Hit and run, third party who's trader claiming vehicle sold

[captainhook]

PH XKR said:

No way on this green earth is that claim worth the write off figure you are so hopeful of achieving.

Yep, I've come to that conclusion awhile ago.

andymc said:

get it fixed and trade it in mate

Will do, not going to stress over it any longer, will just push it this week so either the insurers approved repairer or the audi bodyshop bare minimum puts in the order for the required parts then once sorted, trade it in.

[herewego]

captainhook said:

Marketstudy are claiming they are still "awaiting the report" from the the independent assessor, they should have it by the morning so will give them a call back then.

Honestly what a nightmare company to deal with, I honestly wished I've done my research on them before taking out the policy, I would have never have gone near them if I knew the true extent of how bad they are when it comes to claiming - denying claims on technicalities, taking months to sort out simple repairs, the list goes on. How can the likes of FOS, the insurance regulator and so on allow companies like them to get away with it? I wonder what is the percentage of claims they refuse to pay out on for minor technicalities. They should be given strong words to clean up their acts or face sanctions or for the better, complete closure.

I feel like jumping off a cliff, i'm bitter with the idiot who drove off with without stopping and exchanging details, thus making me deal with these chancers and sorry excuse of an insurance company, I've done caring now, they are refusing to pay the difference in the labor rate of my Audi approved repairer which means I will have make up the labor rate difference - My only hope is over the coming days - the audi approved bodyshop and my insurers can come to an agreement on the labor rate so I can use them and not pay a penny to fix the damage. If not, i'll just use their approved repairers, if i'm not happy with the work, get my own independent assessor and if he agrees, take the car elsewhere, bill the insurers for the work to be rectified and threaten to go down the FOS route if they don't play ball.

Irrespective of the labour rate, if the work done is faulty you will need to give them the opportunity to correct it before taking it elsewhere unless you want to pay for the corrections yourself. I've had three bumps that I can recall and only one of them was repaired spot on first time.

[captainhook]

Yep. Thankfully the labor rate issue has been sorted. The garage has stated on this occasion they can work to the insurers approved rates which is good.

I asked my insurers if I can keep the damaged parts and they said it's down to the bodyshop and when I phoned the bodyshop they said no they dispose of them and insurers don't allow them to be given back.

Rubbish. My car my parts I think if I want my parts back then there shouldn't be an issue or any attempt to fob me off when it's clear they'll likely sell the parts on which I'm sure most garages do anyway when parts are salvageable.

[elanfan]

The parts no longer belong to you they belong to the insurer that's paying for their replacement. The fact they are agreeing to work for a lower fixed price probably entitles them to make a few quid back.

[hoagypubdog]

Remove the parts you want before you hand it to repairers. Sorted!

[Josho]

Still don't get why nobody is pursuing Tradex?

I think you need to use an accident management company. I hate their business model but they do get things done...

The body shop won't be placing all parts if they've dropped to £27p/hr.

[dacouch]

Josho said:

Still don't get why nobody is pursuing Tradex?

I think you need to use an accident management company. I hate their business model but they do get things done...

The body shop won't be placing all parts if they've dropped to £27p/hr.

AMC tend not to want on cases where they are not 95%+ likely to recover their money, the OP's accident is not straight forward due to the denial of ownership of the vehicle by the trader, if you through Tradex into the mix I would be surprised if any AMC took the claim on unless there was a juicy injury claim to push their income up

[Josho]

I had a 50/50 in a country lane thanks to an abysmally useless Adrian Flux and an AMC pushed it 100% for me!

[dacouch]

Josho said:

I had a 50/50 in a country lane thanks to an abysmally useless Adrian Flux and an AMC pushed it 100% for me!

Country lane accident is a lot different to the OP's situation which is made worse by the third parties Insurer being Tradex

[captainhook]

Yeah I doubt they'll be replacing all the parts due to them dropping it down to 27PHR. Most likely billing my insurers for all the parts needed on the invoice but not actually ordering particularly bits urgh.

I've been using vision vehicles and they are a claims management company -markerstudy bought them in 2012/13 - however they have been useless, still no proof in the form of an invoice to show the car has been sold????? PATHETIC bunch, wish I never used them but I needed a car to get about whilst mine was out of use and I wanted to keep costs down for everyone involved but for this 12 plate TT I'm using its 170 per day + VAT!!!!! Costs they state will be coming from the MIB.. So it's been a month that I've been in the hire car which is just over £5300!!

