Claim query - Car written off but there is a dispute over the settlement figure

Lady Chatterton · 08-01-2012 6:06pm #1

I'm currently trying to settle a claim with a car insurance company and it is turning into a bit of a nightmare. I would be very grateful for any advice you could offer

Basically, my husband was involved in a car accident almost two months ago. Thankfully, he is fine, he only sustained soft tissue injuries to his back and neck but his car was a complete right off. To be honest, he was more upset about his car than he was about his injuries.

The Gardaí were called to the scene and the other driver admitted liability so we thought it would be fairly plain sailing after that. Initially, the other driver’s insurance company were very pleasant to deal with, there was lots of talk about making the claims process as easy for us as possible and their aim was to have us back on the road as soon as possible etc.

The insurance company asked that we have our car assessed and repaired by one of their preferred repairers, we agreed to do this (after doing a bit of research on the garage first). Within 24 hours the insurance company contacted us to say that there was no question of repairing the car as there was way too much damage. They told us that we needed to get a pre-crash value for our car from our local main dealer, they specified that it had to be a main dealer. We did this and then the insurance company said that we needed to provide another valuation.

At this stage we have submitted three separate valuations but the insurance company are only prepared to offer us €2,000 less than what the three main dealers are saying our car was worth prior to the crash. I’ve spoken to a couple of friends who are involved in the motor trade and they all have said we would be completely mad to accept the current offer.

There is a bit of a standoff going on now and I’m not sure how we can resolve this. My husband has been without his car for almost two months, he has been using my car, which was fine during the holidays but we really need another car due to my husband’s work.

If we settle now, we will take a financial hit of €2,000, if we go legal, the whole thing could become protracted and expensive. I suppose it would be easier to take the loss if the fault of the accident lay with my husband.

Many thanks for taking the time to read my post, I would appreciate any advice or suggestions.

chris85 · 08-01-2012 6:29pm

MrsD007 wrote: »

I'm currently trying to settle a claim with a car insurance company and it is turning into a bit of a nightmare. I would be very grateful for any advice you could offer

Basically, my husband was involved in a car accident almost two months ago. Thankfully, he is fine, he only sustained soft tissue injuries to his back and neck but his car was a complete right off. To be honest, he was more upset about his car than he was about his injuries.

The Gardaí were called to the scene and the other driver admitted liability so we thought it would be fairly plain sailing after that. Initially, the other driver’s insurance company were very pleasant to deal with, there was lots of talk about making the claims process as easy for us as possible and their aim was to have us back on the road as soon as possible etc.

The insurance company asked that we have our car assessed and repaired by one of their preferred repairers, we agreed to do this (after doing a bit of research on the garage first). Within 24 hours the insurance company contacted us to say that there was no question of repairing the car as there was way too much damage. They told us that we needed to get a pre-crash value for our car from our local main dealer, they specified that it had to be a main dealer. We did this and then the insurance company said that we needed to provide another valuation.

At this stage we have submitted three separate valuations but the insurance company are only prepared to offer us €2,000 less than what the three main dealers are saying our car was worth prior to the crash. I’ve spoken to a couple of friends who are involved in the motor trade and they all have said we would be completely mad to accept the current offer.

There is a bit of a standoff going on now and I’m not sure how we can resolve this. My husband has been without his car for almost two months, he has been using my car, which was fine during the holidays but we really need another car due to my husband’s work.

If we settle now, we will take a financial hit of €2,000, if we go legal, the whole thing could become protracted and expensive. I suppose it would be easier to take the loss if the fault of the accident lay with my husband.

Many thanks for taking the time to read my post, I would appreciate any advice or suggestions.

You do not need to go legal at this point. There are procedures in place to deal with this.

Firstly Most policies you would be entitled to the use of a courtesy car. When I was last in a crash the other driver admitted liability. My insurance company rang me and first thing I asked was where could I collect a courtesy car. It was sorted. They say there is a maximum period of a few weeks to have the car but was extended for me until I purchased a new car.

Speak to them and ask them the process involved in an appeal of the amount and advised them you need the courtesy car your policy entitles you to (as long as it does, most do). Provided evidence of the market price of the vehicle, which you already have from the valuations.

Get more valuations which will have the same figure and send them to them and tell them this is how much it will be to get same spec vehicle purchased from main dealer.

Insurers are trying to reduce their outgoing but policy holders are entitled to be covered for what they signed up to.

Dont give up on it.

Lady Chatterton · 08-01-2012 6:43pm

chris85 wrote: »

Firstly Most policies you would be entitled to the use of a courtesy car. When I was last in a crash the other driver admitted liability. My insurance company rang me and first thing I asked was where could I collect a courtesy car. It was sorted. They say there is a maximum period of a few weeks to have the car but was extended for me until I purchased a new car.

Speak to them and ask them the process involved in an appeal of the amount and advised them you need the courtesy car your policy entitles you to (as long as it does, most do). Provided evidence of the market price of the vehicle, which you already have from the valuations.

