Surprise, car write off, crap settlement figure!
Discussion
deltashad said:
I was very fortunate to buy the car in July last year for 15,500ukp. It was a the time well below market value as the seller needed a quick sale for a house deposit. (don't have a pound sign on my keyboard)
Market value is what cars sell for in the real world. Easiest way to determine this is completed ebay auctions and WBAC valuation. Anything else IMHO is a bonus.You could call some dealers and ask them a realistic private sale price
The ombudsman wont do anything apart from check that your insurer has acted within the terms and conditions of your policy and treated you fairly.
Get your insurer to do a three guide value if you cant find any examples, bear in mind most insurers are market value based - not agreed value. It doesnt matter what you think the car is worth simply what it is worth.
Get your insurer to do a three guide value if you cant find any examples, bear in mind most insurers are market value based - not agreed value. It doesnt matter what you think the car is worth simply what it is worth.
I called the insurance company today, '1st choice'.
They had no idea what was happening with the car so kept me on the 0800 line for what seemed like eternity and called the assessors.
I was given the same story. Due to the car having 'extras' it doesn't look like it will be a write off. They haven't decided yet. I should find out by Wednesday. If they don't call me then I shall harass them on Thursday.
Looks like I'm going to have to be on their backs or nothing is going to happen.
That's over six weeks past...
They had no idea what was happening with the car so kept me on the 0800 line for what seemed like eternity and called the assessors.
I was given the same story. Due to the car having 'extras' it doesn't look like it will be a write off. They haven't decided yet. I should find out by Wednesday. If they don't call me then I shall harass them on Thursday.
Looks like I'm going to have to be on their backs or nothing is going to happen.
That's over six weeks past...
deltashad said:
I called the insurance company today, '1st choice'.
They had no idea what was happening with the car so kept me on the 0800 line for what seemed like eternity and called the assessors.
I was given the same story. Due to the car having 'extras' it doesn't look like it will be a write off. They haven't decided yet. I should find out by Wednesday. If they don't call me then I shall harass them on Thursday.
Looks like I'm going to have to be on their backs or nothing is going to happen.
That's over six weeks past...
Have they given you a hire car? It must be starting to get expensive for them.They had no idea what was happening with the car so kept me on the 0800 line for what seemed like eternity and called the assessors.
I was given the same story. Due to the car having 'extras' it doesn't look like it will be a write off. They haven't decided yet. I should find out by Wednesday. If they don't call me then I shall harass them on Thursday.
Looks like I'm going to have to be on their backs or nothing is going to happen.
That's over six weeks past...
Remind them that you own the car, not them.
You have the right to choose who repairs the car - not the insurer. Get an independent view. The insurance company just want it turned round at their convenience.
Find out your rights. Make notes after every call.
You have the right to choose who repairs the car - not the insurer. Get an independent view. The insurance company just want it turned round at their convenience.
Find out your rights. Make notes after every call.
Edited by Podie on Monday 27th January 19:22
What I did:
1) Go on EVERY car sales website, and print off every car, which was RETAIL, that had a higher price, higher miles, lower spec, older registration date, and all combinations of those, and then plot a number of graphs, to show that mine would have an advertised price at twice what they'd offered.
2) Blind them with statistics and graphs and 47 adverts, and keep doing it with every new advert, every day, until I'd ground their 'loss adjuster' into submission.
1) Go on EVERY car sales website, and print off every car, which was RETAIL, that had a higher price, higher miles, lower spec, older registration date, and all combinations of those, and then plot a number of graphs, to show that mine would have an advertised price at twice what they'd offered.
2) Blind them with statistics and graphs and 47 adverts, and keep doing it with every new advert, every day, until I'd ground their 'loss adjuster' into submission.
I didn't want to go this way but the next step is to ask for a hire car.
Taking it out of their recommended repairer and into the lotus approved one (on the instructions of lotus service manager), took away my rights for a rental.
I'm not sure where I stand on this one but my girlfriend is running my Mercedes and the fuel costs are killing her.
I asked to buy it back from them if deemed written off but am told it's against their policy. I would happily buy it from them and have it repaired.
Informing them it had leather seats seems to have swayed them a little, although I honestly can't see how this would increase the value of a lightweight sports car.
Taking it out of their recommended repairer and into the lotus approved one (on the instructions of lotus service manager), took away my rights for a rental.
I'm not sure where I stand on this one but my girlfriend is running my Mercedes and the fuel costs are killing her.
I asked to buy it back from them if deemed written off but am told it's against their policy. I would happily buy it from them and have it repaired.
Informing them it had leather seats seems to have swayed them a little, although I honestly can't see how this would increase the value of a lightweight sports car.
deltashad said:
I didn't want to go this way but the next step is to ask for a hire car.
Taking it out of their recommended repairer and into the lotus approved one (on the instructions of lotus service manager), took away my rights for a rental.
I'm not sure where I stand on this one but my girlfriend is running my Mercedes and the fuel costs are killing her.
I asked to buy it back from them if deemed written off but am told it's against their policy. I would happily buy it from them and have it repaired.
Informing them it had leather seats seems to have swayed them a little, although I honestly can't see how this would increase the value of a lightweight sports car.
