Insurance Claims To Be Paid Out Quicker In Future

Friday, 23. October 2009

New rules will be introduced next year to speed up insurance payouts following car accidents where liability is accepted. The Ministry of Justice said the agreement will streamline road traffic accident personal injury claims between £1,000 and £10,000 – around 80% of all motor personal injury claims. The new process comes into force in April 2010. It means, where fault is not disputed, liability must be admitted within 15 days. There will be 3 stages to each claim. In the first stage the claim is sent to the insurer, it has 15 days during which to respond. If liability is denied it falls out of the new system, if accepted the claim moves on to stage 2. Next the claimant sends supporting evidence, completes a settlement pack and suggests an offer. The insurer has a further 15 days to either accept or reject the offer or make a counter offer. A further 20 days are allowed for negotiations. If none is reached, the claimant’s representative prepares documentation for stage 3. Ten working days after the claimant sent the stage 3 documentation to the insurer, the claimant can ask the court to consider and determine damages. The insurer can start proceedings if the claimant fails to submit documents in time. So there you have it, hopefully it will avoid some of the nightmare stories about claimants who have waited a year for payout even when liability has been admitted. By Graham Hill