How Does The Motor Insurance Bureau Handle Claims?

By Author: Steven Hoggard
Total Articles: 7
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The Motor Insurance Bureau or MIB handles claims placed by drivers who were involved in an accident with an uninsured driver. This agency has certain guidelines that must be completed when submitting a claim. If these guidelines are not followed, the claim will not be processed.

When Does the MIB Require Claims to be Submitted?

In particular, claims must be submitted in a timely fashion. Any motor vehicle accident must have been reported to the police according to the law, so this includes accidents in which an uninsured driver is involved. The claim for injuries must be submitted in the three years that follow the motor vehicle accident. Any claim for damages to property must be submitted during the six years following the accident.

Are There Any Fees Associated with Submitting a Claim to the MIB?

Unfortunately, since May of 2008, the Motor Insurance Bureau has the option to charge any driver submitting a claim through their agency an excess fee of £300. Therefore submitting a claim does carry with it a small expense. However, this is a small price to pay to recoup some of the cost of any damages ...
... that occurred during the uninsured driver accident. This regulation is in place to prevent abuse of a service that is intended to help those drivers who really need it.

Many of the claims for uninsured driver accidents are covered by Comprehensive insurance coverage and can be submitted directly to an insurer. Drivers who are at risk of losing their No Claims Discount might opt to submit their claims to the MIB instead. This is perfectly legal to do.

In some cases in the past, drivers might have opted to submit their claim to the MIB even though they have Comprehensive insurance coverage simply to avoid their excess fees. This practice is thought to have unnecessarily increased the load of work given to the MIB. Hence, the excess fee is put into practice to decrease the number of claims submitted simply to avoid their insurer's excess.

Additionally, the placement of an excess fee for claims submitted to the MIB might also reduce the number of trivial claims that are submitted. Trivial claims include such accidents as ones involving damage to a vehicle due to an incident involving the vehicle being struck by something other than another car.

Is Legal Counsel Available for Drivers Submitting Claims with the MIB?

If a driver is the victim of a motor vehicle accident involving an uninsured driver and he submits his claim to the Motor Insurance Bureau, he might be entitled to free legal cover. An independent insurer would provide the legal cover to the driver making the claim. IN most cases, this free legal cover is offered up to a value of £100,000. Since the availability of free legal cover varies, it is important to ask an employee at the Motor Insurance Bureau whether or not you are entitled to it. In most cases, drivers with Comprehensive insurance coverage have access to free legal cover or they have some type of legal cover accessibility through their coverage.

Intro: The Motor Insurance Bureau handles claims for drivers who are involved in an uninsured driver accident. Did you know that you might be able to also get free legal cover? Or that an excess fee might apply even though you are not using your insurer?

Steven Hoggard is a keen writer about car insurance and home insurance products.