Anyone Know Anything About Insurance?

[zorb_rules]

Okay guys long story but i'll try make it short..

In April Last year I was involved in a car accident...at the time I believed the other driver was at fault and I lodged a claim..after much tooing and froing between my insurance company (RACV) and his (AAMI)..it was determined that we were both at fault and that we would pay for our own dmages..understanding that it was his word against mine and realising my car really wasnt worth spending a million dollars fighting over I accepted this and went on my merry way...I have since repaired and sold the car with my own cash (doing a dodgey job worked out cheaper than insurance anyways)..

Anyways now all of a sudden yesterday over a year after I lodged the claim and over 9 months since the insurance companies made a ruling..I receive a letter saying that the RACV claims officer who handled my case has now been over ruled by management (whatever the f**k that means), and that I am now at fault in the accident and I am to pay my excess of 850 bucks to cover the other guys damages..

Now what the hell is going on here anyone know?? Is it just a case of his insurance company hassling mine and the RACV being to soft and wanting to lose a customer (namely me who has been with them for 5years and now has finance through them with my new car)..

or is there a bigger picutre here someone knows about that I dont...

Also is this even legal over turnin a ruling 9months down the track?

And finally am I even worth fighting it for 850 bucks?

Whats your opinion and can anyone who knows who may be in the insurance industry give me a run down of how this works and why the hell we even buy insurance if this shit happens (cause now I feel any ruling can be turned down at any time)...

if anyone likes I can provide the details of the accident too if that helps with the overall picture...

[nitestalkr]

fark man.. that's terrible.. u don't need things resurfacing this far down the track..

hope you get it sorted out..

I probably wouldn't send that A4 sheet to RACV saying 'EAT A D!CK' in size 50 font that i know u wanna send..

as for advice.. the amount of time a company has to change a decision, i would think, would be controlled by an external governing body of sorts.. so you need to find out if this exists and who they are.. otherwise it will prolly mean this is listed in the T&Cs of your policy, which means u might as well pay the $850

it all does seem very strange dude..

as for the 'bigger picture' theory.. im all for a good conspiracy... but i don't think so.. lol

[cosmokram3r]

thats bs.. hope u kept the documents from their ruling.. tell them to take you to court to get the money because they made a decision already and its been almost a year now.. you shouldnt have to pay that

[Sklyn]

that's absolute shite!!!!

maybe the other guy didn't just accept joint liability and has been pressuring his company since then and they have finally decided to try and get you to pay it. How has it affected you no claim bonus, if you pay it and accept the blame you can also expect your premium to go up.

Give Fair trading or the ombudsman a call. I think you need to work out how much head ache $850 is worth or just fight it on principle.

[zorb_rules]

Trust me the A4 sheet was my first thought!!! I've kept most of the documents and this morning I noticed an interesting mistake with regard to the letter a received lol..instead of saying in regards to my claim letter of 10th September 2007 it says 10th September 2008 lol that date hasnt even occured yet.. so they've already f**ked up..stupid insurance...in reagrds to the policy im looking at it now as Im not one to let people walk all over me I may consider legal advice too..depending on the outcome of a letter I must right the company...

[blitzxtr]

Yeah dude thats all f**ked up if it been that long & you have a statement from the opposite party. Fight the pricks cause just outright rude. Candyarse mutherf**kers these insurance companys. Goodluck dude hope ya win.

[zorb_rules]

Just to add I just looked through my product disclosure statement nowhere even in the fine print does it say a decsion on insurance matters can be altered...especially 6 months or more down the track lol

the letter i received originally from my insurance party goes along the lines of:

after discussing the details of the accident amongst the parties involved both RACV insurance and the other party's insurance company have agreed that neither driver can be found at fault and must therefore cover their own damages...

thats a rough outline by the way...

Edited July 30, 2008 by zorb_rules

[cosmokram3r]

u might have to go through a bit of sh*t if they dont take it away and decide to fight you for the money but you got all the documents and evidence it shuldnt be a problem to beat it

[nitestalkr]

well its already too confusing to say what could happen...

I just have a funny feeling these cnts are going to have some stupid little line somewhere that says 'we have the right to reverse/change a decision whenever we see fit' etc etc..

