HELP! CIS trying to rip me off

[boo_kitty10]

On 17th August 2007 some stupid idiot went into the back of my car he admitted liability and i had a courtesy car dropped off to me whilst mine was having quotations etc done, anyway cis engineer said my cars a write off and they rang me today to offer me £2123 for my car i paid £9000 for it last november 2006, he said it had been previously damaged and badly repaired but yet when i bought it it was fine and has been ever since ive had it - it was hpi clear they also checked it and it came up clear but they said due to this my car was not worth what i paid my cars mileage is 109000 so i accept its not worth what i paid but thats ridiculous ive looked in the trader and cars like mine go for £6500, the cis person is very rude and says he is going to send me a cheque for that amount i have made it clear i will not settle for that amount and he is still intent and not listening to me, he says once i get the cheque i have to give the courtesy car back or they will not pay for it as ive had the cheque im so mad coz nones helping me, accident exchange who are supposed to be dealing with everything are absolutley rubbish and of no help all they want is there money, what can i do i bought the car and never had no problems with it until this accident and now this has all happend they're not willing to pay me fair price on my car, my car has black leather interior, multi spoke wheels worth £1000 alone, sports kit on it, someone please help me i dont know what to do. bmw garage said cis are taking the mick but the man just isnt listening to me

[Chesterexpress]

Can you give full details of your car in order for someone to help you further please. Make, model etc.

[boo_kitty10]

It is a 2000 V reg, BMW 323 Ci coupe, with bmw optional parts on it as i mentioned the multi spoke wheels, the sports kit-i.e, bumper skirts,etc, on it and it has the bmw sound system, black leather interior, arm rests, etc

[cazzaswfc]

Firstly, check glassers guide ( this and parkers are what most insurance companys use for vehicle value) don't accept first payment, question the fact that you have seen similar cars on autotrader at a higher price.

Modifications - did you declare these? ( your co may be taking these off value if you didn't - and even though BMW "extras" they would still need to be mentioned when you had the original quote)

Challange this, most of the time with certain companys they will come back with a second offer.

[boo_kitty10]

the extras were declared, ive looked on parkers guide, glasses guide, capp guide and theyve all come back with three valuations at bottom i should be getting a least £4500 and highest of £8000 figure, my car was in immaculate conditon but cis are saying it has been badly damaged before and fixed in a poor repair but i did not know this and therefore dont know what to do i bought it hpi clear and its never gave me any problems in the time ive had it apart from now when i had tis accident which wasnt even my fault.
i rang bmw garage where my car is at and they said cis is taking the mick out of you by offering you that ridiculous amount - im at a loss and dont know what to do, im certaintly not accepting £2100 for my car-no way

[cazzaswfc]

Complain, as stated before most co always come back with a 2nd ( and normally higher offer)

[boo_kitty10]

ive spent all day arguing with him on the phone and all ive hd back is wee will be issuing you with a cheque for £2123 which we believe is a reasonalbe price for your car and its condition it will be salvaged as we categorised it cat b which means its beyond repair we will be notifying accidnt exchange of us issuing a cheque and if they choose to let you continue having the hire car then we will dispute paying for it as theres no need for you to conntinue having it after we pay you the cheque i told him under no circumstances will i be accepting the cheque so dont waste ur time posting it but he wouldnt listen so what can i do now

[Bernie_the_Bolt]

Forget the phone. Write to them asking them to put their valuation in writing, to provide evidence of their allegation of prior damage badly repaired and evidence that their valuation represents a true indemnity (ie examples of comparable cars at that price).

Tell them that unless and until they do you are in dispute over their valuation.

[boo_kitty10]

they said they'd pay for an independant engineer to go out and value my car i said no thanks coz your trying to rip me off, i'll get bmw to do me a valuation of my car and i'll look in the auto trader and get back to you he said ok but ur car is not worth what you think it is, maybe it has been damaged before im not saying it hasnt but when i had it it was fine and ive neva had no problems with it so how is this my fault the man said before u spent £9000 on a car why didnt you think about getting aa or rac to check your car over they would have told you not buy it - what the hells that got to do with anything now its irrelevant, so if i write that to them what will happen coz at the minute he says hes sending me that cheque for £2123 and i have to accept is full settlement or pre instalment and im not willing to accept it as either i want full true payment for my car

[Darkangelsdelite]

I'd have still agreed to have the independent engineers report done as well as getting bmw to do one and everyone else you've mentioned. The more opinions you have to back up your case, the more ammo you have to negotiate with CIS. It sounds like the claims advisor you're dealing with is being a complete arse!
As suggested above, I'd suggest you no longer carry on with verbal communication and ask for everything to be put in writing, including any evidence they have to support their allegations your car was previously involved in an accident.
The thing that still confuses me it that you had an HPI check done when you bought the car, and this showed as clear. Usually any claims/repairs etc will show up cos its linked to the ABI.
Main thing to remember is not to give up, no matter what.

