On Friday, my car made a noise, loads of smoke, and engine lost power, as I was overtaking at the time I managed to safely get my car to a stop, turned off the engine and got out of the car smartish as it appeared the smoke was increasing at an alarming rate.

On the telephone to my breakdown service (provided by the insurers), along comes traffic police who goes to the car turns the engine and again the smoke starts billowing out - decides the car is on fire and calls for the fire service - he tells the recovery service that the police would be recovering under "Police Powers" as the car was a hazard on a busy road. One lane of road is closed by the police, three police vehicles and two fire tenders later, the police organise their recovery service to take my car away. According to the fire service there is minimal damage to the car.

As you can imagine this was an alarming and very scary experience, but I thought I have comprehensive cover so it will all be alright - oh no it is not alright because the car did not get burnt out, and because there was not traffic accident, we have to pay the storage charges and the recovery charges back to our garage. At the moment we do not know how badly damaged the car is, but if it was engine failure we are covered by the warranty - only had the car less then a month, so far have paid out over £400 just to get it back to where we want it and then have to pay to get the insurance assessor to look at it. Now why do we pay for Fully Comprehensive Insurance? In all the years that we have been driving we have made one claim, and used the recovery service on two occassions. Does not seem at all fair does it.

Just venting as I doubt that any one can make the insurance company change their minds, it appears to be all there in black and white, one is covered for road traffic accidents and burnt out car following a fire, nothing more.

Now they(More Than) will not even allow our recovery service recover the car for us. I am getting madder by the minute.

Hi there,

It sounds like your insurers considers this to be a breakdown which would not be covered.

What you need to establish is what the problem is and to see if the warranty covers it. I would suggest that you get an opinion from the garage to which the car was recovered to and in the meantime contact the place where you bought it from for their advice. From what you have said, you should be covered by them.

I am basing all this on the assumption that it is a used car we are talking about?

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Hi there,

 

It sounds like your insurers considers this to be a breakdown which would not be covered.

 

What you need to establish is what the problem is and to see if the warranty covers it. I would suggest that you get an opinion from the garage to which the car was recovered to and in the meantime contact the place where you bought it from for their advice. From what you have said, you should be covered by them.

 

I am basing all this on the assumption that it is a used car we are talking about?

last paragraph is a true assumption, unfortunately the car is currently just in a recovery yard that the police insisted it go to, and as a breakdown my insurance supposedly covers me for recovery to wherever I want it to go, excpet the insurance people say that I am not allowed to use them. Any way I have now paid for the storage fees - almost £400 since Friday and the people who we bought the car from are going to recover it.

As the car caught fire, surely that is covered under the insurance? - that box is certainly ticked.

If my recovery company via the insurance had recovered my car they would have taken it to wherever I wanted - they did last time. However because the Police intervened it has become incredibly convoluted so if this happens again what do I do? and how does one stop the Police from intervening?

I dont understand the difference between recovering my car from the roadside or from a recovery yard that the police sent it to, and why did I have to pay such an enourmous sum of money for the recovery to the police authorised yard - the Police and the owners of the Police recovery yard are adament that the insurers should have paid them, they said its the first time for a long time where the owner of the car has had to pay.

And as More Than have made us go round in circles and jump through so many hoops they now seem to have decided that its nothing to do with them, and it appears that both the insurance and the recovery service are worthless bits of paper, but we still have to pay the exhorbitant cost to remain legal.

Which part(s) of the car caught fire and have you had a report from the fire service or police confirming this?

It seems the police themselves have put you in a bit of a prediciment here.

Engine caught fire - the only thing that I have from the police and fire so far is verbal that I was lucky as there is minimal damage - but have telephoned the policeman who helped and a report is going/has gone to the insurers direct from police. - And the insurers have telephoned me from UK after all the fuss I made and have told me to send in the receipts for the recovery and they will reimburse fully, and that they are investigating what has happened. So I suppose thats a result although will not hold my breath until money in bank etc.

Good, lets hope so. Please let us know the outcome.

OK - update

Yesterday the insurance assesors finally arrived - told the garage - its a write off but its the drivers fault because she should have stopped as soon as she heard the bang, now I was doing almost 70 in the overtaking lane of a dual carriage way, I thought I did pretty well getting to the side of the road with no visibility due to the smoke without hitting anything. The engine has seized up apparently, but the police started it when they came along as they wanted it to further off the road, admittedly he turned it off pretty quickly as the smoke started again. Now the garage where it is has had a telephone call telling him that the wreckers are coming to get it on Monday, this is without us being told anything by the insurance company. The girl I spoke to at the insurance company didnt seem to understand or know anything so she went away to speak to her supervisor - she hasnt phoned back yet that ws a couple of hours ago.

more information - the insurance company have not released the car for being wrecked or any other reason. They have not had the assessors report. They say that until we agree terms with them the car has to stay where it is.

It appears the assessors have taken it upon themselves to have the car towed away.

I do not understand any of this.

We have written a formal note to the garage where it is at the moment telling them they may not allow it to be moved without our express permission.

Any other comments, ideas. I cant claim to understand any of this not having had contact with insurance companies except to pay them premiums since 1973 when I was burgled twice within a few months.

If your car is a total loss it needs moving as soon as possible from where it is now to a breakers yard, the garage where it is now will be charging storage charges, the assessor was following a standard procedure in arranging for it to be moved. Usually what happens is that the breakers yard will store the car free of charge until you agree a value with your insurers and then they get the salvage, this minimises costs.

If you have told the garage not to allow your car to be moved then you might find that you are now liable for any storage costs that the garage charges.

There isn't anything else you can do until the insurers come back to you and tell you if they will deal with the claim and make you an offer, or tell you that you are not covered. Until you have a reply from them in writing we cannot advise you further.

Mossy

the garage are not charging us.

the garage are not charging us.

That's most unusual for a garage not to send in a bill for storage charges when a vehicle is a total loss.

Post back when you have some firm answers from your insurers

Mossy

In the meantime try to get a copy of the assessors report on the reason why the engine seized. Sadly it looks like this one is heading the way of mechanical failure, have you been in touch with the dealer you bought it from?

kwaks

thats where the car is at the moment. Been told that the insurers should be in touch by midweek.

Not seen the assessors report, but been told that although somthing clearly hit the sump and caused it to crack, the fact that I did not stop immeditely but took the time to bring the car to the side of the road out of the traffic it then becomes my fault. The assessors seem to imply that it would have been preferable for me to have been the cause of some further traffic accident and maybe got myself killed into the bargain - how many people would stop dead on a dual carriage way if a piece of "shrapnell" hits the bottom of their car? Surely that is outside the bounds of reasonable?

Any way will let you know where we go when I hear.

First point, Recovery. You have the right to choose who does the recovery. You have already paid for this in your policy.The police get a throw back from their police contract recovery scheme for every vehicle they get recovered. They state this not profit as it goes towards policing costs. Bet they didn’t tell you that.

You were already on the phone to your own breakdown service so should have continued. If you were advised otherwise by the attending police then ‘Make an official complaint’. You might find your recovery costs disappear or reduce dramatically. The Police Recovery Scheme is only supposed to be used if a), you do not have recovery/cover, b), your own agent will be excessively long in arriving causing danger to other road users by your vehicle being in a dangerous area/position.

Ask your own breakdown service provider for name & address of the contracted garage that would have attended. If it’s same as the police contractor, as is very often, then no extra time was gained in using the police contractor. A good point to mention in complaint. Request all times as recorded by police on their PNC system too.

Second point, Claim for damage or fire. Any part that is on fire is a claim covered by fire. Any part involved in any collision is damage.

You have said the sump hit something by the report. Ask for a copy of the report. Do not let the insurance company fob you off, you have a right to all reports including notes made call handlers. In hitting the sump this is a claim for a road traffic accident (RTA) causing damage. Or RTI as the police now call it, (Road Traffic Incident).

Did you make a claim over the phone? If yes ask for details recorded by the call handler for the insurance company. They may have recorded it on tape but written things down wrong. Make sure they have it reported correctly that you were travelling at 70mph, so stopping sooner was not an option. The assessors were not at the scene of the ‘accident’ so their assumptions are not acceptable, only the facts.

Be prepared to take your insurance company to court for all costs involved if they try to remove things from the claim like recovery & storage. It's all one claim.

Do not interfere with the removal of the car to a breakers yard or chosen place of storage by the insurance company, but put in writing to your insurance company that the claim is not yet settled so the car remains your property until it is settled in full. That the car will remain available for inspection by an independent assessor if need be so will not be destroyed until settlement payout agreed.

If the insurance company start to be difficult make a request in writing for the ‘Whole file’ to be copied and passed to you by return post. This request generally gets some attention of a senior employee. You have a right to this information and will need it to sue your insurance company. The courts do not like insurance companies not honouring their obligations. I won my claim back in ’98 with full costs too. (Privilege ins, Leeds).

Most times the insurance company sees sense before you take it to court.

Good luck.

As not heard anything yet - tlephoned More Then, they implied that a settlement offer was going to be made and they put me through to their settlement team, the chap there was ever so helpful gave me his direct number, then started to to look on the screen, nothing at all about us. So he tells me he will go investigate and come back, phones back 20 minutes later and tells me that I have to talk to Hooper's as they have been trying to contact my husband, who they will never get hold off as he is working in Tanzania at the moment, so I tlephone the number given, firstly, on their holding message they say they will not talk to anyone except the instructing party who I assume are the Insurance Company, any way i hold on in the hope of talking to some one, one hour and 5 minutes later I give up, hate to think what the phone bill will be and of course tying up my work phone not a good idea, and am no further forward, have emailed them, no sign of life there. So now looking for addresses and people to escalate this up to.

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Isnt this false advertising? they have done as little as possible and now will not talk to me.

Have you done what Chiro suggested? Also I would be considering seeking the advice from a solicitor who specializes in motor claims.

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Hi Sailor Sam

Am just going through what Chiro Suggested and am about to start the procedure as no one is willing to talk to us at More Than about anything. Total wall of silence.

They have settled in full - all out of pocket expenses since the incident - with an effusive apology - couldnt ask for more - I am still in shock at the complet turnaround.

Great news, shame they had to cause you all that stress. I would remember this when your re-newal date comes round!

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just a little addition - we have our cheques, all banked.

Today the engineer who was supposed to bargain with us about the value of the car telephoned. He was astounded that the the insurance company had settled at the full purchase price we paid in December and he was upset that they had not told him. Now looking for another car.

That's good news. I'm glad it all worked out OK in the end.

Good luck car hunting.

(Be cautious as to the V5 [problem], needs a proper check although the real chance of being caught out is minimal.)

believe it or not despite what I was told on the telephone - its not finished, now arguing about the hire car - taking me round in circles, they should have provided me with a hire car within 2 hours of my telling them that the car had caught fire, but as the people on the call centre phones decided that it was not an insured loss, no hire car.

We had fully comp insurance, no exclusions just a £150 excess. Of course no hire car if the car is a total write off, now nobody knew this until the assessors looked at the car and put in his report. I have no idea when the assessor put in his report, he looked at the car on the 29th January a full 11 days after the fire, it took me another 7 days to find out that it had been declared a write off and full recompense offered and accepted on the phone, this included the cost of the car that I had hired so that I could keep taking my daughter to the hospital ( during this period my daughter was seriously ill having been admitted to hospital from dialysis unit).

So now have escalated this to the complaints department as I feel as if the company are trying to wriggle out of it again, and under the total loss scenario, but that still leaves at least 11 days where we should have been provided with a hire car.

How does anyone ever get full satisfaction from an insurance company?

Just send them a letter stating they have ‘x’ number of days before legal action.

Put in the letter that the claim is for the whole amount as the hire car is part of the claim. Make sure you mention you have been reasonable, and that you want the whole file re the claim by return post. If the file is not received by return post you will start proceedings and point out this fact has been ignored on the claim form.

Express your concern as to 'the ability to comprehend the matter' for person(s) you have been dealing with, and that you would like the name of the senior manager for this claim by return post as well.

Someone will not want their name being issued to you if it goes to court and will start things going correctly.

Or else be prepared to go to court and reject any part settlement in writing explaining why. Try not to have any further dealing with them over the phone. If they make an offer over the phone tell them that until it is received in writing you cannot discuss it further, and ask for their supervisor each time you talk.

It's hard but this is deliberate to wear you out and make you accept less than a fair settlement amount. You need to put it in writing as you cannot be sure what they are noting down when you telephone. This will avoid any such errors.