Hi everyone, im wondering if anyone could please offer help / guidance on this for me please.

MY car was broken into on the 17th mar this year. Some 'nice' person decided to bend the door over, gain entry via opening the door from the inside, and then steal the cdradio, sat nav, and half a dozen cd's etc. (The only way the alarm would go off, is if the door was opened from the outside without unlocking it first)

I contacted my local police, and got a crime reference number off them, and then contacted hastings. (this had to be done on the monday, as they close on a sunday)

I was told, they will contact an approved repairer, and they would get in touch with me to collect the car.

26th mar, this garage finally come to collect the car, and take it away.

I ring hastings to find out what was going to happen now, and im told i will receive a letter from them stating their findings, and if they are going to repair the car etc.

anyhow to cut a long story short, this letter didnt arrive. Chased hastings up again, and im told, its likely they will write my car off. I would get a letter stating how much their offer would be, they would send a chq off to me, and its then up to me if i decide to accept their offer or not. Yet again this letter did not arrive.

Chased them up again, and im told, yes the car will be wrote off. Their offer is £200 for the car, less £100 excess, less the remaining 2 months insurance premiums. Basically i would get £32 for the car.

Oh, i will also get a maximum of £150 for the sat nav, nothing for the cd's.

I asked well what about the radio?

Do you have receipts for it?

No, im afriad not, as it was a birthday present from the wife a couple of years back, and with it being out of warranty, theres no reason to of kept the receipt.

Well you should of done!

Oh right, well let me ask you this then.. You buy a new washing machine, and 12 months later when its out of warranty, do you keep the receipt?

no i dont.

well why should i then?

you should of done, and because you cant prove what radio was in the car, we wont be paying out for it!!

Even though it states on the policy summary, a max amount of £750 for radio equipment.

I ask them where do they get the amount of £200 from.

It's from the glasses car guide, and done on the make model, age, mileage and condition of the car.

oh right, well ive had my own indepandant valuation, and its come back as £390.

but we use the glasses car guide, adn your car was over the above average mileage and we have knocked off £15 for this.

ermmm.. isnt the average mileage 12k a year?

in which case, its well below. the car is 13 years old, 13*12=156, so it averages at 8700ish a year. It has done 114k, being a diesel, and serviced regularly, it will do another 114k.

sorry your incorrect, the average mileage is dependant on each make / model of vehicle.. now this is a new one on me..

how can i get you to increase your offer?

by providing us with a full service history of the vehicle.

what all 13 years worth?

yes.

now i know your having a laugh, ive had the car 4 years, its been serviced every 6 months by a mate of mine whose a mechanic. Well he would of stamped your book for you.. no he wont, as he isnt a garage. Well he would of given you a invoice, that will do as proof. Sorry its a back hander, therefore no invoices.

Well we will not increase our offer without a full service history from teh entire length of the car.

How can i get a fsh for a car, before i bought it?

you should of been given it when you bought the car...

sheesh now these guys are really p1££ing me off!!

right.. where is my car now, as im going to cancel the claim.

its at a salvage yard.

What??? who gave you permission to take it there, as i know for sure i never!

yes you did when you first contacted us regarding the claim.

News to me, but ill let that one go for now.

how do i go about cancelling the claim, as ill have my car back and get it repaired myself?

..

you need to put it in writing to us. Fine done.

2 days later ring them again, ok, its been in writing, i know you have the email, as it hasnt bounced back.

i want my car back, and i will get it repaired myself. The quote you have been given £585.02 is outrageous, i can go to a scrap yard myself, and get a door for £25.

But your car is a cat c write off. it is deemed to be unroadworthy.

EH?? for a bent door its unroadworthy.. now your really taking the michael

for you to get the car insured again, we would require.. wait for this one..

a vic check to prove the car is the same one as was initially wrote off cost of £26-38

a new mot - even though it was mot'd in jan.

the repair invoice from the garage who will be doing the repair. (you cant have that, as ill be arranging the repair myself)

and we need a engineers report.. what do you need one of those for, and secondly how much is that going to cost me?

this is to prove the car is roadworthy. isnt that what a mot is for??

and the cost of which is likely to be around £150.

right so your telling me, its going to cost me around £250 + the door for me to get my car back again??

yes sir.. also we would require the £82.25 the garage have charged us, when collecting your car. Another charge i didnt know about..

right then, forget the car, forget the claim, forget everything, keep the damn thing, ill leave the entire lot; and get another car, only this time i will not insure it or any other with hastings ever again.

