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Where do I stand with the AA?
I had cause to call out the AA because my car wouldn’t start on the morning of 12 October 2012. The patrol diagnosed the problem as a flooded engine and decided to remove the spark plugs.
The Patrolman broke a spark plug leaving shards of ceramic around the engine port. Before removing the plug, I asked the Patrol if he would like me to get a vacuum cleaner to remove the bits of ceramic, he said yes but before I could return – not more than a couple of minutes - he had removed the remains of the spark plug.
To cut a long story short, the engine began to misbehave and burning copious amounts of oil at which point it was diagnosed as requiring a new engine. I contacted the AA on 26 October and in due course they admitted liability in writing on 16 November.
I had a quote from a main dealer to replace the engine with a second hand one of £3750 fitted. The same model, year and mileage (Mazda 6 '07-plate with 54,000 on the clock) start on AutoTrader around £4000, Mazda’s website quotes prices starting at £4995.
The AA first offered £3310.00 with a salvage value of £594.00 to be deducted if I decided to keep the car. I declined this offer and it was then increased to £3500 plus the (scrap) car, but I do not want the further hassle of getting it repaired (with all the potential for further costs that I would have to meet that this entails) or having the hassle of disposing of the vehicle in the hope of realising enough to be able to replace my car (at best a total of £4094).
They won't pay for the repair because they say it is 'uneconomic'.
Throughout the AA has maintained that their liability is limited to the pre-incident value of the car as assessed by their independent assessor. However, my insurer’s legal advisers say there is no limit of liability in cases of negligence and that I am entitled to be restored to the position I was in pre-incident. Unfortunately, despite paying for legal protection, since my insurers, Saga, and the AA both use the same underwriters, Saga advise there is a conflict of interest and they cannot act for me, I’ll have to do it all myself. Accordingly I have first to ask the AA to escalate the claim through their internal procedures and if there is no satisfactory outcome, to issue proceedings.
Where do you think I stand? Is it worth taking them on or do I just grimace and take the offer.
The Patrolman broke a spark plug leaving shards of ceramic around the engine port. Before removing the plug, I asked the Patrol if he would like me to get a vacuum cleaner to remove the bits of ceramic, he said yes but before I could return – not more than a couple of minutes - he had removed the remains of the spark plug.
To cut a long story short, the engine began to misbehave and burning copious amounts of oil at which point it was diagnosed as requiring a new engine. I contacted the AA on 26 October and in due course they admitted liability in writing on 16 November.
I had a quote from a main dealer to replace the engine with a second hand one of £3750 fitted. The same model, year and mileage (Mazda 6 '07-plate with 54,000 on the clock) start on AutoTrader around £4000, Mazda’s website quotes prices starting at £4995.
The AA first offered £3310.00 with a salvage value of £594.00 to be deducted if I decided to keep the car. I declined this offer and it was then increased to £3500 plus the (scrap) car, but I do not want the further hassle of getting it repaired (with all the potential for further costs that I would have to meet that this entails) or having the hassle of disposing of the vehicle in the hope of realising enough to be able to replace my car (at best a total of £4094).
They won't pay for the repair because they say it is 'uneconomic'.
Throughout the AA has maintained that their liability is limited to the pre-incident value of the car as assessed by their independent assessor. However, my insurer’s legal advisers say there is no limit of liability in cases of negligence and that I am entitled to be restored to the position I was in pre-incident. Unfortunately, despite paying for legal protection, since my insurers, Saga, and the AA both use the same underwriters, Saga advise there is a conflict of interest and they cannot act for me, I’ll have to do it all myself. Accordingly I have first to ask the AA to escalate the claim through their internal procedures and if there is no satisfactory outcome, to issue proceedings.
Where do you think I stand? Is it worth taking them on or do I just grimace and take the offer.
Asked on 21 November 2012 by Bothered Bob
Answered by
Honest John
I understand the dilemma. But I think it will be treated like an insurance claim. You are only entitled to be put back into the position you were in before the damage was done. And the courts have interpreted this as the cash market value of the car before the damage was done. If you can prove the car was worth more than you are being offered then you may have a case.
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