I was in Tesco petrol station when someone crashed into the side of my car.

The TP appologised to me and my boyfriend and admitted she didn't look properly before pulling away from the pump.

I contacted my insurance co to notify them of the incident as did the TP.

Since then my car has been assessed by my insurance companies engineer who has reported that the car "appears" to have had the suspension modified. I have owned the car since 2001 and never had any adjustments made to the car. Because of this, the insurance company want me to pay an additional £121 premium and have increased my excess from £350 to £800!

I have closed my claim for the time as I am not prepared to pay £800 excess, why have my insurance company made it this difficult for me when the liability lies with the TP?

I don't know how to prove that i was unaware of this so called modification. I'm not knowledgeable about cars and wouldn't know where to start!

Have you asked them what adjustments have been made to the car since you took out the policy with them???AS their are none.

And also aske them to show them to what differences their are between the delcoration you made when the policy was taken out and between the assesor(?) and the policy now.

I rerfused to pay my excess when hit by a third party last Jan see post problems with endsleigh insurance(still ongoing) and tell them that it was the third parties fault get the third to admit it and your insurance should claim it back from the 3rd party.

Did you buy the car 2nd hand?

Could it have been modified by the previous owner?

Insurers should only have an issue with this if it has been modified not if it just appears to have been modified.

Thanks for the reply, I did buy the car second hand, it was 2 years old and had one previous owner before me. It is possible that it could have been modified before I bought it but I was not told so by the main dealer. I am getting nowhere fast with this company...I have had to re-open the claim whilst the liability issue is sorted out.

Have you asked the dealer to confirm whether it had been modified?

Have you not considered contacting the third party's insurance company direct to make a third party claim directly with them. If their insured has told them what has happened and accept liability, you won't have to pay a penny and the insurer will more than likely instruct their own garage to repair your vehicle.

The OPs insurer will still expect to be paid additional premiums for any modifications. The claim has nothing to do with it.

I contaced the OP insurer but they are disputing liability for the accident and therefore not able to deal directly with me?

I tried to speak with the dealer but as i bought the car more than 8 years ago they cannot confirm!

Still not heard from either insurance company....

Claim through your Legal Expenses insurance if you have this additional cover on your policy. The Legal Expenses cover will provide the cost of a solicitor to pursue your claim.

As Gyzmo said, the issue isn't the claim, its with a suspected modification to the vehicle which allegedly hasn't been disclosed to the insurer.

All that's happened is that rather than void the policy, privilege have amended the policy to include the fact that the vehicle has been modified (lowered suspension) and then applied the relevant terms (the £450 compulsory XS) and then asked you for an additional premium to cover the change in the risk.

All of which they are within their rights to do. They are also within their rights to delay the claim until the issue has been settled.

It really comes down to whether the car is modified or not.

If it is, then you don't really have much choice other than to accept the new terms of the policy, pay the additional premium and get the claim sorted out as you should have disclosed the modification to the insurer when you took the policy out.

In the long run it sounds like you should get your XS back from the other parties insurer anyway.

Hope this helps

D.A