Insurance write off - a plea for help, a rant & another rant
Discussion
If anyone can give advice on this, I'd be most grateful!
The wife's Honda Jazz was hit by another driver while it was parked outside a chip ship (http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=877946&r=18928813&hm=154378&mid=154378#18928813)
Now this was on the 4th of August. The other side admitted liability (not much choice really) and the courtesy Honda duly arrived on the 6th of August. At first it all seemed to be going swimmingly. Within two weeks they insurance company had admitted liability and made a verbal offer of £8500, which we turned down as it was not enough. We wanted £9.5k and to back it up we sent them lots of examples from Honda's website of cars like our selling for £9.5K-£10k. Then…nothing. No written offer, no cheque, no feedback, nothing. Despite them being pestered by us on a very regular basis, nothing. The insurance company told us that it was caught up in their engineering department, a department that not even they could get through to on the phone.
Finally after a further SIX WEEKS they have come back to us and offered £8,900. Now I still don't think this is enough, not compared with the examples we have provided and what I would need to buy a replacement. Their excuses are "That's top book in Glasses" and "Well those examples are buying from main dealers". Well yes, of course they are, the car was bought (new) from a main dealer with all that entails and any replacement should get us to where we were before - hence bought from a main dealer with warranty and all of that. They have now come back with "that's top of my band for that car, I can’t go any higher"
So first, the plea to the PH hive mind - Is this acceptable? Should I just take the money with bad grace or should I hold out and make them go to the independent assessor? Frankly all of this sticks in my throat, I maintain that value is too low, but I may be wrong. However that's just a stupid amount of time to take.
Now the rant. Remember that the appraisal took six weeks to come after the initial offer. Now as that offer was never put in writing, we've had another Honda Jazz courtesy car all of that time. Just over 6 weeks at £55 a day means they have spent £2000 in car hire fees to save themselves £600 in what the difference is between their new offer and the original one. What an utter waste of money that was. They could have given us what we wanted straight away, saved themselves a packet, and avoided a huge amount of hassle, but no they didn't. Sheer bloody incompetence.
All of this, of course, adds to everyone's car insurance. Given that we can keep the courtesy car for 7 days after the written offer this means that even if it arrives tomorrow this will be 9 1/2 weeks at £55 a day, that's OVER THREE AND A HALF THOUSAND POUNDS on a bloody hire car! I'd have taken half that as a one off and bought a sodding MX-5 to kick about in for a couple of months. What really gets my goat is that most of this stupid sum of money has been incurred because of the insurance company's utter and total incompetence at taking so long to even begin sorting out this claim. That's money they themselves have wasted, and it's all of us that have to pay in the end.
Right I better go sit down before I explode through apoplexy.
Ta
Douglas
The wife's Honda Jazz was hit by another driver while it was parked outside a chip ship (http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=877946&r=18928813&hm=154378&mid=154378#18928813)
Now this was on the 4th of August. The other side admitted liability (not much choice really) and the courtesy Honda duly arrived on the 6th of August. At first it all seemed to be going swimmingly. Within two weeks they insurance company had admitted liability and made a verbal offer of £8500, which we turned down as it was not enough. We wanted £9.5k and to back it up we sent them lots of examples from Honda's website of cars like our selling for £9.5K-£10k. Then…nothing. No written offer, no cheque, no feedback, nothing. Despite them being pestered by us on a very regular basis, nothing. The insurance company told us that it was caught up in their engineering department, a department that not even they could get through to on the phone.
Finally after a further SIX WEEKS they have come back to us and offered £8,900. Now I still don't think this is enough, not compared with the examples we have provided and what I would need to buy a replacement. Their excuses are "That's top book in Glasses" and "Well those examples are buying from main dealers". Well yes, of course they are, the car was bought (new) from a main dealer with all that entails and any replacement should get us to where we were before - hence bought from a main dealer with warranty and all of that. They have now come back with "that's top of my band for that car, I can’t go any higher"
So first, the plea to the PH hive mind - Is this acceptable? Should I just take the money with bad grace or should I hold out and make them go to the independent assessor? Frankly all of this sticks in my throat, I maintain that value is too low, but I may be wrong. However that's just a stupid amount of time to take.
Now the rant. Remember that the appraisal took six weeks to come after the initial offer. Now as that offer was never put in writing, we've had another Honda Jazz courtesy car all of that time. Just over 6 weeks at £55 a day means they have spent £2000 in car hire fees to save themselves £600 in what the difference is between their new offer and the original one. What an utter waste of money that was. They could have given us what we wanted straight away, saved themselves a packet, and avoided a huge amount of hassle, but no they didn't. Sheer bloody incompetence.
All of this, of course, adds to everyone's car insurance. Given that we can keep the courtesy car for 7 days after the written offer this means that even if it arrives tomorrow this will be 9 1/2 weeks at £55 a day, that's OVER THREE AND A HALF THOUSAND POUNDS on a bloody hire car! I'd have taken half that as a one off and bought a sodding MX-5 to kick about in for a couple of months. What really gets my goat is that most of this stupid sum of money has been incurred because of the insurance company's utter and total incompetence at taking so long to even begin sorting out this claim. That's money they themselves have wasted, and it's all of us that have to pay in the end.
Right I better go sit down before I explode through apoplexy.
Ta
Douglas
It is costing them £55 a day as that's what the accident company is charging them.
I did not intend to use one of those companies (as I can imagine they give leeches a bad name), but after the accident I simply called the Honda Happiness number in the car's handbook wallet, and it turned was passed on to the accident company. Would I have chosen to go down that way? Not at all, but sitting miles from home in a car that wasn't going anywhere ever again and with a very upset wife I wanted it sorted.
