Car Insurance Dispute Help

yorkshirewildcat

In December i had my car stolen on the 9th of January i received a letter from my insurance company telling me that an engineer had been instructed to make me a full loss offer, on the strenght of this letter and due to my circumstances which meant i desparetly needed a car i purchased a replacement.

On the 26th of January i receive in writing a full loss offer, this i asked to be reviewed as i felt it was below market value, the same day i received an improved offer in writing, due to other circumstances this was neither rejected or accepted.

On the 29th January i receive notification from the police that my stolen car had been found.

I have explained my circumstances and the situation to the insurance company and outlined the fact that i did not feel it unreasonable to make arrangements to replace my car on the basis of their offer and beleive it would be unfair for them to withdraw their offer at this stage.

They are now reviewing my case although not very fast and i am finding it difficult to establish what is happening.

Will they withdraw their offer and insist on me having to take the car back which quite clearly i do not want, i would suffer a large financial loss, there is no claw back or time line clause in either the policy or the offer letter.

What if the worst does happen, do i have any form of appeal (Ombudsman, FSA ect).

Any guidance or help would be appreciated.

LadyIndecisive

What condition has your car been found in?

dacouch

I assume that due to your car being found very recently that at the moment your insurers are awaiting for a report from their engineer to advise them what damage has been done to the car and what the costs are to repair the vehicle.

I would suggest you ring your Insurers and ask to speak to a supervisor and explain your situation. if the car is repairable they may be willing to repair the car and sell it or just sell the salvage if it is not repairable.

It may be worth you visiting the police compound to see what condition the vehicle is in so you have an idea, the insurers will normally write the car off if the vehicle repair costs are more than 60% to 70% of the value of the car.

If they do try and give you the car back you will often find then engine or gearbox have been abused by the thieves so you can use this as a reason not to accept the car back or insist these items are repaired to their pre claim condition as this may help the vehicle be written off.

If you tell us what sort of car and its age it will help as we can try and estimate what type of damage they have done as newer cars are very difficult to steal.

I hope this helps

yorkshirewildcat

LadyIndecisive wrote: »

What condition has your car been found in?

It was in a container awaiting shipment out of the country and i am advised that it is as it was when stolen.

dacouch

If your car was awaiting shipment out of the country I assume it is fairly new then and probably an executive car eg BMW or 4x4. The value is probably quite high then, could you advise us how much it is worth roughly?

How did they steal it, was it with the keys

yorkshirewildcat

dacouch wrote: »

If your car was awaiting shipment out of the country I assume it is fairly new then and probably an executive car eg BMW or 4x4. The value is probably quite high then, could you advise us how much it is worth roughly?

How did they steal it, was it with the keys

£28K, house broken into and only car key taken

LadyIndecisive

I think you are on fairly good ground here. Direct Line clearly and correctly accepted the claim as genuine. Their view was that the vehicle was not going to be located after the time elapsed and it is fair that you took this view also, bearing in mind that they had made an offer. It seems you acted reasonably. They can retain the vehicle and sell it. I think you need to be patient while they decide their stance.

yorkshirewildcat

LadyIndecisive wrote: »

I think you are on fairly good ground here. Direct Line clearly and correctly accepted the claim as genuine. Their view was that the vehicle was not going to be located after the time elapsed and it is fair that you took this view also, bearing in mind that they had made an offer. It seems you acted reasonably. They can retain the vehicle and sell it. I think you need to be patient while they decide their stance.

Many thanks for your advice however i have just been informed by my insurance company that they will be returning the car to me, any advice on where i go from here would be appreciated.

Thanks

LadyIndecisive

How have you calculated the financial loss you advise you have suffered? Is there a big discrepancy between the last offer and what you can achieve if you sell the car?

yorkshirewildcat

LadyIndecisive wrote: »

How have you calculated the financial loss you advise you have suffered? Is there a big discrepancy between the last offer and what you can achieve if you sell the car?

Yes there offer was £27,500 and i am being offered between £21K and £22K at best.

LadyIndecisive

I would suggest you put everything asap in writing to them in the form of a complaint. The highest level you could write to would be the Chief Executive.

This is a difficult and unusual situation.

You could tell them you don't wish to take receipt of the car and request they store the vehicle until your complaint is resolved. Obviously this could take some time and the car could devalue further.

On what basis was the offer increased? It would be usual for a policyholder to have justified the increase by providing evidence of identical vehicles for sale at a higher price than offered. If you did this it would be difficult to then say you can't acheive the price you argued for?