Motorcycle insurance claim

dacouch

Equity are not by any stretch of the imagination a good Insurer.

As with many normal claims staff, they will probably not be aware of the Ombudsman's rule on under valuing a bike / car. Be well prepared when you speak to them eg read the whole of the link provided by Mikey. Don't be afraid to mention about the compensation the Ombudsman expects an Insurer to pay if they unreasonably delay a claim.

The Ombudsman would expect them to know his guidelines on settling claims (They won't know it) so a hold up due to them not knowing and you having to argue may well be an unreasonable delay (Section 15 of the link)

I would expect that you won't get anywhere over the phone, so be prepared to write to them.

The letter should be concise and not ramble, so print out the entire link to enclose and refer to the relevant parts. State should the claim not be settled promptly as per the Ombudsmans guidelines including sections 5 & 6 then you will seek compensation under section 15.

Also state that should you not be satisfied you will move to an official complaint and then to the Ombudsman (Ideally you want to avoid these as they take a long time).

When you speak to ERS, take a note of the persons name at the start of the call, ideally use their name as much as possible during the call. Be polite but state your case, at the end of the call summarise the call and what you want done and then ask the person when they will report back to you.

(Taking their name and using it, will mean the person knows you have their name so they will normally do something, also it normally makes them see you as a real person not just a number)

Cash-Strapped.T32

Not trying to be paranoid, but it might also be worth saving/printing a copy of that £4000 quote, the one that is £9 higher.

Best of luck - I have a bike I valued at £3k (because I managed to get it at a good price, and I just answered the question honestly as it was asked), but would likely cost me more than that to replace for one in similar nick.

bris

I had a bike stolen 3 years ago, I valued it at £700 and that is what I paid for it at auction (ebay). They offered the £700, but I discovered I couldn't replace it for that and they accepted this and gave me £1100.
The by law bit is untrue, unless anything has changed in the last 3 years.

nikiziggy

Have just found this is the documentation.....

THE VALUE OF YOUR VEHICLE
If this insurance is arranged on a market value basis, in the event of your vehicle being written off we will offer in settlement either the current market value or the value specified in the schedule whichever is the lower. It is therefore important that the value you specify for your vehicle, when arranging this insurance, represents its true value.

:-(

nikiziggy

I now realise no insurance company is a 'good' insurance company.....just a well known one!

martinthebandit

nikiziggy wrote: »

Have just found this is the documentation.....

THE VALUE OF YOUR VEHICLE
If this insurance is arranged on a market value basis, in the event of your vehicle being written off we will offer in settlement either the current market value or the value specified in the schedule whichever is the lower. It is therefore important that the value you specify for your vehicle, when arranging this insurance, represents its true value.

:-(

...... and that's exactly what they have done, made an 'offer' at the lowest amount they think they can get away with.

There is nothing in that para' that says they cannot make a higher offer subsequently, I would still go with the advice already given by dacouch.

dacouch

nikiziggy wrote: »

Have just found this is the documentation.....

THE VALUE OF YOUR VEHICLE
If this insurance is arranged on a market value basis, in the event of your vehicle being written off we will offer in settlement either the current market value or the value specified in the schedule whichever is the lower. It is therefore important that the value you specify for your vehicle, when arranging this insurance, represents its true value.

:-(

All Insurers have a similar wording, the Ombudsman basically looks at whats fair and takes into account that the general public do not always understand insurance, thus him basically saying if you have made a mistake or the value has gone up. Then the Insurer has to settle at the higher amount.

Follow the method I suggested (It's how I deal with Insurers) and you should eventually get the higher amount.

P.S A good trick question to use on the claims staff is along the lines of "If you were in my position and looking at losing £1500 when the Ombudsman clearly states I'm entitled to the higher amount what would you do? " It's a trick question, they have to be very highly trained in handling conversations to not agree with you.


P.P.S The ombudsman trumps anything they have in their policy, unfortnatley most entry level claims staff do not realise this

vaio

nikiziggy wrote: »

Have just found this is the documentation.....

THE VALUE OF YOUR VEHICLE
If this insurance is arranged on a market value basis, in the event of your vehicle being written off we will offer in settlement either the current market value or the value specified in the schedule whichever is the lower. It is therefore important that the value you specify for your vehicle, when arranging this insurance, represents its true value.

:-(

they can put what they like in the T&C but what matters is the view of the FOS on whether the T&C are fair. Their view is that you should get the full RETAIL value

vaio

dacouch wrote: »

.......P.P.S The ombudsman trumps anything they have in their policy, unfortnatley most entry level claims staff do not realise this

or play dumb in the hope that the punter doesn't know?

dacouch

vaio wrote: »

or play dumb in the hope that the punter doesn't know?

Most of the frontline claims staff are on circa £17k, have a high turnover of staff and would not know of the Ombudsman guidelines