If you want to keep your ncb on another car, we would require payment of the £82.25, which we had to pay out to the garage. Then we have to dispose of the car, and thats another fee we would pass onto you. Also even if we paid out on the car, you would lose your ncb. Even though its protected. ermm why?? the only way you could keep it is to pay us the £82.25!

Take the damn thing to a scrap yard, they will give you £50 for it. But we arent allowed to make a profit on insurance claims.

but you are doing.. how come sir?? (thought that was a nice touch)

right your offering me a paltry 200 for the car, less deductions, im getting 32 out of it, and on top of this you want me to pay you another 82.25, just to keep my ncb. hence your making £50 profit right away..

it doesnt work like that sir.. (yet again that personal touch im loving more and more each time this 'nice person' tells me)

by now, im getting more and more wound up, and just hang up, before i really blow my top..

sorry for this long post, but can anyone please assist / offer help and guidance on this one..

im registered disabled, and need transport to get around. There are buses here, but the bus stop is to far for me to walk due to my disability.

many thanks for anyone reading this war and peace novel.

hope your all having a great day

be safe

nige aka the jgg

Hi

I had my car written off a couple of months ago and managed to get an extra £200 out of the insurance company for it as I was able to prove that I couldn't find a suitable car for what they were offering me. I collected evidence for what people were selling for on Autotrader and so did the assessor. They are supposed to leave you in the same position as you were before the accident happened so if you can't find a similar car in the same condition/mileage etc for what they are offering then tell them. They didn't want the service history either although we did have one. This was Direct Line.

Can't help with the other things. It is a bit of a rip off I'm afraid.

thanks for the reply c4c. In this case, there was no assessor, they just collected the car, and away it went.

This is the 1st time i have ever had to claim on my insurance in 17 years of driving. Naively, i thought that if i didnt contact them about what happened, then sometime in the future, if i did have to claim, it would of gone against me.. how wrong i was to tell them!

I will have a look at the auto trader, and see what they have to offer re the same car etc..

thanks for that, its something i didnt know i could do, to get them, to up the ante as it were.

thanks once again

be safe

nige

Hi everyone, im wondering if anyone could please offer help / guidance on this for me please.

 

MY car was broken into on the 17th mar this year. Some 'nice' person decided to bend the door over, gain entry via opening the door from the inside, and then steal the cdradio, sat nav, and half a dozen cd's etc. (The only way the alarm would go off, is if the door was opened from the outside without unlocking it first)

 

I contacted my local police, and got a crime reference number off them, and then contacted hastings. (this had to be done on the monday, as they close on a sunday)

 

I was told, they will contact an approved repairer, and they would get in touch with me to collect the car.

 

26th mar, this garage finally come to collect the car, and take it away.

 

I ring hastings to find out what was going to happen now, and im told i will receive a letter from them stating their findings, and if they are going to repair the car etc.

 

anyhow to cut a long story short, this letter didnt arrive. Chased hastings up again, and im told, its likely they will write my car off. I would get a letter stating how much their offer would be, they would send a chq off to me, and its then up to me if i decide to accept their offer or not. Yet again this letter did not arrive - They will say they sent it and probably blame the post. Not a lot you can do.

 

Chased them up again, and im told, yes the car will be wrote off. Their offer is £200 for the car, less £100 excess, less the remaining 2 months insurance premiums. Basically i would get £32 for the car - Yeah that is a real annoying one. They can subtract the premium as the risk is underwritten based on a full years premium - if you make a claim which will write your car off they will subtract the remainder of what you owe. It will be in the small print, again nothing you can do.

 

Oh, i will also get a maximum of £150 for the sat nav, nothing for the cd's. There will be a £150 limit on personal possessions in the vehicle and the sat nav more than covers this, this is why there is no offer for the cd's. Again standard on most motor policies.

 

I asked well what about the radio?

Do you have receipts for it?

No, im afriad not, as it was a birthday present from the wife a couple of years back, and with it being out of warranty, theres no reason to of kept the receipt.

Well you should of done!

Oh right, well let me ask you this then.. You buy a new washing machine, and 12 months later when its out of warranty, do you keep the receipt?

no i dont.

well why should i then?

you should of done, and because you cant prove what radio was in the car, we wont be paying out for it!! - It is up to you to prove your loss, however most people have a CD player in the cars these days. They are certainly being very harsh. Do you have an instruction manual or anything else that can show it was yours? If not, get one from somewhere else (but I never said that!) It also might be worth mentioning the cd's you had stolen when you try and speak to them again - why would you have cd's in the car. Also the fact that they know that your car was geniunely broken into (cause they have it) and there is a gap where the stereo is should mean they will honour the claim if you make an official complaint.

