Hi all can someone please help:eek: . Whilst travellling to work i unfortunatley hit a badger in my peugeot 306 2002 plate, it has caused damage to front bumper and radiator and ive been told repairs amount to just over £1000. My insurance company who i wont name just yet say my claim in fraudlent as are saying my car has a modified bumper and trims!!! ive only had this car for 6months and previous to this it was owned by Avon & Somerset constabulory, am am very sure they would not of modified there cars with extra trims or bumpers lol so how do i go about proving its not modified ? all advice would be greatly received as am at my witts end they have only given me 7 days to reply or they will terminate my policy.

ANYONE:eek:

how do there know its modified? have there inspected it

And it is a very bold of them to say "fraud" without any proof. Many people fail to declare modifications, usually because they do not know the car has been modified. Whether they should or not is a different matter. If the undisclosed modification is the sole basis of the accusation of fraud, then they are totally out of order.

What they should have asked is whether there has been modifications, what you know about them and why you didn't inform them. If you did not know, then standard practice is to ask for the difference between what they have charged and what they would have charged had they known about the modifications.

What is far from standards practice is requiring an explanation within 7 days or cancelling the policy. The FOS would love that one.

You could insist that the insurer demonstrate how it is modified and why they believe fraud is involved.. You could also contact the seller to ask for documentation or alternatively get an expert to write a report.

the repair garage sent images of the car and swift insurance are saying the bumper and trims are a modification, however i no its not true as a new phase of 306's came out late 1999 why they have not recognised this i dunno:( i am just unsure of which route to take now eg go to peugeot ? i havnt really got the funds for an expert report i didnt think or expect to have such an bad experiance my car has been off the road now for 22days they supplied a hire car for 14 days and took it back ! apparentley in my comprehensive insurance am only allowed a hire car for 21days a year so they kept the remaning 7 days just incase i need 1 for remaning term of policy:mad: now am carless and saying wont repair car!

Maybe some car savvy person can come along and post their opinions as regards to the mods, but in the meantime I would say to the garage what you have said here.

If they are found to have unecessarily delayed the repair of the car, you will be able to claim off them the difference between how long it has taken and how long it have taken were it not for their querying.

I'm not a car savvy person but I know a couple of good forums you are very likely to find some details specifically relating to your car. I own a Peugeot 306 too and have found this one very useful in the past: www.pug306.net. Also try forum.rac.co.uk, and go to the technical questions bit, there are plenty of extremely knowledgeable car people roaming those forums, just like there are plenty of extremely knowledgeable legal experts roaming this forum!

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Mods: sorry if my leading the OP to those exterior websites is not acceptable, feel free to remove this if that's the case. I am not in any way employed etc. by those companies and as you will see from my other posts, I am not someone who 'advertises' things like that, but I feel in this case the OP will definitely get an answer on especially the first forum, which will help her with this problem she has:)

If you bought through a broker, make him earn his fee and chase up the claims handler on your behalf.

If you bought it direct, speak with the claims handler direct (be nice) and find out exactly what the issue is. The fact that it is potentially modified shouldn't really make a material difference in your case, unless the standard bumper would have been high enough to clear the badger with no damage (unlikely). This issue also doesn't affect the claim for your radiator.

Modifications are usually taken into account in terms of theft, not badgers, i.e. a car with nice alloys is more likely to been nicked or at least the wheels are.

it really should make no difference if the car was modified, its the fact that you were unaware etc as you had not added these on or made aware they were added extras etc, its a crap question how would joe public know what a modified skirt was etc. Id take it all the way

I see our insurance company rip people of for hundreds & hundreds of pounds in back premiums because they were not aware of non standard alloys fitted or skirts or fluffy dice etc. Even if the customers argument is they didnt know it cuts no ice, they either pay or we wont deal with the claim.

Its a relevant question that the insurer is entitled to ask. It reflects the risk the carry and they are entitled to the premium they would charge for that risk.

It is not unfair and not a ripoff.

he has answered fairly to the question he said no, but its take a motor engineer to say otherwise, is that fair on the customer?

I think the question they ask is " has the car been modified from its original manufacture including any optional extras" Some other companys may tweek this.

If asked this i would answer "not that i`am aware of" leave the ball in their court.

i have added a baby seat and air freshner to my car,shall i call my ins company?

But it is for the insured to know the facts, of the proposed risk, not the insurer. On a technical strict point, they could sue for breach of contract. However, guidelines state that the additional premium be charged. The only time you would get aay with not paying additional premiums would be if not asked, but that is unlikely.

With respect, this is a well founded practice and accepted. I suggest you look at general principles of insurance on this matter. The FOS website will probably have some information.

But it is for the insured to know the facts, of the proposed risk, not the insurer. On a technical strict point, they could sue for breach of contract. However, guidelines state that the additional premium be charged. The only time you would get aay with not paying additional premiums would be if not asked, but that is unlikely.

 

With respect, this is a well founded practice and accepted. I suggest you look at general principles of insurance on this matter. The FOS website will probably have some information.

what i was trying to point out is that its always in the favour of the ins companys as they can call on motor engineers etc while poor joe public has to rely on the ad they saw in the paper ,or the spam from the dealer or have at least some sort of knowledge etc to spot non standard alloys or trims etc:)

Anyone can have the car looked at by someone in the know. It's just that they choose not to. More fool them.

yeah, stupid customers ,more fool them.

I don't know whether that was meant to be sarcastic or not but I stand by my comment.

I will be looking to buy my first car as soon as I get a job offer, and I will behave as a responsible consumer. I will have someone check the car for me, I will check documents, HPI etc and make sure there are no nasty surprises.

Not doing so is simply, in my view, stupidity. I have come across too many people to mention in this scenario who say, when told the car is modified and additional premiums need to be paid "Well how was I supposed to know?". Well, I think the bling nature of the car (aerofoils, obviously non-standard alloys, windows with tints blocking 99.9% light coming through etc etc) might be a start, but you could also ask a few questions and do a bit of research beforehand rather than just buying it without checking anything.

I don't think it is too much to ask for a person to know what it is they are getting insured before getting a quote.

i was just making the point that todays cars come with alloys,trims,skirts etc as standard or optional extras, unless you can plainly see or are told about any mods etc you would have to be prepared to pay an engineer to check over every inch of the car (bodywork,lights,interior,engine) think these inspections cost around £200?

How many cars you would look at or test drive etc before you buy? could cost a bit if you want the full history on a vehicle.