63 replies to this topic

[sherly]

and regardless if the modifications were declared or not.. its my right to have what my cars worth which included the modifications as they are part of the car.

But it aint.

Problem is that most insurance companies WILL NOT repair a car back to the modified state, they will repair it back to standard. It's all in policy small print. The same will apply for if a car is written off. It will only be valued as per standard state unless it's a specialist policy. It's all in the small print of most of the insurers. I was with Elephant (sister company of Admiral) and had some mods declared on my Megane. The policy stated that in the event of an accident, modifications would not be repaired like for like, they would be put back to standard if necessary.

Unfortunately, unless you've got an agreed value with a specialist insurer, you're up the creek mate!

Totally agree. My 205Gti is insured with Admiral and when I took out the policy I read the small print (that most people don't bother to read) and it said that damage to any aftermarket parts would be repaired as standard parts in the event of an accident.

not quite... as it was a third party fault.. they are legally bound to pay the value of the car.. not always the market value. Which ever may be more i believe.

when i took out the insurance i could have said that the car was worth 500 pounds.. but now it could be worth triple that... and they would be expected to pay the revised value

If you do not have an agreed valuation then they will generally only pay out the amount you said the car was worth when you took the policy out. If you said it was worth £1000 but now it is worth £3000 they will normally only pay out £1k. It is up to you to increase the value or get an agreed valuation. Its a b***h but this is how they make their money

Insurance companies will pay out the lowest book value they can get away with, regardless of what you claim the car is worth (except agreed valuation). When my 205 was rear ended I had to fight tooth and nail for them to increase their initial offer of peanuts to something near what it was worth.

Just to go against the argument - once I had agreed a value with Admiral they were very quick to sort things out and get my money to me.

Unfortunately Insurance companies suck. Wholesale.

Edited by sherly, 06 February 2008 - 08:23 PM.

[Matt]

after consulting yet more legal advice...

the small print in my insurance has nothing to do with it..
since the accident wasnt my fault.

its my insurance trying to pull a fast one.
Ive now consulted a solicitor to take my claim further.. and ill have em for everything its worth now.
Big company or small company... i dont mind taking it on.

They have tried to offer me a final settlement figure of 1332.39... that doesnt including buying back my car.
I didnt accept that offer and this is yet another tactic of a large company to bully a person into taking that decision.

"our settlement cheque will follow shortly" "if your car is still at a garage or in storate. Please remove any personal belongings immediately as we will shorly move it to a place of storage. Please send your written acceptance of our valuation within the next 14 days. If we do not hear from you. we will assume that you accept the valuation and dispose of your car"

that'll be a clever trick since i still have the log book and they only have a copy.

[Matt]

and according to this final peice of paper.. im expected to pay my remaining insurance premium :S
a whole 667 of it? despite the fact they canceled my insurance for me?

hmmm anyone else smell something fishy?

[The Matt]

You generally have to pay the full premium if you are making a claim through them.

[who_loves_the_mini?]

It sucks that you have to pay the rest of the premium, i made a claim 1 month afther insuring my car but thats life im afraid.

[gixxerpower]

just to go in the opposite direction on this thread. i am currently insured with liverpool victoria through zenith insurance. i was hit in my seat leon just before christmas by a bloke cutting a corner, he clipped the front of my car. Anyway, this bloke will not adimit it was his fault and we have no witnesses. the insurance company (and broker assist who ever they are) have bent over backwards with getting my car fixed. there communication has been excellent and they are doing there best to get this blokes insurance to pay up as his insurers are claiming it was knock for knock.

hopefully they will sort it soon, but i can really recommend them. they were also one of the cheapest qoutes.

[Ethel]

I seem to say this on every insurance thread and Matt's solicitors have made the point too

IF SOMEONE ELSE IS TOTALLY AT FAULT FOR THE DAMAGES TO YOUR CAR, THEY ARE LIABLE FOR ALL YOUR LOSSES AND YOUR OWN INSURANCE POLICY DOESN'T COME IN TO IT.

You do need to exercise some caution in case liability can't be established; or you could be held partly to blame; or the other party has no means of paying - your policy will almost certainly state you have to inform your insurers and let them do the dealing or your cover will be invalid. Get all the facts together and go see a solicitor if you sniff any trouble, many will offer a fixed fee initial consultation, it may well be only a tenner 'n well worth it.


Matt, if they are cancelling your cover then they are terminating your contract so don't pay them, write to them asking them to justify any premium paid against the service they have provided.

[Matt]

woo someone agrees with me

as i said.. big company or not.. they might just get a shock tomorrow..

Considering this is litterly a open and shut case i cant see why they are having so many problems with it.

Regardless ill leave it in the hands of the solicitors.. its what they are paid to do!

