Claim Cancellation fee from 3rd Party

Branagorn

Back in september, my Motorbike was parked on the street outside my house, and was struck by a company waste truck/lorry, the driver then attemped to upright the bike, and in doing so dropped it on the opposite side. The driver left details with a local shop owner, whom told me all about this when I returned from work.


I rang my insurer and explained all this, got reffered to and delt with by a 3rd party non-fault company and the offending company's insurer.


The whole thing has been taking ages. But so far it has been establised that a) The company accepts 100% liability, and b) The vehicle is classed as a total loss.


Eventually the opposing insurance wrote me, offered me a pre-accident value for the bike which I think is fair, along with a cheque for the value they deem for the bike as of now. The letter then asked if I wanted to keep the bike, or salvage it/receieve a further cheque to make up the difference.


I had responded in a email explaining that I did not want the bike returned. But I also included that they made no mention of the Rain Cover and Chain lock which were damaged in the incident.


It took over a week to recieve a phone call from this company, the person who listened to my concerns, and agreed to email me requesting pictures of the damaged items and approximate values of these.


It has been yet another week and a half since I recieved this email and my reply. I still have not recieved an addional cheque to make up the remainder of the bike value, and had no further responce to my email regarding the damaged items.


Most recently I have called my insurer to cancel the policy on the bike, to which I was charged a £50 fee, which makes me question if it is also fair for me to request that this tangible loss is passed onto the opposing insurance? I cannot transfer the policy to another bike as I am yet to purchase another (remember I have yet to recieve the additional cheque), and I might just wait untill the summer to do so now.


Apologees for the length and sporadic information.


Could I request the cancellation fee be reimbursed? Is it fair/normal for this process to be dragged out like this. I have literallly had 4 emails flat out not replied to, and spent approx 40 mins over a couple phone calls with no pick up from the opposing insurer.

Quentin

All your losses should be reimbursed - your claim handler at the accident management company should sort this for you.

OnanTheBarbarian

If this accident never happened would you still have the bike insured now?

My thoughts are that your decision not to replace the bike is a separate issue and therefore the cancellation fee may be something you struggle to recover.

dacouch

OnanTheBarbarian wrote: »

If this accident never happened would you still have the bike insured now?

My thoughts are that your decision not to replace the bike is a separate issue and therefore the cancellation fee may be something you struggle to recover.

I agree, although for a relatively small amount such as £50, it may slip throw the net and be paid.

It's worth trying to claim it back, but look at it as a bonus if they pay it back

OnanTheBarbarian

I agree. Worth making the claim for it. My experience of claims departments on a daily basis is "every pound is a prisoner" and if they can find an angle, they will.

Branagorn

I have finally had a responce.


They are willing pay for the cancellation fee. However they wish to see receipts for the Rain Cover and chainlock. This I cannot provide, as you can imagine could easily be the case. Is this resonable? I have already provided photos of the items and thier damage, with a dated peice of paper and reference to prove I havent just taken the photos from the internet.
They are branded items, so they are easy to look up and see the value of.

OnanTheBarbarian

Just send them evidence of the cost of replacement and the age of the items. You have proven ownership/possession of the items with the photos.

Expect a reduced offer as you are only entitled to the secondhand value of the items, not new for old