Motor Insurance Ombudsman

ColzD

I am interested if anyone has appealed to the Motor Insurance Ombudsman and actually managed to get anywhere with them - or if they just cover their own backs and side with the insurance companies?

My car was recently classed as "written off" by my insurer Admiral following a front end non fault collision. 

They sent my case to "Acorn Assessors" for valuation who basically looked at the "Glass's" guide and gave me a very poor valuation. I disagreed and provided them several examples from Auto Trader (as they had suggested) - but because mine was a rare version with upgrades hard to find they wouldn't agree and said my only option was to refer it back to Admiral for them to assess it themselves. So - I did this, and AGAIN dug out another load of examples, wasting loads of my own time - and sent them to Admiral - ensuring to PDF them as I'm aware the likes of AutoTrader don't stay live once sold.
 
I ended up chasing them up a few times over the next few weeks until eventually my "caseworker" said he'd have a look, kept me on hold then said he'd looked at Glass's guide and got exactly the same price - I said that he would have because that's all Acorn did!  I asked if he'd looked at my examples - he hadn't bothered and had a glance at them after he'd given me the price and said it made no difference.

I said that the Glass's guide is not in touch with the current market value of vehicles, that I have been quoted 30% less than my vehicles value, that the second hand car market had gone through the roof and how it was unfair that someone has crashed into me and I'm only given the option of buying a cheaper car than what I had.  He said that I could complain and have a final third opinion, where someone else would look at the Glass's guide one last time!!!

I was told by both Admiral and Acron that they had looked at one or two other guides and that they had come back with an even lower valuation.

I am in the process of going through the Ombusdman now, but they even say on their website that the Motor Insurance Industry can only refer to certain "guides" so I don't hold much hope.

I'm not taking this lying down though and am looking to put this issue out there as much as possible as it stinks.  

I'm currently having my own car repaired privately as I refuse to be thousands out of pocket and make do with a rubbish car - I'll still be badly off in the long run as my car will be hugely devalued now as a Cat N - even when fully repaired. My insurance will no doubt be inflated on it and I have to go through another MOT.

How can the buck stop at these guides when they are simply not right.  There must be a lot of people in the same boat as me - something needs to be done. It would be good if Mr Lewis himself saw this and asked the question.

DB1904

ColzD said:

I am interested if anyone has appealed to the Motor Insurance Ombudsman and actually managed to get anywhere with them - or if they just cover their own backs and side with the insurance companies?

My car was recently classed as "written off" by my insurer Admiral following a front end non fault collision. 

They sent my case to "Acorn Assessors" for valuation who basically looked at the "Glass's" guide and gave me a very poor valuation. I disagreed and provided them several examples from Auto Trader (as they had suggested) - but because mine was a rare version with upgrades hard to find they wouldn't agree and said my only option was to refer it back to Admiral for them to assess it themselves. So - I did this, and AGAIN dug out another load of examples, wasting loads of my own time - and sent them to Admiral - ensuring to PDF them as I'm aware the likes of AutoTrader don't stay live once sold.
 
I ended up chasing them up a few times over the next few weeks until eventually my "caseworker" said he'd have a look, kept me on hold then said he'd looked at Glass's guide and got exactly the same price - I said that he would have because that's all Acorn did!  I asked if he'd looked at my examples - he hadn't bothered and had a glance at them after he'd given me the price and said it made no difference.

I said that the Glass's guide is not in touch with the current market value of vehicles, that I have been quoted 30% less than my vehicles value, that the second hand car market had gone through the roof and how it was unfair that someone has crashed into me and I'm only given the option of buying a cheaper car than what I had.  He said that I could complain and have a final third opinion, where someone else would look at the Glass's guide one last time!!!

I was told by both Admiral and Acron that they had looked at one or two other guides and that they had come back with an even lower valuation.

I am in the process of going through the Ombusdman now, but they even say on their website that the Motor Insurance Industry can only refer to certain "guides" so I don't hold much hope.

I'm not taking this lying down though and am looking to put this issue out there as much as possible as it stinks.  

