dating of correspondence

fitnessfast

Any one else had this problem?

Some guy crashed into my parked car. Insurance co. took car away to access damage. Garage phoned to say car written off and that insurance company will be making an offer.

I heard nothing for over a week so phoned company who gave quote on phone but I asked for it in writing. When it arrived five days later it informed me I had THREE days to respond or the car will be scraped.

I phoned the insurance company and the garage straight away but the car was already off to be scrapped.

Are the insurance company playing dirty by 'bouncing' me into accepting their offer and using this 'must respond in three days' line?

And then just before the policy is up for renewal I get a notification dated TEN days before I actually received it in the post.

Again, are they being crafty with dating their correspondence to give you less time to sort things out.

Sorry question is so long but would be interested if any others have noticed the issue.

dacouch

Your Insurers have just cost themselves a few quid, have a read of this and contact your Insurers quoting it. If they do not play ball, send an official complaint and quote you will also use the second section.

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

"16. salvage of the "written-off" vehicle and contents

Once the policyholder accepts payment of the full market value, the insurer becomes the owner of the salvage. If the policyholder asks to keep the salvage, the insurer is entitled to deduct what it would have been able to sell the salvage for. This is usually not very much.

But what if the policyholder complains that the insurer (or its agent) disposed of the salvage before paying the full market-value? At this stage, the vehicle still belongs to the policyholder, and we take the view that the insurer should not have disposed of it without first obtaining the policyholder’s consent to the settlement of the claim – even if the insurer said it was only acting in the public interest by keeping a badly-damaged vehicle off the roads. In such circumstances, and unless the insurer returns the salvage, we usually award the policyholder compensation for inconvenience.

If the policyholder had personal belongings in the vehicle when the insurer disposed of it without consent, we are likely to award the cost of replacing these – usually on a like-for-like (rather than a new-for-old) basis."

(P.S You could have claimed back any complete months on your tax, add this to their bill).

"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."