Car insurance law
Discussion
I set up an agreed value policy on all my cars on the same policy for the first time starting from last February.I emailed all the values to the broker who forwarded these on to the insurance company and the policy value was agreed based on the vehicle details and values.
I had an accident in October in france and my car was taken back to Germany to be repaired as all the modifications were done there including some specialised suspension parts.After a lot of delays and decisions about keeping the car in Germany or the UK the insurance company decided they wanted to class the car as a total loss because the value of the claim was above the percentage of what they class as repairable.I am fully aware of these percentages but after getting the quote from the garage and knowing what i had insured the car for the percentage figures did not add up.
After speaking with the broker a few times and going over the figures with him i have found that the value of all the vehicles that they sent back except for the car i had the accident in so i checked the information i sent to the broker and he checked the email he sent to the insurance company to which the quote was calculated and they were all correct.When the insurance company sent the policy back listing all the cars it all looked fine.To be fair i never checked all the vehicle values as all the registrations were correct on the front cover and i knew the details i had sent off.
So can they say because i did not check the values that they posted out to me that the value is now 10K less than agreed value sent to them or because it is an administrative error am i entitled to the figure that was given to them in the first place and what the policy was based on ?
Andy
I had an accident in October in france and my car was taken back to Germany to be repaired as all the modifications were done there including some specialised suspension parts.After a lot of delays and decisions about keeping the car in Germany or the UK the insurance company decided they wanted to class the car as a total loss because the value of the claim was above the percentage of what they class as repairable.I am fully aware of these percentages but after getting the quote from the garage and knowing what i had insured the car for the percentage figures did not add up.
After speaking with the broker a few times and going over the figures with him i have found that the value of all the vehicles that they sent back except for the car i had the accident in so i checked the information i sent to the broker and he checked the email he sent to the insurance company to which the quote was calculated and they were all correct.When the insurance company sent the policy back listing all the cars it all looked fine.To be fair i never checked all the vehicle values as all the registrations were correct on the front cover and i knew the details i had sent off.
So can they say because i did not check the values that they posted out to me that the value is now 10K less than agreed value sent to them or because it is an administrative error am i entitled to the figure that was given to them in the first place and what the policy was based on ?
Andy
griff7 said:
I spoke to the broker and he checked the information i had sent to him and checked the email he had sent to the insurance company and they were the same.So the difference has appeared in the paperwork that they have sent out.
This is good news and so is that you're on a private clients policy.The broker can sort this out by
a) Using his influence with Zurich (They will have a lot of influence with Zurich especially for a High Net Customer)
b) Demonstrating to the Insurer that the admin mistake was made at the Insurers and thus it's upto the Insurer to correct the mistake and put you back into the position you would be had the mistake not been made.
Have you seen a copy of the email the broker sent to Zurich?
If the broker is not willing to do a) and b) then if you have not seen the brokers email instructing Zurich with the correct information then I would suspect the broker had made the mistake rather than Zurich. The reason for this is that correcting an admin mistake made by the Insurer (Rather than the broker) is a relatively simple matter.
As you're on private client's, I assume you own your own company (Probably insured by said broker) or have a professional occupation. As such it should be relatively simple for you to politely tell the broker to earn his money.
dacouch said:
This is good news and so is that you're on a private clients policy.
The broker can sort this out by
a) Using his influence with Zurich (They will have a lot of influence with Zurich especially for a High Net Customer)
b) Demonstrating to the Insurer that the admin mistake was made at the Insurers and thus it's upto the Insurer to correct the mistake and put you back into the position you would be had the mistake not been made.
Have you seen a copy of the email the broker sent to Zurich?
If the broker is not willing to do a) and b) then if you have not seen the brokers email instructing Zurich with the correct information then I would suspect the broker had made the mistake rather than Zurich. The reason for this is that correcting an admin mistake made by the Insurer (Rather than the broker) is a relatively simple matter.
As you're on private client's, I assume you own your own company (Probably insured by said broker) or have a professional occupation. As such it should be relatively simple for you to politely tell the broker to earn his money.
I have not seen a copy of the email yet but i will ask tomorrow.The broker was highly recommended by a friend of mine who has used them for years.I will be asking him to earn his money tomorrow in a polite way.The broker can sort this out by
a) Using his influence with Zurich (They will have a lot of influence with Zurich especially for a High Net Customer)
b) Demonstrating to the Insurer that the admin mistake was made at the Insurers and thus it's upto the Insurer to correct the mistake and put you back into the position you would be had the mistake not been made.
Have you seen a copy of the email the broker sent to Zurich?
If the broker is not willing to do a) and b) then if you have not seen the brokers email instructing Zurich with the correct information then I would suspect the broker had made the mistake rather than Zurich. The reason for this is that correcting an admin mistake made by the Insurer (Rather than the broker) is a relatively simple matter.
As you're on private client's, I assume you own your own company (Probably insured by said broker) or have a professional occupation. As such it should be relatively simple for you to politely tell the broker to earn his money.
My company is not insured with them but car and home is.
Say it turns out that it is a broker error ? then i suspect this is a whole new can of worms ?
griff7 said:
I have not seen a copy of the email yet but i will ask tomorrow.The broker was highly recommended by a friend of mine who has used them for years.I will be asking him to earn his money tomorrow in a polite way.
My company is not insured with them but car and home is.
Say it turns out that it is a broker error ? then i suspect this is a whole new can of worms ?
It will be a little harder as you'll need to make an "Official Complaint" to the broker and then possibly to the Ombudsman if this does not work. Some brokers try and cover their tracks although I would expect a high net broker not to do this.My company is not insured with them but car and home is.
Say it turns out that it is a broker error ? then i suspect this is a whole new can of worms ?
Even if the broker has made a mistake they can often ask the Insurer to correct the error and then adjust the premium to the correct amount if there's any change in the premium.
Your friend can also have a gentle word with the broker if need be.
- If it's the Insurers fault you can also use the Official Complaint and then Ombudsman route.
I would advise that when dealing with the broker or Zurich you remain polite but firm and make notes of what's said and agreed. You can always send a summary of the conversations & what you believe has been agreed by email to the broker.
dacouch said:
It will be a little harder as you'll need to make an "Official Complaint" to the broker and then possibly to the Ombudsman if this does not work. Some brokers try and cover their tracks although I would expect a high net broker not to do this.
Even if the broker has made a mistake they can often ask the Insurer to correct the error and then adjust the premium to the correct amount if there's any change in the premium.
Your friend can also have a gentle word with the broker if need be.
I would advise that when dealing with the broker or Zurich you remain polite but firm and make notes of what's said and agreed. You can always send a summary of the conversations & what you believe has been agreed by email to the broker.
The broker checked the email when i was on the phone to him and said leave it with him but that was last Monday.My company has a call recording system so all calls have been recorded and the exact words he used were i have checked my email to them and the value sent was the same as yours so all should be ok but hopefully i will not need to use this information.Even if the broker has made a mistake they can often ask the Insurer to correct the error and then adjust the premium to the correct amount if there's any change in the premium.
Your friend can also have a gentle word with the broker if need be.
- If it's the Insurers fault you can also use the Official Complaint and then Ombudsman route.
I would advise that when dealing with the broker or Zurich you remain polite but firm and make notes of what's said and agreed. You can always send a summary of the conversations & what you believe has been agreed by email to the broker.
I have been polite at all times so far as he has been fighting hard to get the car repaired in Germany and not transported back to the UK but all this would not have been necessary if we would have realised the valuation mistake.I really hope it does
not have to go to the Ombudsman as after thirty one years of driving accident free this is the last thing i need.
How big is this broker? Not all brokers are one man bands as some seem to think. There are some pretty gigantic ones floating about and getting the difference in vlaue out of them, if the error is theirs, would be just as easy as an underwriter.
If you've got your email then you're sorted anyway.
If you've got your email then you're sorted anyway.
LoonR1 said:
How big is this broker? Not all brokers are one man bands as some seem to think. There are some pretty gigantic ones floating about and getting the difference in vlaue out of them, if the error is theirs, would be just as easy as an underwriter.
If you've got your email then you're sorted anyway.
They are a large broker so hopefully all will be ok.If you've got your email then you're sorted anyway.
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