Help with car insurance ombudsman complaint please

anna77_2

I just thought I would let you know that the Financial Ombudsman not only dismissed completely the deduction for cosmetic damage but also increased the valuation of my car to £738 (compared to the £605 that the insurance company "volunteered" to give me). Well worth the effort of making the claim

paul252

Did you claim through your insurance company or theirs?
I am in a similar situation to yours and object to a £400 deduction made for cosmetic repairs, particularly when the car has been valued at only £1300. However, I am claiming as 3rd party and understand that this prevents me from receiving help from the Financial Ombudsman.
Any advice?

geoff1147

anna77 wrote: »

Someone drove into the back of my car back in March and the car was consequently written off as being uneconomical to repair. The insurance company subsequently offered me £400 for the car (it was an old car) which I accepted in the interim while lodging a dispute about it. To cut a long story short, the insurance company and I agreed on the value of the car, but because the car had a small dent on the front (which you could hardly see unless you were at a certain angle with the light shining on it) and a cracked plastic light casing they deducted some £250 from the valuation as this would be the cost of repairing these "faults". My car was otherwise in very good condition and extremely reliable.
My response to this was that these faults were not material to the value of the car - at this level in the market, quite honestly, all you want from a car is that it takes you from A to B and if all you can afford to drive is a £650 car then you are not going to spend £250 in correcting cosmetic faults.
It took more than a month to find a suitable replacement, and have bought the same type of car, not quite in as good conditions, with a small bump on the side and needing two new tyres - I paid £600 (and count myself lucky to have found it). My point was that had I wanted to sell the car I would have been able to sell it for at least £600, bump and cracked fitting included, and on this basis at least £600 is necessary to put be back in the position I was before the accident, which is what insurance should be about. I don't think I am being unreasonable about this, but any views on this are welcome.
The insurance company has finally rejected my complaint (after weeks of unanswered calls) and have indicated that if I want to take this further I need to go to the Financial Ombudsman. I am happy to take this further and wondered if anyone has any suggestions on the best way to present this. Has anyone here made a similar claim?
Thank you in advance for your help.

I have to say that you are experiencing the same problem with your car insurance claim as I am with a claim made on my buildings insurance. Earlier this year, I had the unfortunate problem of having the plaster skim of a ceiling come down from one of my bedroom ceilings. I had no idea what caused this, but the insurance company's first response was that it was down to a lack of care and maintenance. I am left wondering how do you 'care and maintain' a ceiling? Do I poke holes in it to see if it is OK? Then I would have to fill them and repaint.
I think not. It is this day and age where the insurance compnies will drag their heels and think up any excuse not to pay out. It is high time the proper authorities acted on behalf of the man in the street and made these companies treat their cutomers with some sort of respect. After all, it is our premiums that are keeping their companies afloat.
My claim is in the hands of the Financial Ombudsman Service, and has been since April. They do take a while but hopefully common sense will prevail. After all what do we pay insurance for? You should go straight to the FOS and although it takes time, at least if you think you are right, then hopefully you will get what you are due. My case has not been heard yet, but I am hopefull of a successful outcome. Then I will go elswhere for my insurance.

tightwadman

Not sure if this is the right forum or thread so mods feel free to move but boy is this serious.

I tried to part-ex my 9 year old Astra last month and was horrified to be told my car is in a database as having been stolen and written off on 4/7/2008. It wasnt, I am still driving it and have been for 9 years. I thought it might have been a wrongly keyed letter or number but no - not just my reg but also my full engine number and even my Vin no.The only clue something was wrong is the car was recorded as a Vaux Vect ie a Vectra.

Someone has stolen my cars identity and has used my car data to make an obviously fraudulent claim and I have been told it was with Eagle Star Insurance. But the really bad thing is despite telling Experian they refuse to stop providing these credit reports to the motor trade so I simply cannot sell or part ex my car.

As Experian will not help me who knows what I can do to get this lifted. And who can access my cars data apart from garages where my car has been Mot'd and worked on?

mattymoo

tightwadman wrote: »

As Experian will not help me who knows what I can do to get this lifted. And who can access my cars data apart from garages where my car has been Mot'd and worked on?

Its been a while since I dealt with this kind of stuff but as I see it, you have 2 avenues to explore.

The first is with Eagle Star. I'd suggest doing some research first to try and find a contact for them that bypasses their call centres. I say this because call centre staff are going to be completely flummoxed by this. Some wouldn't but most would be.

