After a solicitors firm managed to draw out a car insurance claim for 18 months I finally settled 50/50 on the incident, instead of refunding me 50% (£400) of my excess the solicitors paid me 100% (£800). I verbally informed them of the error before they issued the cheque and they still proceeded, now they have noticed the error they are asking for me to return the money. Am I legally obliged to do so and how far are they likely to pursue this if I do not?
Answer by Chrys
why are you asking in the US ??? we can't tell you the answer...so scroll down to the UK flag and ask there.
Answer by Two Fingered Salute
Funny I'm reading the UK part and your question shows up here just fine.... some people think they own the world....
Yes you are legally obliged to pay it back, as you've said... you were never entitled to it in the first place. Even if it was their mistake not yours. If you overpaid your premium by mistake, you'd expect them to refund you, wouldn't you ?
How much they will chase for it ... who knows, to be honest in this computerised age once it's in the system as a recovery you're usually stuffed.
You could chance your arm and see if they chase, but my gut feeling is they'll keep on at you, then hand it over to a collection agency and those people have all the charm and grace of a p*ssed off rottweiler.
Maybe wait to see if you get a 2nd letter, but my gut feeling is £400 won't be worth all the hassle.
You could probably get an arrangement to pay it back in installments if you ask nicely...
Answer by cornflake#1
Unfortunately there is very likely a clause within the small-print of the policy that mentions situations like this and that the company can reclaim overpaid amounts.
Verbally informing someone of a mistake may not (under English Law) be considered an appropriate form of notification - appropriate forms being in written form (letters, faxes, emails). When machinery is placed in motion, your assigned amount was in process. This amount (including the overpayment) was duly paid to you.
The law will view the overpayment as a simple clerical error. It will expect you to do the "gentlemanly" thing and return the cash (optionally including any interest accrued).
The solicitors are capable of pursuing over-payment. However, you may be able to claim a small portion of this to cover your justifiable costs.
Look on the bright side - you have retained 50% of the excess as you are legally entitled.
As far as I am aware, the solicitor may use a range of ways to recover this debt. This can escalate to include bailiffs and asset seizure (bank accounts) etc to recover the money, interest, plus relative recovery costs - so it could cost more than just £400.
Answer by MICHAEL B
possess as much information as you could maybe is one of the options,however it is quite time consuming,here http://www.CarInsuranceFree.info/free-car-insurance.htm is the resource i have ever had good experience.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Orignal From: My Insurance paid out too much, do I have to give it them back? (UK)?
Post a Comment