Motor Motor insurance company paid out without my knowing there was a claim?

B

bungaro

Registered User
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Hi all
hoping for some advice here. My father in law was involved an incident with another car which we believe was the other drivers fault (it happened outside a garda station and the local garda backed him up and others around said the other driver was in the wrong). The insurance companies were informed and he heard nothing since. Last week, his renewal came in the door and was up around 2k as it seems that his insurance company paid out to the other guy. This was the first he had heard of anything in relation to the incident and they have been trying to contact the insurance company (a small business) but to no avail.
Is this right that his insurance company could just settle like this and give no information to him that this was happening? Especially when he had witnesses who backed him up? My wife emailed them looking for some sort of comeback within a week but that has passed with no reply. His renewal is up soon and its really frustrating not getting any answers from the insurance company with this hanging over him.
Any advice would be appreciated!
 
Same thing happened to my late mother about 10 years ago. She was most likely at fault for a minor bump into the car (taxi - no passengers) in front, no damage to either car, exchanged details, the other driver was fine and said not to worry about it, and next renewal was the first that she heard that her insurance had paid out €25K to the other party.
 
The accident was in October of last year I think. And he got nothing done to the car as there was only a few scratches but basically he was waiting to hear back from the insurance company before doing anything
 
bungaro said:
Is this right that his insurance company could just settle like this and give no information to him that this was happening?
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It is common if not universal that insurance companies have complete discretion on settling claims. Review the terms of the policy here and I'm sure you will find the language that allows this.

Insurance companies seem to have some general rules they use to settle claims without spending money on in-depth investigations too. I've posted here before about witnessing a collision involving a car which had commenced reversing out of a parking space. Spotting a car approaching they stopped while there was still space for the other car to pass, but the driver of that car had a map unfolded over the steering wheel and were not looking at the road. They admitted full responsibility but the insurers settled in their favour stating it was standard practice once the car had started reversing to hold them liable.

bungaro said:
And he got nothing done to the car as there was only a few scratches but basically he was waiting to hear back from the insurance company before doing anything
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In hindsight, that was likely a mistake and he should have been more proactive. Squeaky wheel and all that! He should investigate pursuing costs for repair to his vehicle, looks like he's already taking the hit for the other party's claim.
 
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