Cash in lieu / Cash settlement

Marcus12b

Hi everyone

I would appreciate if someone could shed some light on what I'm about to ask because I've become rather stressed out.

I want to know the following

My car was hit and I made a claim

During this claim

It was hit again on the other side separate claim.

The 2nd claim insurer written it off

The first claim they got a a quote from me to fix it by ford and they accepted, they decided to give me a cash settlement instead. I'm assuming this is cash in lieu is this correct?

Now the second claim where they written it off it was not there driver so they retracted everything after 2 months of back and forward they are the most useless insurance company and they are called Acorn, when I was complaining why for 2 months was you after reaching out to me due to incident in the first case only now the advisor basically said well you should of went to your own insurance company and were washing our hands with this. I was so angry as after 2 months time wasted.

So I've gone back to my own insurance they have now asked me to start the claim on the 2nd incident they want to see invoices for the first claim.

Here is where I have been stuck. Due to the damage on the first claim there was a big dent on the drivers side passenger door and just some scratches on the panel near the tyre only a few not that bad. However I've managed to get the dent out so now it's only a very small dent but the scratches remain.

Im just confused here now.

What do I do, do I tell them I repaired it and there's no invoice but I'm assuming if I did that they are just going to de value the car even more

Or rather than me paying to get it repaired by ford who originally given me the quote.

Can my insurance basically say you need to get it repaired by ford or can they request the money back etc. what am I rights within this settlement.

MyRealNameToo

For the 1st claim were you claiming from your insurers or the third party insurers? Assuming it was your own was it a fault or non-fault accident?

You say the third party insurer (though Acorn is actually a broker) wrote the car off? Sounds more like they said they would write it off and then backed down? Do you still have the vehicle or did they take the salvage?

If you are now claiming both from your own insurance it should be relatively straight forward, your insurers will probably write the car off and deduct 2 excesses. It's then down to your insurers to decide how they attribute the cost between the two claims and attempt to recover the proportion from the third party insurer(s).

Were it my case I would ask the engineers to make it clear in their report what they were deducting from the settlement for the pre-existing damage (ie the first incident) and attribute that value to the first claim and the remainder, inc engineers report fee, to the second claim and for recovery from Acorn or the true insurer depending on if Acorn has claims handling authority or not.

Marcus12b

Ok so the first claim I went through my insurance as a non fault accident however that driver is disputing this.

I paid no excess my own insurance gave me a cash settlement as at the same time from the 2nd claim they decided to write off the car. I told my Insurance this and wanted to get the first claim settled as at the time I didn't think they would of repaired it either

However I went through ford to fix it they gave them a quote for the repair and my insurance decided to accept the repair Nd pay me cash settlement instead.

Back to the second claim acorn got to he point offered me £4395 for the car I was at the point literally to give my v5c and bank sort code and account number.

The issue we then had it turned out it's not there driver.

Back to my insurance I explained what happened the 2nd incident by the way 3rd party whilst my car was parked damaged the side both doors split handles broken and side mirror.

What concerned me my insurance asking me proof of repairs from the first claim. The dent I sorted it out myself but the scratches remain. I just don't know where I stand here as could they say we paid you to fix it and you haven't from Ford etc do I have to spend money on a car that's not even worth repairing to be honest. I was going to keep it but with the damage it's costing me more than the cars worth from the 2nd claim

So do I need to use ford will they devalue my car or ask money back from first claim if you see what mean

MyRealNameToo

Normally when you settle a claim for a vehicle with pre-existing damage you take the book value and deduct from it a percentage of the cost that it would have cost to repair that damage. As a vehicle gets older the lower the percentage it tends to be as someone buying a nearly new car will probably want it to look new whereas someone buying an old banger to run into the ground will probably be perfectly happy with living with a few scratches and minor dents/not A1 repairs etc.

If this were my case, having already paid you to fix all the problems from the first incident I would simply deduct the full cost of the remaining repairs, this could be just the scratches but may also include a better repair on the already removed dents if they weren't done properly.

Have Acorn said who was driving their vehicle if it wasnt someone insured by them? Your insurers will likely argue they are the RTA insurer unless they can demonstrate the driver had insurance elsewhere that was entitled to be used on the vehicle (like Driving Other Cars cover on policies or Motor Trade)

Marcus12b

You are right and I was thinking the same thing

If from the first claim I do not get it repaired professionally my insurance would minus any scratches or damage to the car as it is and deduct that from final value for the write off.

I just got to make the decision as I went to one body shop and they said it will cost £400 to just respray that one door and panel and take the rest of the dent out not much to it to be honest it's small now. But what has put me off is it really worth paying £400 just to sort this out when the car on the otherside is a write off and I'm not going to keep the car not worth it. It's a fiesta 2009, auto the repair damage is not worth keeping

So acorn did not disclose to me the drives other insurance they just basically said he wasn't insured with this vehicle with us. I think like you said he's got other vans or cars.

I spoke to my insurance they did say he is insured. My insurance just wants to proceed with the claim now but what prof I've fixed the first claim and want to see invoice for it..

@MyRealNameToo you do seem to know your stuff. In your opinion if I was to just tell my insurance I've taken out the dent there is only a small dent now on there but the scratches about 7 8 small scuffs are still there. How much would that devalue the car shall I just pay the £400 from the other body shop that given me the repair quote however ford not sure what they told my insurance they were going to charge 3x that, it could maybe be that the dent did look bad but that has been sorted…