Car insurance claim please help

[FeTT]

Hi guys I need help here I feel like I'm being royally screwed over probably going to be a long post so please bare with me. Less than 2 months or so I bought my first decent car in abut 12 years (well to me it was decent). It was a mk4 VW Golf GTI 1.8 20valve I bought it from a local used car dealer 112,000 miles on the clock very clean, service history up to 99,000 miles a nice tidy car it had been cat D in 2003 which I was told about but assumed that since it was so long ago and had obvioulsy been MOT etc. a lot of time since then that it didn't really matter, to be honest the car looked nice, ran nice and was in very good condition for its age so much so most of my friends couldn't beieve it was a 10 year old car but it had been very well looked after. I paid £2400 for the car still have the receipt to prove it, it was my pride and joy spent hours most sundays cleaning and polishing it. Anyway thats the story of the car now my nightmare begins.

 

2 weeks ago I was staying at a friends house on a Friday night about 1.30am he woke me up to to tell me someone had just hit my car. A woman had crashed into when it was parked outside she tried to drive away but her car was wrecked to so only got just round the corner when my mate caught up with her anyway to cut things a little shorter the police came she was arrested for drink driving, anyway got her insurance details etc.

 

Phoned Direct Line the next morning passed the details on and the police incident number, they sorted me out a hire car on the Monday since the hire car company was closed on sunday and I had to work saturday so couldn't arrange to pick it up. They also arranged for my car to be collected on the Monday to assess the damage. Chased them up a couple of times to find out the state of my claim eventually got an answer on Friday when I phoned ended up speaking to the engineer that was examining the car told me it was a write off and he valued it at £1500 which was a bit of a shock to say the least. Anyway today I get a letter say that it was all sorted and I would recieve a cheque for £800 in the next 5 days (1500 minus £700 excess) basically I class this as a blatant insult I don't want to claim from them I want the claim coming from the 3rd parties insurers they have not mentioned anything about the third party at all. I do not want to accept this the £1500 valuation was bad enough but now I feel like they are rubbing salt into the wound. I took out a £1500 bank loan to put towards the cost of the car which I have just started paying off.

 

I shouldn't have to lose £1700 because of some idiot, seems like Direct Line aren't even trying to sort this out properly, maybe it works out cheaper for them just to give me the £800 rather than hassle the guilty drivers insurers I don't know I'm still paying for the premium as I was paying it monthly still 9 months to go as it was transferred from my previous car.

 

I just want to be able to get my £2400 back so I can get another car of the same type I really don't know what to do now as I've never made a claim before I was told by most people that they should make an offer and I can accept or refuse it, doesn't seem to me like I have been made an offer at all basically its like theyv'e just said there you go thats what your getting now p*** off.

 

Please give me some advice people I can't have this betwen the insurance and the loan I'm paying about £140 a month for something I haven't got and won't be able to replace. To be honest I feel sick to the stomach thinking about it but I don't know what to do.

 

Sean

[patdavies]

Phoned Direct Line the next morning passed the details on and the police incident number, they sorted me out a hire car on the Monday since the hire car company was closed on sunday and I had to work saturday so couldn't arrange to pick it up. They also arranged for my car to be collected on the Monday to assess the damage. Chased them up a couple of times to find out the state of my claim eventually got an answer on Friday when I phoned ended up speaking to the engineer that was examining the car told me it was a write off and he valued it at £1500 which was a bit of a shock to say the least. Anyway today I get a letter say that it was all sorted and I would recieve a cheque for £800 in the next 5 days (1500 minus £700 excess) basically I class this as a blatant insult I don't want to claim from them I want the claim coming from the 3rd parties insurers they have not mentioned anything about the third party at all. I do not want to accept this the £1500 valuation was bad enough but now I feel like they are rubbing salt into the wound. I took out a £1500 bank loan to put towards the cost of the car which I have just started paying off.

 

I shouldn't have to lose £1700 because of some idiot, seems like Direct Line aren't even trying to sort this out properly, maybe it works out cheaper for them just to give me the £800 rather than hassle the guilty drivers insurers I don't know I'm still paying for the premium as I was paying it monthly still 9 months to go as it was transferred from my previous car.

 

I just want to be able to get my £2400 back so I can get another car of the same type I really don't know what to do now as I've never made a claim before I was told by most people that they should make an offer and I can accept or refuse it, doesn't seem to me like I have been made an offer at all basically its like theyv'e just said there you go thats what your getting now p*** off.

 

Please give me some advice people I can't have this betwen the insurance and the loan I'm paying about £140 a month for something I haven't got and won't be able to replace. To be honest I feel sick to the stomach thinking about it but I don't know what to do.

 

Sean

 

The other driver is completely at fault and it should be her insurer who is compensating you.

