Received a claim from Hadfield and Co Solicitors

[des8]

RTA 1988 Sec 145 (3) (a)

(3)Subject to subsection (4) below, the policy—
(a)must insure such person...... specified in the policy in respect of any liability which may be incurred by him...in respect of ..... damage to property caused by, or arising out of, the use of the vehicle on a road..... in Great Britain,

That act states "any liability" which means they cannot levy an excess

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga...52/section/145

[Amethyst]

Pages 6 and 17 etc of the policy doc - https://www.xsdirect.co.uk/XSDUK_Policy_Document.pdf

All Sections Excess –

no alteration to protection provided

Under the Road Traffic Act, a person may not use a car in a public place unless there is an

approved Policy of insurance in force. The Underwriters may however insert conditions in the

Policy which limit or restrict the liability of the Underwriters to the Policyholder. However,

there is no reduction in the protection provided by the Underwriters to the Policyholder in

relation to their liability against claims from third parties as a result of the use of the car. The

excess is valid between the Underwriters and the Policyholder as long as this does not affect

any person entitled to recover damages in accordance with the Road Traffic Act. Therefore, in

the event of a third party claim, the Underwriters will remain liable but the Underwriters are

entitled to recover up to the excess amount from the Policyholder.

In instances where You have suffered damage to Your Car but have chosen not to claim

on this insurance in respect of that damage You are still liable to pay the Excess amount in

respect of any Third Party claim or any other payments made by the Underwriters arising from

the same event. No reduction of the Excess amount in respect of these payments will apply

because of Your choosing to make no claim under this insurance in respect of damage to Your

Car

[Project101]

Just to update you guys - I have sent the SAR by email to both the insurance company and the broker. The insurance company have responded to me and told me to contact the broker and I have received a response from the broker which I think was automated saying they will process within 3 days.

Will send the sols letter later today.

Thanks

[Project101]

Pages 6 and 17 etc of the policy doc - https://www.xsdirect.co.uk/XSDUK_Policy_Document.pdf

Does this mean I am liable?

[des8]

IMO that attempt at subverting the terms of RTA should (not necessarily will) fail in court

The RTA is clear that the policy MUST insure the driver for ANY third party liability.
That is an unconditional statutory requirement, and as such these All Section Excesses are borderline illegal.

Was the import of this clause brought specifically to your attention when you bought this policy?
It is generally accepted that consumers have very little understanding about Insurance, thus it is required that Insurers spell out very clearly what's covered and more importantly what is not covered.
Any onerous terms (a £3000+ excess that you have to pay out if you have an accident is certainly onerous) must be very clearly spelled out and not buried .

Do you still have any of the documents sent you when you purchased this policy?

Have to go out now, but back later

[Amethyst]

The claim certainly sounds like it is your insurance company chasing you in which case of course they hold your personal data. How on earth could they be suing you for payment of an excess based on a policy you held with them otherwise? I'd push back at them on that.

Here's their privacy policy inc your rights - https://www.xsdirect.co.uk/documents...0Statement.pdf

[Project101]

IMO that attempt at subverting the terms of RTA should (not necessarily will) fail in court

The RTA is clear that the policy MUST insure the driver for ANY third party liability.
That is an unconditional statutory requirement, and as such these All Section Excesses are borderline illegal.

Was the import of this clause brought specifically to your attention when you bought this policy?
It is generally accepted that consumers have very little understanding about Insurance, thus it is required that Insurers spell out very clearly what's covered and more importantly what is not covered.
Any onerous terms (a £3000+ excess that you have to pay out if you have an accident is certainly onerous) must be very clearly spelled out and not buried .

Do you still have any of the documents sent you when you purchased this policy?

Have to go out now, but back later

The policy was sold by Insure your motor, now called complete cover group. The only documents I have are a insurance policy and it does state £3000 excess all sections

Talk to you later thanks

[Project101]

The claim certainly sounds like it is your insurance company chasing you in which case of course they hold your personal data. How on earth could they be suing you for payment of an excess based on a policy you held with them otherwise? I'd push back at them on that.

This was why I was confused when both the broker and insurer said they had no details of me. I will wait for the SAR and see what they come up with.

Thanks,

[Amethyst]

Does this mean I am liable?

Did you have an accident where a third party made a claim against you?


Looking at their info it might be worth a SAR to the underwriters as well, if you have any idea who the insurance was underwritten by.

Our Insurance services include the sale of XS Direct car insurance underwritten by Calpe Insurance

Company Ltd, Alwyn Insurance Company Limited & Watford Insurance Company (Europe) Limited.

And also, did you have any idea you had a policy with a £3k compulsory excess ?

[Project101]

Did you have an accident where a third party made a claim against you?

Nope - They sent me no correspondence or information about a 3rd party making a claim against me. The only thing I have on this is they sent an engineer to assess my car. There was no damage in any case this case should not have even proceeded to pay out without sufficient evidence?

[Amethyst]

Do you know why they sent an engineer to assess your car? They must have given some kind of a reason at the time?

[Project101]

Do you know why they sent an engineer to assess your car? They must have given some kind of a reason at the time?

Because of someone making a claim against me

[Amethyst]

Good gracious ( Insurance is Des's area not mine, but this sounds like a bloody terrible policy.)

Excess

means the amount you must pay towards any claim including costs. You are responsible

for the Excess even if the incident is not Your fault. The Excess applies to all Sections of this

insurance. The Excess is comprised of the figure shown on Your Schedule plus the amount of

any sum of money owed by you to the Underwriters in respect of any other claim hereunder

or in respect of any previous or subsequent motor Policy including any Excess amount owed.

[Amethyst]

Because of someone making a claim against me

And they gave you no information for what this claim was about etc? Had there been any collision etc ?

[Project101]

Good gracious ( Insurance is Des's area not mine, but this sounds like a bloody terrible policy.)

They are not regulated by the FCA and there are a lot of posts about them on other forums where people simply can not afford to pay this excess.