Car Port Claim - Is this normal procedure?

november

Someone knocked into my car port and badly damaged it. Its a pretty basic carport and one of its legs is now no longer in the ground and the other one is cracked. Thats the damage I can see as I have vertigo and can't get up to the roof.

I reported it to the police who gave me a crime number but didn't come out. Actually I don't think she believed me as she said 'people normally damage your car not your car port' That's as maybe but it happened. Then I reported it to my buildings/contents insurers to make a claim. That was back in August.

They told me to get 2 quotes from local builders and if they had any questions about the quotes/work they would contact the builders. I had real problems doing this as most were busy and/or not bothered about a job that was neither 'big' nor 'small' and an insurance case to boot.

I got one quote and sent it off. Then contacted my insurers to apologise and explain about the delay in getting a second. The man I spoke to was very nice and said as the quote was so reasonable that may do and to phone back in a week if I couldn't get another. Also that an assessor shouldn't be needed (the quote was for under £1K). I did this and spoke to someone else (call centre I assume) who asked about the damage particularly whether the components from the roof could be reused. I explained I didn't know (I'm not a builder). She said if I got another quote or an explanation from the first builder that would do. I thought they would ask the builders I know absolutely nothing about building work!

I eventually managed to get hold of another builder and sent off a second quote. Just over a week later the ins co. rang and said they would now be sending out an assessor and would send a letter to confirm this. Apparently because one quote was more expensive than the other (isn't that usual I thought they just took the cheaper one) and one stated more work wanted doing on the car port than the other (not to my recollection it didn't )

I wish they had just sent an assessor out in the first place if they were going to do that because the soonest they could fit me in is Nov 17th.

I've now got the letter from the ins co and it says the following:

During the visit the Property Insurance Advisor will confirm if your claim falls within the cover provided by the policy and then continue to manage the settlement of your claim where appropriate" ...

"If you are able to obtain any quote from local or known contractors prior to the visit ...... please have these ready for their consideration. ............. Alternatively it may be possible for the PIA to appoint a specialist who will provide a report and quotation for the work required.

I'm confused now as it seems I'm starting from scratch 3 months later I did ask originally if they could recommend a builder when I couldn't find one and they said no Also they have the quotes not me and because I had a lot of personal stuff going on at the time I didn't, as I would normally do, photocopy the quotes before sending them to the insurers.

I've never made a claim like this before and quite frankly its only a car port and if it wasn't for the fact I now think everyone thinks I'm making it up (I'm stubborn) I'd give up and just pull the wretched thing down. At least it would be safe then Actually I have only made one contents claim in my life and that was following a burglary in a different house in a different region over 10 years ago - that was easy. I said what happened they paid

Sorry for the very long post but I wondered if this is normal practice as I've been told by the insurers?

My renewal was due while I was trying to get builders quotes and they were quick enough to charge me an excess for claiming despite the fact I haven't actually managed to make a claim yet

I normally get my insurance c/o a brokers after checking online if their quote is the cheapest but am now wondering if I better give this company a miss when renewal time is due again.

Any advice much appreciated.

Astaroth

Loss adjusters (or PIA or any of the other host of names they are given) are fairly common place in home claims. Generally the trigger for when they have to be involved is seasonal/ demand driven - generally in winter where there is much more storm damage etc they are more in demand and so insurers only use them for higher value claims, in summer when claims are less frequent they can send them on lower value claims.

PIAs are not simply there to limit the insurance companies immediate liability but also look to the long term (customer care/ long term liability reduction). If there is a difference in the quotes in terms of the work that needs to be done (not price) then this can often trigger an inspector having to come out as whilst an insurer will naturally go for the lower quote what they dont want to do is authorise the lower one only for the builder to turn around and say they have found additional damage and therefore they need to do extra work which takes it above the quote of the other builder who had said the extra needed to be done in the first place. Its bad for them in terms of cost and typically leads to arguements with policyholders over whos fault it is that rework has to be done - is it because the insurer went for the cheapest quote or is it the policyholder who selected the builders in the first place (who will then typically turn round and say they didnt select them but they were the only ones that were willing to come out and give a quote etc)

Inspectors typically work from home and spend most of their day out on the road and so it isnt very practical to get copies of the estimates etc to them which is why they have asked for you to have copies there... I am sure if you do say that you didnt retain copies that they can sort something out.

The letter you have received I would imagin is a standard one that is sent to every policyholder that makes a claim. Builders are typically much more localised in their work rather than covering the whole country which is why it has the "may" appoint a specialist... from your conversation it would appear that your area doesnt have a network company.

november

Thanks Astaroth

That makes sense.

I wish they had sent one out originally though in August rather than waiting until the quotes were in. Mind you at least it will be easier to find a not busy builder now its not summer.

I just want to be able to park my car again off road where it is supposed to be. Its on the road at the moment which is not where it is supposed to be according to my car insurance. Mind you if the car port falls over if it went that way it could still hit it! Plus next doors! Here's hoping it gets done before the weather gets any worse because a storm might bring the whole thing down