Car Insurance write off claim closed

nadia1307

Hi all, let my tell you a story with my car insurer. I was involved in a small accident where my car side was scratched and scuffed and insurance declared it a write off and offered me a low amount of money. I had declined and managed based on my car extras to make them agree to pay almost 50% on top of the initial value but I’ve also asked them to show me how they calculated the valued of the car and to explain this to me. They didn’t came back to that email and after a couple of weeks I’ve received an email with a deadline to accept their payment and with a couple of day before the deadline they closed my claim. 

My question is are they allowed to do this? Play with deadlines and close claims whenever they want? Will my car still be a write off even if nobody inspected it properly and relayed only on pictures I sent? Thanks 

MyRealNameToo

nadia1307 said:

Hi all, let my tell you a story with my car insurer. I was involved in a small accident where my car side was scratched and scuffed and insurance declared it a write off and offered me a low amount of money. I had declined and managed based on my car extras to make them agree to pay almost 50% on top of the initial value but I’ve also asked them to show me how they calculated the valued of the car and to explain this to me. They didn’t came back to that email and after a couple of weeks I’ve received an email with a deadline to accept their payment and with a couple of day before the deadline they closed my claim. 

My question is are they allowed to do this? Play with deadlines and close claims whenever they want? Will my car still be a write off even if nobody inspected it properly and relayed only on pictures I sent? Thanks 

You can see online how the Ombudsman recommends the valuation of vehicles is done, its basically look at the "books" (which arent books these days) and make the offer based on what Glass, Parkers, CAP etc say its worth. Ideally they will check a couple of options to make sure they are broadly consistent. 

They are entitled to close the claim as they see fit but they should also reopen the claim if you come back to them. On an open claim they have to be holding a reserve, they dont want to be holding that reserve for 20 years because you didnt bother to tell them you were withdrawing the claim. Sending these kinds of letters typically has a decent response rate and gets customers back in contact either to conclude the claim or confirm it's withdrawn. 

There is zero value in inspecting an old car with anything more than the most superficial damage. Mileage makes a decent difference in valuation but many other things the customer points out makes virtually no difference to the price. It will formally become a write off then the insurer uploads it to MIAFTR, depending on their internal processes that may be straightaway, it should be within 2 working days but no doubt some may do it later in the process. 

huckster

Where was the car when they closed the claim? Still in your possession or in a salvage yard?

If in your possession, they should have given you 7 days notice of the cancellation, so you had time to SORN or Insure elsewhere.

If in salvage can you afford to buy back and get it repaired with the settlement amount? Do you know what write off category has been declared by the Insurers?

MyRealNameToo

huckster said:

If in your possession, they should have given you 7 days notice of the cancellation, so you had time to SORN or Insure elsewhere.

they've closed the claim not cancelled the policy