Issues with insurance companies

[pablothestressed]

Hello

 

First post out of desperation hence the username!!

 

50:50 accident on 18th dec and the insurance company used there preferred bodyshop to get a quote which was £6000. Obviously not happy with that so found an alternative approach though a bodyshop and buying the parts myself (all new except for a wing and door) which the total cost is £2500. Due to various reasons the insurance company were not happy with this but offered £1000 cash.

 

I wanted to look at alternative approaches so asked them what they would pay out after a couple of weeks they finally came back with a reasonable offer of £4300. I thought I may be able to buy back from the salvage company, but the salvage company run e-auctions so not an option.

 

I then asked the insurance company for a revised cash offer which they refused. I then found a company to do a complete repair which would cost £3000. I put this forward to the insurance company and they have now said that there are only two options now which are total loss the vehicle or withdraw the claim. As you can imagine this has taken 2 months to get to this point as the call centre never return calls, people dealing with the claim on holiday and they say "it is standard that the company takes x days to turn this around". I live in Cornwall which is rural and no public transport which is a nightmare without a car. I am however getting very fit using my bike!!

 

So the questions are:

- any tip about how to get this sorted

- if I raise a complaint this is going to take 6 weeks. can I just get my vehicle fixed and deal with the issues with the insurance company afterwards

- why do they want to scrap the vehicle as it costs them more money than just to pay out cash or get it repaired???

- the insurance company say it will be put on some database as a total loss which ever option I pick, what are the issues if this is the case?

 

Thanks for the help!!

[TillyGT]

Hi

They have deemed your vehicle a total loss and you would be better accepting their offer of £4300 which you say is a fair offer and start looking for an alternative vehicle. This would be the quickest solution to your problem. If you go and get your vehicle fix they are likely to refuse to settle the claim with you so that is your choice. Your vehicle has been deemed a total loss and your insurer is bound by rules to enter the total loss onto a register called MIAFTR. Once logged on the register, you vehicle will loose value when yo come to sell in the future. An insurer will only pay for repairs using new parts and a standards compliant repairer hence the higher repair costs. This is to prevent any comeback for bad repair jobs. Overall I would say you would be better off taking their offer of £4300. Hope this helps

[Mallrat83]

I agree with whats written above. I dont personally work on the claims department in work, I work on the complaints department. But what I would suggest is your probably better off taking the cash. Insurance companys use there own approved garages as stated above. I have come across instances where the insurance company is open to you taking the vehicle to a different garage for the work, however they may require a quotation from two different garages to compare the prices and determine whether they will authorise the work.

If you were able to buy back the vehicle and pay for the repairs yourself, it may cause alot of hassle when trying to reinsure the vehicle. Any insurance company will ask you for you to obtain an MOT even if the garage has fixed the only diagnosed problems and send them the MOT certificate before they will allow you to insure the vehicle with them.

 

Best advice, take the money and then treat yourself to a bus pass. Cars are too expensive with insurance getting more expensive and petrol increasing in price lol