Car insurance claim, help/advice needed!

[mauvais]

What am I tagged in what now?

I bought my stolen/recovered written-off car (what was then Cat C) back as salvage. But it turned out it was fucked. I got lucky in that I sold it back to a specialist for pretty much the same amount, so it was worth a try.

I think it was about £600 to buy it. I got a £2000ish payout from the write-off. However that was because it was insured on an agreed value policy. Usual market value would have been under a grand. So the salvage might eat up almost all of your payout, I dunno.

It's also a load of hassle.

 

[Ted Striker]

Why are you paying an excess if it's not your fault? It's a straight claim against the at-fault drivers' insurance, no? (And if not, from memory, these transactions are pretty common and turn-key (and handled by your insurer), not a protracted lengthy legal battle you have to wage yourself)?

 

[mauvais]

I think you tend to pay an excess and get it back on successful resolution of a no-fault claim.

 

[Spymaster]

Why are you paying an excess if it's not your fault? It's a straight claim against the at-fault drivers' insurance, no? (And if not, from memory, these transactions are pretty common and turn-key (and handled by your insurer), not a protracted lengthy legal battle you have to wage yourself)?

When you make a claim you claim on your own insurance policy and your insurer looks to recover their costs from the other one, so they withhold the excess amount. Depending on your policy they may also seek to recover your excess but often you’ll have to do it yourself unless you purchased an uninsured loss add-on. ‘Legal assistance’ usually covers excess recovery. Some policies automatically include uninsured loss cover and they’re the ones who make a marketing thing about ‘you won’t lose out if you’re hit by an uninsured driver’.

You’re right about it not taking months to recover though. The 18 months that the OP mentions is likely worse case scenario where there’ve been deaths or injuries and investigations. Contrary to general U75 feeling about the industry, insurers really don’t have much interest in withholding or delaying legitimate £500 claims, and will probably want it done and dusted just as quickly as the claimant. In a straightforward case like this I’d be surprised if it’s not settled in a few weeks.

 

[Proper Tidy]

When an insurer tried to write off a car I had a prang in (fuck all damage but car worth nothing - insurer estimated £700 to fix which was over 50% of car's value so write off) I objected and they said you could just fix it yourself if you wanted. Which I did for £100, policy continued and didn't have to buy back, no declaration to DVLA (or whatever they are called now) - but it was reported as we lost protection on no claims and other bloke claimed against us.

How come I didn't have to go through the arsehole of buying back etc and can't OP do this? For spymaster and kabbes I suppose as spy's post contradicts this and kabbes agreed and seems to know his stuff

 

[kabbes]

Hey, we didn’t say it was impossible, just that it isn’t possible if the insurer refuses.

 

[polly]

I was hit on a roundabout earlier this year and, because she hadn't given way and that was obvious from where she had hit my car, it was easy to prove her liability. Despite having crap insurance I didn't pay anything at all, and her insurance paid for a really fancy hire car for a month while they assessed the damage (to my absolute banger that was obviously written off). I didn't claim on my insurance at all - the whole thing went via some weird third party company (edit: Auxillis) and Elephant were not involved at all. I don't know if this helps at all, possibly not at this stage. The other thing that it might be too late to advise is that I successfully challenged the valuation of my car and raised my payout from 900 ish to 1100 ish by providing examples of similar cars for sale on eBay.

 

[mauvais]

When an insurer tried to write off a car I had a prang in (fuck all damage but car worth nothing - insurer estimated £700 to fix which was over 50% of car's value so write off) I objected and they said you could just fix it yourself if you wanted. Which I did for £100, policy continued and didn't have to buy back, no declaration to DVLA (or whatever they are called now) - but it was reported as we lost protection on no claims and other bloke claimed against us.

How come I didn't have to go through the arsehole of buying back etc and can't OP do this? For spymaster and kabbes I suppose as spy's post contradicts this and kabbes agreed and seems to know his stuff

It partly depends what happened to the car. If it ended up having to be recovered and in a salvage yard then that's a bit different to you driving it home with some damage.

 

[mauvais]

Also:

How come I didn't have to go through the arsehole of buying back etc and can't OP do this? For spymaster and kabbes I suppose as spy's post contradicts this and kabbes agreed and seems to know his stuff

Because no insurer paid out for your car. The only things that came of it for an insurer - yours - were paying another party and knowing that you're more of a liability. The write off scheme largely exists to avoid paying out multiple times for the same loss.

 

[Spymaster]

When an insurer tried to write off a car I had a prang in (fuck all damage but car worth nothing - insurer estimated £700 to fix which was over 50% of car's value so write off) I objected and they said you could just fix it yourself if you wanted. Which I did for £100, policy continued and didn't have to buy back, no declaration to DVLA (or whatever they are called now) - but it was reported as we lost protection on no claims and other bloke claimed against us.

How come I didn't have to go through the arsehole of buying back etc and can't OP do this? For spymaster and kabbes I suppose as spy's post contradicts this and kabbes agreed and seems to know his stuff

Because the insurer gets to say what the options are. In the OP's case they wrote the car off, thus giving them title to the car, so OP's options were as outlined earlier. In your case they basically said 'your call' for your own losses, but the other chap claimed (presumably because it was your fault) so you lost your (obviously unprotected) NCB.

 

[Proper Tidy]

Because the insurer gets to say what the options are. In the OP's case they wrote the car off, thus giving them title to the car, so OP's options were as outlined earlier. In your case they basically said 'your call' for your own losses, but the other chap claimed (presumably because it was your fault) so you lost your (obviously unprotected) NCB.

Ah right, cheers. Insurers are dicks aren't they. We actually kept no claims, we lost the protection, but yeah my fault I went up his arse (his claim was a scam though, it was about 3mph, prick).

 

[Spymaster]

Insurers are dicks aren't they.

Can't live with them, can't drive without them.

In fairness, the (motor?) insurance business has changed hugely in the last decade or two and they aren't quite the cunts that we used like to think they were.

 

[hash tag]

Aren't insurers using lie detector software on their phone lines now to catch out petty crims like Bahnhof Strasse ?

Yes. I assumed that my insurers were using lie detectors on me a few years back now; unbelievable given the burden of proof/paperwork etc. that I had.
it was because I genuinely claimed for two bike thefts in a silly amount of time.
i told them I wasn't prepared to go through with it in no uncertain terms. either they paid or I would take them to court. They paid.

 

[Winot]

*random car moan sort of linked to insurance*

Car broken into and electrics borked so nothing works. Insurance company arrange for it to be towed to approved garage. Vehicle recovery turn up and are all 'nah mate - haven't got enough space in from of car to tow it'. There's at least 2 cars length in front of it

This is the same week that broadband installation is postponed because a neighbour's car is parked in front of utility pole.

On both occasions the companies involved seem incredulous that I can't unilaterally clear a busy London street of cars.

 

[Winot]

*update*

Car was eventually towed to storage but no garage wants to fix the fucker. I don’t think they know what’s wrong with it.

Insurance rang today to ask if I wanted to agree to a right off “and then we’ll send it to settlement to advise on the monetary figure”. Umm, no, give me a figure first and then I’ll decide whether to right off.

 

[Winot]

Car written off for £4480 minus £250 excess. Much more than I thought it was worth!

 

[hash tag]

bargain , nice new motor beckons

 

[Winot]

bargain , nice new motor beckons

Nah not worth it for the low mileage we do. Only bought a car when baby 1 arrived. Now she’s 14 and is too big for a car seat. Will switch to car club/hire.