MIB rejected my case

I read last week’s MCN Law column about the diesel spill against the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) with interest because I came off on some oil or diesel at a roundabout six months ago. I didn’t see anything until I was right on top of the spill, then lost control of the bike – breaking my collarbone.

I put in a claim through local solicitors and everything seemed ok until MIB rejected my claim, based on what I thought was some pretty shoddy logic. Unfortunately, my solicitors agreed with them, telling me I have low ‘prospects of success’ and basically washing their hands of it.  Where does that leave me?

Macsen, by email

Answer

MIB has a duty to conduct reasonable investigations and to assess the resulting evidence in a quasi-judicial way (i.e., like a court would), but in practice their claims handlers often come from an insurance background where they would have looked for reasons to reject claims.

As a result, MIB sometimes rejects claims which they should be accepting or rejects them based on incomplete or flawed investigations.

I recommend that you find a firm that specialises in MIB claims and ask them to review the evidence to assess your prospects of success. At Bikelawyer, we recently successfully appealed a case where the previous firm told the client they had ‘basically zero’ chance of success!