Help with car insurance ombudsman complaint please

anna77_2 · 21 May 2007 at 9:51AM

Someone drove into the back of my car back in March and the car was consequently written off as being uneconomical to repair. The insurance company subsequently offered me £400 for the car (it was an old car) which I accepted in the interim while lodging a dispute about it. To cut a long story short, the insurance company and I agreed on the value of the car, but because the car had a small dent on the front (which you could hardly see unless you were at a certain angle with the light shining on it) and a cracked plastic light casing they deducted some £250 from the valuation as this would be the cost of repairing these "faults". My car was otherwise in very good condition and extremely reliable.
My response to this was that these faults were not material to the value of the car - at this level in the market, quite honestly, all you want from a car is that it takes you from A to B and if all you can afford to drive is a £650 car then you are not going to spend £250 in correcting cosmetic faults.
It took more than a month to find a suitable replacement, and have bought the same type of car, not quite in as good conditions, with a small bump on the side and needing two new tyres - I paid £600 (and count myself lucky to have found it). My point was that had I wanted to sell the car I would have been able to sell it for at least £600, bump and cracked fitting included, and on this basis at least £600 is necessary to put be back in the position I was before the accident, which is what insurance should be about. I don't think I am being unreasonable about this, but any views on this are welcome.
The insurance company has finally rejected my complaint (after weeks of unanswered calls) and have indicated that if I want to take this further I need to go to the Financial Ombudsman. I am happy to take this further and wondered if anyone has any suggestions on the best way to present this. Has anyone here made a similar claim?
Thank you in advance for your help.

brazilianwax · 21 May 2007 at 10:00AM

As you replaced the car for £600, that is a fair price for your old car.

So you should be able to argue that they should give you £600-£400-excess = £??

anna77_2 · 21 May 2007 at 4:19PM

Thank you brazilianwax, that's what I thought, and this is going to be the basis of my complaint. I just wondered if my argument that deducting the cost of making cosmetic repairs to a car of this age and value is unreasonable would stack up.

brazilianwax · 21 May 2007 at 4:26PM

anna77 wrote: »

Thank you brazilianwax, that's what I thought, and this is going to be the basis of my complaint. I just wondered if my argument that deducting the cost of making cosmetic repairs to a car of this age and value is unreasonable would stack up.

what was your excess?

anna77_2 · 21 May 2007 at 7:22PM

There was no excess because the other driver admitted liability and the value of the car, as assessed by the insurance company, was paid in full. The insurance company has specifically stated that the deduction was for pre-existing "damage" to my car (the little bump and cracked plastic casing).

movilogo · 22 May 2007 at 10:30AM

which insurance company? Yes, I too believe that £250 deduction for cosmetic damage is outrageous!

anna77_2 · 22 May 2007 at 3:04PM

The insurance company involved is NIG.

Taking £250 for cosmetic damage off a car valued at £6000 is one thing, taking £250 off a total value of £650 is past being ridiculous. I have today received the application form from the Financial Ombudsman - it will cost me nothing to apply and I am determined not to give up on this for the sake of one more form to fill in. Apparently it might take up to nine months to get to the end of this but I can wait

shadowstalker · 24 May 2007 at 1:36AM

my parents had a similar problem with zurich when their car caught fire on the M40, zurich wanted to take away half the value of the car £2500 for a wireing loom which they said started the fire even though there was nothing wrong with is. we complained to ombudsman, it took about a month and they said that zurich were wrong and we got the full amount for the car plus intest
hope this helps

the insurance co are prob using you as a test case to see if they can get away with it

anna77_2 · 30 May 2007 at 9:10PM

shadowstalker wrote: »

my parents had a similar problem with zurich when their car caught fire on the M40, zurich wanted to take away half the value of the car £2500 for a wireing loom which they said started the fire even though there was nothing wrong with is. we complained to ombudsman, it took about a month and they said that zurich were wrong and we got the full amount for the car plus intest
hope this helps the insurance co are prob using you as a test case to see if they can get away with it

Thank you shadowstalker, I have sent my application to the ombudsman. The day after I posted it I have received another letter from the insurance company saying that they are dealing with my complaint, even though they had already sent me their final response letter, so whatever else is going on, there are people in that company not talking to each other. I will report in due course with the omnbudsman reply.

lisyloo · 31 May 2007 at 9:44AM

I just wondered if my argument that deducting the cost of making cosmetic repairs to a car of this age and value is unreasonable would stack up.

I think you argument is entirely reasonable.

I have an old car like you. It drives very well and is very reliable.
However there are a number of faults that I live with because it's uneconomical to repair them. It is quite ridiculous for them to deduct the full price of repairs when both yourself and anyone buying the car would simply "live" with them.

Good luck with the ombudsman.
I think you have a case.

Amberhen · 12 August 2007 at 10:10AM

similar problem with my car, I managed to close my tailgate and crush some electrical contacts housed in the tailgate wich melted part of the wiring loom. Tesco car insurance say its an electrical fault and is not covered. Surley they must be wrong as I'm insured fully com and the fault occured due to my accidently crushing said contacts.
Any help please

Help with car insurance ombudsman complaint please

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