STOLEN!!! Please help!

orchidpepper

Hi Guys, I desperately need advice!

My car was stolen (an old landrover defender 1994) and the insurance are trying to rip me off.

They have picked an insulting figure out of the hat and told me if I wanted it upped I would have to investigate myself.

so I did....... I emailed various websites to them and also a few ebay cars. they said that is not acceptable. NO dealers sales and NO ebay. |Only really the autotrader......

Trouble is..... I can't get a book value for it as no website recognises the model at all.

Does anyone have any ideas? I would be so grateful if you could help

Gayle x

Weirdlittleman

I think asking for autotrader ad's around the value you want is fair. If you cant supply them it suggests either your car is too specialised or you are being unrealistic.

orchidpepper

It is specialised and each vehicle is unique, I had invested thousands in it fitting a new chassis etc. I have proof of all this but they are not interested.

Also I originally bought from a dealer and will do for my next but they will only consider private ads.

I had it for years and it was my pride and joy.

Have you ever had your car stolen weirdlittleman?

Kilty_2

gayle21 wrote: »

Also I originally bought from a dealer and will do for my next but they will only consider private ads.

!!!!!!?

How is that possible? How can they ONLY consider private ads if, like you say, you bought from a dealer? Surely most people buy cars from dealers?

Outrageous IMO. They should at least be using dealer prices to produce an average value.

orchidpepper

Thanks Kilty, I'm hoping someone comes along with a brainwave. Someone must have been through this before. I'm finding them really unhelpful...

I'm at the end of my tether with it all and in the meantime their insulting cheque is sitting there annoying me

they reckon they won't take dealers prices into consideration as you are paying for a warranty.

So.....basically they want me to buy someones old piece of crap with no comeback...

grrr

gx

MX5huggy

Try the specialised Landrover mags like Landrover owner etc.

orchidpepper

Of Course!!!

I can't believe I didn't think of that! I have a ton of them lying around.

Thanks MX5 x

Ian_W

You may want to consider THIS from the Financial Ombudsman on how they decide write off valuations in distputes between insurer and insured. Para 2 describes their general approach, thus:

we assess the market value as the retail price which the policyholder would have had to pay for a comparable vehicle at a reputable dealer, immediately before the date of the damage/theft.

(Bold added)
Your insurers insistance on private sales prices only is complete cobblers! I suggest you start an official complaint using the procedure in your insurance docs.

Edited to ask: Who are these numpties, just so I can avoid?

bob_a_builder

I had invested thousands in it fitting a new chassis etc.

But I don't think this has any bearing on the value for write off

Having a chassis is a given (new or otherwise)

orchidpepper

Hey Ian

The baddies are Zenith. One thing though, Scottish law is different but hopefully not in this case. Can I ask where you got the info from? I want to print it out and shove it in their faces

G

orchidpepper

scratch that I just noticed you'd popped the link on there