I'm currently having my own car repaired privately as I refuse to be thousands out of pocket and make do with a rubbish car - I'll still be badly off in the long run as my car will be hugely devalued now as a Cat N - even when fully repaired. My insurance will no doubt be inflated on it and I have to go through another MOT.

How can the buck stop at these guides when they are simply not right.  There must be a lot of people in the same boat as me - something needs to be done. It would be good if Mr Lewis himself saw this and asked the question.

He sold this site a good few years ago for something like 80 million so I doubt he'll read it.

Grey_Critic

mine was a rare version with upgrades hard to find

Was it insured accordingly? I recall a case many years ago when a Fiesta 950 Pop XR2 Lookalike was the subject of an insurance claim after being stolen/recovered. Initially the claim was rejected until it was pointed that the young chap who owned it had actually insured it as such. It cost the insurers a tidy sum.

jimbo6977

Would be interesting to know the make,model,year in question and what the upgrades were.

Glass's is based on real life sales prices achieved all over the country. It does allow for optional extras, BUT options are often worth dramatically less as on 2nd hand cars than would have been paid new. 

[Deleted User]

Two problems.

Updates are mostly worthless on the second hand market, value goes to zero in a few years.

The money you get will be the value of the car on the day of the accident, so if prices have risen since you are screwed.

Sandtree

ColzD said:

How can the buck stop at these guides when they are simply not right.  There must be a lot of people in the same boat as me - something needs to be done. It would be good if Mr Lewis himself saw this and asked the question.

Given how widely the guides are used, which goes well beyond the insurance industry, they are considered independent and reliable. You wont win that fight.

What is the vehicle and what modifications did you declare to Admiral? 

Admiral has some of the strictest rules on modifications, for a start all optional extras have to be declared which is almost unique amoungst car insurers... took an age to go through things like the "AMG kit" on my car and thats before explaining what the "air scarf" was etc. Plus if you look at their policy book they do not provide insurance for the modifications unless they are for disability purposes.

IP-MO-1-002.pdf (admiral.com)

What is not insured?
Below is only a summary of what is not covered
We won't pay for
Modifications:  Unless the modifications are due to a disability

Looks like you bought the wrong policy for your vehicle

caprikid1

Make and Model ? Hard to find upgrades do not always add value.

Sandtree

caprikid1 said:

Make and Model ? Hard to find upgrades do not always add value.

But Admiral explicitly state they dont cover the value of modifications so its a moot point

ColzD

My car was an Audi A3 63 plate 2.0 TDI. The main optional extra for me was the built in sat nav and bluetooth etc.  It also had through load, front and rear arm rests etc along with low mileage. The money they were offering would have bought a car a year or two older with no sat nav and standard mileage.  Don't really see why I should have to downgrade my car following a non fault accident.
I'm having it repaired but will probably end up running it into the ground now that it'll be a Cat N.

Sandtree

The guidebooks include mileage and so that won't be a driver of the difference.

Admiral dont include modifications in their cover and so there was no cover for the satnav/in car entertainment system if it wasnt the standard item.

If its a non-fault claim then this would be an uninsured loss that you can seek a recovery from the third party insurers for, if you have legal expenses cover then Admiral should appoint someone to assist you in doing so. As you dont have the original unit I assume then it'd be the difference in book price between the A3 TDI and the A3 TDI with the modifications... unfortunately you'll find the differences are relatively small but probably more than £0.

Remember that adverts show the asking price not the sale price, normally no one pays the asking price and you'd expect the sales to be notably below the value shown. Accept we may not be in normal times right now. Back in my claims days the desk engineers used to sit next to us and so when a customer complained and sent AutoTrader ads the engineer would pretend to be a potential buyer and phone them to get what price they'd actually accept (subject to a visit to see/drive the car - obviously this was never arranged)

jimbo6977

If you think an 8yo car has lost a large %age of its value, 8yo options will have lost even more.

One tiny remote possibility - 2013 was a model change year for the A3 - could they be reading the value of the wrong model?
I very much doubt it but weirder things have happened....