Many thanks for your reply. Just to clarify, we are dealing with the other driver's insurance company, we are claiming against their policy not our own policy. To date, they have not offered a courtesy car. I will ring them tomorrow about a courtesy car and for information about their appeals procedure

lip · 08-01-2012 6:55pm

Hi,I can sympathise totally with you. Our car was written off just before Christmas,our own fault,skidded on ice and into a pole. Thankfully no injuries. Our insurance offered us E2500,which was way below anything similar that we found online. We asked them to email over the car they found for that price,but all they could show was 1 car,similar,but lower spec for E2950. After a few days of phonecalls and us emailing what we had found they finally offered E2900. Its still way below what we feel it was worth,and we're having huge problems finding a 7 seater car with that money,as we're not in a position to add money to it, but they weren't budging. So keep arguing with them,their assessor should be finding out the market value.
In relation to a courtesy car,when I got hit be another driver and was going through his insurance,I got a car for 10 days while mine was getting fixed. They only offer a 1 litre though. Hope you get it sorted.

Lady Chatterton · 08-01-2012 7:13pm

lip wrote: »

Hi,I can sympathise totally with you. Our car was written off just before Christmas,our own fault,skidded on ice and into a pole. Thankfully no injuries. Our insurance offered us E2500,which was way below anything similar that we found online. We asked them to email over the car they found for that price,but all they could show was 1 car,similar,but lower spec for E2950. After a few days of phonecalls and us emailing what we had found they finally offered E2900. Its still way below what we feel it was worth,and we're having huge problems finding a 7 seater car with that money,as we're not in a position to add money to it, but they weren't budging. So keep arguing with them,their assessor should be finding out the market value.
In relation to a courtesy car,when I got hit be another driver and was going through his insurance,I got a car for 10 days while mine was getting fixed. They only offer a 1 litre though. Hope you get it sorted.

Thanks very much for your advice and I'm sorry to hear about your accident. I'm glad there were no injuries.

I just had a look online and cars of the same year and spec are coming in at the same price and higher than the main dealers valuations. The insurance company are still €2,000 - €2,500 out. I'll print off some examples of the cars I've found online and I'll send them on to the insurance company.

mathepac · 08-01-2012 7:20pm

MrsD007 wrote: »

... Just to clarify, we are dealing with the other driver's insurance company, we are claiming against their policy not our own policy. ...

If you have your own comprehensive policy, use this for your claim in the short term and tell your insurance company to pursue the other driver's insurance to recompense them (he admitted liability at the scene - did Gardai at the scene note this?).

Have you informed your insurers that you've had an accident? If you check your policy you'll find you usually have 7 to 10 days in which to do this. Informing them of the accident has nothing to do with admitting liability, but it is a normal contractual obligation.

You paid your premium now let them do the running around and negotiating, which they undertake to do anyway, and use your policy to make life easier for you. You may lose your NCB in the short term (you may have lost it already) but can claim it back again once the insurers settle up.

Lady Chatterton · 08-01-2012 7:34pm

mathepac wrote: »

If you have your own comprehensive policy, use this for your claim in the short term and tell your insurance company to pursue the other driver's insurance to recompense them (he admitted liability at the scene - did Gardai at the scene note this?).

Have you informed your insurers that you've had an accident? If you check your policy you'll find you usually have 7 to 10 days in which to do this. Informing them of the accident has nothing to do with admitting liability, but it is a normal contractual obligation.

You paid your premium now let them do the running around and negotiating, which they undertake to do anyway, and use your policy to make life easier for you. You may lose your NCB in the short term (you may have lost it already) but can claim it back again once the insurers settle up.

Yes, my husband has comprehensive cover and ten years plus NCB. I sent a registered letter to my husband's insurance company outlining details of the accident etc. within 24 hours of the accident. The Gardaí attended the scene of the accident, took witness statements and they are happy that the other driver was responsible for the accident, they also have a record of the driver admitting liability.

Our insurance company wrote to us to say that the matter had to be dealt with by the other driver's insurance company as he had admitted liability.

Just on the NCB, will my husband lose his no claims bonus even though he was not to blame for the accident? I know that when I arranged cover for him, I took out protection on his NCB, so he shouldn't be too badly affected.

It is a bit of a bummer to be paying insurance cover for a car that you can't drive, we obviously have to keep it covered in case of fire or theft. (Good luck to anyone who wants to have a go at stealing it

)

mathepac · 08-01-2012 8:05pm

MrsD007 wrote: »

... Our insurance company wrote to us to say that the matter had to be dealt with the other driver's insurance company as he had admitted liability. ...

That's fine but you can tell them to deal with for you. I'm fairly sure my policies have always said that they do this as a matter of course. Check your policy.

MrsD007 wrote: »

... Just on the NCB, will my husband lose his no claims bonus even though he was not to blame for the accident? I know that when I arranged cover for him, I took out protection on his NCB, so he shouldn't be too badly affected. ...

It depends on the stance your insurers take and whether you have "step-back" or "full protection" on the NCB.

In the last 20 years I've had two complete write-offs and three other claims (two where my parked cars were struck by other cars) and I've only ever had to deliver one car to the body shop and collect a rental there, drop it back and collect my own repaired car. My own insurance in three cases and the other driver's insurance in the other 2 took care of everything. My NCB was suspended while the claims were being resolved and restored immediately on settlement.

alig1234 · 10-06-2020 9:50pm

Hi can i suggest you write to the insurance company outlining your position that your expectation is that you will receive EURX sum in total settlement and they have offered you X and that unless they revise they offer upwards you will refer to the Ombudsman in that they failed to provide you with the poliicy benefits as set out in the policy document incl courtesy car. You shojuld also ask them where in the policy terms and conditions does it say they can pay you X% of losses you incurred and where the policy quotes max amount payable. I think you will find they will change their mind pretty quickly. Insurance companies tend to run scared on claim declinatures when they receive a letter . Best of luck.