OH GOD...my insurance may not be valid....

[hedders]

My jag guy has just pointed something out to me that I had not given any thought at all...

Last year i had my windows professionally tinted, 'light smoke' on the sides and 'Dark Smoke'rear screen (pretty dark but you can see through it in daylight from outside) and i never thought about mentioning it to my insurance company and it has no negative effect on my vision.

When i called my Insurance co to report the accident, they asked me if the car had been modified in any way, and i told them there were no engine mods but the car was immaculate and has had a complete body restoration and all the suspension and brakes have been replaced with new (the truth) and it has been tinted and had a new headlining etc...

My mechanic thinks I could be in trouble because of the tints, because i did not tell my insurance co when i did it..

What do you guys think? This could be really bad if they decide to not pay out over a technicality.

If the worst happens Could I not say my windows were all open when i crashed? The back window being darkened would have no bearing on me driving up someones arse....

I am little worried...lets hope the insurance examiner doesn't notice i guess...But i told them on the phone...what a pratt, i didn't even think about it.









>>> Edited by hedders on Wednesday 21st January 21:21

[hedders]

I guess i could have the tints removed, before the inspector sees it, and then say i was thinking of a different car i had had tinted when i was talking to the insurance co...i was still in shock etc...

Can they be removed or would i need to replace the glass? Is it illegal to drive without side windows?
I could have teh jag guy remove them

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joust said:

Sorry - did you tell them about the tints when you took out the policy - or after the crash? J

After the crash....

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dragstar said:

depends on your insurance company Hedders. some, when mentioning POWER increasing mods, dont bat an eyelid (when they could increase premiums) when explained that they are similar, but better quality to standard products. your just going to have to sit this out. i dont think arguing that your windows were down will help. you didnt "declare" so the insurance is invalid before you were driving on that day good luck, big-lad

Well if it makes any difference, the car is on Classic car insurance. I am not sure if they look at things differently from normal insurers..i have no experience of insurance claims..this is my first time.

I have claimed against other peoples insurance before..and i hoped it would stay that way.

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Sheepy said:

My XJ-S has a dark tinted rear-windscreen. I assume that it came from the factory like that, and know nothing if the insurance co ask. Are you sure that you didn't buy the car with it already tinted, and that the PO told you that the car was like it from new? I mean how awful that the PO lied to, but hardly your fault!!!!!!!!

Thats true...could have happened, only problem is that I bought it from the guy that will be making the claim for me...My 'jag guy' ..
He is an independent jag specialist, all the local mechanics call him up (including the Jaguar franchises) when they can't figure the problem out

So he would have known...

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I guess not

hehehehe

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I have spent approx £7000 bringing the car up to scratch in the four years i have had it insured with these guys, and i have not declared any of it...as far as they are concerned it is only worth market value...I am an idiot.

So i have to get them to fix it and then i have to get the value of the car confirmed and get an agreed value sorted out, cos its worth three times what they would pay out based on market value..
they would probably only pay out a £1.5k for an 82 Daimler, but you don't see (m)any as nice as mine these days...to the right buyer it is atleast a £5k car.

But to be honest my main concern is that if they say my insurance is not valid, will i be liable for the damages from the guy i hit? or will i still have third party insurance?





>> Edited by hedders on Wednesday 21st January 22:27

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mungo said:

I think you will be fine. I once had an accident and the insurance company needed a copy of my license which I sent to them. They noticed I had 3 points I never declared... Rather than just invalidate my insurance they simply asked me to pay the difference on my policy before they instructed repairs...

Thats another thing...I have 3 undeclared points too... scameras...

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Muncher said:

A very, very worst case scenario would be them paying for the third party damage, then asking you to re-imburse them. That is very unlikely though. Which company are you with?

My broker is Footman James, the insurer is Avon.

Another wierd thing is, I mentioned earlier that its classic insurance which means no business use and a limited mileage (5k a year) but i just renewed a few days ago (the policy that was current when i crashed ran out two days afterwards) and my new policy is unlimited mileage, i even called them to confirm and they said it was right...so i now have fully comp insurance on a V12 Daimler with unlimited mileage for £260 a year! But it will probably go up if they honour this claim...

Actually...I have already paid for my next years insurance (just got my new policy today) so can they increase it now?

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joust said:

hedders said: Actually...I have already paid for my next years insurance (just got my new policy today) so can they increase it now? Technically yes. However the claim is not "made" until they pay out, and also in my expierience sometimes small claims don't affect CCI too much anyway. Sorry. J

CCI

And it will not be a small claim i don't think..I guess it depends what a small claim is. There will be about £2.5k damage to my car when all said and done (new bumper is £800, Bonnet £600, Wing £200, new lights, labour and paint...it soon adds up.

