Amazon Delivery Driver has written off my car!!

lincroft1710

Aretnap said:

Spank said:

Because insurance companies are there to make as much money as possible and will pick the cheapest option to them.

If you want that to change you will have to start your own company.

It's not actually a question of dastardly insurance companies trying to maximise their profits. .

 

Like any business an insurer should try to maximise profits, as long as it is not behaving unfairly to its policyholders. 

born_again

>>>I had the gearbox rebuilt in January which wasn’t cheap <<<

So it's not a new gearbox, just the old one fixed. So in reality adds noting to the cars value. 

Mickey666

Aretnap said:

Spank said:

Because insurance companies are there to make as much money as possible and will pick the cheapest option to them.

If you want that to change you will have to start your own company.

It's not actually a question of dastardly insurance companies trying to maximise their profits. If you are claiming as a third party then your rights are determined by liability law - not by the terms of someone else's insurance contract. And it's a basic tenet of liability law that compensation for damage to property is measured in terms of the loss in damage that the property has suffered. By definition this cannot be more than the property's original value. (Where the repair cost is relevant, it's actually only because it's usually a reasonable measure of the property's loss of value).

If you think that principle is unfair then your beef is with several hundred years of liability law - not with insurance companies which are simply covering their customer's liabilities. And no insurance company is going to sell you liability cover which covers liabilities that you don't have. You couldn't buy insurance to cover other people's cars beyond your legal liability, even if you wanted to. You have no insurable interest in the cars of random people who you might drive into, other than your legal liabilities for them.

Thanks for that explanation.  I see the point that the loss incurred cannot be more than the value of the item, although there will always be collateral losses associated with a vehicle write-off such as replacement car hire, taxis, time required to find a new car etc.  Surely those costs should also be reimbursed after an accident?  

Manxman_in_exile

Aretnap said:

Spank said:

Because insurance companies are there to make as much money as possible and will pick the cheapest option to them.

If you want that to change you will have to start your own company.

.... If you are claiming as a third party then your rights are determined by liability law - not by the terms of someone else's insurance contract. And it's a basic tenet of liability law that compensation for damage to property is measured in terms of the loss in damage that the property has suffered. By definition this cannot be more than the property's original value. ...

...If you think that principle is unfair then your beef is with several hundred years of liability law - not with insurance companies which are simply covering their customer's liabilities. And no insurance company is going to sell you liability cover which covers liabilities that you don't have. ...

That's a really helpful reminder of what insurance is all about - and why we have it.

Thanks

Grumpy_chap

Mickey666 said:

Thanks for that explanation.  I see the point that the loss incurred cannot be more than the value of the item, although there will always be collateral losses associated with a vehicle write-off such as replacement car hire, taxis, time required to find a new car etc.  Surely those costs should also be reimbursed after an accident?  

But, in this case, the collateral losses are being funded by the insurance company through paying for the courtesy car until such time as the case is resolved.  The case is resolved through either repairing the car (not going to happen because the car is beyond economical repair) or paying the settlement for the value of the car.  The insurance company cannot provide a courtesy car indefinitely until such point as the claimant gets around to buy a new car (as that is a time-frame and, hence, cost outside of their control).  Exceptionally, at this time, there may be a valid argument for an extra week of courtesy car because lock-down prevents you from buy a replacement car.

adonis

Maybe this is the insurance that the op should have,

https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/agreed-value-car-insurance/

I don't know how high the premiums are though.

Sandtree

Mickey666 said:

Aretnap said:

Spank said:

Because insurance companies are there to make as much money as possible and will pick the cheapest option to them.

If you want that to change you will have to start your own company.

It's not actually a question of dastardly insurance companies trying to maximise their profits. If you are claiming as a third party then your rights are determined by liability law - not by the terms of someone else's insurance contract. And it's a basic tenet of liability law that compensation for damage to property is measured in terms of the loss in damage that the property has suffered. By definition this cannot be more than the property's original value. (Where the repair cost is relevant, it's actually only because it's usually a reasonable measure of the property's loss of value).

If you think that principle is unfair then your beef is with several hundred years of liability law - not with insurance companies which are simply covering their customer's liabilities. And no insurance company is going to sell you liability cover which covers liabilities that you don't have. You couldn't buy insurance to cover other people's cars beyond your legal liability, even if you wanted to. You have no insurable interest in the cars of random people who you might drive into, other than your legal liabilities for them.

Thanks for that explanation.  I see the point that the loss incurred cannot be more than the value of the item, although there will always be collateral losses associated with a vehicle write-off such as replacement car hire, taxis, time required to find a new car etc.  Surely those costs should also be reimbursed after an accident?  

Actually it can be, some insurance policies cover betterment... like in home insurance which is often written on a “new for old” basis so your 20 year old washing machine gets replaced with a brand new one.

If you claim off your own insurance for a total loss of your car then the FOS expects the insurer to base their settlement on forecourt sale prices and so effectively includes warranty/statutory rights etc. If you had tried to sell your car immediately before the accident you would have in all probability gotten less for it than forecourt prices because a private sale doesnt include those extras. As such, whilst the difference is as big as say new for old, there is still likely to be a modest amount of betterment included.

When you buy insurance you agree to a list of perils that will be covered (accidental damage, fire, flood, theft etc), whats insured (home, car, cat) and what’ll be covered in the event of a claim (repairs & courtesy car, either damaged item only or all of a set, that the first £300 wont be (ie your excess)). In the event of an accident you are likely to have both insured losses (eg the damage to your car) and uninsured losses (eg a hire car if you didnt include a courtesy car on your policy).

In a fault accident (inc acts of god etc), you get your insured losses back from your insurer and you carry your uninsured losses yourself (including your excess).  If there is a known third party thats at fault then ultimately they are responsible for your insured and uninsured losses. If you claim off of your insurance then your insurer inherits your right to claim those costs from the third party. You are responsible for claiming your uninsured losses from the third party though if you have bought Legal Expenses cover on your car insurance someone will be appointed under that policy to do it for you (not that its hard to email a scan of the excess receipt and ask for reimbursement)