Car theft - insurance didn't pay

[veganite]

Hello,

I saw that there is a Hastings Direct rep on the forum, so asking for advice.

 

About 7 or 8 years ago (cant remember exactly) my car was stolen. I tried to make a claim with Hastings Direct who sent me paperwork, I returned paperwork.

 

This claim was delayed for months and I had actually forgotten about it.

 

About 2 or 3 years later, I remembered and enquired with Hastings about my insurance for theft. Again, it was a long drawn out process.

 

Needless to say, due to the time involved (possibly delaying tactics?) I forgot about it again.

 

I know that I should have chased this up at the times, but, due to the length of time on each occasion that Hastings took, I completely put the matter to the back of my mind and forgot about it.

 

I have only rememebered this when seeing the Hastings rep on the forum.

 

Due to the length of time involved, is it still possible to claim for the theft of my car?

 

Or, have I now lost out on my claim due to my stupidity of not chasing this earlier?

 

I had maximum no claims bonus with hastings and also had protected no claims bonus, so, in the event of any claim I would not lose out on my bonus.

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Hi veganite,

 

Thank you for posting. I would be happy to have a look into this for you, I would need some details about the situation in order to do so. If you have any details such as the vehicle registration or the crime number then please send them in an email and I will take a look. [email protected]

 

Many Thanks,

Jamie

[rebel11]

Hi Veganite

 

If you can let us know how Hastings resolves your complaint, it would be useful to others.

[unclebulgaria67]

Hello,

I saw that there is a Hastings Direct rep on the forum, so asking for advice.

 

About 7 or 8 years ago (cant remember exactly) my car was stolen. I tried to make a claim with Hastings Direct who sent me paperwork, I returned paperwork.

 

This claim was delayed for months and I had actually forgotten about it.

 

About 2 or 3 years later, I remembered and enquired with Hastings about my insurance for theft. Again, it was a long drawn out process.

 

Needless to say, due to the time involved (possibly delaying tactics?) I forgot about it again.

 

I know that I should have chased this up at the times, but, due to the length of time on each occasion that Hastings took, I completely put the matter to the back of my mind and forgot about it.

 

I have only rememebered this when seeing the Hastings rep on the forum.

 

Due to the length of time involved, is it still possible to claim for the theft of my car?

 

Or, have I now lost out on my claim due to my stupidity of not chasing this earlier?

 

I had maximum no claims bonus with hastings and also had protected no claims bonus, so, in the event of any claim I would not lose out on my bonus.

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

You should still be OK, as long as you notified them of the loss. If they did not pay out when they should have, you would be entitled to 8% interest per annum for the period in which you had not been paid the money. This is the official interest amount that would be due in such circumstances. So quite a nice investment.

 

It might be wise to send Hastings Direct a Data Protection Subject Access Request to obtain a complete copy of your claim record. Then you can see for yourself what is on their records.

[veganite]

Hi Veganite

 

If you can let us know how Hastings resolves your complaint, it would be useful to others.

 

hello,

yes, certainly i will update this thread

[veganite]

You should still be OK, as long as you notified them of the loss. If they did not pay out when they should have, you would be entitled to 8% interest per annum for the period in which you had not been paid the money. This is the official interest amount that would be due in such circumstances. So quite a nice investment.

 

It might be wise to send Hastings Direct a Data Protection Subject Access Request to obtain a complete copy of your claim record. Then you can see for yourself what is on their records.

 

thank you! i had completely forgotten about the 8%!

 

I will see what happens from sending them the info they requested above and from that will decide if i need a SAR with them or not.

 

 

Although the value of the car was very little, the car was actually worth more to me than the market value since it had been in the family from new and had FSH and was in immaculate condition. The 8% you remind me of will go a little way to make up for my own personal valuation and that of market value at the time.

 

Thanks again!

[unclebulgaria67]

thank you! i had completely forgotten about the 8%!

 

I will see what happens from sending them the info they requested above and from that will decide if i need a SAR with them or not.

