Car Scrapped without Permission

sav_606_rebels

Hello,

Wonder if anyone had some advice...

OH's car (08 Corsa) was declared a write off after a minor scrape on a roundabout, other party at fault. It had scratches down both nearside doors and nearside wing, with passenger door dented and slightly twisted. We were surprised it was a write off, but such is life.

The write off was declared to OH by the garage / assessor on the phone (with a price) and not formally by the insurer. After this phone call, we called the insurer to ask if this was truly the case (as we expected this report to come from them). They said they were pulling together the paperwork and would be in touch. They haven't been to date. We'd also said to them we believed the car to be worth more and had found higher selling prices for the same model / age / mileage online. They asked us to send those links in to be considered.

Today we realised some belongings were still in the car. Called the garage to be informed that the insurer had instructed them to scrap it. We were given the address and the car is now 120 miles away, instead of half an hour down the road. We explained the belongings problem to the scrapyard who said that they could post them, but at cost to us(!)

Any advice for us please?

Firstly, OH never accepted the offer as it wasn't formally presented to us by the insurer.
Secondly, the price for the car was never agreed, let alone paid.
Thirdly, surely until OH receives a payment, the car isn't legally theirs?

What should we do!?

EdGasket

Bit late now but in this situation, assuming the car is driveable, I make an appointment with the garage to assess it, take it there and take it away again otherwise things quickly get out of your control. I have had insurers trying to write my car off before for minor dents and I've told them where to go.

I really don't know about the legality of writing it off without your consent; I think insurers believe you are handing it over to them to deal with as they see fit which usually isn't the case at all. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be along to help you out.

nidO

sav_606_rebels wrote: »

What should we do!?

Be urgently talking to your insurer about why they've scrapped a car that doesn't belong to them, and what they plan to do, TODAY, to rectify the issue.

If they don't, put in a complaint. If they don't sort that, go to the financial ombudsman.

Here is an example of a case referred to the ombudsman where an insurer scrapped a car before agreeing a settlement with the car's owner, they ruled the insurer should pay the owner over double their original offer:

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/66/66-vehicle_valuation_disputes.html#cs3

magpiecottage

Which insurer has scrapped it - the OP's or the other party's?

TSx

Has the car actually been scrapped or has it just been moved so far?

sav_606_rebels

OH's insurer were the one to instruct the car to be taken to its new location. Insurethebox, if anyone's interested.

Result of the angry phone calls was "oh no, its not at a scrap place, its there for storage"

The name of the facility is Charles Trent in Poole. Looking at their website, its absolutely a scrap place, not a storage facility. I cant imagine they'd want cars on their lot that don't belong to them?

OH has demanded all the associated paperwork which is allegedly being emailed today. We await the results....