engineers report

rabialiones

following an accident last year my car was written off by the engineer. beyond economical repair. so i received a letter stating how much they were willing to pay. i disputed this and informed the solicitors (from whom the letter came). now 9 months later i have been sent a cheque for the amount they stated they would pay. when i rung and spoke to them about it . they said that the engineer had agreed the figure with me at the time. this is untrue as i never discussed the figure with any engineer. and if i had done why did they write in their original letter that "if you disagree with this amount please contact us'. which i did, and i was told someone would phone me back. but no one ever did.
now they are saying that it is too late to do anything about this and the engineer says i agreed the amount with him at the time. i have continued to pay my premiums which is not a minimal amount for the past 9/10 months.
can i do anything about this or do i just have to accept it?
any advice appreciated. thank you

trafalgar_2

Did you keep a copy of the letter you sent to dispute the outcome ,if so send a copy to them again and tell them you did not accept and are still disputing it and ask them what they intend to do now..................but do not deposit the cheque as this will be seen as acceptance.

mikeyk07

need a bit more info ie -

What was the circumstances of the accident ?
was the enginneer from your insurers or third party ?
is/was liability in dispute ?
Is it your insurers who have actually issued you the cheque ?
what was the difference in your valuation and theirs ?

rabialiones

car reversed into me
engineer from my legal team who took over the claim from my insurers
initially, liability was in dispute. however, now i understand they have accepted lialility that is why the cheque was issued by my legal team.
difference of 170 pounds.
hope this info is helpful.
i did not write a letter saying i was disagreeing with the figure. i phoned because that is what their letter asked me to do if i did not agree.
they are not disputing that i did not inform them.
it is my word against the engineers i think.
he says that he discussed the figure with me and i agreed.
this is not correct. he never spoke to me about the car or amount of payment or anything at all .

mikeyk07

I cant understand why it would take your insurers 9 months to issue a cheque via your 'legal team'.

I can therefore only assume that you have a TPFT Policy and your insurers have instructed a Solicitor under the terms of a legal expenses policy. This being the case (although again i'm only assuming) now liability has been resolved the cheque would have come either directly or indirectly via the Third party Insurers.

However, you appear to have received an 'offer' letter, which you were not in agreement with called your legal and your legal team did not call you back.

Do they have a record of your call to them ? Do you have a name of who spoke to ?

In the first instance you should clarify this.

If they don't then as the letter has stated "if you disagree with this amount please contact us' they have assumed as they ave no record you contacted them that this was agreed and that is why you now have the cheque.

If £170 was the difference, the likelihood is that they would have split the difference, therefore your loss is in the region of £85.

For what it is worth if I was you i would try and get your 'legal team' to make this up via addittional expenses, which they can advise you on ie: loss of use/misc.

pm me with your phone number and i'll ring you if you need any further guidance.

rabialiones

they agree that i did contact them. after which they contacted the engineer who said that he had agreed and discussed the amount with me, so they must have taken his word for it and left it at that.
however, i must add that they had provided me with a rental car in the meantime, which takes me on to another subject.
as my car had been written off, i contacted my insurers who said i had to continue paying the premiums for the rest of the year, despite the fact that i no had no car insured with them, although i had requested a cancellation. which i thought was completely unfair of them.
i now understand from another thread that i should have been able to cancel my premiums at the time.
i have written to them (sent fax, so they definitely have received my letter), about 2 weeks ago, but they have not yet replied and the next months premium is due very soon. i do not know where i stand with these.

isayoldchap

rabialiones wrote:

they agree that i did contact them. after which they contacted the engineer who said that he had agreed and discussed the amount with me, so they must have taken his word for it and left it at that.
however, i must add that they had provided me with a rental car in the meantime, which takes me on to another subject.
as my car had been written off, i contacted my insurers who said i had to continue paying the premiums for the rest of the year, despite the fact that i no had no car insured with them, although i had requested a cancellation. which i thought was completely unfair of them.
i now understand from another thread that i should have been able to cancel my premiums at the time.
i have written to them (sent fax, so they definitely have received my letter), about 2 weeks ago, but they have not yet replied and the next months premium is due very soon. i do not know where i stand with these.

I am no legal advisor...I am disappointed that you have not be asked to sign
a letter from the engineer or his office to say that you agree with what he said(or may have said to you).I hope that every call you have made has been logged and priced.All the efforts to enquire have also been logged.The
fact that these people like to quote "market values" for write offs is a fact
that we may have to accept but it would appear you are loosing out big time.
I would be frustrated that a fax cannot be replied to within a set time.But here they will argue they didn't get it.You will need to phone and speak to
someone in authority.Have you also been given an allowance for car tax and
the insurance you have paid?What about all those journeys before you got
the hire car?Don't forget to ask for interest.Get some legal advise.Look to see
if you have the legal side of your house insurance (usually £15).This has a
useful negligence side of £25k-£50k and they could take on your case for you
if they feel you have a good chance of success.Shake them up.Wake them up
Get a good nights sleep and be ready for battle in the morning.

Sorry forgot to add that a letter of complaint to the insurance company maybe a good idea.Explain that you think their response is shoddy.The engineer they used (in the age we live in) needs to present paperwork for you
to sign.Check out if you can take it further than them if you are not satisfied
with the outcome or response.I trust only your pride was hurt in the accident.
The compensation team awaits............................... :beer:

isayoldchap

Rab
Thanks for saying thanks.Must dash to bed.
I actually got also thanked by Martin (the boss)must tell the wife :money: :money: :money: :money: :money: :money: :money: :j :j