 

 

Although the value of the car was very little, the car was actually worth more to me than the market value since it had been in the family from new and had FSH and was in immaculate condition. The 8% you remind me of will go a little way to make up for my own personal valuation and that of market value at the time.

 

Thanks again!

 

If the value of the car was very little, with the excess deducted and possibly any remaining premium also deducted, perhaps there was nothing left to pay you. When you make a total loss claim, if the policy is not continued until renewal, the Insurers will often deduct any remaining premium not paid for the year, from the claim payout. Although you sometimes may pay monthly, it is an annual policy and the whole annual premium needs to be paid, if a claim is made.

[veganite]

yes, it was something like 3 months into the policy from what i remember.

 

i guess the average value of a car is 10,000? and after the deduction for the remaining policy and the excess, i figure i should receive something between 1,500 - 2,500

 

whilst i say the value of the car is very little, i meant little in comparison to the average value of a car. but 2,000 is obviously not little money! i worded my post wrong.

 

thanks again!

[unclebulgaria67]

yes, it was something like 3 months into the policy from what i remember.

 

i guess the average value of a car is 10,000? and after the deduction for the remaining policy and the excess, i figure i should receive something between 1,500 - 2,500

 

whilst i say the value of the car is very little, i meant little in comparison to the average value of a car. but 2,000 is obviously not little money! i worded my post wrong.

 

thanks again!

 

It would have been the market value of the car at the time of the loss that is relevant. If nobody actually checked at the time what the market value was, then it might be difficult to get an accurate value. So if Hastings Direct find that they did fail to pay you the claim, you will have to negotiate with them, what the market value would have been at the time.

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Hi veganite,

 

Thank you for the updates to the thread, have you sent over the details to the email address provided as I have not seen the email come through yet?

 

Many Thanks,

Jamie

[veganite]

Hello,

I have sent email to you a few seconds ago concerning my details.

 

i cant remember the exact model of car nor if the registration number is correct as this was such a long time ago.

 

i guess you can pick those details up from the address i supplied to you.

 

thanks again!

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Thank you,

 

I will follow this up for you.

 

Jamie

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Hi veganite,

 

Our team have now carried out their investigation and have some details that they would like to discuss with you, they will send you an email requesting your contact details i.e. contact number and current address. This is so that we can communicate with you in order to get this resolved. You have our email address if you need to contact me as well.

 

Many Thanks,

Jamie

[veganite]

Hello Jamie,

 

Thank you very much for your assistance!

 

I have received and replied to the email explaining that at the moment it would be difficult to send me documents in the post because I am living outside UK (Russia). The mail service is very unreliable here (though extremely efficient if local mail). Previously when I had to sign a document, it cost over £50.00 to send the document via DHL. In light of that I have enquired whether documents can be sent as an attachment to my email.

 

I have provided your customer dept with my phone number.

 

Thank you again for your prompt assistance!

[veganite]

just to update, i haven't received a phone call and have not received any further email.

 

i can appreciate that making a phone call to someone outside UK is maybe a little difficult but would have thought i would receive further email since the email yesterday said documents needed to be sent to my home address and i replied back asking whether documents could be sent to my email since its virtually impossible for me to receive air mail post

 

thanks

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Hi veganite,

 

Thank you for posting an update to this thread. I am sorry that we have not got back to you yet via email, I have just spoken with the member of our team that this has been allocated to and they have asked me to let you know that they are awaiting confirmation on a couple of points and will send you an email update tomorrow. Once again I apologise for the delay however, as I am sure you can appreciate this was quite a long time ago so we have had to consult some archived details in order to understand the process.

 

Many Thanks,

Jamie

[veganite]

hi Jamie,

 

thank you for your update. yes i can appreciate there may be a delay as this does go back about 7 years ago

 

just a quick question - since my car was stolen, i was waiting for insurance money to replace the car. as i didnt receive money and am still waiting, how will this affect my no claims bonus upon renewal?

