Insurance companies...What a con!

[Incy]

Sorry, I feel the need for a rant.
In July 2007 some idiot drove into the back of us while we were stopped at a junction. We had only had our classic Jaguar for 2 weeks! We exchanged names and addresses and informed the insurance company. As the chrome bumper on our Jaguar was broken and therefore sharp and sticking out, we weren't able to use our car and were due to go on a driving holiday for 3 weeks the following week so the insurance company provided a replacement.
They used their own subsidiary company to hire from at a cost of £4,000/month
We got the 2 quotes they wanted and sent them to them within 1 week of the accident. When we returned from our holiday they had made no progress getting the insurance details from the other party and took the hire car back as they thought he was probably uninsured. Meantime our Jag was sat on the drive rotting away
We kept contacting them and they kept fluctuating between, he's insured/he's not insured and meanwhile our car is still off the road.
We finally gave up this spring and had someone take the car away for scrap so that we could reclaim our drive and put our new car we bought in March on it.
A week or so later we get a letter saying they are going through the uninsured drivers route and we will have a £300 excess ( we had paid extra for a no excess policy and the accident was not our fault!).
OH is so mad, he says he can't be bothered and sticks the letter in a pile.
We then get a form to sign away our rights which he's supposed to return in the envelope provided - only there is no envelope.
Again this goes in the pile as we have written off any chance of getting anything back at this point.
Yesterday he gets a letter saying that if he doesn't return the form they are going to claim against us for the £4000 car hire cost
What exactly do we pay our insurance premiums for? And why won't they chase the uninsured driver for these costs when they have his details and have been able to contact him in the past?

[Two_Sheds]

Horrible story, and all too common?

I'm trying to sue the driver who knocked me off my bike ... it's going to take months

[Incy]

Brace yourself two sheds. I bet that will be a lengthy one.
I hope you win. His insurance should pay out on the personal injury side.

[SarzWix]

Complain to the Ombudsman Incy, if you have paid for a 'no excess' policy, I can't see why you should have to pay an excess
Most people can't be bothered to make a complaint and so they get away with this rubbish service

[Incy]

We will be complaining to the ombudsman. we also plan to call on the data protection act to see exactly what they did to try and claim against the other person. 2 years is a long time to expect someone to leave a broken car on their drive waiting for the insurance company to decide whether or not the other person is insured. But to then send us threatening letters because we haven't replied in a couple of weeks is intolerable!
The fact that they were charging as much as the car cost for insuring it doesn't sweeten the deal either.

[taff]

You are not alone.
I got hit by a kid [for kid - read 18yr old boy racer] who was overtaking me and the car behind me when I was turning right on an industrial estate.We were both going to work...
The insurance company decided it was 30% my fault because I should have seen him in my mirror come screaming out from behind the car behind me. He overtook me for going too slow, but I was going slow because I was turning right and he didn't see me indicating. When trying to sort it out afterwards, I had to wait for an interpreter because he didn't speak english.
I couldn't have a courtesy car because they didn't know if he was insured or not, and if I wanted one anyway, it would cost me £150 pounds, which would then come out of any payback I may have because it was 30% my fault.
In the end, after numerous even more ire-inspiring phone calls, I paid for the van to be repaired myself, costing nearly a £1000. They would have written my van off as the cost of repair would be more than the 20 yr old faithful van is worth.
Long story short, Direct Line is one of the most useless companies I've ever had the misfortune to use. All the stuff you see on the adverts about they're not on any price comparison sites, so they pass the saving on? HA!
Avoid them like the plague.
On which note, has anyone got reccomendations for isnurance companies who won't mess you about when you have an accident?

[Incy]

All I know is they all seem to be bad. It was Admiral who treated us this way but Churchill were no better when an idiot came flying out of a side road and hit my husband side on writing off our previous car. They went as far as removing it without our permission to somewher over 200 miles away so we were unable to access it to get our belongings back
I am now with Sheila's wheels as the feedback on the price comparison site seemed pretty good and the price was competitive. fingers crossed we never need to find out whether they are as bad as the rest.

[Sprocket*]

Incy
I know the feeling. I am with Swiftcover and was hit by a driver who at the time admitted his responsibility (very good of him) and then I got a phone call from his insurer the next day confirming this and asking if there was anything they could do.

A month went by waiting for Swift to approve the estimate from their own approved repairer (despite it saying on their website that this was not needed if you use their repairer). I send 5 e-mails to no gain and then ring them to be told by some curt, ignorant cow on the other end that I have not sent any and the other party has withdrawn their admittance of fault.

This leaves me getting off the phone so annoyed that I burst into tears....have a tantrum and send an e-mail to the head of the company (whilst still wound up) quoting the Road Traffic Act definition of Driving without due care and attention, customer charter, freedom of information act etc.... Yes I did rant.

Low and behold I got one back apologising saying that they had recieved written negotiation from the other party 10 mins after my call and that he was accepting responsibility. Therefore I didn't need to pay the £500 excess and I could have the £50 back that they put my renewal up by!

Insurance companies are a necessary con! Happy to take your money but not happy to help!

Under the freedom of information act you are entitled to all the paperwork from them in relation to your claim!

[Incy]

Thanks Sprocket. I love the sound of your rant, sounds like it did the trick!
I'm sure we'll get it sorted one way or the other but it really made my blood boil!

[Glutton4...]

...On which note, has anyone got reccomendations for isnurance companies who won't mess you about when you have an accident?

Last time I had to make a claim when I was hit by another driver, I was with The AA. They were absolutely excellent, my car was still driveable, so I took it to their nominated repairers' garage the same day, and I had it back within a week. Very little paperwork and virtually no hassle.

I'm not with them now, as they were a lot dearer for my current car, but I would use them again without hesitation. I've no complaints about their breakdown/recovery service either.

[Alice]

That's terrible Incy. I hope you get it all sorted out.
Travel Insurance is no better. We had a Travel Insurance policy which was supposed to cover us if we were away from home for more than 2 days and staying in a hotel.
We were on holiday in Cornwall when my husband became ill and was admitted to hospital.
Long story short we had a lot of expenses because of what had happened and the Insurance Co wouldn't cover any of it. I couldn't even fight with them as I was so worried and upset about my husband that even to talk about it had me in tears.
But my husband is well and I don't care about their money.

[NOG]

We had lots of problems with a claim we made when Mrs Nog car got hit...Insurance companys made money by not paying out.

[Incy]

Seems we're not alone then. What I want to know is how come they can get away with it?

[RedThorn]

will answer with a question so sorry for that...

Ever seen a Poor insurance company?

[Incy]

rofl...