Then there is the car I hit, i caved in the back end of an R reg Civic,(was still driveable) and he went into a newish Mercedes infront of him..the Merc suffered no damage apart from what looked like slight scuff marks on his bumper from the civics front license plate, but the civics front 'bumper' was cracked, so both ends of the car have to be repaired.
and who knows if they are going to all of a sudden get bad back syndrome and sue me for evrything i haven't ogt...
I am sure Merc guy will claim for an entire respray too....

Is that a small claim on the grand scale of things

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rich1231 said:

Hedders, surely its clear here that though you are a member of Pistonheads you are taking the pi$$ out of the insurers. You took out a policy, giving certain details about your car and yourself that were untrue. And you have changed your car since. Those changes are going to have a material effect on the risk the insurers have faced. Wht didnt you just tell them at the time modifications and ints were gained. You cant expect them to payout if you have taken the urine in this way.

How am i taking the piss???

I have spent £8k doing the car up and only expect them to pay me back market value if i write it off...i have never given them any false information about me or the car, and have not modified its peformance in any way.

I am not sure i am with you. I have had insurance with them for five consecutive years now and never claimed.

Yeah, i am real piss taker

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anonymous said:

[redacted]

You've heard that about me too eh?

Thanks for the info..I am going to have to ride it out and see what happens...there is not much i can do apart from sweat until the insurance guy has had a look at the car i suppose...

[hedders]

I realise i have been naive about all this, but at no point did i ever feel i was getting one over on them by not telling them about tinted windows.

If they don't pay out, I will remove the tints so i am insured again, and go and visit them, and if i happen to hit every single car in their carpark....lifes a bitch...

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kevinday said:

Having just read the whole thread through again, and ingnoring the possibility of the insurance not paying at all I still think you have a problem Hedders. You say the damage is worth 2.5K yet they are likely to only pay out 1.5K as a total loss? If so they will write-off the car, or offer you 1.5K (or less) for you to repair the car yourself. Good luck, whatever happens. Next time get a proper valuation and declare everything.

I think classic car insurance works differently, and the car is clearly not written off, if it were not for the two broken bulbs, it would still pass an mot, i think!

So i am pretty sure they would pay to repair it.
I also forgot to mention that my mechanic is a qualified Jaguar 'expert', and he told me hw may be able to sort out the agreed value even at this time, because in his 'expert opinion' this car is worth £7k etc etc.

I don't want to put much faith in that, but if you look in the classifieds you do see good examples of my car going for up to £10,000..but they have 20,000 miles and are perfect in every way. Mine still needs a few bits but it is (or, should i say, was)perfect from ten feet away sort of thing




>> Edited by hedders on Thursday 22 January 21:38

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rich1231 said:

Hedders, so what if an "expert" has now valued the car at £7k. The insuarnce company were not told it was worth that much before you asked them to cover the risk did they? No so you IMHO should be told to f off by your insurers as you have not honoured your contract with them. >> Edited by rich1231 on Thursday 22 January 21:51

I said i didn't put much faith in it, but so far he has never been wrong about anything jaguar related, he has dealth with hundreds of insurance claims for jags insured through this Brokerage, so if he says he can have some bearing on it, i will wait and see

The £7k was just an example, I was just suggesting that he may be able to influence them a bit, but obviously not if he gets some little hitler insurance assessor who is having a bad day.
Then I'm screwed.

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I have not even got my claim form round to my mechanics yet. It is sitting in front of me as i speak but i have been so busy with the new job I keep forgetting i have a car to sort out

Will drop it off to him tonight, and then he can have the examiner guy come and have a look..

[hedders]

thanks

I have been doing a head in the sand job again.....

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Well, I have good news and bad news!

They have accpeted the tinted windows, and therefore accepted the liability for the people i hit...PHEW!

BUT...They have not taken the value of my car into account and have written it off, which means they probably intend to send me a check for £1200 for a car I have spend £8k refurbishing. If thats what they do I will try and negotiate with them or claim salvage and fix it and get an agreed value on it before my next claim

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mcflurry said:

I had a claim with Admiral a few years ago. They offered me the written off car for 20% of the claim value. I could have either 4500 or 3600 plus the vehicle.

Under instruction, I have been advised that i have to do everything i can do stop them from saying the car is written off, and i need to try and get them to do an 'agreed contract' repair or something...and tell them I can get 2nd hand parts.

I have to get them to NOT write off the car on paper, cos it is a great car and being written off doesn't look good on the history!