I know I've told the wife many times to never underestimate the incompetency of large bureaucracies but this is just ridiculous. Joined up thinking would save everyone a lot of money.
I did not intend to use one of those companies (as I can imagine they give leeches a bad name), but after the accident I simply called the Honda Happiness number in the car's handbook wallet, and it turned was passed on to the accident company. Would I have chosen to go down that way? Not at all, but sitting miles from home in a car that wasn't going anywhere ever again and with a very upset wife I wanted it sorted.
I know I've told the wife many times to never underestimate the incompetency of large bureaucracies but this is just ridiculous. Joined up thinking would save everyone a lot of money.
Six weeks is no time at all when dealing with insurance companies. I got hit in early May this year, and I've only just got off the phone to the bodyshop to get it booked in for the end of of the month.
Ins. Co's seem to operate on a geological timescale, unless its something THEY want from YOU. Then it's 'We want your proof of no claims bonus entitlement (already sent it actually chaps! YOU fooking lost it!)) in the next week or will be deducting a further £600 from your account'
ETA - Re. the hire car - as someone else said, they will have their fingers in the pie in some way with the hire car company and will be passing the (grossly inflated) £55 a day to the insurer of the at-fault party. Win-Win for them, but we all pay for it in next years policy hike... and the mad insurance industry merry-go-round spins on...
Ins. Co's seem to operate on a geological timescale, unless its something THEY want from YOU. Then it's 'We want your proof of no claims bonus entitlement (already sent it actually chaps! YOU fooking lost it!)) in the next week or will be deducting a further £600 from your account'
ETA - Re. the hire car - as someone else said, they will have their fingers in the pie in some way with the hire car company and will be passing the (grossly inflated) £55 a day to the insurer of the at-fault party. Win-Win for them, but we all pay for it in next years policy hike... and the mad insurance industry merry-go-round spins on...
Edited by mrtwisty on Monday 3rd October 12:24
youngsod said:
It is costing them £55 a day as that's what the accident company is charging them.
I did not intend to use one of those companies (as I can imagine they give leeches a bad name), but after the accident I simply called the Honda Happiness number in the car's handbook wallet, and it turned was passed on to the accident company. Would I have chosen to go down that way? Not at all, but sitting miles from home in a car that wasn't going anywhere ever again and with a very upset wife I wanted it sorted.
I know I've told the wife many times to never underestimate the incompetency of large bureaucracies but this is just ridiculous. Joined up thinking would save everyone a lot of money.
i presume you signed a hire contract agreement. i had a similar accident and had a hire car for 3 months when my car was worth 2k max. they did try and stitch me up over the hire car length of time but as i had a written record of events and my phone called made chasing, they couldn't do anything.I did not intend to use one of those companies (as I can imagine they give leeches a bad name), but after the accident I simply called the Honda Happiness number in the car's handbook wallet, and it turned was passed on to the accident company. Would I have chosen to go down that way? Not at all, but sitting miles from home in a car that wasn't going anywhere ever again and with a very upset wife I wanted it sorted.
I know I've told the wife many times to never underestimate the incompetency of large bureaucracies but this is just ridiculous. Joined up thinking would save everyone a lot of money.
youngsod said:
It is costing them £55 a day as that's what the accident company is charging them.
I did not intend to use one of those companies (as I can imagine they give leeches a bad name), but after the accident I simply called the Honda Happiness number in the car's handbook wallet, and it turned was passed on to the accident company. Would I have chosen to go down that way? Not at all, but sitting miles from home in a car that wasn't going anywhere ever again and with a very upset wife I wanted it sorted.
Miles from home - didn't this happen when you popped to the Chippy?I did not intend to use one of those companies (as I can imagine they give leeches a bad name), but after the accident I simply called the Honda Happiness number in the car's handbook wallet, and it turned was passed on to the accident company. Would I have chosen to go down that way? Not at all, but sitting miles from home in a car that wasn't going anywhere ever again and with a very upset wife I wanted it sorted.
Shouldn't the accident management company be driving this process - that's the whole point of them, isn't it?
I would be amazed if there isn't a lot of hassle about the hire car bill - I can't see the 3rd party insurer cheerfully agreeing to pay that, so you could potentially end up in court having to support the accident management company's pursuit of payment.
soxboy said:
Gruber said:
If the dealers are advertising equivalent cars at £9.5k, my guess is you could do a deal at pretty close to £8.9k.
I think if I were in your position I'd probably take the money and put the matter to bed.
Or perhaps an offer to split the difference?I think if I were in your position I'd probably take the money and put the matter to bed.
The insurance companies are truely stupid - they'll cheerfully send uninjured people cheques to waive all future injury claims, so why don't they just make a "full" offer upfront and get the case closed?
Deva Link said:
soxboy said:
Gruber said:
If the dealers are advertising equivalent cars at £9.5k, my guess is you could do a deal at pretty close to £8.9k.
I think if I were in your position I'd probably take the money and put the matter to bed.
Or perhaps an offer to split the difference?I think if I were in your position I'd probably take the money and put the matter to bed.
youngsod said:
No, those were the values for similarly aged cars, but from Honda dealers with all that that entails. Which is mostly free tea and coffee...
Right, but did you buy the car new?I would see it as a significant loss of enjoyment and value to have to replace a car I'd bought new with one bought used. I fully accept that's it's basically hard luck, but I would expect some level of compensation for that.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff