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Hi,

 

I made a claim with my insurance company 3 and a half weeks ago because my car was set on fire while being inspected for repair in a garage. The police have been and are conducting enquiries. Meanwhile my insurer has advised that my case has been passed to their verification department, indicating that they *may* pursue the garage for this claim.

 

My question is this: will the dispute between the garage and my insurer have to be settled before they will agree a settlement on my claim?

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Hi,

 

I made a claim with my insurance company 3 and a half weeks ago because my car was set on fire while being inspected for repair in a garage. The police have been and are conducting enquiries. Meanwhile my insurer has advised that my case has been passed to their verification department, indicating that they *may* pursue the garage for this claim.

 

My question is this: will the dispute between the garage and my insurer have to be settled before they will agree a settlement on my claim?

 

No, your Insurers should deal with the fire claim under your policy and then try to reclaim any outlay from the garage. BUT there may be a delay while your Insurers find out what happened. There shouldn't really be any delay, as you have fire cover under the policy, so there is no reason for Insurers to await police reports etc. But the Insurers often want to obtain such reports before they proceed. Up to you to question any delays, if this happens.

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Thanks. Do you think my insurer may try to reduce my settlement amount from its Market value on the premise that it was in for repair?

 

Depends. I suspect that the Insurers will consider the condition of the car at the time of the loss, when they calculate the market value. It is up to you to check the calculation that the Insurers come up with and to challenge if necessary.

 

Read through the FOS notes on this.

 

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html

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Having just concluded my interview, my insurers were definitely more interested in the condition of my car than anything else. At the time of the fire, the car's engine was dismantled to a degree because of the inspection required, in order to establish the problem. I was advised by my engineer that I could opt for a quick fix, but he also recommended sourcing a new engine with much lower mileage to prolong the longevity of the car. In my interview, my insurer asked me to provide: any spare keys, a copy of the MOT, my sales invoice from the dealer showing the purchase price, my driving license, the car's log book.

 

So, two questions: does all of this sound in order? And can the assessor insist that the settlement should be based on my car needing a new engine, or can I challenge this by claiming that I had the option of a quick fix? It is a ten year old car.

 

I'm also confused as to why my insurer can base a settlement based on current condition (ie dismantled) when I drove (a fully operative vehicle) to the garage for an inspection.

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For a 10 year old car, the engine will be a significant part of the value of the car, so its condition prior to the fire is very relevant. If the Insurers are advised by the garage that the engine had major problems and needed replacement, then you might be offered a very low settlement. On the other hand, if the garage advised that the engine was stripped down to look for a problem, but the engine was working prior to it going into the garage, you might be offered a better settlement.

 

I am not sure whether speaking to the garages manager would be a good idea or not. The Insurers may have made enquiries already with them about the condition of the car and how the car came to be damaged in their care. If there was any negligence on the part of the garage, then you speaking to them might cause a problem, if you or the Insurers were to take legal action against them. It is possible that in the event of you being unable to replace the car using the Insurers settlement, that you might want to take legal action (small court claim )against the garage. If the fire looks like a case of negligence, on the balance of probability, I would have thought you would have a reasonable chance of success with such action. Having said this, you don't say how the car came to be set on fire. Did the garage have a break in ? Were other cars also set on fire ? If it was just your car, could a mistake by the garage be the cause of the fire ?

 

As for the interview and requesting of documents, this sounds like it was normal.

Edited by unclebulgaria67

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It is certainly negligence on the part of the garage since it was parked outside of their yard unlocked when it was set on fire (my car was the only one set on fire). Which means that my insurer will most probably try to claim from their insurance. And this obviously means that it is in the garage's interest to devalue the car as much as possible to make the claim against them less significant.

Edited by WeeRascal
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It is certainly negligence on the part of the garage since it was parked outside of their yard unlocked when it was set on fire (my car was the only one set on fire). Which means that my insurer will most probably try to claim from their insurance. And this obviously means that it is in the garage's interest to devalue the car as much as possible to make the claim against them less significant.

 

See how the claim goes. You might be faced with having to consider legal action against the garage for the difference in value between the Insurers settlement and the cost of replacing the car, any excess for fire claims, plus any reasonable costs you have incurred as a result of not having a car. If you have any legal cover under your Car Insurance, you should speak to them about this. Sometimes the Insurers legal expenses is just part of the Insurers claims unit, so they can be quite dismissive of people wanting to take action, unless they can make money from the situation. If this is the case, you might have to consider taking your own action.

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Thanks. I guess I also have the option to challenge the claim and take it up with the FOS...

 

Yes providing you don't mind waiting. Insurers have 2 months to deal with any complaint before you can go to the FOS. The FOS are currently taking 6 months or more to look at most complaints.

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It is now a week and a day since my interview with my Insurer, at which point they said a letter would be sent asking for specific items such as MOT etc noted above. I have not received any letter and I am now into my 6th week of no settlement since my claim. To say this is frustrating would be a huge understatement. Is there anything I can do to get them to speed up the process? Would a letter from my lawyer help?

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Up to you whether you mind paying a solicitor a fee for sending a letter. Not sure what they would say to speed matters up. The claim is not exactly that straightforward, so would be expected to take longer.

 

Just give them a phone call Monday to chase up. You might as well just send in the information they need by recorded delivery letter.

We could do with some help from you.

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