 

You are entitled to be put back into the same position as you were before the crash. Which means that they should cover the costing of replacing your car with one of the same make/model/age/spec and approximate condition/mileage.

 

I do not understand what your insurer is up to. As they will be able to reclaim from the other driver/insurer. Challenge them as to why they are not pursuing the other driver on your behalf. If direct Line will not move, sure the other driver for the difference and your excess.

[Helford]

If you dispute the £1500 valuation, then time to do some homework! Let the Insurers have a copy of your purchase receipt, get copy adverts from the web and/or any local car for sale adverts to substantiate your valuation. Had you spent any money on the car, if so bills, instruction manuals, gurantees etc. all help substantiate. You do not have to accept their first offer. Fight your corner.

 

With regard to your uninsured losses (Policy excess of £700, bus fares, taxis, phone calls, loss of earnings and everything else) You need to write to the Third Party Insurers holding them liable for your uninsured losses and request full payment within say 7 or 14 days (Standard letter before action).

 

Your experiences with the insurer are all pretty standard. Do you have Legal Expenses insurance on your policy, if so, use it!

 

H

[Mossycat]

The other driver is totally at fault and ultimately it will be their insurers who pay for it all.

 

You as a fully comprehensive policyholder have two choices

 

1) Claim from your own insurers for the value of the car, any excess you have will be deducted and you claim the excess and any other uninsured losses (hire car etc) from the other persons insurance company. This is usually the easiest option and you paid for fully comprehensive cover. It is normal to deduct excesses regardless of blame so you were always going to have to deal with the other insurers anyway

 

2) Inform your own insurers of the accident but mark the claim form 'For Record Purposes Only' and advise them you will deal with the matter privately. Then claim everything from the other persons insurers.

 

As others have said you should not be out of pocket regardless of who is paying. It's an urban myth that your insurers will pay out more for a car if they can claim it back from another insurer. They will have used GG to value the car and should take into account variances due to mileage and condition. If you feel the offer is too low you need to prove this by submitting evidence in the form of quotes or adverts for the same make and model as yours is. Bear in mind that forecourt prices quoted incorporate an element of overprice to allow for part ex's etc and a warrany, a discount would normally be given for a cash buyer so don't expect your insurer to pay you the quoted forecourt price.

 

Incidentally just because you paid 'x' for a car doesn't always mean it is actually worth 'x' or that you insured it for that value.

 

Mossy

[FeTT]

The other driver is completely at fault and it should be her insurer who is compensating you.

 

You are entitled to be put back into the same position as you were before the crash. Which means that they should cover the costing of replacing your car with one of the same make/model/age/spec and approximate condition/mileage.

 

I do not understand what your insurer is up to. As they will be able to reclaim from the other driver/insurer. Challenge them as to why they are not pursuing the other driver on your behalf. If direct Line will not move, sure the other driver for the difference and your excess.

 

Thats what I would have thought to mate no idea what they are playing at, just had a look on their website and had to laugh (or cry not to sure which yet) when I read this "If you're hit by an uninsured driver we'll cover your excess and your no claims discount won't be affected" but your screwed if your hit by somebody who is insured?

 

If you dispute the £1500 valuation, then time to do some homework! Let the Insurers have a copy of your purchase receipt, get copy adverts from the web and/or any local car for sale adverts to substantiate your valuation. Had you spent any money on the car, if so bills, instruction manuals, gurantees etc. all help substantiate. You do not have to accept their first offer. Fight your corner.

 

With regard to your uninsured losses (Policy excess of £700, bus fares, taxis, phone calls, loss of earnings and everything else) You need to write to the Third Party Insurers holding them liable for your uninsured losses and request full payment within say 7 or 14 days (Standard letter before action).

 

Your experiences with the insurer are all pretty standard. Do you have Legal Expenses insurance on your policy, if so, use it!

 

H

 

Hi mate yea I would like to dispute their valuation it's deffinitly going to cost me at least £2000 to get a car of similar spec and condition , I also had a set of Alloy wheels on the car got them 2nd hand so no reciept but I did declare them to Direct Line valued at £250 which added a further £150 to my premium. But like I said before the letter they sent didn't seem like an offer, basically they have said my car would be disposed of ASAP that I should send of my v5 to the DVLA and that I would recieve an £800 cheque within 5 days. I'm not sure what to do. Guess I will try and ring them tomorrow if I can get the time I only got the letter when I got home from work tonight so haven't had a chance to get in touch with them yet but the way I'm feeling at the minute I don't really want to speak to them as I'm likely to lose my temper and maybe make matters worse.

