UK Car Insurance - The Emergency Treatment Policy Clause

We're looking through a selection of the clauses in a fairly standard UK motor insurance policy. In this instance it's the "Emergency Treatment" clause which sorts out who pays for any medical attention needed following a motoring incident.

Current UK laws dictate that you must pay costs to the first medical person to treat you following a road traffic accident. This is part of the Road Traffic Act. People have been known to refer to this as a charge for an ambulance. Strictly speaking this is not true but in reality it is normally the ambulance paramedics that provide the care and the account is sent to to you from the N H S region that supplied the ambulance and its crew.

You are liable for this payment no matter who is blamed for causing the accident. Your insurer will meet the cost under this section. Just send the account into them and they will pay it straight to the hospital. Alternatively you can pay it yourself and ask your insurer to reimburse you.

Occasionally in a hectic claims office, the clerical staff might miss the account if it was sent in with other papers. It's possible that you could receive a reminder from the hospital that the account is still outstanding. Tell the hospital who your insurers are and telephone the claims office. Be firm but please don't lose your temper.

The insurance company paying this account in itself does not affect your no claims bonus. It is not dealt with as a claim. So, in the very unlikely event that your insurers were to pay this and nothing else your bonus would remain intact. In reality, in an accident where someone is injured, it is unlikely there is no other types of claim to be met.

Theoretically, if another party is at fault for the accident you can send this account on to their insurer but you are just asking for unnecessary complications. I would advise you not to bother. It doesn't make any difference to you whichever way.

As a result of recent changes in the law, hospitals now also charge the insurance companies for treatment given to third party victims of accidents, with certain limits applied. These are paid to the NHS Trust in cases where you were to blame for the accident and another person has needed treatment for the injury that you caused. This change to the regulations has dramatically increased the cost of settling claims and has thus increased your insurance premiums. Some of those inside the insurance industry consider this to be a further case of "stealth tax" taxation by the Government.

By: Terry Cod