Talking about the MIB, I had a text from this company who claim they are working on behalf of the MIB in regards to my claim:

Examworks Investigation Services act on behalf of Motor Insurers' Bureau. We will contact you shortly to discuss arranging an appointment to carry out their instructions. If you would like to contact us beforehand please ring 0333 600 1660 Please quote reference XXXXXXXXX

Bit strange. I shall call them tommorrow to find out more.

I'm looking into hiring my own personal investigator to get to the bottom of the car being sold as vision AMC has been useless they still have not got any sort of proof in the form of invoices that show the car had been sold prior to the collision, the car was on the MID as insured and shortly afterwards (a day or two was no longer) so it's obvious fraud. Surely this is an easy case to solve yet the AMC aren't being helpful in sorting this out, they've given up now obviously as they have sent out MIB forms for me to fill in so they can send off to the MIB.

So if anyone can point me the direction of someone who's services I can use, I will be greatly thankful.

Edited by captainhook on Sunday 26th March 13:53

[anniesdad]

captainhook said:

however they have been useless, still no proof in the form of an invoice to show the car has been sold????? PATHETIC bunch,

I'm unsure what you expect VVS to do, in the event that the other side don't willingly provide the evidence you so demand?? Please understand when claims handling the other side don't always share information willingly...there is often a reason for this!

captainhook said:

Examworks Investigation Services act on behalf of Motor Insurers' Bureau. We will contact you shortly to discuss arranging an appointment to carry out their instructions. If you would like to contact us beforehand please ring 0333 600 1660 Please quote reference XXXXXXXXX
Bit strange. I shall call them tommorrow to find out more.

Untraced third party, possible uninsured vehicle at the time ie. the trader claims to have sold the car so does not then have any liability for the vehicle but is yet to provide proof. Possible claim through the MIB, these have probably been instructed by Markerstudy/VVS. Have you signed an MIB claim form requested of you by either of these two?

captainhook said:

I'm looking into hiring my own personal investigator to get to the bottom of the car being sold

Great idea. Get on it!

OP, it is up to you and your handlers to prove that the other party was at fault. Not for them to prove that they are innocent. You don't however know who that other party was. Path of least resistance here is to have Markerstudy pay for the repairs to your car and for the MIB to pay for your uninsured losses. I'm afraid this, that you are involved, in is a bit of a nightmare scenario and for you to expect it to be resolved overnight simply as on the day in question the askMID may have shown a policy in place, shows a little naivety on your part but as a layperson that is to be expected.

[herewego]

Seems odd to me that the rest of us in the form of the MIB should be happy to pay someone's £200/day car hire costs.

[anniesdad]

herewego said:

Seems odd to me that the rest of us in the form of the MIB should be happy to pay someone's £200/day car hire costs.

The MIB won't pay that, I can assure you, they will negotiate hard and nobody sues the MIB.

[Dan_M5]

I dont see the issue of using non genuine parts if they fit fine and you can't tell what is the issue?

[captainhook]

Thanks for your responses.

Bit of an update, the stupid Audi approved bodyshop that I instructed to carry out the repairs have come back to the insurers and said there's further damage found since "dismantling" the car, (yet looking at the recent pictures sent over to the insurance audex system nothing else appears to have been dismantled at all since the first estimate?!)

The total repair costs were originally £8k, reduced down to £7300 based on them and the engineer from hoopers agreeing a discount, that was over a week and half ago..

Now the revised estimate is just 200 quid short of £12,000. They claim there's further damage to the engine (driver side engine mount broken, power steering has gone. etc)



My insurers has stated that they probably won't write the car off anyway because parts have been ordered..

However this is not my fault and have parts really been ordered then that is down to them and the bodyshop to sort out because which idiot gives quotes on a repair of a car without fully checking it over?!

Next week Monday it would be 2 whole months since the date of the incident and very little in terms of progression has happened since then.

Sick of the lack of communication from both sides, insurers and bodyshop. Had I not went ape **** at them today to sort it out, It probably would of been another couple of weeks until it was sorted.

I have a sneaky suspicion that the bodyshop knew fully the extent of the damage yet held back relaying the full cost of repairs until they ordered parts so the insurance company woild just give them the ok to continue the repairs..

Not my problem now. It's gone over the 60% threshold.

Does anyone know where I stand now? Because it seems like if parts have been ordered that's going to be the sticking point? The bodyshop have completely messed me about.

[V8RX7]

captainhook said:

the stupid Audi approved bodyshop that I instructed to carry out the repairs

However this is not my fault

idiot gives quotes on a repair of a car without fully checking it over?

Sick of the lack of communication from both sides, insurers and bodyshop.

