car insurance

[enaid]

Re: car insurance

Hawk you are talking utter garbage, as no one here is on the insurers side at all. It has purely been pointed out to read the T&Cs of the policy and see if this is what was agreed to when the dotted line was signed.
I say again the car was a write off and the way you and others are talking if you wrote your car off in the first month of taking out your policy then you would want all the benefits of a full insurance cover for a fraction of the actual insurance cost, good luck to you if you find any insurance company who would do that for you.
I do understand that the policy could carry on with a replacement car as long as all the details were amended.

[Crispybacon]

Re: car insurance

Aha I see your still keeping this subject alive WELL DONE but still you have not given much advice to nannieali who i presume has checked the T & C and i am guessing it is in the documentation to pay the remainder of the policy but some of you are coming on the side of the Insurance companies i thought you were a consumer help and advice centre maybe i was wrong anyways no one here has seen todays news headlines on the BBC ??" Car insurance facing Competition Commission study" so guess what! thats another office thats going to recieve a letter from me yes some of you can fall on the side of the insurers saying you havent paid the full amount! what about if you bought a fridge on monthly payments and it broke down would you have to wait until you paid it off before you could get a replacement ?? dont think so I will part with a shot so to speak "TUTTSI" try and help people and understand where they are coming from and not come down like a ton of bricks! "are you sure your not an ex -insurance advisor that feels hes got rumbled? lol "Blue bottle" Take that policemans helmet off and return to being a consumer! enaid join up with the previous two and go on a HR course and by the way if all three of you can afford to loose money on Car insurance like nannieali's son give me your bank account details i need a holiday!

And exactly what assistance or advice have you offered the OP?

Whether you agree with it or not, what occurs here is that you are quoted for an insurance policy, where the risk is calculated over a years cover. The insurance company has the option of providing to you a credit facility allowing you to pay the balance over 10/12 months. Its totally understandable that the insurance company would then expect you to pay the balance of the policy in the event of a claim. If you want to take insurance on a month/month basis then look at the cost of those policies.

As far as the BBC article you refer to? This is more aimed at the price fixing, bumping up existing customer renewal policies, passing on customer details to ambulance chasing lawyers, bumping up personal injury claims etc in return for commission or profit. Now these practices no-one can defend or condone, and is a completely different kettle of fish.

What Tuttsi and others are trying to point out here is that you have to pick your battles. This is a great consumer advice forum, but there is no point beating the drum to the OP and encouraging them to go down a route where they are extremely unlikely to get any recourse. How is this offering good advise or helping?

What the OP should be challenging here is the initial valuation and payout of 1000quid. Most insurance companies offer a low initial payout, its how the reduce their liability. The OP most definately can get a better deal here, and I know plenty of people who have got significantly more money after challenging insurance companies initial offers. The OP should be getting valuations from other sources and presenting this to the insurance company to get a fair market value for the car.

Best
Crispy

[TUTTSI]

Re: car insurance

my post on 29th May was helping the original poster. I also asked on a previous post that the T&C's were checked and that they also check with other well known insurers as each policy has different T&C's- the original poster has not had the decency to respond to me.

My post on 29/5 -'The car was a write off whose fault was it, are you able to recover the excess from a third party in connection with this accident and therefore recover this excess and for any injuries?

Are you sure that the car is worth £1000 have you checked and have you agreed that sum of money and have you checked that is the book value?

I would say this is NOT A SCAM and you are barking up the wrong tree, for heavens sake check those terms and conditions as I have said on an earlier thread. I am sure Watchdog and the papers wont be remotely interested.

You have been given advice and this has been explained to you in detail and you are still not understanding how the insurance works.

It really is not the insurers fault that if the car was only worth a grand and there was an excess to be paid and a balance of the outstanding on the premium."

This could and may help the original poster - but since the original poster has not responded to any of my questions which may have helped further I see no point in giving any more of my experienced advice when you feel that I am not helping. For your information I am an ex insurance broker and have given the benefit of my knowledge on this subject.

Good luck with your quest and hope that you can get some satisfaction.

[alham]

Re: car insurance

I agree with Tuttsi and would like to repeat that the important bit about trying to get more money NOW is to investigate the £750 offer of reduction from the new insurance - all initial offers from insurance companies are derisory, one needs to go back and NEGOTIATE, as a result I believe that you should end with about £500 cash after taking off everything else.

Good way to start is to demonstrate that initial valuation was wrong and one can't find a similar vehicle for the same price, than keep chipping at the offer. Expect two or three different offers.

[bluebottle]

Re: car insurance

Adding to Alham's latest post, it would be a good idea to go around a number of local used car dealers with a phonecam or digital camera and photograph a number of vehicles or similar age, condition and type to the one that was totalled (written-off) showing the prices and send them to your insurer. In my experience, motor insurers try and get away with offering a trade price and then fib that's the maximum they can offer. Consumers aren't that gullible. Once motor insurers have photographic evidence of replacement costs, it's more difficult for them to argue. Give it a try and see how you get on.

[messimoo]

Re: car insurance

now bluebottle is a really good idea

[alham]

Re: car insurance

Also type make and model into search engine, and follow some links - you should be able to get some better prices. If your insurer comes back with some websites (Autotrader, etc...) showing low prices point out that those vehicles are advertised by traders, and when contacted they tell you that car has been sold. Also, ebay and similar.

