "just pulling out" but i'm sure the insurance company are going to try everything to avoid admiting full liability as the bill must have been hug, fence and road sign got cleared up, air ambulance was called etc.

NC53, thanks for the answer, didn't think it'd be that long! what can take 6 years to resolve these days?!

are there not lawyers who can deal with this sort of thing? the insurers will fuck you around as much as they can as they know you wont be clued up on what your rights are. as soon as someone with some legal knowledge gets involved it will speed things up a bit

There is a legal part of it called a part 36 offer, its where insurance companies come up with a offer to settle the liability or final settlement. Say if the say 75% 25% split and you refuse this and it gets decided by a court, if the courts say 60/40 or 50/50 then becuse they submitted a part 36 offer previous to settle then the person who refused the offer are liable for ALL costs. Same as compensation money say they offer you 10k in compo and you refuse it. it goes to court and they award you £9999 you would have then to pay all costs as the other side tried to settle it via the part 36 offer. when settling these claims they always go on about case laws, which is previous cases that have been dealt with and their outcomes. They often have a good reflection on what will happen eventually.

problem is if you slow down massively for every junction despite you having right of way, you will find in modern traffic, you slowing down will make the other driver decide to pull out on you and hence can cause accidents that way. It is not practical to drive slowly enough that you can always avoid an accident if someone jumping a give way/stop line/stop light, and nor should you have to.