Car insurance claim refused

b1gphil

Hi all,

My daughter had her parked car smashed into a couple of weeks ago and the driver drove off before she was able to get the registration number. The police have been given some CCTV footage showing the accident in the hope they can enhance the image to see the other drivers regstration. Fortunately she wasn't in the car at the time.

The insurers have told her the car is a write-off (Audi A3 worth approx £4k)

The insurance covers both her and her partner (not married) who both live at the same address and have been together for approx 5 years.

The insurance have refused her claim as her boyfriend recently renewed the insurance and put her name as the owner of the car, but the V5 is actually in his name.

Obviously this is a mistake on his part, but as both of them are insured as named drivers, surely the premium is based on them both as individuals, with whoever of the two of them is named on the V5 being immaterial to the risk of insuring the car for both of them.

To add salt to the wound the insurance company have what seems to be a 3rd party handling the claim who have told her that not only are they refusing the claim, she now owes £269 in storage fees for the car ! The car is un-drivable, so they kindly offered to deliver it to her for another £100 ! The car has been taken to Sheffield - approx 80 miles from us.

She is now going back to the original insurance company to ask about their complaints procedure and will probabaly tell them she'll also complain to the insurance onbudsman.

She's relient of having a car to get to work, but has so far managed to get lifts from friends and colleagues, but this can only last so long.

So ideally we'd like to speed up this process, particulalrly with storage fees being applied.

Is there any good advice you can give us ?

Any help at all would be greatfully received.

Thanks,

Phil

forgotmyname

Get good legal advice.

Sounds to me like he manipulated the insurance details to get a better quote by using her name instead og his own.

Who was listed as the main driver? Why is the the car in his name and not hers?

Seemingly minor details to you but, To the insurance they base their premiums on what the policyholder tells them.

Who is the main policy holder?

b1gphil

Hi,

Thanks for replying so quickly. Originally her partner bought the car and it was insured in his name, but as his job now comes with a van, she's the main driver, hence why he put her as the policy holder. The car registration even reflects her name. In his mind he sees her as the owner of the car - not that the insurers will take any notice of that !

Don't think he was manipulating the insurance as she's only 23 and he's 29, so she might actually be the higher risk.

I thought nowadays that insurance companies were wise to this sort of manipualtion and didn't base their ratings mainly on the named main driver because of this sort of manipulation.

Appreciate any further help.

Thanks

InsideInsurance

b1gphil wrote: »

The insurance have refused her claim as her boyfriend recently renewed the insurance and put her name as the owner of the car, but the V5 is actually in his name.

Obviously this is a mistake on his part, but as both of them are insured as named drivers, surely the premium is based on them both as individuals, with whoever of the two of them is named on the V5 being immaterial to the risk of insuring the car for both of them.

To add salt to the wound the insurance company have what seems to be a 3rd party handling the claim who have told her that not only are they refusing the claim, she now owes £269 in storage fees for the car ! The car is un-drivable, so they kindly offered to deliver it to her for another £100 ! The car has been taken to Sheffield - approx 80 miles from us.

She is now going back to the original insurance company to ask about their complaints procedure and will probabaly tell them she'll also complain to the insurance onbudsman.

Was the policy renewed or did you allow last years policy to lapse and bought a new policy?

Seeing as your talking about "your insuers", "third party handling the claim" and "back to the original insurer" it would be good to know which companies you are talking about (ie name names) and who they are (your insurers, the third parties insurers etc)

Was it possible to make out the vehicle reg and trace the TP from the CCTV?

forgotmyname

b1gphil wrote: »

Hi,

I thought nowadays that insurance companies were wise to this sort of manipualtion and didn't base their ratings mainly on the named main driver because of this sort of manipulation.

Appreciate any further help.

Thanks

They are wise to this. But they will still take your money knowing that if a claim happens they wont be paying out. Money for nothing etc.

Quentin

Don't hold your breath over any complaint being succesful. (When taking out the policy the partner has lied over the owner, and then lied by stating everything on the proposal is true!)

It would be wise to get the car out of storage now, as the storage charges clock will be running and it will be very expensive!!

b1gphil

InsideInsurance - thanks for your reply.

Her partner did a full search of insurance companies and took out a new policy with One Call Insurance.

So far she hasn't heard anything back from the police about the CCTV footage and the car registration that hit her car.

So at the moment we're reliant on One Call to cover the cost of replacement as they've confirmed the car is a write-off.

This may be a mute point, but the insurance is basing there decision on the fact that the name on the V5 is different to the name on the insurance policy.

Doesn't the V5 reflect the registered keeper, rather than being proof of ownership ?

Many thanks for your interest

InsideInsurance

One Call is a broker/ intermediary not an insurer - one that doesnt tend to get glowing reviews

Who is the other organisation you have been dealing with as you say there is another?

The V5 is the registered keeper rather than owner. Insurers/ brokers tend to ask who both the keeper and the owner is

b1gphil

InsideInsurance,

Just spoke to my daughter and One Call have told her they're also the underwriter.

She's also spoke to the Police collision team who have told her the CCTV footage is scheduled to be reviewed next week.

I see your comment re " Insurers/ brokers tend to ask who both the keeper and the owner is".

I'll ask her to look through the documentation from when they took out the policy, as this could be a key point.

Thanks again

Quentin

As long as she can get the reg no.off the police, then whatever the insurer's decision, she will be able to make a claim via the MIB untraced driver scheme.

InsideInsurance

Just reading their website says they aren't just an insurer:

http://www.onecalldirect.co.uk/car-insurance.php wrote:

To get you the best car insurance price we compare a panel of the UK’s top car insurance providers.

Policybook wrote:

We represent a panel of different insurers, and our mission is simple

I suspect they are an MGA and so in a sense they are an underwriter but they are not the true/ end underwriter as the insurer behind the MGA carries the true risk



You dont say who the other company is thats involved