Zs written of

Nor · 11-01-12, 12:27 PM

What a fecking nightmare this is. For those that don't know, some roof tiles dropped on my car during the high winds last week. The car drives fine, it just has some bodywork damage as below.

I let the insurance know, and they told me to take it to one of their repair centres for assessment. Anyway, I took it there last night. Today (while at work with my car) I get an email from my insurance company telling me my insurance is cancelled as of now, and that my car has been written off as a total loss and I must have it collected by a salvage company.

What a total mess. Firstly, I don't even want to claim my insurance on it. I will get it repaired myself for a few quid.

I have managed to get the insurance company to temporarily hold off on cancelling the insurance citing that I believe their repair estimate is wrong.

If anyone's gone through this and has any advice I'd appreciate it. I don't want it written off. I don't want to claim. I just want to keep driving my car and get it repaired. Obviously I shouldn't have spoken to the insurance, but it's a requirement of the policy that you tell them something has happened to the car. Try to do the right thing and you get shafted and tied up with red tape.

Sonic_160zr · 11-01-12, 12:37 PM

I would tell them that you are not claiming through the insurance, simple as. Im sure they cannot cancel the insurance for that alone. As long as the structure is still intact, which from the pics it does then I cannot see a legal issue with the car being repaired... (just my opinion though, and you would need to check the small print on your insurance,)

When my car got broken into and vandalised earlier this year I was allowed to take the car to their assessors for a no strings quote, and the damage was far worse than your pictures are showing.

I would get in touch with your insurers and explain that you are not interested in claiming and you want to carry on as before. I would also get in touch with the Citizens Advise if you need any further legal assistance.

Just out of interest, who are you with?

Cheers,
Matt

Smokey · 11-01-12, 12:40 PM

As Nor said, it is a requirement of the policy to inform them of any damage to the car.

Nor, I think you should contact the insurance again and tell them you are not claiming on the insurance. Could try telling them a specialist garage has quoted you and wont need to have the car written off. That way they should be obliged to continue the policy?

Nor · 11-01-12, 12:41 PM

Cheers Matt. That is exactly what I told them, but they said they have already written it off as it's "policy". As with you when I spoke to them insurers previously it was a no strings attached quote I was going to get from their assessors. A more senior person is reviewing the case this afternoon, so hopefully will know more once he calls me back.

It's ridiculous that they would write it off when I have not even said I want to claim the insurance. They're already talking about me having to get a MOT, get new insurance etc etc. Bloody ridiculous.

I'm with Admiral

[edit] Cheers Smokey. I have told the first point of contact I'm not claiming, she was still adament it didn't matter though and they've written it off. I did manage to get them to continue insurance "cash in lieu" (whatever that means) on the basis that I believe their assessers assessment is incorrect.

I CAN get it repaired from a specialist garage (not Parks) for an amount which wouldn't write it off. Can you unwrite off a car they say they have already written off though?

stamford · 11-01-12, 12:47 PM

Contact the insurance ombudsman and inform the insurers you are doing so. These companies cannot get away with this level of write-offs for what appears to be minimal damage. If that were me I would be spitting bullets and telling them I was not accepting that whatsoever and would fight them for it.

Nor · 11-01-12, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stamford

Contact the insurance ombudsman and inform the insurers you are doing so. These companies cannot get away with this level of write-offs for what appears to be minimal damage. If that were me I would be spitting bullets and telling them I was not accepting that whatsoever and would fight them for it.

Cheers, will mention that when they call back. I'm generally quite placid, but I was fecking raging when I got that email today. It's ridiculous on every level.

stamford · 11-01-12, 01:02 PM

Hopefully once a complaint has been logged with the ombudsman this freezes any further action until such time the case has been investigated. It's been a few years since I went down this route, took a while but was worth the pain.

Sonic_160zr · 11-01-12, 01:44 PM

Im with Admiral too! and they were nothing but helpful to me. Here are the pics of what happened to the ZR,

And thats what they threw at the car to break the window after they kicked the rear quarter panel in.

In the end I went through the insurance and the repair came to £1,149. including the £350 excess. And as much as I love my 160 The car is worth little more than that.

Hope you get it sorted mate, and dont accept anything other than the car not being written off, there is no need for them to have gone to the trouble they have to write this car off when there is nothing wrong with it. good luck!

Cheers,
Matt

Captain Peanut · 11-01-12, 02:25 PM

As far as I remember you should have the option to take the car to a repairer of your choice for a quote and do not have to accept their offer. Have they told you what the repair quote was and what valuation they have put on the car?

I'd be inclined to give the ombudsman a call (0800 023 4567
)to see what their advice is.

Nor · 11-01-12, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain Peanut

As far as I remember you should have the option to take the car to a repairer of your choice for a quote and do not have to accept their offer. Have they told you what the repair quote was and what valuation they have put on the car?

I'd be inclined to give the ombudsman a call (0800 023 4567
)to see what their advice is.

I called them, cheers. Initiated a complaint.

I then phoned Admiral and after going on and on and on and on, a senior manager agreed to unwrite off the car. So, thankfully it's been resolved. I'll still be following through with a complain about my initial contact with Admiral and my insurance being cancelled and my car being written off and having to jump through all these hoops to stop the process.

The estimators assessment of the damage repair was £3800 btw. He was having a f*cking laugh so he was. Offered me £1300 for 'repairs in leui'. Presumably that was what the car's worth minus my excess.