Insurance Claim Query

helen1506

Not sure if i'm posting in right area, feel free to move if not.

My husbands car was set on fire outside out house a week before Christmas. Two other cars belonging to neighbours were also broken into same night. We had the guards out that night and the next day and they told us it was malicious two young lads were seen around the area the same night. We had an insurance assessor down to look at car and we sent back relevant claim form and any paperwork insurance company requested. The car was valued by a local garage at 1300 euro, some of his tools were in boot €1500 (insurance won't cover) my two kids childseats and baby stroller in car too (insurance will only cover up to €350). My problem is i phoned insurance company this morning and they say they will only allow €925 for car and that they need to have an investigation done. I'm wondering if i can argue for more for the car and also if anyone has had any experience with investigation as to how long it will take.

Apologies for the long post, i'm upset about the whole thing it ruined Christmas for us and i just wanted it sorted.

jor el

The assessor will value the car, so if he says €925, then that's pretty much it. You could ask for a further assessment, and get a written quote from a garage (pre-damage value), but you're at the insurance companies mercy.

They really drag their feet over claims. I wrote my car off a few months ago, and it took 6 weeks to get a cheque for €1,200 out of them, this was after everything had been assessed and they had agreed to pay.

In short, without some serious muscle on your side (like a solicitor maybe), you'll get nowhere with an insurance company. Contrary to what the old bag on the Quinn Direct ad claims, they are not like a member of the family.

ch750536

14 months ago my car was written off by someone who completely admitted liability.

I bought the car 2 months before for €1500.
I paid €260 to tow & scrap the vehicle.
I had to take 2 days off work (€400).

Insurance company offered €900 rather than €2160. I appointed a solicitor to take the matter to court.

I now have to go to Dublin and face a large bill if the courts rule against me. Basically it comes down to this.

My estimated value of the car is based on the price I paid for it plus the costs incurred.

The insurance companies valuation of the car is based on what the VRT book price is, which takes no account of condition, NCT or location.

Since appointing a solicitor there has been lots of delaying tactics.

Random

ch750536 wrote: »

14 months ago my car was written off by someone who completely admitted liability.

I bought the car 2 months before for €1500.
I paid €260 to tow & scrap the vehicle.
I had to take 2 days off work (€400).

Insurance company offered €900 rather than €2160. I appointed a solicitor to take the matter to court.

I now have to go to Dublin and face a large bill if the courts rule against me. Basically it comes down to this.

My estimated value of the car is based on the price I paid for it plus the costs incurred.

The insurance companies valuation of the car is based on what the VRT book price is, which takes no account of condition, NCT or location.

Since appointing a solicitor there has been lots of delaying tactics.

Solicitors delay things full stop. Everything is done in letters and things can't be solved with simple phone calls.

OP - chase them daily, make sure you provide everything they request ASAP and you really shouldn't have major problems. Is there anything suspicious about the incident maybe that they'd be looking into?

DOS

The majority of insurance companies are so quick to take the money for the premium but not so quick to reimburse victims. There needs to be better regulation of this industry.

wazzoraybelle

If your car was parked outside your own home at the time it may be covered under your house insurance. You may have better luck dealing with them.

Random

DOS wrote: »

The majority of insurance companies are so quick to take the money for the premium but not so quick to reimburse victims. There needs to be better regulation of this industry.

The whole concept of how insurance is run full stop seems flawed .. but I guess we're stuck with what we've got.

helen1506

OP - chase them daily, make sure you provide everything they request ASAP and you really shouldn't have major problems. Is there anything suspicious about the incident maybe that they'd be looking into?[/quote]

They are saying that because he only took out the policy two months ago that the system highlights it and it automatically warrants investigation. The guard we have dealt with knows we had nothing to do with it and knows who did it but can't prove it (car was burnt to a cinder and the other cars that were broken into they could not find any fingerprints) and the suspected people involved can not be found to prove it.

Sponge Bob

Friend had a similar issue many moons ago , car burnt out maliciously in driveway .

He had house and car insurance with one company . They took the piss on the car and contents and disposal of wreck and made friend leave burnt out wreck in driveway for 4 days until assessor came around . He therefore claimed for fire damage to the tarmac and smoke damage to house against the house insurance .

The SAME assessor came out and more or less allowed the claim against the house where he had lowballed the claim on the car and contents . Allowed a skip to cart debris away too ( €300) .

Net position was that the insured person received the value of the damage they had insured for but only by making both claims and getting assessed twice .

tomred1

I taught that if your insured your car for €15,000 and it gets wrote off, that what you get? I'm so naive!

Gone Drinking

If there's one thing ive learned through selling expensive goods to clients who then have to deal with insurance companies after the equipment is stolen is loss adjusters!

If you're in any sort of big claim against an insurance company, get a loss adjuster in to fight your case. Otherwise the insurance company will pay the absolute rock bottom price. They are there to pay you as little as humanly possible.

This obviously doesn't relate to the OP but i thought i'd throw it out there :P