Blown turbo - engine damage? and insurance conundrum

[dogzilla]

LoonR1 said:

Who are these engineers? Is this your insurer or either /both of the third parties? A lack of courtesy cars? For non fault accidents I doubt that very much.

This is my insurance companies in-house engineer who supposedly makes the judgement call on offering cash in lieu payments. Their stance is that they cannot offer cash in lieu where there is potential for mechanical damage. I assume it's some duty of care bks.

The lack of courtesy car was a resourcing issue as wife needed an auto box and they were short on them. Waited and waited and eventually had to go away.

Edited by dogzilla on Tuesday 24th March 23:14

[dogzilla]

LoonR1 said:

Who's this insurer who doesn't hand off non fault claims to an AMC then? They'd have an endless supply of cars for you.

I believe the issue was they would not provide a rental car unless we use their approved garage. I did not push them to provide a hire car at the time as BMW were willing to offer one.

At that time the liability was still disputed.

[dogzilla]

LoonR1 said:

Nope. Still intrigued. You may have that issue on a fault claim, but not on a non-fault.

Is there any particular reason why you are focussing on the time delay? Do you believe that to be a key issue in not compensating adequately for the damages?

Because it really is as simple as I say, we had lots of back and forth with insurance company, eventually got some quotes from BMW, then waiting for them to agree costs, when they did finally agree we then had to get it booked in at BMW, they had shortage of cars, we did not push insurance company for a hire car, I didn't even consider it. So we waited and waited and eventually needed to go to france, so we did.

In hindsight and with any future claims I will rush my bks off to get it fixed and closed off that's for sure.

Edited by dogzilla on Wednesday 25th March 09:54

[dogzilla]

LoonR1 said:

I wonder if you knew there was an engine problem and have been trying to work out how to get the insurance to pay for the repairs and the engine even though only one of those is their fault.

That is ridiculous.

I had no way of predicting turbo failure. The car was functioning absolutely fine and it just had cosmetic damage. Bits weren't falling off, it was just scraped up. People drive scraped up cars all the time.

I was going to see my Family on the south coast of France over Christmas. In my boot I had a 12kg turkey, 3kg ham, huge bag of brussel sprouts and parsnips. In the car was my wife and my dog. Does it seem likely I'd drive knowing I had engine problems?

Then on my return leg, just past Lyon, my turbo fails. I'm then stuck waiting for 6 hours for a pickup, then another 2 hours getting driven to my hotel. Then another 2 days getting back to Calais (Christmas/New Year is not a good time to get stuck in France). Then I had to pay £200 out my own pocket for a taxi to take us from Calais to Dover with our dog in the boot.
(fortunately Green flag covered hotels and other costs)

Then I waited 6 weeks to get the car repatriated to the UK.

Yes I totally would have predicted and planned the whole event just to get money out of the insurance company with all the uncertaintny of getting there or not and all the stress and hassle it involved.

Edited by dogzilla on Wednesday 25th March 11:07

[dogzilla]

LoonR1 said:

@btcc123
8. More inconsistency in his story
9. It is and that's why I'm convinced there is more to this than the OP is telling us.

8. As I said, we were not aware we could push for a hire car from our insurance. We were told we had to use their body shop to get a courtesy car. BMW offered a car, but were short on automatics and as the car was running , wife wanted to wait for an automatic courtesy car.

9. Car took about 5-6 weeks to get repatriated from France. I posted in January before the car was even back in the UK.

[dogzilla]

Shouty? Not at all, I am merely offering my defence in response to your accusations that I am trying to commit fraud. I'm bemused at this point, firstly at your accusation of fraud, second that a man with your experience thinks my reply was in any way shouty. Surely you experience much more robust defences on a daily basis.

Rewind and show me where I am linking the turbo failure to the accident? I am not, and have not ever claimed that the turbo failure has anything to do with the accident.

The only question we had after the first accident was that we felt the steering of the car was a bit off, we asked BMW to investigate and they came up empty.

We since had the car tracked on a hunter system and it was way out, since been fixed and car drives much better. I guess it's possible the knock shunted the alignment out.

