Insurance want to scrap my car, I don't agree.

[Lenovo]

Will try to cut a long story short.

Spent £3800 on repairs on a car that we value very much, we consider it a classic. The day I was driving back from the garage after the repairs, a white van flew into the back of me while I was queuing to a slip road off a motorway, his tire blew up and he was trying to get onto the hard shoulder in any case he shouldn't have been speeding like a maniac. We exchanged details, he also agreed the liability entirely on his side as he came flying into me and signed a little piece of paper to that effect.

The damage is cosmetic only he ripped the left rear side panel nearly completely off and damaged the bumper.

I contacted my insurers we are fully comp, who had me send photos etc. they first said it's a borderline write off but should be ok. They then said they would be in touch with the other party to establish the liability on their side so I would not have to pay the excess etc.

They valued the car at £6800 only which is very low in my opinion, given the condition of the car.

Next week they then inform me that the repair will cost £5000 because the car has an aluminium body, which is outrageously high in my opinion (since we have had aluminium body repairs done before we know its not that high), and so the car is a write off, that I'd also be liable to pay the excess. They suggested I call the other insurers to deal with them directly if they have agreed to liability.

I then called the other insurers of the vehicle, only to find out that they are not liable for anything because the vehicle was on hire, they gave me the number of the insurance for the company that hired the van, so I call them only to find out neither the driver nor the company has reported the incident, so I report it as the 3rd party 2 weeks after the incident. I have not heard anything since.

I then wrote to my insurers saying that their response is unacceptable, that the repair cost is outrageous (especially since no engineer has actually seen the damage in real life) and that they have not contacted the other party appropriately to ascertain their liability (which they haven't), to which I receive a reply of the repair actually costing £7500 (even more ridiculous) and that they did contact the other insurers.

We don't want to write the car off and the reply from our insurer really stinks, their service is atrocious, there is no way the repair would cost even £4000 and we very much want to keep the car and we just spent £3800 on the vehicle anyway!

Can anyone suggest what appropriate course of action we should take?

[Phaeton]

Are they going to allow you to keep the car as part of the £6800 settlement?

des8 may have more insight

[Lenovo]

No they want to scrap the car at £6800 and I will be liable to pay the excess, if I want the car as salvage I will get very little and the car will be categorized which I also don't want.

I want to contest their engineers evaluation and decision it stinks and doesn't seem right to me, he's only seen a couple of photos.

I want the car repaired, it's only cosmetic damage, no way it costs more than 4k.

[Phaeton]

Did you take out legal assistance with your insurance, or do you have it on another car policy, or as part of your home insurance?

If as you say it is a classic, then the fact it has been written off should not seriously affect it's value as long as you have well documented before, during & after repair documentations.

It is very unusual for an insurance company to dramatically reduce the payout if you want to buy it back, afterall it is of no use to them,

With regards to the repairs, it is not unrealistic for the cost as the insurance company will have to use new parts & as part of the repair they are offering a guarantee on the workmanship & longevity of the repair. You don't say if it's a specialist insurance company or a run of the mill high street one. I insure my kit car with a specialist, but it's on a fully comprehensive 'parts only' basis, as if it were to be involved in an accident I would rebuild it myself anyway.

[Lenovo]

It's a 2006 car, we treat it as a classic they do not.

It's Quotemehappy which have dreadful reviews which I was unaware of, I regret taking them on now.

We've had body repairs done before on an identical car, no way it will cost anything near 5k for this repair.

There must be something we can do? If we buy it back they will slap the car with a category, we don't want this as the insurance premium will go up and the buy back will not cover the repair.

They just want to fob us off and write it off. We could not buy the same car for £6800 ours was in pristine condition.

[Phaeton]

It's Quotemehappy

Say no more, along with Swiftcover they were both the worst companies I ever had the misfortune to have to deal with & that was without a claim with either of them.

Hopefully somebody else will come along with ideas.

[des8]

IMO you can either continue to fight your insurers, but it will probably involve you paying for an independent engineers report and possibly then appointing a loss adjuster.

A simpler way may be to circumvent all this by contacting the driver of the other vehicle.
He is the one responsible for the damage, so you write to him holding him responsible.
He should, if sensible, contact his insurers.
If they play silly burgers you then file a claim against the driver in county court.
Insurers then come to their senses.

It is your vehicle and the third party insurers either pay out for the repairs, or if that is more than the value of the car you negotiate a lower amount and so retain the vehicle.

[Lenovo]

Thank you DES8.

I have contacted the driver of the other vehicle, he did agree that the liability would be on his side and that we would go through his insurance.

However I discovered he had not informed his insurers, since I called the insurers of the vehicle only to discover it was a hired vehicle and his company insurance was liable and that they had not been informed - this was last week and the accident was nearly 3 weeks ago.

We have been exchanging SMS's yesterday & today and I'm supposed to be called by his company's transport department which was meant to be today, but I've still heard nothing. I just hope he's not playing silly buggers like you say.

I wouldn't know how to file a claim against the driver in the county court but this sounds like an interesting route to take should it have to go that way.

[des8]

It doesn't matter to you if his insurers have or have not been informed, whether it is a privately hired vehicle or a company vehicle.
Until you hear from the insurers you proceed against the driver.

I doubt it will come to it, but if you need to file a county court claim just return here for assistance

[Lenovo]

Well I have heard nothing today or yesterday even though his company are meant to be ringing me according to him, I'll give it a couple of days more, not sure how to proceed after that, don't want to go to war just yet although he does appear to be playing silly buggers but I could be wrong.

[des8]

I would not wait, neither would I correspond by telephone.
Everything in writing. hard copy or email and make it plain to the other side that you will not discuss this over the phone.

[Phaeton]

Everything in writing. hard copy or email and make it plain to the other side that you will not discuss this over the phone.

Or email if you wish to speed it up

[Lenovo]

Ok, but the guy has already agreed we would go through his insurance (ultimately through the company's insurance), if I go hard on him immediately with a letter, he may back off and no longer accept liability for the accident?

[des8]

You said in your first post that the other driver hit you in the rear (so difficult for him to deny liability) and he admitted liability verbally and then signed that in writing. Difficult for him to change his mind now!

This matter seems to have been dragging on for a few weeks, so I certainly wouldn't wait around any longer.

Your letter doesn't need to be harsh.
You can explain in the letter that you are dissatisfied with the tardiness of his insurers and their delay leaves you no option but to initiate court proceedings
against him and you will do this if you do not hear from them within the next 14 days
Suggest he passes the letter to his insurers.

You say you agreed to go through his insurance.
That actually means nothing.
You proceed against him
He claims against his insurers who then deal with the claim on his behalf.

I will be amazed if the insurers allow it to go to court.

[Lenovo]

Ok DES would it be ok if I formulate the letter and pm it to you for your approval? I will be sending on Monday.