Claim stuck with the other driver's insurer?

Signs your claim is stuck

• No claim form. You told them about the claim more than a week ago and nothing has arrived.
• No decision. Weeks on, nobody will say whether their driver was at fault.
• No car. Yours is off the road and nobody has offered you one.
• Only their garage. The only offer is to fix your car at a garage they choose. You do not have to say yes on the spot.
• Passed around. A different person every time you ring, and you are the one doing the chasing.

What the insurer is meant to do

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission lists what an insurance company must do when handling a claim:

Step	Deadline
Send you a claim form, if one is needed	Within 5 working days of being told about the claim
Tell you its decision	Within 5 working days of making the decision
Give you time to accept or reject an offer	10 working days
Pay out	Within 10 working days of you accepting the offer

These standards cover the other driver's insurer too. Under the Central Bank's Consumer Protection Code 2025, a driver claiming against someone else's policy is a claimant, and the insurer has to treat them as one. More on how long a claim takes.

How handing it over works

1. Tell us where it stands. Ring us, or fill in the short form. Have the claim number their insurer gave you, if you have one.
2. Sign a short authority form, usually on your phone. It appoints us to act for you and includes your written request that the insurer deal with us. Everything about cost, and your right to cancel, is in writing before you sign.
3. We write to their insurer, quoting your claim number. From then on the calls and letters come to us, not to you.
4. If your car is not fixed yet, we arrange an independent assessment, the repair at a vetted garage, and a replacement car while yours is off the road, where you need one.

Sources: Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, "Making a car insurance claim" (deadlines; you can claim directly from the other driver's insurer); Central Bank of Ireland, Consumer Protection Code 2025 (third-party claimants are claimants; an insurer must engage with a claimant's appointed representative on the claimant's written request).

Already fixed?

If your car has been repaired and you had a hire car, you may still be owed something, such as the value your car loses from having a repair on its history. See if you are owed more.

What we can't do

• We cannot make an insurer accept that its driver was at fault. If fault is disputed, we tell you straight.
• We do not handle injury. If you were hurt, speak to a solicitor of your own choosing. Injured as well?
• We do not give legal advice and we are not a law firm.
• We do not promise a timeframe, because part of it is in the other insurer's hands. We do promise to do the chasing and to tell you what we know.