I told my insurer exactly what I told you. I had engine failure and there was potential unknown costs in repairing it. So I was wondering what options we had as the total cost of repair with bodywork/engine could exceed the cost of the car.

They then offered cash in lieu. At no point did they suggest that the car would be written off, it wasn't even mentioned or considered. I did ask if it would be CAT D'd, they said no, just a straight up cash in lieu payment.

I am also on the record of explaining my plan, to take the cash, do a reasonable cosmetic patch up and use the rest to repair the engine.

I'd be the worst fraudster ever if that's the case as I've told them from the start.

Edited by dogzilla on Wednesday 25th March 11:19

[dogzilla]

btcc123 said:

So when you went to France you said you had green Flag breakdown insurance.They would have you and your car returned to the UK in less than a couple of days at most.6 weeks to get your car home.taxis etc.

In your first post you said that we were close to the alps where thousands of people were stranded but have now said you broke down just past Lyon.is that near the Alps im not sure.

Edited by btcc123 on Wednesday 25th March 11:34

The morning after the initial break down Green Flag organised a taxi to the nearest open car hire place which was Lyon-Saint Exupery airport. It was about 2-3 hours drive. It is reasonably close to the alps, lots of skiiers travel from that airport.

This was on the same day that thousands of people were stranded in the alps and Green Flag were swamped. Car hire place was mental, was lucky to get a car though had to wait about 3 hours.

Greenflag outsource the repatriation to another company. They ballsed up obviously and took much longer to return my car. After the initial 14 day quote I kicked up a fuss and they gave us a hire car until my car was returned. All of this is easily proven as I have documentation from Greenflag.

Edited by dogzilla on Wednesday 25th March 12:05

[dogzilla]

Foliage said:

Op seems extremely muddle up to me, needs to take a step back and have a rethink or he may end up extremely out of pocket in the end.

It's easy to poke holes into my story as I'm not here writing a forensic report of what happened. It is just me writing updates informally on a forum hoping for some advice.

I do find it rather odd though to poke holes in my france story, as if I'm motivated some how to write a factually untrue account of what happened to somehow gain internet points.

I have nothing to gain by misleading anyone here as nothing anyone says has any bearing on the eventual outcome.

Edited by dogzilla on Wednesday 25th March 12:06

[dogzilla]

Soov535 said:

I concur.

You tried it on and got rumbled.

FOS won't help you.

You mean I approached the insurance company and explained I had engine problems and then they offered me cash in lieu before back tracking?

How is that trying it on? They offered the solution not me. I didn't ask for or demand it.

If they had said, repair or write off then I would have taken one of those options. But they offered cash in lieu.

[dogzilla]

photosnob said:

Mate I'd Ignore it....
And stop feeling the need to defend yourself to these Internet retards.

Cheers feller. Good to know it's not just me. Fortunately been around on the internet long enough to know when I'm dealing with keyboard warriors.

It's really easy to poke holes and sling mud with an air of authority and then ignore the points raised in response, even more so if you just skim read the story and make your mind up without fully understanding the course of events.

Loon might be an expert in this field but I'd wager my house that he doesn't win every argument, given his attitude I wouldn't be surprised if it were closer to 50/50. No more reliable than a coin toss. I assume the only reason he sticks around is the inflated ego and sense of self worth he gets with hanging around uneducated plebs like us.

[dogzilla]

Just got a call from Quality team and I am absolutely over the moon with the result.

I was gearing up for a long battle but fairness has prevailed.

I was informed that a cheque for £7500 is in the post today. This includes money for a geometry check on the car which came as reccomendation from the engineer.
The figure is slightly reduced as the labour on the two incidents was combined and reduced accordingly.

This does not include compensation for the saga which I have gone through, they are currently working on a figure and will get back to me in a few days.

P.S - I will scan in the final resolution letter when it arrives just to cover any smug tttery from our resident in-house know it alls.

[dogzilla]

btcc123 said:

OP you said that when you spoke to your insurance company last Wednesday they said the cheque was in the post.I am surprised you have not received it yet.

Maybe worth ring the insurance again and perhaps report your missing letter to the post office.

It was Thursday I spoke with them, I was hoping to have it by now but as has been mentioned it can take a while for a cheque to work it's way through.