[Turboman]

Re: car insurance

Hi --don't normally get involved in insurance stuff...

but HAWK---I don't like your attitude coming here on a self-help forum and in post 44 heavily critiisizing 3 of my friends in Tuttsi,Enaid & BlueBottle in that manner----they are all trying to help and you yourself appear to be just contradictory

Shell's post at post 41 very helpful IMO btw

Turbs

[Bill-K]

Re: car insurance

This isn't Facebook or Twitter - so we're not here to post what we think others want to hear. We're not here to wind each other up, either - because this is not a gaming forum.

But we ARE here to discuss serious issues. To do that effectively, we need to be able to express ourselves fully, and that may involve language or grammar that provokes anger.

Sure - there have to be limits set, but we must not let those limits be so restrictive as to restrict the progress of a 'lively discussion.' I personally insult my friends on a regular basis. I also test those friendships on a regular basis. I ENJOY the input of peeps like Hawk, who test us by playing the part of 'Devil's Advocate.' If we cannot answer to that guy with any eloquence, then we have NO chance of answering to him in court - and THAT is where we may well meet up with him.

This isn't a knitting circle. It's called 'Legal Beagles' for exactly that reason. Sure - we form friendships here - but that's not WHY we're here.

We're here to hear what we DON'T want to hear - and to learn how to deal with that from others who have heard it before.

Just My Humble Opinion, of course - and I beg your indulgence.

And.......yes.......I've had a drink.

[Sapphire]

Re: car insurance

Please guys try to stick to helping the OP, anymore mud slinging/accusations etc and we will be putting people on moderation.

[the hawk]

Re: car insurance

Sorry for upsetting anyone here! that was not my intention, but if most of you are right and nannieali has to fork out for the remainder of the policy, before her son can get a claim. (lets say it is in the T & C's)
how does it work for legal fees and medical expenses ? do you only get a divisor of the 12 or 10 payments worth of legal assistance?? c'mon scratch your heads on that one lol after all i work logically (its the digital age im afraid) lol will any one answer or ???? or am i right in assuming youve got to pay outright the remainder..... and claim that all back after all thats what insurance means to me a nice armoured shield to hide behind.

[TUTTSI]

Re: car insurance

We have not been made privvy to the answers to these questions which I have already requested that Nannieali responds to and would still maintain it is all in the T&C's. The best thing for Nannieali is:-

1. To post up the terms and conditions so that we can all reveiew them and check if the insurance company is right on this occassion and this may also answer your question Hawk..

2. Answer my previous questions especially to the value of the vehicle as they may have short changed on this. Others have stated that getting costs of similar car and evidences may increase the payout.Which is definately worth exploring.

3. Whose fault was the accident, if own fault nothing more can be done but if the fault is that of a third party the excess can be reclaimed from the third party together with any out of pocket expense ie cost of car hire and injuries and any other uninsured losses.

4. Has Nannieali checked with other insurers to see if this is standard policy wording if it proves that their policy is not standard then there is definately a case for unfair T&C, but the bottom line is these T&C were signed for at commencement of the policy and these are the ones unfortunately we have to deal with?

Sorry for upsetting anyone here! that was not my intention, but if most of you are right and nannieali has to fork out for the remainder of the policy, before her son can get a claim. (lets say it is in the T & C's)
how does it work for legal fees and medical expenses ? do you only get a divisor of the 12 or 10 payments worth of legal assistance?? c'mon scratch your heads on that one lol after all i work logically (its the digital age im afraid) lol will any one answer or ???? or am i right in assuming youve got to pay outright the remainder..... and claim that all back after all thats what insurance means to me a nice armoured shield to hide behind.

[the hawk]

Re: car insurance

Just to keep people here updated i have contacted my local MP (as i said i would) and he has decided to contact Mike Penning MP in the Department for Transport (not sure how high up he is i havent googled him yet lol) but i sure hope he rattles a few trees .

[bluebottle]

Re: car insurance

Just to keep people here updated i have contacted my local MP (as i said i would) and he has decided to contact Mike Penning MP in the Department for Transport (not sure how high up he is i havent googled him yet lol) but i sure hope he rattles a few trees .

Mike Penning MP is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport. The one who wields the power is the Permanent Secretary who is a civil servant and is in overall charge of the DfT. The politicians simply decide policy and sign off any Statutory Instruments or Orders made under powers granted to them by Statutes.

You might wish to approach the OFT as well as there may be issues of enforceability of T & Cs. I do know that insurance contracts were granted exemption under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (UCTA), but am not sure how this stands under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (UTCCR). However, there is new legislation coming into force in 2013 that will put an end to the unfair practices of the insurance industry. Publicly, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) seem to be putting on a brave face, but, privately, (and I know people who work within the industry) they know, themselves, they have had this coming to them for a long time. If they had treated people fairly, in the first place, this legislation would not be coming into force. As an ex-colleague of mine said sometime ago, "The insurance industry has been getting away with far too much for far too long."

[the hawk]

Re: car insurance

Whoo hoo I knew it (cos i had a nice letter from Mike Penning) Insuarnce personel don your tin helmets your being investigated! and no i am not here to wind people up, but would like to think i contributed to the Office of Fair trade taking a look "The market for car insurance has been referred to the Competition Commission for investigation on the basis that it is not working well for motorists." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19755037#