Motorway Direct Gap Insurance Problems

vetinari

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Just wondering if anybody else has had experience of dealing with Motorway Direct for a Gap Insurance claim.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]My car was recently written off through no fault of my own. The motor insurer (LV) were supportive, offered a fair valuation and settled within a week. Rolls Royce service from them.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]My gap insurance unfortunately is administered by Motorway Direct who offer more of a Reliant Robin experience.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Initial contact was fine and all requested information was supplied to them within a few days.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Nothing then for a week at which point they requested copies of bank statements showing the original payment for the car. This despite having a copy of the dealer invoice and the purchase being nearly six years ago. Not to mention the fact that the policy is for a Replacement Car and therefore the purchase price is irrelevant.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Tried to explain this to a pretty useless call centre employee who could only repeat her mantra of its what the underwriters want ![/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Luckily my bank were efficient and managed to find the statements which I supplied over a week ago to Motorway Direct whilst also making an official complaint about this rather blatant attempt to delay meeting their liability.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Since then not heard a word from Motorway Direct. Probably they are busily thinking of new information to request. Blood type of the salesman, shoe size of the service manager perhaps ![/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The policy states very clearly that claims will be settled within 14 days of the motor insurers settlement. As they are now in breach of contract in that regard I will seek interest on the eventual settlement and appeal to the Ombudsman should they demur. Given that the current judgement rate applied to Ombudsman compensation claims is 8% so perhaps there is a silver lining after all.[/FONT]

Penelopa.Pitstop

Motorway Direct seems to be the company avoiding payments. They tried to refused gap payment to someone else, who had covered initial payment on lease car. They were claiming that initial payment is not deposit, even though definition in policy covered that.

Asking for bank statements from 6 years ago is over the top. You may end up going through complain process.

daveyjp

There are two settlement figures.

Your car value and the gap payment.

Whilst you have accepted the insurance figure and the money, they are responsible for the GAP. If they think the insurance settlement is too low they may not yet have agreed their settlement figure.

E.g your pay out £10k a new car £15k, gap to pay £5k. If they think your car is worth £11k they will baulk over paying £5k and not £4k.

This is from experience of a colleague. It took months to sort out and he was well out of pocket by the end as he had to fund a stop gap car. They were arguing over a few hundred pounds, which he even offered to pay!

Start the complaints process as they are being tardy.

vetinari

Thanks for the replies. I have no doubt that this will end up with the Financial Ombudsman but I´m assured by my legal insurance people that Motorway Direct will lose that fight and be forced to pay the settlement with interest.


I´m fortunate in not being dependant on this payment to finance a new car so will happily let interest accrue at 8% (The current judgement rate) and will fight them for every penny of it.