Totalled the Volkswagon Passat and.....

Matt Santos

Ok, I am not sure if this is in the wrong forum but feel free to move it Mods if you think it is served better elsewhere..
Story begins last January when I was up the country visiting my folks. I drove my fully comprehensively insured car up during a patch of the bad weather and hit a stone walled bridge whilst driving in the snow! I managed to get the car back to my folks house and rang my insurance to notify them of the claim. I was on my own when the accident happened and was luckily unhurt in the incident.
So the insurance was notified and they send out their assessor pretty fast. The car was wrote off and to tell the truth I expected no different. It was a Volkswagen Passat Diesel 02 with over 110k on the clock. I valued it at about 3k. The assessor was pretty mannerly when he came to inspect the car and was met by both my brother (who would know his way about cars) and never hinted in any way that there was any issue with the car. It was recently NCT and the only comment he had to make that was derogatory was the excessive miles on it.
A few days pass and I get a call from the Insurance company and they tell me that they are processing the claim and that they think that €1,800 is the value of the claim and €600 scrappage. I am obviously in the market for something new and I notice that what they are offering is well below what the value was of the car pre smash! I explain to the guy on the phone that I was under the impression that the car was of a higher value than that quoted and I was not happy with the offer. He asked then what I thought should be the value and I told him that €3k was what those type of cars were making. When he heard this he then said to e-mail him 5 examples of Volkswagen Passats Diesel 02 that were currently for sale at that money. I went through "carzone" and found them easily. I sent them off to the Insurance specifically to this guy and waited for his reply...
You are not gonna believe the next call that I get from the Insurance! The same guy rings me on receipt of the E-mails and tells me that they are know in receipt of the assessors report and that one of my tyres was "overworn and undertread". Even though I could have got into a verbal with this guy because he had initially offered €1,800 I chose not to and just calmly said that I would have to get legal advice.
I got in contact with another assessor and explained the scenario. He said that he would inspect the car and if it was the case that he thought that the Insurance assessor was in error he would fight it for me. I have to state here that it would have been easy to switch the tyre but my brother had noticed that the first assessor had taken snaps of the tyres. The independent assessor comes out and he finds no issue with any of the tyres and furnishes me with documentation to say same.
I had notified my solicitor of the facts before hand and I gave the documentation to him to pursue.
Speaking to the solicitor (who isnt the best at this!) he has written and called the insurance but is getting no satisfaction. His latest comment is that he is going to summons the insurance company!
Now, I just want to know is it possible that the Insurance can just stone wall a client after THEY feel that they are not libel to the policy?

Kavs

name and shame my friend, my insurance is up for renewal soon so would be great to have a heads up. Hope you get a result from these cowboys.

evolving_doors

Sounds familiar, its not Quinn by any chance, heard those guys take the wallpaper with them when they move house....

MugMugs

If you rejected that offer in your email back to them then the offer is gone and they don't have to offer it again. As for changing stories and using a dodgy tyre, sounds odd.... Will your assessor be willing to go to court with his report? Have you asked the insurer if they would like a copy of your report in return for a copy of theirs ?

Jimmy Bottlehead

Id imagine if you call their bluff and proceed, they'll back down. too much hassle and expense for them if they decide to fight it.

Wile E. Coyote

Since when is 110k on a nine year old car excessive???

Fight it op. I had a similar issue with Quinn a few years ago and eventually got them to back down.

MugMugs

Point to note. you can issue proceedings on an Insurer. its expensive though. also, policies are generally riddled with arbitration pre litigation clauses.

galwaytt

Ask ins co for the pics, via solicitor, and give them 5 days to produce. Tell them you've had a 2nd opinion, and you'll issue proceedings if they don't comply or make a satisfactory offer.

maidhc

I'm confused. Was there a bald tyre on the car?

Personally I wouldn't bother with solicitors in this case. You valued the car at 3k, they are giving you €1800 + €600 i.e. €2,400. You probably have €300 excess, so we are fighting about the €300 euro balance; no one is going to get rich out of this.

Refer the matter to the financial services ombudsman.

Matt Santos

maidhc wrote: »

I'm confused. Was there a bald tyre on the car?

Personally I wouldn't bother with solicitors in this case. You valued the car at 3k, they are giving you €1800 + €600 i.e. €2,400. You probably have €300 excess, so we are fighting about the €300 euro balance; no one is going to get rich out of this.

Refer the matter to the financial services ombudsman.

I didnt want to get rich out of this!! It was simply a figure that was thrown at me over the phone. No mention of the scrappage value. No excess involved either!
You are confused... So am I!
The insurance assessor says there was a bald tyre. The independent assessor says there wasn't a bald tyre. The Insurance say they are not paying out because their man says it was bald.
The Insurance are even denying that they offered me anything because it was verbal and over the phone. Of course I would have accepted €1,800 had I known that the alternative was nothing!!
There was a query earlier as to who the Insurance company was.....

It was a Royal and Sunny day for such an Alliance....:mad: