They crushed my sisters car!

bill55bill

My sister was involved in a minor traffic accident, there was no problem with the other party, they admitted liability and their insurance company contacted my sister to arrange to collect her car and inspect it.

Her vehicle was a fairly old (K reg) VW Golf but was reliable and was perfect for her pottering around town. The damage the car sustained was purely cosmetic in that her wing was dented, nothing more serious than that.

The insurance company left her a hire car whilst they took hers away for inspection, and after a week phoned her to say the car was beyond economical repair and that they would give her £350 for it, or £500 if she could provide proof that it had been serviced the last two years.

My sister said she would think about it and the insurance company said they would confirm their offer in writing.

Another week passed and she recieved the letter which was slightly different from their original offer in that it stated they would pay £350 and retain salvage rights to the car. They also stated that a cheque had been issued under seperate cover, somewhat jumping the gun it seems.....

I told her that she should refuse the offer and inform them of her wish to keep her car, something I had done previously myself following an accident, recieving the full value of the car AND the car back.

So, she phoned them up and to her horror was told that the car had already been stripped down to its bare bones and was being crushed the following day.

I then sent them a rather long letter informing them that their actions were tantamount to theft, that she was the registered keeper and owner of the vehicle and that unless they took steps to reach a satisfactory deal with my sister then legal proceedings would commence.

Since then we have recieved the tax disc back, which they had ripped into four pieces when destroying the car, stapled together with a form to collect the unexpired duty!

No covering letter, no apology no nothing.

She also recieved a phone message from the hire car people saying the insurance company had told them to collect the hire car from her.

Now obviously my sister is well upset at what has happened so my question is, what would you claim for in court?

Just the value of the car (£350 in their opinion) plus the contents of the car, so far unreturned (cd's car seat etc....)
The value of all the spare parts they no doubt would have sold off? (assuming they would be worth more than £350)
And is she able to claim damages for the distress that they have caused her?

I'd really like to get as much out of them as possible because their actions are a disgrace for a major company.

Many thanks for any advice!

regards

Bill

anewman

What disgusting treatment of a customer. You could name and shame the insurance company so we don't make the mistake of using this insurer.

I think this hinges on whether the car is their property to crush. My understanding is, like yours, that a settlement has to be agreed, and that being judged as beyond economical repair need not be a reason for them to automatically declare it their property.

You probably need to speak to a solicitor who specialises in these sorts of issues - if there are any out there.

You may have luck with a letter threatening court action alone though as I am sure they'd rather pay out more money than pay their and your legal costs, although my guess is if it went to court there would be a "record" of a verbal agreement to accept a cheque for £350

the_big_fact_hunt

if your sister has not agreed to a settlement the car would still legally belong to her, so she would be entitled to the full replacement costs for the car, and all of its contents, and i would assume some compensation for the inconvenience of not having a car as they have caused willful and criminal destruction of her private property and posessions, which would be the sort of thing her insurance company would chase for.
I personally would send a very sharp letter pointing this out by registered post, demanding the return or replacement of a hire car until an agreement is reached, and pointing out that if they do not respond within five working days you will instruct a solicitor to begin full legal proceedings, and also involve the financial services authority, which will cause them serious problems

Aliktren

small claims

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/infoabout/claims/index.htm

Damage to your property would seem to be fair grounds, will cost you 70 quid or something and if you get judged for you get the costs back, sued a delivery company two years ago for destroying our hardwood floor, they didnt even contest, we got all our money back

Alternately, forget their complaints process and go straight for the throat with the chief exec

http://www.connectotel.com/marcus/ceoemail.html

Aliktren

actually, yea, the previous poster mentioned the FSA, also complain to the ombudsmen

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

Aliktren

basically, make a stink, demand to speak to the duty manager for the call centre, be nice and polite, but very firm, dont back down, mention casually that you're writing to the FSA for advice

creamcheese

That's disgusting, but doesn't actually surprise me. I hate dealing with insurance companies.

Has your sister banked the £350 cheque yet? If she hasn't I would suggest that she keeps it that way as it may be seen as accepting their offer. If she has banked it, make sure to include in any letter you send that this has been accepted as an interim settlement - not full settlement of the claim.

Give 'em ell, what they've done is so wrong.

bill55bill

Thanks for the advice everyone, have had no response to my 'sharp letter' so it's the court next. (and the FSA)
She has the cheque but has not cashed it.
Can you claim for 'distress' in the small claims court as well as for the actual losses incurred?

mattymoo

Not sure the FSA will be interested since this is not a complaint against her own insurer. As I read it, you are claiming against the other persons insurance company and the Financial Ombudsman does not get involved in these disputes.

Would stick with your request that the hire car is retained until full settlement is reached. In the meantime, have you spoken to the salvage yard to see if they kept any items like the car seat / CD's etc. Most will put these to one side in the expectation the owner will collect them.

Was the vehicle serviced in the last 2 years and hence worth the £500 offer? I suspect in light of their error you should be pushing for this amount as a minimum anyway because the crushing has denied your sister the chance to commision her own engineers report on the value of the vehicle.

cyclonebri1

I'd be very tempted not to let go of the hire car untill its resolved.

Hintza

Could have a lot of fun here. Think I would be looking for £1,000 plus on this one. As suggested keep hire car until they return her car or come up with a reasonable financial solution....

Time for a lawyer I think.