 

Even though it states on the policy summary, a max amount of £750 for radio equipment - Yeah again standard see the above and you should get an offer under this section of the policy

 

I ask them where do they get the amount of £200 from.

It's from the glasses car guide, and done on the make model, age, mileage and condition of the car.

oh right, well ive had my own indepandant valuation, and its come back as £390.

but we use the glasses car guide, adn your car was over the above average mileage and we have knocked off £15 for this - If you send them your independent valuation, along with adverts for similar makes and models with similar mileage, they will have look at it again.

 

ermmm.. isnt the average mileage 12k a year?

in which case, its well below. the car is 13 years old, 13*12=156, so it averages at 8700ish a year. It has done 114k, being a diesel, and serviced regularly, it will do another 114k

 

 

sorry your incorrect, the average mileage is dependant on each make / model of vehicle.. now this is a new one on me - sounds like the call centre monkey just wanted rid of you or fancied an argument at this stage. Never heard that one before and been in insurance 10 years

 

how can i get you to increase your offer?

by providing us with a full service history of the vehicle.

what all 13 years worth?

yes.

 

now i know your having a laugh, ive had the car 4 years, its been serviced every 6 months by a mate of mine whose a mechanic. Well he would of stamped your book for you.. no he wont, as he isnt a garage. Well he would of given you a invoice, that will do as proof. Sorry its a back hander, therefore no invoices - Have to take their side on this one I'm afraid, you can't prove it has been regularly serviced and therefore won't win this argument - revert to independent valuation and adverts as above.

 

Well we will not increase our offer without a full service history from teh entire length of the car.

How can i get a fsh for a car, before i bought it? - see above about the call centre staff

 

you should of been given it when you bought the car...

 

sheesh now these guys are really p1££ing me off!!

 

 

right.. where is my car now, as im going to cancel the claim.

 

its at a salvage yard.

 

What??? who gave you permission to take it there, as i know for sure i never - again standared proceedure for all companies - if the vehicle is written off it starts to incur storage charges quite quickly so they move them all to an approved salvage yard. They tell you they will do what they can to minimise the cost of a claim somewhere in the small print, which means they will do what they can and not necessarily tell you.

 

yes you did when you first contacted us regarding the claim.

News to me, but ill let that one go for now.

 

how do i go about cancelling the claim, as ill have my car back and get it repaired myself?

..

 

you need to put it in writing to us. Fine done.

 

2 days later ring them again, ok, its been in writing, i know you have the email, as it hasnt bounced back.

 

i want my car back, and i will get it repaired myself. The quote you have been given £585.02 is outrageous, i can go to a scrap yard myself, and get a door for £25 - yeah extortionate, but to repair they have to used manufacturers approved parts. And that is going to be expensive to get given that you have an older car.

 

But your car is a cat c write off. it is deemed to be unroadworthy. - Rubbish. A cat C can go back on the road, all a Cat C means is that repairs will be more expensive than the value of the car. Just a fob off because it will involve more work and expense for them to get the car back to you

 

EH?? for a bent door its unroadworthy.. now your really taking the michael

 

 

for you to get the car insured again, we would require.. wait for this one..

 

a vic check to prove the car is the same one as was initially wrote off cost of £26-38 - Don't know some companies may ask for that. If you go down this route make sure you tell them to take the vehicle off the Miaftr register and just get it insured elsewhere

 

a new mot - even though it was mot'd in jan - A bit of a dodgy one this one, true of you go through with the claim. However if you cancel it they would have to return all your documentation. Again, insure elsewhere for no problems (I'm sure you probably will now anyway)

 

the repair invoice from the garage who will be doing the repair. (you cant have that, as ill be arranging the repair myself) - you will need to produce something if you are still claiming for repair. Sorry they wont issue cash without it

 

and we need a engineers report.. what do you need one of those for, and secondly how much is that going to cost me? - Rubbish. Their engineer has seen and valued the vehicle already. Do not accept under any circumstances

 

this is to prove the car is roadworthy. isnt that what a mot is for??

and the cost of which is likely to be around £150

 

right so your telling me, its going to cost me around £250 + the door for me to get my car back again??

 

yes sir.. also we would require the £82.25 the garage have charged us, when collecting your car - I doubt they can get away with that no matter whats in the small print. You are changing your mind because of their shoddy claims handling. Don't accept that and ask for their legal basis behind this charge. They won't have one again they are just trying to discourage you

 

right then, forget the car, forget the claim, forget everything, keep the damn thing, ill leave the entire lot; and get another car, only this time i will not insure it or any other with hastings ever again.

