Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting

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Sun 13 Nov 2011 19:13
Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting - danidge

My car has been damaged. Approved garage assesor valued repairs at approx £1400. I challenged him and said this was excessive. We negotiated and he brought down the cost approx £100. I said no good, the car will be written off at that, and you, the assesor, will not get the repair work.

Assesor the said any competent garage within a couple of miles of my home could repair the car for £300. Sure enough I got an estimate, and not from a back street garage, at below £400

The verdict? My insurers believe the assesors report and have declared the car Category C write off.

My question is what is going on here?

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Sun 13 Nov 2011 19:20
Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting - daveyjp
Easy option is to withdraw the claim and pay the £300 to get it fixed. Insurance bodyshops always cost more than a decent backstreet bodyshop.
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Sun 13 Nov 2011 20:10
Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting - oldroverboy

So, which is true, this post or the other? Nothing wrong with them saying cat c writeoff, that is business. but now you have made the claim will still affect your premium even if you pay yourself. As per comment on your other post it's business. You can take what they pay you and fix it yourself and keep the car till it drops.

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Mon 14 Nov 2011 09:33
Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting - danidge

Both posts are true.

With regards colleague, that is his business, though he has told me the details. I was interested to know what was happening.

Some good points made-thanks

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Mon 14 Nov 2011 07:42
Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting - TeeCee

Better option may be to let 'em write it off, agree a price for the "scrap" vehicle and have it deducted from the wite off value. Pay 300 quid to have it fixed and pocket the difference from the settlement.

My father made 800 quid that way. Car owed him nothing, so the fact that it was then a repaired writeoff on the books made no odds.

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Mon 14 Nov 2011 09:50
Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting - danidge

Withdraw the claim is something I will look into.

There is no money to be made from settlement. Car is old. Assesor said worth £700 to£1000-the latter if well presented, that is polished etc.

The insurers say it is worth approx £500. There is a £150 compulsory excess plus a £250 voluntary excess. The salvage price is £75.

The insurers are offering £25 settlement, putting it as Cat C and cancelling the insurance.

The bitter pill to swallow is the car is roadworthy and safe-would pass an MOT Test as it stands. Plus I am the no fault person-the car was subject to a hit and run.

Yes I am annoyed at this. The police and insurers are chasing the guilty party but these types often get away with it.

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Mon 14 Nov 2011 10:05
Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting - Ethan Edwards

Your insurance sounds about as much use as a chocolate teapot. I think we should be told just which company is doing this to you.

I always thought the purpose of insurance is to put you back into a postion that you were in before the incident.

Clearly before the incident you had a working car in good condition that was worth a grand. After the incident you have no car and a cheque for £25. Hardly the same position.

Secondly if their assessor ssays its worth up to a grand that should be binding on the company. It certainly would be on you. I suggest you stop being Mr Nice Guy with your company and start being the fly in the ointment. Make a complaint to the ombudman /FSA. These cost the company IIRC about £500 to respond to. Often they'll pay you just to go away.

I suggest you find a local solicitor. Most will give you the first half hour free.

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Mon 14 Nov 2011 20:30
Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting - danidge

Thanks Ethan. I have written ,recorded delivery, giving 7 days notice of small claims court submission. Similarly, I have requested a deadlock letter so complaint can be reffered to Ombudsman-again 7 days notice. Both have gone to the Chief Executive.

Now I do not want to fall foul of the moderators......................I phoned last Friday and said "dealing with ( two letters, sounds like love, and they are based in Bournemouth) is is a b***** nightmare". They were not bothered. Nobody answered the call when it was put through-it was endless banter of the staff larking around in the background. Nobody returned my call.

I phoned today, nobody of authority to deal with it. Demanded a return call within 30 minutes. Was told may get a return call within 24 hours, or may be not. Said I would refer this response to the Chief Exec. Response was so what?

Left a message on PA to Chief Execs phone today. She has not phoned back. So the bad service comes from the top, No courtesy either -just arrogance and indifference.

Customer service is by far the worst I have experienced in insurance.

Eventually got hold of a sensible employee today- told him "customer service was appalling". I sensed he had heard it all before and I could sense the shutters coming down!

Which magazine rate them the top! They are not.