Hope this helps


DA

[gizmo111]

I don't know about the nitty gritty of getting the car valued, but if the cheques for 2123 turns up in fulland final settlement, do not cash it send it straight back special delivery with a note saying why you are rejecting it. Cashing a cheques offered in F&F could seriously jeopardise any further dispute you have with the co.

[boo_kitty10]

anyone got an email address so i can email you a picture of my car and you can see for yourself how the car looks and how ridiculous there offer is

[Pat-Uk]

Hi


Agree to an independent engineer, and insist YOU choose the engineer.

[boo_kitty10]

just an update-i have agreed to the independant engineers report and after pats advice i contacted accident exchange to send an rngineer who told me id have to pay for it so i then contacted bmw garage where my car is at present and are alot more helpful and asked them if they could recommend an engineer which they have done so he is going to do a report on my car for £75 which i have to pay, i contacted cis and told them what i was doing and they're reply was thats fine but we are still issuing a cheque for £2123 and u have to accept that as interim payment and return the courtesy car which i told him im not willing to do as i want to buy a car like the one i had and by sending me that amount i wont be able to do so so until they send me a reasonable payment for my car i will not be returning the courtesy and he replied then we will dispute paying for it as you'll no longer need it, they're so rude - can they do that, he said this dispute could take ages and we are not paying for a hire car for that long

[Pat-Uk]

You need to check the Terms and Conditions of the policy with regard to Courtesy cars, many insurers state that once an offer has been made you have X amount of days in which to return the car.

The down side to this, is that even if the offer is unreasnoable the countdown starts.

If they insist on sending you the £2123 then make sure that it is clearly marked as an interim payment only and get them to add the £75 valuation on top.

If the new valuation shows the car to be worth considerably more than their offer you will have a valid argument when it comes to them contesting the extended courtesy car hire.

When you took out your policy, did you take out the legal protection ??

[boo_kitty10]

yes i did but this claim is being dealt with bmw as if you have a bmw car they can deal with everything for you so thats what i did, i did notify my insurance company that someone had gone into the back of my car though and let them know it was being dealt with by bmw which they was fine with bmw then put me thorugh to accident exchange who got the bmw courtesy car to me and towed mine away, etc.
The second engineer insturcted by me said he will have his report done by the end of this week and he will email it to me so once i have this do i then ring cis and send them a copy of the report what if they still reufse to pay more, or just offer me another stupid price like £3300 or something, what do i do then?

[Pat-Uk]

You should still be able to use your legal insurance if you need it to claim back any extras.

I also drive a 325i BMW which is only marginally newer than yours, and I was hit up the back end a year ago, I just insisted that BMW did the work, but left the insurers to deal with the claim.

The optional extras, were they fitted by BMW at the factory as an option pack ?? If so then they will not be classed as "extra value items" Stupid I know but thats how it works.

You should be able to get the minimum parkers valuation, and your assesser will use that a s a guide, so if the car really is as good as you say it was, then you have nothing to worry about.

The good thing about independent valuations is they are not trying to save the insurers money, so are usualy extremely fair

[boo_kitty10]

thats why i phoned bmw coz i wanted my car fixed by bmw, car extras are what the previous owner had done to the car hence why i paid the price i did, cant wait till this is over its stressing me out i wish theyd just fix my car and give it me back

[Conniff]

I believe what insurance companies do is tantamount to fraud. They will accept your valuation of the car and quote you a premium for that value, but they wont check it out and say 'sorry but that car is only valued at £xx'. Then one week later they will not pay out saying the car is only valued as £xx lower

It's about time they made things clear. At the time of requesting a quote they have the true (Parkers) price and should tell you "we can only insure that car for a value of £xxx", but they don't, they agree and take the premiums.

Of course there are agreed value insurance companies who will give a quote for the agreed value of the car.