 

I have motor legal protection on my policy no idea what I need to do though like I said this is all new to me, finding it hard to find the time to chase them up as I work 8am to 5.45pm 5 days a week and don't really get the time to contact them as their offices are shut by the time I get home, and being short staffed at work am struggling to find time to do it from there too. Basically they aren't helping me in any way shape or form I have had no contact from them except when I phoned to find the status of my car and was palmed off to the engineer who was assesing it and

then this bloody letter.

[FeTT]

The other driver is totally at fault and ultimately it will be their insurers who pay for it all.

 

You as a fully comprehensive policyholder have two choices

 

1) Claim from your own insurers for the value of the car, any excess you have will be deducted and you claim the excess and any other uninsured losses (hire car etc) from the other persons insurance company. This is usually the easiest option and you paid for fully comprehensive cover. It is normal to deduct excesses regardless of blame so you were always going to have to deal with the other insurers anyway

 

Mossy

 

Thats what I was expecting I thought that they would sort this out before offering payment, so far it looks like they have made no effort at all, I contacted Direct Line liabiity department last week and she put me on hold and that they can't get in touch with the 3rd party insurers today. I mean come on that is rediculous this was early in the morning I managed to get 5 mins at work to ring them. So do I have to chase up the 3rd party ? I always assumed that the insurance company done this as they have to claim their costs back from them anyway.

 

As others have said you should not be out of pocket regardless of who is paying. It's an urban myth that your insurers will pay out more for a car if they can claim it back from another insurer. They will have used GG to value the car and should take into account variances due to mileage and condition. If you feel the offer is too low you need to prove this by submitting evidence in the form of quotes or adverts for the same make and model as yours is. Bear in mind that forecourt prices quoted incorporate an element of overprice to allow for part ex's etc and a warrany, a discount would normally be given for a cash buyer so don't expect your insurer to pay you the quoted forecourt price.

 

Incidentally just because you paid 'x' for a car doesn't always mean it is actually worth 'x' or that you insured it for that value.

 

Mossy

 

I knew I would be paying slightly more buying off the forecourt but I liked the car it was in a pretty rare colour nice condition etc. and I had somewhere to take it back to if I had any problems which I did find a few faults which were repaired at the dealers cost. But I don't think I paid that much over the odds for it maybe a few hundred quid or so but not £900. When transfrered the insurance over from my old car they didn't ask what I had paid for it just if it was valued at less than £40,000

 

This is the cheapest similair car local to me on the Autotrader website at the minute but this is a year older and has higher milage.

[FeTT]

Any more advice please guys hoping to make a move on this ASAP before they send out the cheque.

 

Sean

[Mossycat]

You have legal protection, that means you have paid for someone to recover your uninsured losses (ie your excess, your hire costs and any other expenses you incur as a result of this accident) so first step is get in touch with them and start that ball rolling

 

Next step, if you are unhappy with the valuation inform your insurers and then back it up with examples from auto trader (or other sources) that show the value of a car the same as yours is selling for more money than they have offered.

 

They will NOT send out a cheque until you accept their offer

 

Mossy

[vusys1]

silly question ( i have nt had much sleep) but wouldnt the 3rd party insurers inspect the vehicle etc to deem it a TL? if it was DL who deemed it a TL i thought they would have been straight onto the fact it was a previous cat d loss etc (god im tired)

[FeTT]

Well I have contacted Direct Line to dispute their valuation, they have said another engineer would revalue the car told them I want at least £2000. Seen a friend today who managed to get me a CAP valuation she said retail on a the same model and milage as mine should be about £2975 I would say minus a few hundred for being a previous cat D which seems to be about average from what I've seen on other cat D's for sale on autotrader etc. Apparantly third party's insurer still hasn't accepted liabilty which is unbelievable. Hire car is due to go back on the 13th after that I will be car less £800 isn't going to replace my car but unitl they payout I can't afford to get another.

 

Sean

[FeTT]

You have legal protection, that means you have paid for someone to recover your uninsured losses (ie your excess, your hire costs and any other expenses you incur as a result of this accident) so first step is get in touch with them and start that ball rolling

 

Next step, if you are unhappy with the valuation inform your insurers and then back it up with examples from auto trader (or other sources) that show the value of a car the same as yours is selling for more money than they have offered.

 

They will NOT send out a cheque until you accept their offer

 

Mossy

 

Well I recieved an £800 cheque yesterday surely this isn't right I am not going to bank it, should I return it to them along with the receipt for the car and adverts etc. showing how much replacing it is likely to cost me?

Not sure which department I need to send it to though, should I send it recorded delivery so I have proof I sent it. This is a bloody nightmare all I want is to be back in the position I was in before the accident. The hire car is due to go back on Monday which is going to leave me with out transport unless they agree to give me another one, which IMO they should as I can't afford to replace the car until the third party pays out and they should have to cover the costs of it.

 

Sean