SiliconAngel
1 AYC Bar
- Thread starter
- #21
Believe it or not Dion, I still don't have insurance. That's not for lack of trying, though - I literally CANNOT get insurance because I have a license suspension on my record. No, not even third party. When my partner looked at getting her insurance moved to Shannons, they even went so far as to stipulate that her insurance wouldn't cover her if I drove the car. I have to wait until my suspension falls off my five year record before I can get insurance. Bear in mind I've only lost my license for points, and not very exciting fines at that. I've never had any criminal convictions for dangerous or reckless driving and I don't even drink at all. Pretty insane huh?
Why didn't I take it to the ombudsman? I actually raised this with my lawyer early on and was advised against it at the time. I do intend to follow it up with them, its just a matter of finding half an hour to sit down and do it (during business hours, which sounds a lot easier than it is).
The only reason I haven't mentioned the insurer by name is because of our lack of freedom of speech legislation in Australia. If I name the insurance company they can sue me for defamation, even though the facts are 100% accurate and I can prove it. Given the costs they can claim, they could stick it in the Supreme Court which would cost me in the vicinity of 100k to half a mil even before I saw the court room. They could also sue OzVR4, as we have no protections for websites in such a situation either. It's a pretty huge failing of Australian law that we still have this problem - back in 2000 Overclockers Australia was shut down for six months for exactly this reason, and that was by a single computer store. Imagine what one of the largest multinational insurance companies (2008 revenue of €92.8 billion) in the world could do...
On the topic of accountability, insurance to insurance claims aren't double-checked by the debtor, in fact no money changes hands. Insurance companies have claims back and forth against each other hundreds of thousands of times a year. So they simply keep track of all their claims against each other and once a year they tally it up and pay each other the difference. THAT is why it doesn't work - it's a system ostensibly based on trust that EVERYONE knows is fundamentally and endemically corrupt. But they don't care, you know why? Because at the end of the day, they don't pay - you do.
I can give you the name of my legal team - they're called SRB Legal, and the partner in charge of the relevant department is Trevor Darge. They really were brilliant helping me with this so I can't recommend them highly enough. I can't, however, give you the name of the assessor, as he provided his assessment under stipulation of anonymity - his company does work for the insurer in question, and there are (once again) no protections in law for insurance companies strong-arming professionals in this industry to keep them quiet (which is one of the reasons I didn't just go the ombudsman - none of the professionals I talked to was willing to talk to them on the record). Its also one of the reasons I settled and DIDN'T go to court - I may have had to subpoena him as a hostile witness, and he simply wouldn't have provided the evidence I needed in that case.
Yep, its a dirty business
Why didn't I take it to the ombudsman? I actually raised this with my lawyer early on and was advised against it at the time. I do intend to follow it up with them, its just a matter of finding half an hour to sit down and do it (during business hours, which sounds a lot easier than it is).
The only reason I haven't mentioned the insurer by name is because of our lack of freedom of speech legislation in Australia. If I name the insurance company they can sue me for defamation, even though the facts are 100% accurate and I can prove it. Given the costs they can claim, they could stick it in the Supreme Court which would cost me in the vicinity of 100k to half a mil even before I saw the court room. They could also sue OzVR4, as we have no protections for websites in such a situation either. It's a pretty huge failing of Australian law that we still have this problem - back in 2000 Overclockers Australia was shut down for six months for exactly this reason, and that was by a single computer store. Imagine what one of the largest multinational insurance companies (2008 revenue of €92.8 billion) in the world could do...
On the topic of accountability, insurance to insurance claims aren't double-checked by the debtor, in fact no money changes hands. Insurance companies have claims back and forth against each other hundreds of thousands of times a year. So they simply keep track of all their claims against each other and once a year they tally it up and pay each other the difference. THAT is why it doesn't work - it's a system ostensibly based on trust that EVERYONE knows is fundamentally and endemically corrupt. But they don't care, you know why? Because at the end of the day, they don't pay - you do.
I can give you the name of my legal team - they're called SRB Legal, and the partner in charge of the relevant department is Trevor Darge. They really were brilliant helping me with this so I can't recommend them highly enough. I can't, however, give you the name of the assessor, as he provided his assessment under stipulation of anonymity - his company does work for the insurer in question, and there are (once again) no protections in law for insurance companies strong-arming professionals in this industry to keep them quiet (which is one of the reasons I didn't just go the ombudsman - none of the professionals I talked to was willing to talk to them on the record). Its also one of the reasons I settled and DIDN'T go to court - I may have had to subpoena him as a hostile witness, and he simply wouldn't have provided the evidence I needed in that case.
Yep, its a dirty business
