Write off or salvageable?

dacouch

I'm assuming it's this Policy you have, if it's not the following won't apply.

GAP PLUS http://www.ala.co.uk/pdfs/BTIP.pdf

This is an important requirement "3. You must have used Your best endeavours to obtain full indemnity under the terms of Your Motor Insurance Policy"

and this "10. Your Motor Insurance Policy insurer replacing Your Motor Vehicle or offers You a replacement Motor Vehicle in settlement which
you decline"

and this "11. Your Motor Insurance Policy insurer offers to repair your Motor Vehicle but You have instead requested the claim to be dealt with
on a Total Loss basis"

So if Hastings don't replace the car they will pay the market value which say is £15k. Remember that is you have finance secured on the car eg HP, the £15k will go to clear your finance with any extra going to you but you have no car. Ala will then pay any outstanding on the finance or if there is no o/s they will pay the difference between the £15k from Hastings and what the invoice price for the car was to you. This will not include any extras such as scotchguard treatments etc.

P.S It would not be a bad thing to ring Ala up, they have a good reputation and can probably give you good advice on getting the best settlement from Hastings as it's in their interest. They may also have contacts to enable to source the same car.

Nathan3699

Thanks for all your help, i'll keep you updated when i next hear from hastings.

fatty786

dacouch wrote: »

I'd also be keeping a very accurate diary of what happens during the claim to keep an eye on the six weeks.

Perish the thought that an Insurer with Hasting reputation would hang the six weeks out...

I have a feeling that Hastings will be an Insurer who will cancel the policy without refund after writing the car off.

Nathan have a read of this guidance from the Ombudsman.


Especially read 15 and 16 which might end up applying and 17.

Also remember you can cash your Road Tax in by sending it back to the DVLA. Take any of your belongings out of the car asap.

Our parked car was hit 5 months ago with the other party accepted all responsibility. For three months they were evaluating if the car was a write of or not. Calling them repeatedly we got the same excuse that they are busy etc. Finally they reported that its a write off ..when all it had was some slight front side damage and offered us the trade in value (50%) of our value.
We followed up by sending them pics of other cars from Autotrader etc but they said they need another three weeks.
To date we have not received any report on the car damage etc and when we said we wanted the courtesy car in our document they said it would cost extra and finally they refuse to refund our insurance for a vehicle that is off the road and is a right off. Disgraceful. And their customer service on the phone is just awful they don't have a clue what one department is doing to another.

dacouch

fatty786 wrote: »

Our parked car was hit 5 months ago with the other party accepted all responsibility. For three months they were evaluating if the car was a write of or not. Calling them repeatedly we got the same excuse that they are busy etc. Finally they reported that its a write off ..when all it had was some slight front side damage and offered us the trade in value (50%) of our value.
We followed up by sending them pics of other cars from Autotrader etc but they said they need another three weeks.
To date we have not received any report on the car damage etc and when we said we wanted the courtesy car in our document they said it would cost extra and finally they refuse to refund our insurance for a vehicle that is off the road and is a right off. Disgraceful. And their customer service on the phone is just awful they don't have a clue what one department is doing to another.

Were you claiming off your own policy, a claims management company or direct from the third party.

If you're claiming from your own Insurers, we can give you some advice on claiming extra compensation.

Who are your Insurers?

fatty786

dacouch wrote: »

Were you claiming off your own policy, a claims management company or direct from the third party.

If you're claiming from your own Insurers, we can give you some advice on claiming extra compensation.

Who are your Insurers?

We are with Hastings and we are going through it with them. In that they are acting on our behalf with the other company.

dacouch

fatty786 wrote: »

We are with Hastings and we are going through it with them. In that they are acting on our behalf with the other company.

That does not clear it up.

Is your claim being paid for by your comprehensive policy with Hasting and any excess to be deducted from your claim or are Hastings arranging it and claiming directly from the other Insurer.

It makes a big difference

fatty786

dacouch wrote: »

That does not clear it up.

Is your claim being paid for by your comprehensive policy with Hasting and any excess to be deducted from your claim or are Hastings arranging it and claiming directly from the other Insurer.

It makes a big difference

I spoke to Hastings and they kept trying to evade the question finally the guy said it was the former that it was being paid for by our comprehensive insurance policy but no excess would be deducted as the third party had accepted full liability.

dacouch

Have a good read of the link below and pay particular attention to this part, refer Hastings to it and advise them you will be seeking compensation in line with the Ombudsmans guidance which Hasting must follow. It might take a bit of faffing around enforcing it though.

If you refer them to it they should also pull their fingers out.

"15. loss of use and courtesy cars

Usually the policyholder is entitled to a courtesy car only where the policy specifically provides for it. Even where the policy does provide for a courtesy car, this will usually be in limited circumstances (for example, whilst repairs are carried out by a repairer approved by the insurer) that do not apply where a vehicle is "written-off". This often comes as a surprise and disappointment to the policyholder.

Usually we only award the policyholder compensation for loss of use of the vehicle where the insurer unreasonably delays, or wrongly declines, the claim. Exceptionally, we may say that the insurer should compensate the policyholder for loss of use where:

the insurer’s overall presentation of the policy gave the consumer a legitimate expectation that a courtesy car (or compensation for loss of use) would be provided; or
the claim was badly administered (for example, the insurer initially took the car to be repaired, delayed several weeks and then decided it was a "write-off" after all).
Where we consider it fair for the insurer to compensate the policyholder for loss of use:

If the policyholder hired a car for this period, we might require the insurer to refund the hire-car charges (plus interest).
If the policyholder did not hire a car, we might require the insurer to pay compensation for other reasonable transport expenses incurred plus inconvenience caused by lack of a car.
If we award compensation for inconvenience caused by lack of a car, we tend to award around £10 per day, if it had a material effect on the policyholder, and depending on the individual circumstances – for example, whether the policyholder had "free" access to another vehicle, availability of public transport etc."

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html

I assume your car is not drivable, if it is driving you still should be able to screw compensation out of Hastings as the length of time is really really bad even by Hastings appalling standards.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html

missing_link_2

Splott wrote: »

Doesn't look bad enough to write off TBH. It won't cost £6/7k to fix that or anywhere near which is what would be needed to make it a financial write off.

Yes,doesn't seem too bad. The insurers will sell it on as a Cat C/D damage,so they'll make some money from it. Quite possibly,it will get repaired. I know someone who does this,and he does a good job.