advice needed

[valB]

This a long story but I will keep it short. We had a car crash in UK late December and eventually it was decided our car was a write off, not our fault I may add.  We have submitted everthing to our French Insurance Company including the Police report stating it was the other driver's fault but we have not had any offer from them as of yet. This does seem to a very long time and every time we ask what is going on our local lady just says that she will chase it and then nothing. We had to buy a car in UK to get back to France as the Ferry was booked and paid for and with all of our things to transport as when we drive we always take a lot more than if we fly and also we had all the Xmas presents to transport as well.  Basically, what can we do or say to maybe get them to make an offer of some description and to hurry them along as we need to replace some of the money we have spent so far.  I honestly don't want to go down the road of solicitors letters but we are now getting fed up with it all.

[Chancer]

If th accident happened in the UK I expect that it will could things down considerably, were you multi-risques?

[Polly]

I suggest you start with a very formal letter in French to your insurance agent requesting information and and a written reply within 7 days, send it by recorded delivery with proof of receipt (lettre recommandé avec avis de réception), copy to the insurance head office (again by recorded delivery).

Put all the dates of everything in it so that this piece of paper is a useful summary of where you are now and how you got here.

[AnOther]

I would say that for a cross border insurance claim 2-3 months, with Xmas and New Year included, would not seem an overly excessive timescale and that Polly's suggestion would be a good stating point.

As an alternative or parallel action though you might consider employing a UK solicitor to send a bill direct to the other driver for the full amount of your losses. It shouldn't cost much and one letter could well prove sufficient to generate some action and to bring the matter to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion.

At the end of the day, outwith and regardless of insurance, it is the other driver who is responsible and by sending them the bill you will absolutely guarantee their full attention and also that they will be onto their insurance company instantly to find out why they have received it and what they propose doing about it.

I employed this very tactic in UK after 2 frustrating years of attempting to recover uninsured losses following a no fault accident. Within the week we received a 75/25 offer which was instantly refused to be promptly followed by capitulation and a 100% settlement.

[valB]

Thank you so much for your replies and they are all good ideas. We are going, yet again, to our local office this afternoon and we are going to ask the woman who is dealing with it there to phone the main office whie we are there. Hopefully it may be good news soon.

[valB]

Ironically this morning we received notification of the figure offered to us. The car was valued in UK and the figure was reasonable BUT  our French Insurers have taken 300 Euros from that figure. Also, without any discussion with us they have paid the amount offered straight into our French Bank. Can we dispute this amount in France or is it set in stone here. Unfortunately  we do not understand all that is in the letter so we will still go to our local office this afternoon and maybe they can explain why we have lost some of the money. If it was not our fault should we pay excess or not and we have not received any out of pocket expenses either.

[Chancer]

I expect that they will have deducted your franchise of €300, you will have to claim back your uninsured losses and out of pocket expenses from the 3rd party yourself, if you have a legal expenses extension to your policy they may possibly help you do this.

The situation would be no different were you to have been insured with a UK insurer.

Editted. If your car was LHD then maybe you should look at the Argus (French) valuation which under normal circumstances would be higer than a UK valuation using Glasses Guide etc, in fact the same would be true for a RHD model, this may help you to squeeze more out of your insurers.

It does seem strange that they would use a valuation from another country for a LHD car unless it was to their benefit.

[valB]

The reason it was valued in UK ws probably because it was a RHD car and also a Japanese Import so a bit difficult for it to be valued in France. We submitted several caomparables and they have gone for a middle of the raod figure but we are OK with that but fail to see why any excess should be deducted as we are claiming against the UK drivers Insurance company not our own. Would we have to employ a solicitor to make a claim for excess and other expenses or just write to her Insurance company and hope they would pay up.

[Chancer]

If it is your insurers paying you out then the franchise will apply point bar, its clearly written into all policy wording.

If as you say you are claiming directly against the UK drivers insurer then they do not have a contract with you involving an excess and hance will not deduct one.

 I suspect that you are confusing making a claim on your policy stating that you are not to blame with claiming against the UK drivers insurer, which is what your insurer, not you, will be doing. 

Your insurers are paying you out against the terms of your policy relatively promptly whilst trying to recover their losses against the UK insurer which may wel take some considerable time and they may not even be successfull, unless you have a legal extension to your policy you will have to do the same thing independantly regarding your uninsured losses which include the franchise deducted.

[valB]

After a meeting with our local office this afernoon it does seem to be a bit more optimistic. She said we have been paid the offer price for the car minus the excess which we knew already. She then said that once all of the claim had been finalised we WILL get the excess back and hopefully our out of pocket expenses so I feel a tad better tonight  I will let everyone know how it goes..