car economical write off

bezzza

I'm having same problem now with my insurance company. My car was written off (not my fault) and I was given £650 in settlement. In the end I didn't buy another car as I couldn't find what I wanted, in the same condition with such low mileage. However, my insurance have written to me asking me to pay the outstanding premiums for the year totalling almost £300 - making the value of my car only £350 (It would have been far less if I had accepted the original offer of £500!)! It's so unfair and I have written a letter of complaint telling them to get it off the rubbish woman driver who smashed into my parked car - not expecting to get much joy but it makes me soooooooo mad that I didn't cause the accident yet I will be the one out of pocket and without a car!

jacobsdaduk

If the car is under a Hire Purchase agreement, the settlement is payable to the Finance Company. They own the vehicle, not you.

jacobsdaduk

bezzza wrote: »

I'm having same problem now with my insurance company. My car was written off (not my fault) and I was given £650 in settlement. In the end I didn't buy another car as I couldn't find what I wanted, in the same condition with such low mileage. However, my insurance have written to me asking me to pay the outstanding premiums for the year totalling almost £300 - making the value of my car only £350 (It would have been far less if I had accepted the original offer of £500!)! It's so unfair and I have written a letter of complaint telling them to get it off the rubbish woman driver who smashed into my parked car - not expecting to get much joy but it makes me soooooooo mad that I didn't cause the accident yet I will be the one out of pocket and without a car!

Your insurers are entitled to do this.

vaio

And, as stated above, you are entitled to recover the lost premium (and indeed any other uninsured losses) from the TP insurance company.

It seems the mistake people are making is claiming against their own insurance policy rather than perusing the TP company although I can see an argument that your insurance company should be doing that on you behalf.

For example…….

I’m 17, have a 10 year old £500 saxo which costs me £1500 to insure with an excess of £500 and last renewed in March. Dozy OAP drives into me when I’m parked and damages my car.

If I claim off my insurance, they will write the car off and pay me the £500 less my excess of £500 = £0. Because my policy is one which ends on a total loss I also have no current insurance but still have to pay the £1300+ remainder of my premium. Net result my insurance company has fulfilled their part of the policy but I’m £1800 out of pocket as a result of the accident. To be fair I suspect most would refund the excess when they get it off the TP company but even then I’m still car-less & £1300 down.

If I pursue the TP company direct, they will also write the car off but will pay me the full £500, my insurance policy is still running and can be transferred to the new car I buy with my £500 pay out.

It might seem like madness but the end result is that if you are involved in a TP fault accident the best plan is probably not to claim on your own insurance because they only have to do whatever your policy says whereas your legal rights against the TP company are much better in that you should be returned to the position you were in before the accident and if that involves them paying for lost premiums or future loadings then that’s what they need to do.

jacobsdaduk

vaio wrote: »

And, as stated above, you are entitled to recover the lost premium (and indeed any other uninsured losses) from the TP insurance company.

It seems the mistake people are making is claiming against their own insurance policy rather than perusing the TP company although I can see an argument that your insurance company should be doing that on you behalf.

For example…….

I’m 17, have a 10 year old £500 saxo which costs me £1500 to insure with an excess of £500 and last renewed in March. Dozy OAP drives into me when I’m parked and damages my car.

If I claim off my insurance, they will write the car off and pay me the £500 less my excess of £500 = £0. Because my policy is one which ends on a total loss I also have no current insurance but still have to pay the £1300+ remainder of my premium. Net result my insurance company has fulfilled their part of the policy but I’m £1800 out of pocket as a result of the accident. To be fair I suspect most would refund the excess when they get it off the TP company but even then I’m still car-less & £1300 down.

If I pursue the TP company direct, they will also write the car off but will pay me the full £500, my insurance policy is still running and can be transferred to the new car I buy with my £500 pay out.

It might seem like madness but the end result is that if you are involved in a TP fault accident the best plan is probably not to claim on your own insurance because they only have to do whatever your policy says whereas your legal rights against the TP company are much better in that you should be returned to the position you were in before the accident and if that involves them paying for lost premiums or future loadings then that’s what they need to do.

Correct. Most people also have a legal expense policy to assist with this and don't even know it. Check your policy and see if you are covered under your Legal Expense policy (sometimes called an LEI policy) to recover your Uninsured Losses i.e. the bit you pay.

There are also tonnes of companies out there that will deal with the repair for free on the case of a non-fault accident (such as Easidrive).

BLT_2

If you have a crash, the car is written off and then the insurance company deducts the outstanding insurance payments from your settlement, can you then cancel your insurance policy and get a refund, less the usual one months premiums.

You could then start up a new insurance policy with monthly payments.

There must be a downside to that method but I am not sure what it is

vaio

the downside is that lots of policies end on a total loss claim so you can't cancel