Hi there,

We had an accident in our fully comp covered car back in August 2006 where as I was driving down the motorway the bonnet flew up and cracked my windscreen and did all sorts of other damage to the car to boot but luckily nobody was hurt.

My insurance policy was due to expire in the September and we took a month to deliberate whether we wanted to put in a claim or not as we were not sure of the extent of the damage at the time, I did inform the insurance company of the accident as soon as it happened though.

In the September my insurance policy needed renewing, I did not ask to renew as we had decided to claim at this stage and our car was a right off but it rolled on automatically it seems and they continued to take direct debits from my account.

When we put our claim in we got a cheque from their customer service department immediately for £117 which they said was due to our no longer needing the policy to cover installments already made.

We then put our claim in in the October and we only heard from them in January after much chasing as to what offer they were going to make us on our car as they said it was a right off.

The lady on the phone said she could not find our car anywhere to put a value on it and asked us what we expected, we said £2200 and she said that she could not offer more than £1080 then and there and to get more we would have to supply some adverts of similar cars to prove its worth.

I found a very similar car to ours by return and sent the information to her to prove the cars value.

We then received a cheque in the post from them for just over £500!

When I queried this I was told that it was £1080 less my excess (agreed) and the remainder of my insurance policy for the year? They had taken off a whole years premium that they new I did not need??

I then got a letter from them saying a cheque was in the mail to me for £830 which was their valuation less my excess and that I could bank this without prejudice whilst they waited on my proof that the car was worth more money.

I received a cheque for a much lower value and wrote to query this.

I then got a letter back with reference to my car stating that they would only pay me more if I can supply them with an advert of a car with exactly the same spec, age and mileage?

I wrote back saying that finding a car advert that meets all of this criteria would be impossible and therefore they were asking an unfair requirement of me, I pointed out again that I had supplied an advert of a very similar car and was asking for less than that was valued at anyway.

After no response i am now following their complaints procedure but still have no cheque for at least £830, I only have a cheque for £500 which I have not banked in principle.

Anybody else suffered a similar issue? Any tips on how to beat these insurance !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok let me get this right here.

Your claim was made on last years insurance, but they have deducted the premium for this years insurance??? They cannot do that, advise that you had no insurable interest on the vehicle for this year, and they should refund all the money (Although the car was still yours it had no value - an item needs a value o be insured)

If they deducted the remainder of last years insurance from the settlement cheque you need to query the amount they refunded you against the amount they have deducted. If there is any difference you need to query this. If it is the same amount they can do this.

You also need to explain to them that they are being unreasonable asking for a vehicle with the same details.

Granted, your advert should be a vehicle of the same year/plate and make model (trim is not necessary), the similar mileage is recomended. However, if you find a vehicle with substantially more / less than your car, calculations can be made on Glass's guide to adjust. Do you know the glasses guide (Retail and Trade) prices?

Depending on the accuracy of the adverts you sent them you may have a case to go to the Ombudsman, on the basis they are being unreasonable.

Doris

What car is it? What year and what mileage. If you tell me this I can check a glasses guide for you on monday when Im back at work and let you know the retail/trade prices.

I had exactly the same thing happen to me! They wrote off my car, denied receiving documents, didn't record information in my file, denied I'd told them about speeding points and finally insulted me with a cheque that was less than 25% of the cra's value and less than the policy cost for that year! They also cancelled the policy instantly without informing me and left me driving my husband's car uninsured (I thought I'd still got 3rd party on another car cover).

I spent hours on the telephone shouting, asking nicely, being reasonable and trying to sort this out. Ultimately it seems despite my being a loyal customer for 7 years I'm supposed to be a liar. I'd suggest you keep records of who you speak to and when, including what they tell you, send everything recorded delivery and to a named manager, and finally hassle them constantly because it seems to be the only way they'll listen - they finally caved in slightly and added another 20% to the settlement, but had the cheek to deduct £100 for them losing my MOT, which they said they couldn't check online for because they'd lost my registration document!!!!!!!

Good luck because you'll need it!!

1. How could they say that the value should be no more than £1080 when they admitted that they had no details of the car?

2. How can they say that they have no details of the car when they are insuring one?

3. Why are they deducting premium for a cancelled policy instead of putting it on the previous year's policy which is (presumably) fully paid?

Those are the questions you need to ask. I suggest you do it in writing and mark it as a complaint.

I had an accident on my third party insurance, someone went into the back corner of my car, they made me a cash offer plus the return of my written off car, which I accepted by taking the car back and selling it, and now they are saying they may be withdrawing it because the third party insurance is disputing liability. Do they have a right to do this, seeing as I have already taken back the car and sold it?

If you don't have it in writing from the third party or their Insurers that they are liable 100% for the accident damage, then yes they can withdraw the offer. By the sounds of it, you were made on offer on the assumption that the third party driver was liable for the accident. For whatever reason they have changed their minds or their Insurers have.

I would suggest that you make sure whoever is dealing with the claim finds out the reasons for the dispute over liability, so you can challenge. If you have the legal cover on the policy, this may prove useful.

Back corner, presumably they are alleging you cut in front of them?