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Mon 14 Nov 2011 20:56
Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting - justadriver

Insurance Scam, Nothing new! van driver scratched front n/s wing on my car pulling out in front of me, i braked safely, avoided accident but he hit side of my wing. claims I drove into back of him so fast he has whiplash... Insurance company not interested, 3 times i have said i deny liability, wait wait wait. insist they accept to take the case to court no we can't we can only keep rejecting............. time for renewal, went elsewhere, difference in premium minimal, been totally truthful, declared "incident" 2 yrs ncd less, but quote good. accepted, phoned old insurance co, told them ok, you're on your own now, it's cost me £37 more to go elsewhere, pay out if you want, don't give a monkeys.....

Got copy of e-mail saying that if the other party wish to continue they MUST start court proceedings.. simples... Now found they might have to pay out at no cost to me they're moving fat backsides.

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Mon 14 Nov 2011 21:50
Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting - Ethan Edwards

Oh L uncheon V ouchers.

Rubiish service eh? Got it.

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Mon 14 Nov 2011 22:34
Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting - Avant

"Now I do not want to fall foul of the moderators......."

You won't provided you stick to the facts - as you're doing. Where we have a problem is if people name a supplier and (sometimes understandably) bad-mouth them because of the poor service they've had. We could be threatened with legal action if we effectively publish unsubstantiated accusations.

Thank you for not doing that!

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Tue 15 Nov 2011 08:56
Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting - danidge

Thank you Avant -that is kind of you. I thought I was not allowed to mention names.

There is another saga attached to this which connects the police and the legal /motor protection policy. All new to me.........I was the innocent victim of a hit and run................. but it appears the other party and his employer (it was a lorry and it has been traced) both know how to play the system. To me an absolute eye opener.

Perhaps I should do another posting titled how the Data Protection Act assists hit and run drivers.

Back to the original topic. It is the next day after my posting and guess what?

Have the Total Loss Dept returned my call?

Has the P A to the Chief Exec returned my call?

Has the assistant to the P A returned my call?

There are prizes for getting it right. The answer to all three is no! It just as I have stated. They really do not care!

Let's start a new strapline "Don't we just luv LV"

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Tue 15 Nov 2011 09:34
Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting - daveyjp

Insurance companies aren't used to dealing with people who think outside the box, or question how they do their job.

It has been going on for years. I remember a colleague arguing with his insurance company after they authorised a job at £4,000 when he knew it would only be £1,500.

We had similar with my wife's car when a neighbour ran into it.

I didn't need their overpriced credit hire car and would use my own contact who owns a bodyshop - their way of dealing with us was to put the claim at the bottom of a very large pile of papers. The job cost the insurance industry just £235 - had I gone down their route this would have been three days hire of the overpriced car and the reapir would have been closer to four figures as the insurance body shop would have replaced a bumper which only had light scratches (or at least one would have showed on an invoice).

To balance your experience my dealings with the Bournemouth based company have been excellent - accident involving a third party to fully repaired car and excess refund in 6 weeks.

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Tue 15 Nov 2011 18:43
Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting - danidge

Valid point "to balance your experience" but that was .....whenever, this is now. Company standards may have deteriorated with the passing of time?

I can state it is now one working day on from my last posting and still nobody at LV can be bothered to return calls. This cannot be disputed- it is a fact.

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Sun 20 Nov 2011 09:56
Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting - danidge

Letter to Chief Exec but never received a reply-not even an acknowledgement. PA never responded to my answerphone message left for her. Likewise, the assistant to the PA never phoned back. What has happened to courtesy at LV?

LV do not encourage customer relations- there is no email facility to contact them, nor do they issue a postal address. Everything must be by phone at a premium rate call. If a return call is requested it is at their discretion.

In a word service is diabolical. appalling and rooted in the dark ages.

That said, this forum has rattled a few cages-well done everybody and many thanks .

In the last 2 days LV have phoned- so many names all scurrying around to try and help.

This has taken a month to reach this stage-perhaps a LV moto is better late than never. A settlement has been offered-seems to me unorthodox, but I will go with it.

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Sun 20 Nov 2011 21:07
Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting - bonzo dog

LV do not encourage customer relations- there is no email facility to contact them, nor do they issue a postal address. Everything must be by phone at a premium rate call

A 10 second search on their web-site produced a postal address & e-mail. But I guess it may be that they will not answer these for complaints

Edited by bonzo dog on 20/11/2011 at 21:09

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Sun 20 Nov 2011 21:37
Insurance- is this a scam? Second posting - bonzo dog

In respect of how you should be dealing with the ins co, can I suggest that rather than phoning all & sundry you follow the complaints procedure that will be detailed in both the policy summary (aka Keyfacts) & the policy documentation.

I'm not saying this to sound patronising but because in most cases the financial ombudsman will not get involved unless you have first pursued your argument via the complaints procedure

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