Car Stolen - Insurance Claim Advice Please

Jinglejane

Hi everyone,

I had my car stolen by a recovery truck in broad daylight nearly 2 weeks ago. The police have phone footage film by a neighbor of the theft taking place. 

I put in a claim to Churchill and received a text message to say that a cheque for £200 will be sent in the post to pay for my loss. 

Is there anyway of disputing this figure? My car was old but was still worth £1500 looking at others that are up for sale on autotrader. I also put in a claim for a pair of binoculars that were worth £300 (have receipts to back this up) and feel this hasn't been taken into account.

My excess was high £600, because I didn't want my car to be deemed a right off if I was in an accident which I thought would have been more likely. However I'm not sure if this covers the contents of my car. I read in my paperwork that it only covers up to £250 so does that mean they'll only pay that amount or because my binoculars were worth more they won't pay out at all? 

I intend to phone Churchill next week but as I've never made a claim before I was hoping for some helpful advice. 

Many thanks for your help 

AdrianC

If they're sending you a cheque for £200, post-excess, they're putting a value of £800 on the car.

"Up for sale on Autotrader" does not mean that they will sell for that price, of course - and at this end of the market, there's a lot of value difference in fine detail, like how much ticket there is remaining.

Yes, of course you can dispute the figure - but you would need better evidence than "Here's an Autotrader ad".

If your policy only covered £250 contents, then that's the maximum they will pay out for the contents. You would need to read the detail, not just the text message, to find out if it's £200 (after excess) for car alone or for car + contents.

The excess would not have made any difference to the likelihood of your car being written off or repaired post-collision. Frankly, they wouldn't bother repair it at all if you claimed for it - it would just have been written off straight off. For minor damage, they may have offered to let you buy it back, though.

born_again

Jinglejane said:

Hi everyone,

I had my car stolen by a recovery truck in broad daylight nearly 2 weeks ago. The police have phone footage film by a neighbor of the theft taking place. 

I put in a claim to Churchill and received a text message to say that a cheque for £200 will be sent in the post to pay for my loss. 

Is there anyway of disputing this figure? My car was old but was still worth £1500 looking at others that are up for sale on autotrader. I also put in a claim for a pair of binoculars that were worth £300 (have receipts to back this up) and feel this hasn't been taken into account.

My excess was high £600, because I didn't want my car to be deemed a right off if I was in an accident which I thought would have been more likely. However I'm not sure if this covers the contents of my car. I read in my paperwork that it only covers up to £250 so does that mean they'll only pay that amount or because my binoculars were worth more they won't pay out at all? 

I intend to phone Churchill next week but as I've never made a claim before I was hoping for some helpful advice. 

Many thanks for your help 

How old were/are they?:

[Deleted User]

You will need more evidence of value. Talk to some dealers, haggle with them, get offers in writing that include the advertised price and what they offered you.

Car_54

Has the car turned up? £800 (or even £1,500) cars aren't normally targetted by professionals and whisked out of the country.

What sort of car was it? Anything rare or special?