I reckon the main point to attack here is the time between contact tho.. 9 months is ridiculous...

Based on your point about the letter being dated incorrectly, i hope it may be a simple error from there end.. But i guess that doesn't give reason for their explanation that the RACV 'case manager' had been over-ruled..

I suppose all you can do it call RACV first and see what the story is.. (or get real sneaky and call AAMI, try and track the case through the old claim number, and then find out if there has been any activity on this case since it was finalised)

[Wyseman]

I'd just make sure that in any letter you send to your insurer, make sure you mention that you had significant expenses (cost of repairs of your car) which were incurred after their initial decision was made, and that had the decision not been made to each pay your own damages, you would not have outlaid that money and would subsequently have just paid the excess and let the insurers fix both cars. Ask them if they will re-imburse you the cost of the initial repairs (did you get full-price quotes at the time, do you still have copies?).

I think a letter from them stating their decision should be enough to protect you from having to pay the excess. If it's not, then you may be entitled to get paid the full cost of repairs to your car (and this could well be more than the excess anyway). The downside there is you lose your no claims.

Also is the letter legit? Not just the other guy trying to scam you? Worth calling RACV to make sure.

[zorb_rules]

All letters I have received are from RACV and I rang the claims officer he is sending me out a form I have to fill in and as well has asked me to send another letter detailing the incident i think this muct be about the fourth one lol..i guess ill just wait for the form and see how we go.. I was just curious as to whether this had happened to anyone beofre or if anyone knew how the insurance companies work..

oh and when I called the RACV the accident guy I spoke to said he travelled the particular road where the accident occured everyday and believes I was not at fault yet he had been over ruled by management.. when I asked to speak to management I was told that was not possible and the form would be sent out...

that is the other significant thing I dont want to lose my no claims, i just brought a new car and it is already more to insure than my old.. had I have known this was goin to happen in the first place I would have persued the other driver and his insurance company more thouroughly but I didnt think it was worth the time and money at that stage for a car worth less than 10k. I was happy to accept 50/50 balme since it was my word against his and no clear fault could be found...

Edited July 30, 2008 by zorb_rules

[Ruffels]

you know what you could do...

and that is threaten to ring one of the talk back radio stations... loosing $850 from you could be a lot cheaper then loosing thousands of potential customers

seriously though... any form of paperwork they send you is official stuff, they don't just send you letters asking how your day was and what your upto... so if they sent you a letter how ever many years/months ago stating "both at fault" then that is the ruling, and if it were a stuff up then they would have amended it VERY quickly... not months and months down the track.

you should ring them telling them your a valued 5 year long customer, and if they wish to keep you for many years to come, they should clean up thier act and cut the crap.. that simply isnt professional! and as far as i know legal either.... the beauty about the talk back radio shows is... they have people who work for them that run away and investigate whether or not what has happened is right or wrong.. and if wrong or even if its legal but morally wrong ... they publically shame them, which racv do not want! especially when they pay so much money in public advertising to gain customers!

[zorb_rules]

not a bad Idea ruffles might get my old man onto that one lol he loves ringing 3AW lol....my idea of talk back radio is Pillowtalk on Mix lol..so dont think i'd get far there

[borko08]

i heard that you can get sued for something that happened i think 5 or 7 years back... pretty sure insurance claim falls in that category...

either way, that sucks, did u have full insurance with your old car at the time of the accident? because if you did they should have to pay for the damages to your car (if you end up paying them this time)... i feel sorry for you, btw, that A4 piece of paper idea is gold.. im thinking of sending one to my year 11 maths teacher...

good luck

[inark]

Dont bother mentioning the time it took. It isnt really relevant.

Get all the details from them as to what has caused this sudden turn around of the ruling and state clearly you are not going to pay the excess until this information has been passed on to you.

There would not be any over turn of any decision once a decision has been made unless another party has made a dispute. Your best bet is to collect all the information from them and contact the insurance ombudsman (pretty sure there is one) and go from there.

[zorb_rules]

thanks guys I will defintely be chasing it up..Im nto gonna be paying them thats for sure..wel not at this stage anyways...