Re: Suing insurance company, or broker?

I know that conventionally a small claims court action would be against
the party who the claimaint had a contractual arrangement with, rather
than a distinct third party, but is that also the case with 'brokers'
acting on behalf of an insurance company?

I've today written to my insurance company and copied in my broker,
giving them a final 14 days to settle a claim before I escalate it to
either the insurance ombudsman and/or the small claims court. It's an
issue that's been dragging on far too long and I've not felt I've had
due diligence in processing and attempting to reach a resolution of my
claim following a theft of a vehicle. If I choose to issue a small
claims court action without going to the ombudsman, do I claim against
the insurance company who are dragging their heels and not settling the
claim, or do I claim against my broker which is the person I paid the
insurance premium too? Or do I list them as joint defendants?

I have used the small claims service before and been very happy with it,
but I've never used it against an insurance company - do any 'special'
rules apply there?


You don't have a claim against the broker unless you can prove they are
responsible in some way which is unlikely.

On the contrary, my broker has been exemplary - he's apparently as
frustrated at the lack of activity from the insurance company as I am. I
just thought I _had_ to claim against him, because it was him I agreed
terms of insurance with and paid money to - I'd never had any contact
with the insco themselves until my car disappeared (and was rediscoved
attached to a cashpoint machine with a length of steel cable...)

You really need to exhaust other avenues before going to court so the
ombudsman is the next thing always assuming you have tried the insurance
company's own complaints procedure first.

Well I've already asked the insco to pass it on to their complaints
section, but it seems the total loss department are still dealing with the
file and wont pass it on until the claim is finalised. In essense then,
they're saying you can't make a complaint about us being slow until we've
finished being slow. As for the ombudsman, I thought that it was entirely
an optional step to go there or straight to court - hadn't realised that
you HAD to give them an opportunity to sort it first. Thats irritating, in
that no doubt they'll add further lengthy delays to the process and make
me wait yet another couple of weeks before they open the damn letter and
ask the insco for their comments.


The insurance broker acts as link between the insurance company and the
customer but the contract of insurance is between you and the insurers. What
is not well understood is that going to court really should be the very last
resort. The Courts do not look kindly on people who don't exhaust the other
possibilities first. In the same way the Ombudsman will expect you to go
through the Insurance company's internal complaints procedure first. Rather
than bang your head against the wall of the department you are having
problems with phone up the head office and ask for a copy of their
complaints procedure. Whilst it is infuriating it is the way to get a
conclusion to things. You should be able to get interest on the money due
for the period of the delay.

Peter Crosland


.

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