[coop]

i had to make a claim last year about a month after i renewed my insurance and had to pay my premium, thats the way it goes i am afraid.

but to be honest my insurance company (Diamond) were great. my mini was a write off and they gave me £5500 for it, exactly what i paid. so i can't grumble.

[*Raz*]

If your insurance company have been reading comments you've been posting, this is a great way to charm them into increasing their valuation of your car!

why would they be reading the posts on here? they better not be, otherwise im taking that one right off

They might do, you dont know who checks where. Tis a public forum after all

Don`t go with ELEPHANT either. Complete bunch of .

To cut it short, I was in bed car was on the road outside house as had nowhere else to park. Joy rider hit 4 cars in our road. Elephant wouldn`t pay out till they had seen Police report to find out responcabiltiy! AS I said to them the car wasn`t parked in the middle of the road and I was in BED so how could I have ever caused the accident. But they wouldn`t budge, took them 8 months to cough up and not enough for the car either. Plus even though it was only 6 months through the premium couldn`t get anything back either.


NEVER AGAIN

END rant.

I'm with Elephant.

Better change to someone else when my cover ends in March and I get my one years no claims bonus.

I am too, and they have screwed me around (and still are) enough in the last 6 months!!

[Black.Ghost]

To whoever asked, yes Elephant is owned by Admiral.

If you look closely there are actually very few insurance companies. Most of the underwritters are the same. Its the same with loans and credit etc.

As for the person who was worried about telling the insurance company they passed their test and forgot to tell them, you can prove you passed your test when you said you did - simply go to the test company and aks for a copy of the pass certificate or record - they must surely keep them (even if just under the Data Protection Act). They may charge you a small fee, but hey surely it is worth it?

As for ending insurance early, not necessarily the best thing to do. An agreed valution is prob the better bet as cancelling with just a couple of months or so to go means throwing away your no claims bonus for the year you have just earnt (assuming you havent had to make a claim).

The best bet is surely a classic car insurer (certainly for the older models anyway) or a mini specialist?

A mate of mine has an MGB GT and his insurance is with someone in Yorkshire...but he has a great deal. They asked him what his no claims was (2 yrs) and didnt use it - instead they gave him something else that basically gave him the same discount. Of course it does mean that he wont add to his no claims but he was able to use his no claims on another car...

I hate insurance. For anything. The only people whoever seem to get money out of them are fraudsters!! Its ridiculous. I have had three phones stolen and didnt get any insurance payout for any of them. I hate them. I really hate them.

[oli8925]

If your insurance company have been reading comments you've been posting, this is a great way to charm them into increasing their valuation of your car!

why would they be reading the posts on here? they better not be, otherwise im taking that one right off

They might do, you dont know who checks where. Tis a public forum after all

true, its been taken off now, just for safety

after consulting yet more legal advice...

the small print in my insurance has nothing to do with it..
since the accident wasnt my fault.

its my insurance trying to pull a fast one.
Ive now consulted a solicitor to take my claim further.. and ill have em for everything its worth now.
Big company or small company... i dont mind taking it on.

They have tried to offer me a final settlement figure of 1332.39... that doesnt including buying back my car.
I didnt accept that offer and this is yet another tactic of a large company to bully a person into taking that decision.

"our settlement cheque will follow shortly" "if your car is still at a garage or in storate. Please remove any personal belongings immediately as we will shorly move it to a place of storage. Please send your written acceptance of our valuation within the next 14 days. If we do not hear from you. we will assume that you accept the valuation and dispose of your car"

that'll be a clever trick since i still have the log book and they only have a copy.

good luck mate. hope you manage to f#ck them over for every penny!

[Matt]

This is clearly a non-fault claim and quite frankly you could have installed a supercharger to the car and it would not have made any difference with regard to this accident.

With liability admitted all that needs to be done is you to be reimbursed by the guilty party. Your insurance status is totally irrelevant. You have suffered a loss through negligence of another party and it is their insurer's duty to place back in the same position as you were prior to the accident.


Do not send any original documents especially the V5 to your or any party until a suitable settlement offer has been achieved as this effectively transfers ownership.

A reply from 'legal answers'

[Jammy]

After reading all this, it begs the question, why have you got your insurance involved? Surely you need to go through the 3rd parties company? Or are you using your insurance company to do that for you?

If thats the case, if they are being so difficult I'd just take the 3rd parties company on by myself, instead of fighting your insurance company, and then fighting the 3rd parties as well.

[Matt]

now see this is where it becomes confusing.. i didnt actually know the procedures i could take. I phoned my insurance company and they just took it on, i wasn't aware i could go directly to the other party.
I know this now. I told my insurance i wanted to go directly through the other company but they have said they couldn't as they had already started the claim. So whilst they are being difficult there isnt a great deal i could have done about it. I did check, its in the small print of the insurance documents.

So at the moment im stuck with going through my insurance company unless there happens to be a legal loophole.