car insurance (car sold by insurers before acceptance ov valuation

[baldone]

hi.

could anyone please advise on this matter.

I had an accident (my fault).In July 2012.

Had an offer in August 2012 which I refused and sent proof of valuations to insurers.

Heard nothing from insurers despite emails and phone calls from myself so decided to contact ombudsman.

On their advice I sent another email after 8 weeks to insurer, heard nothing.

The ombudsman started investigating and got another offer from insurers, again I refused this in march 2013 due to them ignoring information I gave them.

The ombudsman is still looking into this case.

I have just found out my car has been put back on the road.

It had a vid check done on the 16th May 2013 and a change of keeper on the 20th June 2013, it is taxed and insured so must have an mot.

All this has been done without my knowledge.

I have not accepted any payment either in part or full from the insurers.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[dacouc]

"16. salvage of the "written-off" vehicle and contents

 

When a vehicle is “written off”, the insurer becomes the owner of the salvage once the consumer accepts payment of the full market value. If the consumer asks to keep the salvage, the insurer is entitled to deduct what it would have been able to sell the salvage for – though this is usually not very much.

 

Consumers sometimes complain that the insurer (or its agent) disposed of the salvage before paying the full market-value. At this stage, the vehicle still belongs to the consumer, so we look to see if the insurer asked the consumer’s to the settlement of the claim – even if the insurer says it was only acting in the public interest by keeping a badly-damaged vehicle off the road.

 

If we find the insurer disposed of the vehicle without the consumer’s consent and there were items belonging to the consumer inside, we are likely to tell the insurer to pay the cost of replacing these – usually on a like-for-like (rather than a new-for-old) basis.

 

If we think that the policyholder was unfairly deprived of the salvage, we may tell the insurer to pay compensation for any financial loss or distress and inconvenience we think the consumer has experienced."

 

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

[baldone]

thank you for the reply dacouc.

I have this information from the ombudsmans literature .

I should have mentioned this sorry.

I have told the ombudsman what has happened and their response has been as expected. they will look into it

Having researched other peoples experience in dealing with them I do not hold too much hope in them following their guidelines.

I contacted the police and they have said it is a civil matter not criminal.

My question should have been, is what has happened a criminal offence to sell something that belongs to me until I agree a settlement figure and what options do I have.

Sorry if I misled you.

regards baldone

[dacouc]

Have you read 66/03 ?