You need the senior motor engineer for the company or alternatively, their fraud team (assuming their claim was a fraudulent one). Either way you will be speaking to experienced staff who should be able to investigate for you.

The second route is a thing called MIAFTR. This stands for Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft Register. It is where the write off details have been entered and anyone can check the database using a paid for HPI check. Incidentally, HPI also appear to administer the dbase although that wasn't always the case.

See - http://www.miaftr-hpi.info/index.asp
contact details here - http://www.miaftr-hpi.info/contact.asp

This may be the easier route to go. HPI - MIAFTR will flag your concerns up with their contact at the insurer, Eagle Star and basically put you in touch with each other.

dacouch

It would also be worth contacting the DVLA as well as they will have down that the car has been written off on their database so it could cause you problems with the police and your own insurance. They might suggest a visit to your local DVLA office so they can authenticate your car is bona fide.

Cantor_2

Hi, i was wondering if someone could help me,
our car was parked one day when someone clipped the corner of it, breaking the bumper and damaging the boot.
the car is insured fully comp, so we have contacted the insurance company who sent someone out to examine the car.
the car had had some minor damage prior to this last year, but had been repaired fully.
the inspector has said that he is going to recommend that the insuranc e company not do any repair work as although it had been repaired, he didnt like the look of "the filling" that had been done inside.
i spoke to the garage, and they have said it will be £500 to repair the damage done.
i cant see any reason why the insurance company are not willing to do the work?
what can i say to them when i call back to ensure they dont just brush me off?

cbrecruit1

Spread the word do not use ecar or Adsa car insurance they are with the same underwitter and they are underwitters from Hell, Just google ecar complaint as well as Asda and you will see what I am taking about.

Regards

sconnie_2

a woman ran into the back of my car while parked insurance put it to garage for repairs.the management light was on [crankshaft sensor ] but the engine started ok but wouldnt drive but the garage drove it onto their lorry starting the engine 4 -5 times and fully raving the engine to get it onn the lorry.got my car back rear end of car fixed but engine wont turn at all might be start brocken or something worse.i got onto garage they said it was like that when they gt it told insurance they said as the lady ran in the back of your car the engine is nothing to do with the acciden.[ i went to the chipshop for fish supper car running fine came out shop car ramed in back car gave it to garage car realy nakered now ] dont go for fish suppers insurance dont cover you.regards george

matwalden

From reading the above replies, hearing nightmares on watchdog and other personal stories, it seems like Insurance companies just do not want to pay out - so just what is the point in paying in the first place..
January 2010 this year we got smashed into - full frontal - on our side of the road due to snow and ice - us with a car full of 2 adults and 2 kids - at least the car did its job... -the guy admitted 100% liability - he even rang his insurers (Zurich!!!) and told tham that he admitted full liabilty even when they were trying to say 50/50.
Needless to say 10 odd months down the line they are still dragging their heels, yes we had a payout on market value for the car (ho hum it was worth more to us running.. - took many letters and info on similar makes to increase the value..) yes we got some payment for injuries - although my wife still suffers a bit from the heebie jeebies occasionally. What we are still waiting for is the payment for my loss of earning (I only took 3 days off - self emplolyed - beware they assess you after tax level,not on initial invoice level - I have a 65K turnover and was assessed as worth £20 per day - looks like shelf stacking does pay after all!!!) replacing the kiddies car seats, phone calls, hire of staff and my sat nav which went through the window (now we played a totally straight game and only claimed for proper damages ( How I wish we claimed for more, but no I sleep well at night - always play straight)) this totals less than a grand - and believe me the amount of phone calls to my lawyer far outweighs the £50 refund budgetted for - so why are we made to feel like we are the guilty party?? - I have absolutely no recourse for action and the insurers know it - The FSO cannot help as it is the other persons insurance, my lawyer is almost as powerless as me..
Not only that to add insult to injury, we had only just taken out insurance with our car (in december - I nuy eco - BDML direct aka COWBOYS - will not use on renewal) and were told that we would get a refund (if we took out a further insurance on the new car as the old policy would not cover it..) - we did and finally when the vehicle costs was given to us, less excess etc - we were told that we would not get a refund - so we were doubly out of pocket..
It's the sheer frustration and feeling of impotance you get when dealing with these people - yes I can understand covering yourself with insurance - but when in reality you are seldom ever covered (small print..) just what is the point?????