.

So YOU chose the repairer who wasn't one of the ones your insurer wanted to use and now it's NOT your fault ?

People can only quote to repair what they can see is damaged - who should pay for each company quoting, to strip down your car ?

Perhaps there's a lesson somewhere.

[captainhook]

V8RX7 said:

So YOU chose the repairer who wasn't one of the ones your insurer wanted to use and now it's NOT your fault ?

People can only quote to repair what they can see is damaged - who should pay for each company quoting, to strip down your car ?

Perhaps there's a lesson somewhere.

This is because my insurers would of taken the car to a cowboy outfit who would of done the job for less than 5k. I should know, I've read the company up online to where they were taking it. There were no other suitable alternatives other than an Audi approved repairer who has high recommendation throughout the community. I'm sorry but I pay my premiums so I'm expecting a top class repair on a car that's worth substantial amount of money, heck for an accident that wasn't my fault or even was my fault, on a banger.. I'd also expect a top classic service on the repair job, I expect nothing less.

But let's sit and judge in an armchair...

This is meant to be a proper Audi approved bodyshop, this place is well known to get all the big jobs in, from the likes of ferraris, Lamborghinis, aston Martins, to your lower high end class models, RS and so on..

Clearly on this occasion, their customer service has fallen well below what they know should be expected from them.

Of course additional damage can be found whilst stripping a car but I do not believe for one second that the additional damage could not have been found at the first estimate. The car when it was recovered by them never started for goodness sake.. wouldn't you scan, scan scan, and check the engine amongst other vital components to see why the engine wouldn't start perhaps?!

Most importantly Insurers know a revised estimator might go up by a couple of pounds or a couple hundreds.. I'm sure they are not expecting the costs to go by nearly 5k more for something that so easily should should of been pointed out, first time round.

It's seem like an attempt to order parts and come back to the insurers with an revised estimate, that's nearly 5 grand more and because parts have been ordered, believe the insurers will just turn around and say no problem.. carry on! They are not just messing me about, they are messing AND ripping off my insurance company and many others in the process.

I'm sorry but I've lost all faith in this garage now and if the car isn't written off, I shall be taking the car elsewhere and the parts to another garage for a repair. A final two fingers salute for their **** service.

All could have been avoided if they did they job properly in the first place. Unforgivable schoolboy error.

Rant over!

Edited by captainhook on Tuesday 4th April 00:33

[elanfan]

Now a bit of time has passed why not try a coup,e of things - go back and see if you can find the TP hiding around the garage and if no sign pay for a dvla enquiry and get current keepers details. They may give a statement as to when they bought it.

[captainhook]

Went back to the garage this morning, couldn't find the young chap who was driving at the time of the incident. Will get onto the dvla in regards to finding out who the new keeper is and then obviously making enquries with them to see when they bought the car..

In fact about the hit and run claim, it's all a bit strange and the insurers are being vague with the info they hold - They have said it turns out the car wasn't insured on the day on the incident and the insurance had finished the day before the incident. They said they've sent off their part of forms to the MIB who will get to the bottom of it and particular this discrepancy.

A bit of an update about the garage too, I've told my insurers also that I refuse to allow the garage to carry on repiring the car as they are a bunch of chancers and fraudsters. They wanted the work so they've withheld certain information about the car until parts were orderded so there was no going back..

The car wouldn't start when I bought it to them and all sorts of lights were popping up on the dash so they should of done their full checks before sending any sort of invoice over to the insurance company, they've now told them about the damage to the engine, steering rack, abs pump and so all, information that should of been picked up at the first instance when they inspected the car.

It's clear they had their own interest at heart - their own pockets so withheld information because had they sent over the information properly in the first place, they knew the car would of been written off.

I should know today what's going to happen, my insurers have said they want £4000 for cost of the parts already ordered, plus £300 before they release the car as I've told them it's not going to be repaired by them. The cheek! They won't getting a penny and I'll be collecting MY car. Their own fault ordering parts not fully checking the car over.

Edited by captainhook on Tuesday 4th April 11:27

[kiethton]

Hate to say it but think you're being a little unreasonable now

Some damage only becomes apparent when damage is stripped away, revised estimates come after this and are common.
Repairs take time, it may have been side-tracked as costs are approved/parts arrive, it's normal.
The garage has a lien over the car to compensate for labour to date (it's not free to estimate and converse with insurance co's - it takes time) and the fact that parts, ordered in on your/insurance co's instruction may not be refundable.

You've said before that the garage is generally decent, let them get on with fixing the car