If it's a fault claim it's very unlikely you'll get a hire car if you decide on your own repairer. With an Elise or anything specialist though, using your own repairer is a must to get a proper job done.Taking it out of their recommended repairer and into the lotus approved one (on the instructions of lotus service manager), took away my rights for a rental.
I'm not sure where I stand on this one but my girlfriend is running my Mercedes and the fuel costs are killing her.
I asked to buy it back from them if deemed written off but am told it's against their policy. I would happily buy it from them and have it repaired.
Informing them it had leather seats seems to have swayed them a little, although I honestly can't see how this would increase the value of a lightweight sports car.
I wrote of my Tuscan back in 2009.
The Insurance Valuer called to tell me 14k quid which was a little more than I'd paid (so good offer really).
I had searched the market and countered with 15k but he told me he had also checked the market and found several similar and wanted to stick with 14k.
He offered to check again and came back the next day with the same offer. He even e-mailed me the cars he had found.
The guy was very decent to deal with as were the people at Tesco Insurance.
I havn't looked at the market for yours but there cant be that many for sale.
Hope you get it sorted.
I'm shocked at how long they are taking.
The Insurance Valuer called to tell me 14k quid which was a little more than I'd paid (so good offer really).
I had searched the market and countered with 15k but he told me he had also checked the market and found several similar and wanted to stick with 14k.
He offered to check again and came back the next day with the same offer. He even e-mailed me the cars he had found.
The guy was very decent to deal with as were the people at Tesco Insurance.
I havn't looked at the market for yours but there cant be that many for sale.
Hope you get it sorted.
I'm shocked at how long they are taking.
so called said:
I havn't looked at the market for yours but there cant be that many for sale.
Hope you get it sorted.
I'm shocked at how long they are taking.
This is the biggest problem now. The lack of anything decent on the market which interests me for the right price.Hope you get it sorted.
I'm shocked at how long they are taking.
It's partly my fault for the time it's taken to do nothing. I had no choice to remove the car from the recommended repairer, I'd spoken to a few people about their quality of work, the reports were pretty dreadful to say the least, and this was with standard white goods cars.
I doubt if they had much, if any experience with the preparation and work which goes into painting a fibreglass car.
It was too big a gamble leaving it in there. The Lotus approved workshop has probably escalated the repair bill, which I expected, but at least I'll have peace of mind that the paintwork won't go off in a years time. I just never expected it to be so close to written off. The damage isn't that bad!
Anyhow, the messing about with this cost me about five days.
Then we were precariously close to the festive season. This really put things on hold. It's now the end of January!
People often get mixed up with the word "Fault" and "Non-fault" when it comes to insurance. here are 2 simple examples.
You park your car , go for a meal and come out to find a meteorite has landed and crushed your roof. Not your fault is it ? however , your Ins company pays out. They have nobody to reclaim their payout from - so its classed as "Fault" as they are out of pocket.
You park your car , go for a meal and come out to find someone has reversed into you. They have kindly left their details and you make a claim. Your company then reclaims the cost fom theirs , - so its classed as "non-fault" as they are not out of pocket , they have the money back from the other ins co.
Simples
You park your car , go for a meal and come out to find a meteorite has landed and crushed your roof. Not your fault is it ? however , your Ins company pays out. They have nobody to reclaim their payout from - so its classed as "Fault" as they are out of pocket.
You park your car , go for a meal and come out to find someone has reversed into you. They have kindly left their details and you make a claim. Your company then reclaims the cost fom theirs , - so its classed as "non-fault" as they are not out of pocket , they have the money back from the other ins co.
Simples
I contacted the insurance company this morning.
Car is repairable!!! They knew yesterday morning but failed to inform me.
After speaking with the coachworks, they informed me both themselves and Lotus had advised the car is no where near written off.
1st Choice offered us 14,350 settlement figure.
Car repairs estimation was less than I had been told, (7,200ukp before tax).
Lotus valued the car at 17,000. (also said that it would be near impossible to get another with similar spec/mileage/age).
The assessors report valued the car at 16,500-17,000ukp.
A far cry from what they told me the car had been valued at.
I'll be looking elsewhere in the future for insurance.
Surely there must be sort of guidelines regarding telling the truth in these matters. It would have been a massive inconvenience to us if the car had been written off, also a waste of a nice little specialist car.
Never mind, 4-6 weeks and she'll be back!!!
Car is repairable!!! They knew yesterday morning but failed to inform me.
After speaking with the coachworks, they informed me both themselves and Lotus had advised the car is no where near written off.
1st Choice offered us 14,350 settlement figure.
Car repairs estimation was less than I had been told, (7,200ukp before tax).
Lotus valued the car at 17,000. (also said that it would be near impossible to get another with similar spec/mileage/age).
The assessors report valued the car at 16,500-17,000ukp.
A far cry from what they told me the car had been valued at.
I'll be looking elsewhere in the future for insurance.
Surely there must be sort of guidelines regarding telling the truth in these matters. It would have been a massive inconvenience to us if the car had been written off, also a waste of a nice little specialist car.
Never mind, 4-6 weeks and she'll be back!!!
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