covea car insurance help

[lesa]

in June my partner had an accident, which was his fault and he notified insurance and they sent someone would collect car within 2 days and that the claim should be paid out in 2 weeks, he received a letter in 2 days telling him this and that he should send them the part on the log book and send other part to dvla as well as the mot and any other paperwork for the car. which he did asap. 3 weeks later still not heard anything from the insurance, they then told him his insurance was invalid as he didn't tell them about modifications on the car. he asked what they were as he wasn't aware of any (yes it had tinted windows but presumed it came as standard, as we have seen several of the cars with the same thing) he then said that he thought the car came as is so to speak. they then said it would have to go to the underwriters and if he had any more information he should let them know. we eventually tracked down previous owner who said that she wasn't aware of any modifications either and even sent us the picture's that she used to sell the car. on 21 august he contacted them again to be told they had made a decision and it was void and not paying out, when he asked any questions they told him they couldn't tell him any more until he received this letter and he would get it within 48 hours eventually turned up recorded on 31 august, the day we went on holiday, we came back this weekend. he rang the insurance for information as he didn't know if they was paying out the other car or not, which they are but not his and he was no longer insured not even for his van but they owed him £165 premium. he then rang the recovery place up to try and get his car back to be told was disposed of in the beginning of august.

he then rang the insurance company again and relayed it back to her about his car and she didn't know what to do but said manager would ring him back before 2pm he also asked about the 165 and what it was for. he did ring and said would get in touch with the car as they say that when the car sometimes is there. my partner then asked about his car and said I hope the 165 isn't for the cost of the car as it was worth more than that breaking the car for parts. he said he will ring him back tomorrow as not sure that is happening now, he later tried again to ring them and it wouldn't even connect him it just said that they would be in touch with him. he was trying to found out about his van insurance now so he rang the brokers that dealt with insurance in first place to be told his van is insured and will be till end of his year.

any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[unclebulgaria67]

What a mess. Based on what you have said the Insurers have made a mistake in voiding the Insurance, as the FOS is clear that voidance is something that should only happen in exceptional cases. Having small modifications is not something that should lead to voidance. If the vehicle had mods which were performance enhancing or changed the risk significantly the Insurers would have a point.

 

Choices

1) Use the FOS complaints process, but this could take time.

2) Get legal advice and look to issue a court claim against the Insurers.

 

Read this from the FOS

 

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/27/27-ins-nondisclosure.htm

 

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/79/79-motor-insurance.htm

[dacouc]

In addition to Uncle's advice, I strongly recommend you read number 16 of this link and use it against them

 

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

[lesa]

thanks for the replies. as of yet no call back today even though promised they would, he tried ring them on another number to be told manager in meeting and would ring when available. i'm trying to get him to ring fos but he wants to wait and see what happens

[unclebulgaria67]

I should have added that it is against FCA ICOBS rules for Insurers to void a policy to avoid paying a claim, unless there is a very good reason. So they could be in trouble with their regulators as well.

[lesa]

update to situation - they rang at 4.55 and said that they were going to ring the recovery place as it maybe in another of there yards?. they will ring back again tomorrow after speaking to the accounts manager. we have no paperwork for the vehicle at all as was told to send it in to them asap when the accident happened.they have said that they have cancelled the insurance due to non standard -

front bumper

back bumper

tinted windows

rear spoiler and non standard exhaust

tried to explain we wasn't aware that these were modified and we presumed that the tinted windows came as standard, he is a 40 year old dairy worker not some boy racer but they still wouldn't listen

Edited September 25, 2013 by lesa
added word

[unclebulgaria67]

update to situation - they rang at 4.55 and said that they were going to ring the recovery place as it maybe in another of there yards?. they will ring back again tomorrow after speaking to the accounts manager. we have no paperwork for the vehicle at all as was told to send it in to them asap when the accident happened.they have said that they have cancelled the insurance due to non standard -

front bumper

back bumper

tinted windows

rear spoiler and non standard exhaust

tried to explain we wasn't aware that these were modified and we presumed that the tinted windows came as standard, he is a 40 year old dairy worker not some boy racer but they still wouldn't listen

 

You need to be able to have the car independently assessed. Was the exhaust a performance exhaust ? Were the bumpers fitted by the manufacturers ? With some cars, they will make changes to standard specification before they have left the factory.

 

Think you have a good case. If they have got rid of the car, I think they will have placed themselves in a very difficult position.

[lesa]

not sure about the bumpers or spoilers, we didn't even know they didn't belong to the model of our car. the exhaust is apparently is a twin bore back box?. again we knew nothing about and admittedly didn't mention the tinted windows as we thought they came as standard and not modified as such.

cannot have it assessed, as we rang the recovery place again and they said the definitely don't have the car and was disposed of on 8th august as they had been authorised by covea to do so. its just a waiting game now

[Mwynci]

That is pretty heavily modded ! Do you have the purchase receipt? Will the previous keeper provide a statement saying they were unaware of any mods? How would it size up next to a standard model if they were side by side?

Question the insurer on what basis theyare voiding? Is it because they do no touch vehicles with these mods, or they don't like what you ar telling them. If the first, even if its accepted that you have inadvertently not disclosed the mods, if they would not have accepted the risk in the first place, they have good grounds.

Regarding the diposal, that is naughty, they need to compensate over and above the salvage value, also for the Fact they he disposed of our popetty without your express permission. The fos tend to award £500 - £750 for that

[lesa]

we found the receipt this week it just states car reg and sold as seen. probably the previous owner would give letter stating she wasn't aware of modifications as when we found her she was as shocked as us, she even sent us photo's that she used for the advert. regarding the bumpers we wouldn't know how they would look next to an ORIGINAL model as there is so many makes of the model (fiesta). our point we have tried to put across to the insurers is that had we have known it had modifications, we would have told them, we even told them last year when his other car died that he didn't have a car but would be buying another at the end of the month as he needs one for his 5am starts. attaching photo's - see what you think?.

[unclebulgaria67]

I would think the car was modified by a first owner, as it does not look like a special edition that would have been produced by Ford. If you look at adverts for the same model of Fiesta that are being sold at the moment, you will see that the mods are fairly obvious. If you have all the paperwork for the car, you could check with the original ford garage whether the car would have been sold the same as shown in the pictures.

 

Because of the way Covea have handled this by disposing of the car before you had the chance to defend the voidance of the policy and claim, I think you still have a very good chance of winning either via the FOS or in court. If you go the court route you should get legal advice before you start any court claim.

[lesa]

thanks for the replies and advice, I have just looked for a fiesta zetec online images and some have the spoiler and some don't . in fairness the only one thing I can see is that the bumper/front grill instead of being lines is a criss cross pattern but again I wouldn't have known otherwise it is only because you said looked modified that I have tried to see a difference to me the actuall other bit of the bumper looks the same