I'm not worried considering I spoke with them late Thursday, so even if they did authorise the cheque, it probably didn't get printed/posted until Friday at the earliest. And knowing Postman Pat that means I wouldn't get it until today at the earliest. Fingers crossed it's on the doorstep tonight.

[dogzilla]

Spoke with insurance company yesterday. Cheque was not sent out so I kicked up a fuss and they sent me a chaps payment.

Cash arrived in my bank this lunch time, all £7415 of it. - http://i.imgur.com/1v2N2uc.png.
Maybe you think I forged that one. What about this: http://i.imgur.com/MDKBpP2.jpg

If you think I'm making it up, do one. I will upload the letter when it eventually arrives.

Either way I'm not fussed, cash is in the bank and that's a good result for me.

Edited by dogzilla on Wednesday 1st April 17:53

[dogzilla]

Still waiting on the letter, but at least cash has arrived.

As I say, when it does come I'll scan it. I expect to be called a liar on that one too.

[dogzilla]

Use your brain lad. When was the last time you saw an invoice with round numbers?

[dogzilla]

Are you one of those conspiracy theorists mate? Don't spose you've read at length into the Illuminati?

Go and ask anyone with a Natwest account to login to their online banking, will look exactly like mine.

All the ones at the bottom are my direct debits that went out today, I think they show up in blue as they are technically pending still? Not sure, not studied it at length.

Look forward to seeing what you and btcc come up with when you see the actual letter. I'm sure you will give me a bullet point list of inaccuracies as you are no doubt an expert in the field of forensics.

The drama is getting rather amusing I must say.

Edited by dogzilla on Wednesday 1st April 19:11

[dogzilla]

marshalla said:

Invoice for what ? You haven't had all the work done yet. You said you'd agreed a figure of £7500 with them.

Window man comes round to your house and quotes a set of windows for you. The invoice says £8415.15p.
Your misses asks you, how much did he quote love? You say, 8 thousand, four hundred and 15 pound and 15 pence.
Your misses says, 8 and a half grand? you must be joking.
I then assume being the autistic type you reply, no love, I said 8 thousand, four hundred and 15 pound and 15 pence.
She says, that's what I said, 8 and a half grand.
You say, No, I told you, it's 8 thousand, four hundred and 15 pound and 15 pence.

Hahah you crack me up.

[dogzilla]

Yep still waiting on insurance company. Gonna chase em later today as I want that final letter and need confirmation from them in terms of my excess etc.. for claiming that back later.

[dogzilla]

LoonR1 said:

You haven't received the letter yet and you think you will? I'm looking to forward to this as the insurer is now massively in breach of their complaints handling processes. It'll make for an interesting read.

I suspect they are hoping I go away now that the cash is in my hand. Someone somewhere has to write that letter and they probably cannot be arsed or it's sitting on the back burner somewhere. Not sure they give a toss about a breach of complaints handling procedure given the shocking service I've recieved.

Not sure if I said already but this is Admiral group company, shocking shower of ste which I won't be using ever again.

btcc123 said:

Although there are a lot of inconsistency in the topic he starts what I dont understand is in the posts above he says he bought a 48.5k Audi,now most people who can afford this much on a car when his wifes £13k BMW is side swiped on both sides most people in this position would get the car repaired to a BMW standard as soon as possible with the £8k the insurance company agreed to pay.If later the BMW had engine problems with the turbo just spend the £1 or so to get it fixed or replaced.

Edited by btcc123 on Friday 3rd April 20:44

Oh dear you really are a sad fellow, I actually feel sorry for you as you can't have much else worth doing in your life if you have to go digging through peoples years old post history to try and prove a point. You should be kept away from the general public I think.

[dogzilla]

Chased em today, final confirmation letter has not been sent out yet,the handler it was assigned to is clearly sitting on it so they escalated it to her manager and I suspect she will get another kick up the arse. This is the same bint that fobbed me off in the first place.

They confirmed that my excess was waved so I don't need to claim that back.

Otherwise be back in a few more days to shut the cretins up. Honestly never met a sadder bunch. I can only assume some of you have been repeatedly shafted over the years that you simply cannot believe that someone has walked away with a fair settlement.