Advice &help Please For Daughter & Boyfriend

scubaleopard

Hi . I am hoping that some of you may be able to help.

Our DD has had a partner for about a year and they are under a lot of pressure at the moment so I wonder if you know what advice to give -- please.

This is the scenario--
Last December he was in an accident which was not his fault. The police attended and a long saga of debate has gone on. He is a self-employed carpenter and his work van was written off. His insurance company gave him a rental van which he still has. They are now offering him a final settlement for a new van which is way below what he will have to pay for a replacement van. He has refuted their offer submitting advertsa from the Auto Traded etc showing the cost of a similat van to the one which was written off.

He has been sent a cheque. He is very anxious about cashing this cheque because it might be seen as an acceptance of the offer. He is speaking to them daily and all they keep saying is cash it and then we will see.

What should he do?

He unfortunately has other problems--- Acourt case coming up where a client is trying to sue him for some warped windows even though he advised them not to put them in without further treatment and a court apperarance because he was caught speeding and he already has 9 points.

All this sounds as if he is a bit of a nightmare but he isnt. He is a bloke who is trying to get his life sorted. He went for a free half an hours consultation with a solicitor and that ended with a bill of over £ 400 for letter writing and phone calls etc.

Wopuld the Citizens Advice Bureau be able to help--- do they charge etc.

I hope someone can help as all this pressure is causing unhappiness and rowing and we hate to see them unhappy. They do need to get their life sorted but are a bit overwhelmed at the moment.

He does work hard and earns good money etc.

nats3006

hiya
hope you get it sorted soon what a nightmare it must be for you!!!
yes he can go to the citizens advice but i think he may need to call in to make an appointment first they will tell him what legal rights he has etc!! also he probably wont get any help towards the solicitors as he is working although if he is on a low income but you did state he earns good money but you never know he might be able to get help with the costs!!
let us know how u get on!!
nats
xx

flutterby_lil

Hi, we recently had our car stolen (jan this year) and paid £13k for it. The insurance settled at £6750. This was way below what we paid for it, at first they offered even less. We said no to this offer, they then came back with another offer which we accepted. We looked in local auto trader etc and sent evidence of how much cars like ours were selling for. i wouldn't cash the cheque, send it back and say you are not accepting that offer. We never got any money until we signed to say it was accepted.

Does your daughters boyf have legal advice on his car insurance that he could use? or maybe an upgraded bank account with free legal advice?

Yes i would tell him to go to CAB and explain everyhhing.

It does take time to get sorted, we have only today got our new car after 3 long long months of battling and paying £120 per week for a hire care......!!!!

Good luck

Psykicpup

I have to agree with above poster about no cashing the cheque but afraid I have no other advice
I do have a couple of (((hugs))) spare for you & yours! - these things never come one at a time do they lol - still he's earning himself a yr or so off later in life if you believe in Karma

Hapless_2

they tend to use Parkers price guide in working out vehicle values, bear in mind that if anything is not standard then they will use that to cut the cheque, anything that may be a bit "off", tyres legal but low, any area that has been welded etc.

**Patty**

Something i've done in the past is, go to a garage where he *could* buy a replacement vehicle. Get them to write down exactly what this new vehicle has in comparison to his written off one, on their headed paper.
Then submit that to the insurance company.

Kind of a *look, this is how much it will cost to get me a similar vehicle* type thing. They tend (sometimes) to take more notice of dealerships than of AutoTrader.

scubaleopard

Thanks for all your kind and thoughtful commnts. I think he has been to the garage where he bought his original van but I will check whether they gave him an official looking estimate. Does anyone know how helpful the CBA are -- do they have legal assistance or at least advice?

flutterby_lil

When a previous poster mention parkers guide, it prompted me to tell you that ours was valued using glass's guide, this is available online but costs £3.50 (ish cant remember exact amount). Print this off and send it to them as evidence that the van should come to very close to the amount stated.

The CAB are very helpful, they are volunteers and tend to specialise on one area and know lots about this but very little about other things. No disrespect to them at all they do a great job, if they dont know somehing they ask a colleague who is clued up on it or just ready the info from a book. They pool all there skills together and do get an answer from you, thats my view from my local CAB. They dont offer legal advice i dont think but i stand correted if wrong.

Good luck

bunty109

flutterby_lil wrote: »

When a previous poster mention parkers guide, it prompted me to tell you that ours was valued using glass's guide, this is available online but costs £3.50 (ish cant remember exact amount). Print this off and send it to them as evidence that the van should come to very close to the amount stated.

The CAB are very helpful, they are volunteers and tend to specialise on one area and know lots about this but very little about other things. No disrespect to them at all they do a great job, if they dont know somehing they ask a colleague who is clued up on it or just ready the info from a book. They pool all there skills together and do get an answer from you, thats my view from my local CAB. They dont offer legal advice i dont think but i stand correted if wrong.

Good luck

I agree about the CAB.

If you do want legal advice, have you checked your household insurance? We have legal advice included on ours and you get a certain amount of help from a legal helpline. If you have this on your policy, perhaps you could ring and get some advice?

Alternatively, does he have public liability insurance for his work that might offer similar advice with the cover for the work issue? <I'm clutching at straws here, but it's worth a try!!>