 

have i lost all my no claims bonus?

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Hi veganite,

 

I am sorry to say that at this stage I am not able to say what the impact to your no claims bonus would be, this is one of the points that are currently being confirmed. The email that we will send you tomorrow will outline all of the relevant details along with your options so that you can make a decision about how best to proceed.

 

Many Thanks,

Jamie

[veganite]

Hello,

To update this thread:

 

email received today saying I must pay £301.26 to Swinton Insurance as I had cancelled my policy (if i claim, then I need to repay this money to them).

 

Hastings have confirmed that they will provide me with a valuation and issue payment.

 

 

Thank you to Jamie for your help in this! I must say that communication seems to be excellent this time!

[veganite]

Hello Jamie,

I just want to thank you for your assistance within this thread.

 

To update the thread:

The excess on my policy was £125.00, Hastings have said I will receive £1290.00 taking into account my policy excess.

 

Whilst this is far less than the value I would personally place on the car, I realise that I am entitled to only the market value of the car.

 

The documents I had sent showing full service history (apart from the last nearly years of the cars life since it was due), also I had sent documents from a garage showing repairs to the car. I can not remember what one of the repairs were but do know the bill came to £540. This work was completed a few months before car was stolen. Also, I purchased 3 new tyres only 2 weeks before the theft:-x

 

In Hastings email, they state that my claim was opened, then closed, reopened, then closed, reopened and closed... and that I had not contacted them! In light of this, as I was so so stupid not to keep copies of the documents that would ideally have shown the car to be worth more than market value, then I guess I can not dispute this?

 

 

Once again thank you to Jamie for sorting this out for me!

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Hi veganite,

 

Thank you for the update to the thread, I am happy to help. If there is anything further that you would like my assistance with please do not hesitate to get in contact with me.

 

Many Thanks,

Jamie

[veganite]

Hello Jamie,

email from Hastings states:

I can see that your No claims discount was protected at the time of the claim so this was not impacted and would not be impacted if you were to claim now.

 

Please will you let me know how many years no claims bonus i have?

 

I would like to arrange insurance on another car in the near future and do not know how many years no claims i have.

 

Thanks

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Hi veganite,

 

Thank you for getting back to me again. I have asked my colleague to drop you an email with the amount of no claims bonus years that you had at the time that your policy was with us. It will be up to the new insurer that you chose to determine your no claims bonus entitlement as often there will be a period of time in which there must have been an active policy for the no claims bonus years to be valid. For Hastings policies the period of break in cover for the no claims to be valid is generally two years. I hope this helps.

 

Many Thanks,

Jamie

[veganite]

hello,

The amount Hastings offered me as lower than the amount I had originally expected.

 

The offer of £1,290.00 falls far short of what I expected...

 

Latest prices of this car as described by RAC http://www.rac.co.uk/buying-a-car/car-reviews/toyota/carina-e/207595 shows that an 'M' which is one year older than the car stolen and RAC states prices tend to start at £1,900.00

 

Another example can be seen from eBay, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Toyota-Carina-1-6-auto-GL-/271494508139?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3f36556e6b from a motor dealer - £1,990.00 (example here shows a car some 4 or 5 years younger than mine!!! The example shows that the car had been looked after - something which I considered the documents I had sent to Hastings proved, that my car had been looked after, FSH every year (excluding the last year as it was due) plus receipts for repairs.

 

As this claim does go back several years, I am finding it difficult to obtain car prices from the time that the car was stolen.

 

At the same time, I do not wish to prolong this claim any further than is necessary.

 

Can anyone provide advice please?

[unclebulgaria67]

It is up to you to negotiate. Hastings, the same as any other Insurers will attempt to offer a low amount first of all. You could ask Hastings for the information they have used to work out their valuation.

 

Be aware that second hand car values have increased in recent years, as the scrap materials are now worth more. So it is possible that current values may be higher than what they were 8 years ago. You need to know what information Hastings have used for their valuation.