 

If you want to keep your ncb on another car, we would require payment of the £82.25, which we had to pay out to the garage. Then we have to dispose of the car, and thats another fee we would pass onto you. Also even if we paid out on the car, you would lose your ncb. Even though its protected. ermm why?? the only way you could keep it is to pay us the £82.25! - Yeah afraid so. They have incurred costs in setting the claim up and therefore they can and will deduct 2 yrs from your NCB

 

Take the damn thing to a scrap yard, they will give you £50 for it. But we arent allowed to make a profit on insurance claims - true - you can't make a profit on any claim. However they should make the £82.25 back they have spent on the claim by selling the salvage, and anything over this should be returned to you - therefore you wouldn't lose your NCB. Suggest this to them - I believe you are dealing with poorly trained halfwits who don't know what they are doing and therefore wouldn't recognise this.

 

 

but you are doing.. how come sir?? (thought that was a nice touch)

right your offering me a paltry 200 for the car, less deductions, im getting 32 out of it, and on top of this you want me to pay you another 82.25, just to keep my ncb. hence your making £50 profit right away - yeah they are right again unfortunately. They are not making money out of subtracting the excess, they are just not paying it out if you see what I mean.

 

it doesnt work like that sir.. (yet again that personal touch im loving more and more each time this 'nice person' tells me)

 

by now, im getting more and more wound up, and just hang up, before i really blow my top..

 

sorry for this long post, but can anyone please assist / offer help and guidance on this one..

 

im registered disabled, and need transport to get around. There are buses here, but the bus stop is to far for me to walk due to my disability.

 

many thanks for anyone reading this war and peace novel.

 

hope your all having a great day

be safe

nige aka the jgg

hope that helps a bit. Have tried to be balanced, some things you are right about and some they are. There is no point in arguing about the points I have said they are right on I'm afraid. Pick up on the things I am with you on and write an official letter of complaint to them. Enclose anything you can get to support your valuation. They have to deal with these according to FSA regulations and you will get someone dealing with it (promptly) who knows what they are talking about. Point out that you are disabled and mention subtly that the local paper are taking 'an interest' in your story. That should help focus their minds. You might not get what you are looking for but you will get paid for your CD player and scrape enough together to get another car. And remember the experience if anything like this happens again

Phew that was long,

Cheers

Nelly75

Hi nelly, my sincere apologies in not getting back to you sooner. I have taken what comments you have mentioned onboard, and wrote a stern letter to their complaints department. Together with a 'copy' of the stereo manual, print outs from the auto trader website, with the same car's being for sale, and am now waiting for them to get their collective a$$es in gear, and see what they have to say now..

I will keep you informed, of what they say, if thats ok with you.

Once again, many thanks for everything, i was thinking i was going to lose everything on this one.. but with your input, who knows what will happen

hope you and yours are keeping well, and have a great weekend

be safe

Nige AKA the JGG

I note you are registered disabled. Can you not get a Motability car ?

Home

hi bwfs, Yes i can get a motability car, but to put it simply, would rather have the money. Ie, i get £45.00 a week for the motorbility side of my disability, and that comes in more handy, than a new car, which would cost me £180 a month. Even so, i have the blue disabled badge, and claim for free car tax.

Thanks anyhow, but it is something that we have already looked into.

be safe

nige

aka JGG

i want my car back, and i will get it repaired myself. The quote you have been given £585.02 is outrageous, i can go to a scrap yard myself, and get a door for £25 - yeah extortionate, but to repair they have to used manufacturers approved parts. And that is going to be expensive to get given that you have an older car.

Not strictly true.

My van was involved in an accident last year and written off by the ins co. It was only just outside the threshold set for a write off.

We spoke to the repair centre who told us that we may possibly be able to have a "contract repair" done. This involves the use of good second hand parts supplied and fitted by the repair centre but not guaranteed.

This brought the bill down quite substantially and would have enabled us to get the vehicle back on the road, but unfortunately we found other damage that was not evident upon first inspection and it was written off by us as uneconomical to repair.

Also the remainder of the policy life was carried over to the replacement vehicle, even though the ins claim was paid for a write off.

Right, here's what to do, take your £35 off them and insure your new car with cheap online car insurance and home insurance quotes - elephant.co.uk without any No Claims Bonus' and tell Hastings to go to hell. That's what we did and the insurance is still cheaper? How does that work then? I'll tell you why, this NCB is a out and out [problem]!

how have u got on with this so far jo1lygrngiant??

hi nelly, im still waiting for them to reply to the complaint. in fact i had forgot about this. i had a letter off them on saturday, pretty much along the lines of we see you have had a total loss, during the period of your insurance. when you purchase a new car please inform us, and we will alter your policy. Or else it will lapse, or if it has lapsed, please ring us for another quote..

as if that will ever happen again!

