Stolen Cat N Car - Insurance Claim

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Fri 15 Mar 2024 20:02
Stolen Cat N Car - Insurance Claim - Cheekymunkey

Hi Guys,

Im in a bit of a bind. Well, it might not be but I think Im just a bit panicky. Wondering if anyone else has been in the same situation or could share some advice.

I purchased a car back in December. An E class Merc W213. It was a damaged category N car from Copart. We fixed the car ourselves. It was hit in the front left passenger side. We fitted a new rack end which had snapped, replaced broken the headlight, repaired the wing and did some repair to the bumper. It was all driving and fine. I had been out over the weekend for a night and returned home. Car was stolen overnight when I noticed it was missing off my drive in the morning.

Reported the police and insurance company. Insurance have come back with a bunch of questions which I need to respond to regarding purchase price/invoices/pictures. Here is what they need. When I managed to purchase the car at auction I got it for a decent price.

-Purchase invoice for the vehicle - I can provide this.

-Proof of payment for the vehicle ie. bank statement - I can provide this.

-Image of the vehicle key next to the front page of the V5/log book - I have 1 key which is all that was given when I purchased the car so I can show this to.

-Any images of the vehicle that you have - We never actually took any pictures of the repaired vehicle. The only pictures I have is from the auction website which shows the damage. Do I just tell them I dont have any pictures or show the damaged car pictures? or show them pictures of where their isnt any damage? I guess if they wanted to go back to Copart they could get pictures too.

-Invoices for any work done on the vehicle - This is where Im a little confused. I feel like here they might be asking about any mods/upgrades or work that was done to the car. BUT as the car was damaged are they asking about invoices for work that we did to the car to repair it? like purchasing parts/labour etc. I sourced the parts via sites like Ebay/Facebook Marketplace and it was all cash in hand when I collected the items etc. So I have no invoice's. So Im really not sure what Im supposed to disclose here? If I show them damaged car pictures I will then have to say what I had fitted/fixed on the car in this section. Also, the parts I purchased were second hand eg light etc so cost a lot less then say a light from Mercedes.

Say the car has a market value of £14/15k but I spent 10k on it. Would they only be looking to pay me what I paid for it or what the actual value of the car would be? Maybe Im being a little fussy here and I should be happy if they gave me back what I paid for it. Im just not sure if they would offer market value. For example say I bought a car from a dealer. It was worth 15k but the dealer offloaded it to me for 10k and it got stolen. What would the insurance company pay-out be?

Apologies for all the questions. Im pretty straight as an arrow. I have never had to go through a car insurance claim before. Im more than happy to be upfront about what we did to the car in regards to parts/repairs but without pictures I feel they could say we have no proof of having done any repairs on it. Also, it still had a valid MOT which was not due to the end of this year.

Thanks in advance guys.

Cheeky.

Edited by Cheekymunkey on 15/03/2024 at 20:59

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Fri 15 Mar 2024 23:24
Stolen Cat N Car - Insurance Claim - Andrew-T

Unless you have an unusual policy, your insurer should have agreed to restore you to the position you were in before the incident. Normally that means paying their estimate of the market cost of an identical (approx) vehicle. They will know of its category, so that will have an effect which they are trying to evaluate. They will also want to establish whether you took proper precautions to prevent theft. If you plan to keep them onside you will have to answer truthfully all questions - and I guess there may be several.

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Sat 16 Mar 2024 09:41
Stolen Cat N Car - Insurance Claim - Cheekymunkey

Unless you have an unusual policy, your insurer should have agreed to restore you to the position you were in before the incident. Normally that means paying their estimate of the market cost of an identical (approx) vehicle. They will know of its category, so that will have an effect which they are trying to evaluate. They will also want to establish whether you took proper precautions to prevent theft. If you plan to keep them onside you will have to answer truthfully all questions - and I guess there may be several.

I guess I will have to see how it goes. I actually managed to get a 10 second motion sensor clip from the neighbours camera that shows when the vehicle was approached by the theives. It black and white and a bit grainy. Also shows the side of the car that was damaged but us now repaired. So maybe that might help.

Will just have to see how it goes. Thanks for your response.

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Sat 16 Mar 2024 13:34
Stolen Cat N Car - Insurance Claim - Wasabi
Did the car have a mot inspection while you owned it? Seems like the insurer is just trying to establish that the car was actually repaired so that they can make a valuation. Given the extent of the damage (which you can prove) a new test certificate would show that it had been repaired and was back on the road

EDIT apologies, ignore that I just re-read the last part of your post

Edited by Wasabi on 16/03/2024 at 13:38

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Sat 16 Mar 2024 14:31
Stolen Cat N Car - Insurance Claim - Cheekymunkey
Did the car have a mot inspection while you owned it? Seems like the insurer is just trying to establish that the car was actually repaired so that they can make a valuation. Given the extent of the damage (which you can prove) a new test certificate would show that it had been repaired and was back on the road EDIT apologies, ignore that I just re-read the last part of your post

Basically whoever owned it previously had an MOT and Service done in November last year. They then crashed it the same month. I purchased it in late December. Repaired it etc in Jan and the car was back on the road for Feb. Got stolen in March. I have some more video from my neighbour showing the car being driven on the drive etc with both lights on. My mate also... Hopefully may have video of me leaving in the car from my drive. Hopefully that will be clearer and a lot closer. Fingers crossed.

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Sat 16 Mar 2024 15:51
Stolen Cat N Car - Insurance Claim - Chris M

Guess there's a learning point here. If you are going to repair a damaged car, take before and after photos. Maybe even take some during ones as well.

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