I will chase them up again this week.. with everything thats been happening recently here, i had forgot all about this, but your post has now got me fired up again, ready for them

thanks again

be safe

nige

aka jgg

Do not forget about your No Claims discount(NCD) here! If you are only getting £35 pounds withdraw the claims the additional premium next year will be more than that. Even if you have protected NCD it is not unlimited and you dont know whats round the corner!!

True the Financial Ombudsman may give you more when your complaint reaches them but you will lose 2 years NCD for the privelege.

Keep us updated

Right, here's what to do, take your £35 off them and insure your new car with cheap online car insurance and home insurance quotes - elephant.co.uk without any No Claims Bonus' and tell Hastings to go to hell. That's what we did and the insurance is still cheaper? How does that work then? I'll tell you why, this NCB is a out and out [problem]!

Get rid of them asap, as you can see, I have left my 5+ years NCB with Hastings, they can shove them right up their a***! My insurance is still cheaper with Elephant! Same cover an all that too Go figure?

Good luck

The insurers are correct in their stance.

They quote the glass's guide value - which is the officially recognosed valuer for cars. Admittedly there are many sources of valuing cars, but Glass's guide is very accurate as reflected in it's price tag of several hundred pounds per copy. Hence valuations from Glass's will be more highly regarded than those from other sources.

There is no automatic entitlement to 'top book', as it depends on the mileage and pre accident condition of the vehicle, however many insurers will value at 'mid-book' automatically as most cars are not in A1 condition. The best bet here is to send ad's from autotrader and threaten to goto the FSA over the valuation. this will likely prompt them to goto the best value that they can do.

Here's the latest update on this saga. After finally receiving their response to the complaint letter, its a no go on all areas.

So i ring my mates up at hastings, and get put through to Quality Control. Speak to a nice lady. So didnt blow my top at her.. not her fault..

Basically, they will not accept any Auto Trader cars for sale as a market value for the car. Only Glasses Guide.

They wont accept the contract repair, only new manufacturers parts.

The valuation of the car includes the cost of the stereo.

The £15 deducted is for the above average mileage. According to the 'book' the average mileage is 104k. According to them, mileage is dependant on each make / model of vehicle.

The only way i could possibly get the car back is by completing the VIC check, new MOT, and an engineers report.

If / when the car went for salvage, any funds from this, would go back to them. Even if it was worth more than the £82.25 collection charge. They would have the lot, as this cost was also included in the valuation.

More or less along the lines of 'Once we give a valuation on a vehicle, we cannot give more for it, you cannot get any monies off it, if it goes for salvage'.

The original engineer, has also deducted £x for there being some corrosion of 2 panels on the car. I said, well the car is 13 years old, so there is bound to be some corrosion.

I'm not asking for a great deal, just a fair amount for the car, and £200 is not it, especially if it includes the cost for the stereo too.

Btw, i sent in a copy of 'the' stereo manual, so they will know what stereo was in the car. They are not disputing a stereo was in the car, only the cost of supplying another one. I said it wasnt a great deal, it was along the lines of £80-90. Even so, it has been included in the valuation.

she said that she will see the original engineer to see if he can increase the valuation, and get back to me.

I have requested a copy of this guys report, to see what has been said, and then take it from there.

Insurers will often give a low valuation so their comment "once we give a valuation we can't change it" is nonsense. The issue of the value of similar cars in Autotrader or Exchange and Mart is also valid as it gives them an idea of what similar cars are changing hands for. Remember that you can go to the ombudsman to challenge them, but only after you have made a formal complaint and they have given you a final response.

Hi everyone, just a quick update. The lady who I spoke to yesterday, true to her word got back to me last night.

The upshot of it is.. they have increased their valuation now to £390, which is the exact amount that my independant valuation found, and roughly the prices for similar cars in auto trader.

I have excepted the offer, as this doesn't include the sat nav, which will add an additional £150 to the total.

Many thanks to all concerned, for your valuable input, and ideas.

It seems to of paid off .

Thanks again

be safe

Nige

Nice one JGJ WTG!

And let that be a lesson to you Hastings!

Thanks choolatte.. its their just desserts as far as im concerned.

Lesson learned, if at first you dont succeed (which chances are you wont), keep at 'em, and just never give up!. They will eventually give way..

be safe everyone

nige

aka Jgg