I hate insurers...

[Lazy-Ferret]

They are such thieving B^SSrds..

We have(had) a 1996 caravan, we goy it as a wedding present to each other in 2005, and have looked after it. Luckily for us, the elderly couple that had it before us, also looked after it. Over the years it has had a multitude of gadget fitted to it, all designed to make our caravaning experience easier, and more relaxing, Motor Mover, Air con, two way gas auto switch, Inverter.. blah blah, and on top of that, I have spent a lot of time adapting it to our needs, extra sockets, extra blown air heating out puts, LED lights inside, extra cupboard lights, built in ferret cages... the list goes on... This van had no damp at all. We used this van to get away from the rat race, going to steam fairs every second or third weekend, and grabbing the odd week away here and there. We even go away at Christmas and New year in our caravan, it really is a second home.

So there we are towing our pride, minding our own business, and some dappy bint smashes into the back of us. Technically, the car would have been a write off, and the caravan officially is... Knowing the car would have been, I took the decision to fix it myself, and bill the lady directly for the repairs, so the car does not get the stigma and problems associated with being a write off. The caravan on the other hand, has it's own insurance, and on the policy, a market value of £3800, for the basic unit, plus extra cover for contents, awning etc. Now I know we use our van a lot, but things like flat screen TV's do not really wear, so a 2 year old TV, is not really any different to a 2 day old one, the same for plastic storage crates, they are either functional, or broken. We had a battery hand held VAX, which was smashed off the wall of the van, and crushed by other flying parts. Even a flexible plastic bucket was split by the impact... We worked out that the TV, VAX, Crates and Bucket, would cost just over £275 to replace, they have offered us £115. OK, so they are taking into account depreciation...

But the food in the fridge, which popped the door lock, and opened up, spreading the contents around the van, then because we were parked up for so long, waiting for everything to get sorted at the accident scene, warmed up, and became rather unpleasant. Not only the fridge food, but the force of the impact, actually split several fizzy/alcoholic cans of drink spraying them around the van and over the food and our cloathing. So we document the food and it comes to just over £60 worth, they offer us £30.. how does food depreciate BEFORE it is eaten...

Oh and the Van... £1900.... Why does their own policy say "Market Value" £3800, if that is not what it is worth???

To make things worse, we did not want to take the micky, so we did not list the 2 weeks worth of clothes that were covered in sticky drink, and all had to be rewashed, or in the case of two of my wife's maxi-dresses, thrown, as it permanently stained them, or the fact that all the eggs smashed, and dribbled all over the ferret bedding, which by the time we dug down to it, and got it out of the caravan stank to high heaven. This bedding is all hand made to Custom dimensions to fit into their cages. Or even mention the fact that the hand made custom ferret cages, have sustained (repairable) damage, but I will have to buy parts and spend time fixing them...

To say we are gutted is an understatement... I can now see why people go out to get all they can from the thieving gits, they really are Scum...

Ohh, and the icing on the cake, Our accident was on the 24th, the policy ran out on the 27th, but being good people we paid for the new policy in advance, and now we have asked for a refund of the new policy, as the caravan was written off before it started, but we are only entitled to a percentage back, as they say they have admin fees, and they have still been insuring the caravan against theft since the new policy started, despite no one in their right mind wanting to steal it, and requiring a recovery lorry to move it, as the coupling is all mashed.

Grrrrrrrrr

Sorry rant over...

[bry]

Rants are OK.I think most of us has in the past been conned by insurance companies.
I mean even if you do manage to trawl through the small(and i mean small)print.And even if you manage to decipher what it means.
They always seem to find a wriggle out clause.Perhaps we should have insurance policies for insurance policies.

[Lazy-Ferret]

Originally Posted by bry

Perhaps we should have insurance policies for insurance policies.

I think you are right...

[Terranosaurus]

DO NOT ACCEPT ANY OFFER OF PAYMENT

Challenge them to find a replacement of similar age and condition to yours that you could buy with what they have offered. They won't be able to - i the mean time you can go out and find the real cost of replacement.

If you are claiming off the other parties policy you most definitely do not have to accept what they offer. Check your insurance, do you have any form of legal cover? If so get it involved ASAP, I waited too long recently and they wouldn't take on the case. Also have a look for claim managment companies - you are the injured party so have nothing to loose, the other party stands to loose big fees if you go legal on them.

[Lazy-Ferret]

Originally Posted by Terranosaurus

Check your insurance, do you have any form of legal cover?

Is that "Uninsured losses"? we have that, that is how I am going to claim the cost of fixing the T2 back from her, but I guess her insurance company will do the same as mine, and mark it all down by 50%.

I know it is wrong, and I am the sort of person that will get caught if I did anything as silly, but if I could do proper receipts for the T2 bits I bought, I would get them for twice the price I paid, so I at least stand a chance of actually getting my money back... The bumper cover, metal reinforcer, and the number plate holder were all paid in cash, so I do not have any paperwork for them, and if food can depreciate, then I just know the parts will as well....

[briggie]

do not accept their first offer , sit tight and stand your ground ,even mention that you may take legal advice ( I did ) ....... and I got £1800 for a n reg mistral

[Lazy-Ferret]

Thanks Guys, you have made my rant worth while, I will do a bit of research.

[AD Ent]

What terrannosaurus and briggie said is bang on. I was given the same advice a few years ago on a bump I had that resulted in a write off. Sadly for me I didn't listen and just said yes to everything the insurance company told me. I got £300 less excess for a pristine 205gti. AND I TOOK IT
Please dont do what I did. Tell them to find you a van in the same condition with the same equipment for £1900? Cant be done can it?

Why are you not claiming for the car? If they write it off then buy it back for salvage value.

[Lazy-Ferret]

There were a few reasons for not claiming for the car.

Firstly, if I do, even when you are not to blame, it still affects your NCB, and I have to pay out the excess.

Also when they write it off, it becomes harder to insure, and basically, they will not pay out a second time either, so if you repair it, and then are unfortunate enough to be involved in another accident that writes it off again, there will be no pay out for the car at all.

So for the sake of £400, I have a £250 excess, it was safer to just do it myself, and not risk it. It also means, not that I am likely to, I can sell the car, with out having to declare it Cat C, D, or what ever.

[macabethiel]

Pretty sure you are entitled to a full refund on the Policy renewal as it was effectively cancelled by the claim on the old policy.

Insurance companies will do anything to minimise payouts and refunds - they call it looking after the shareholders interests.

I would make the point in writing and then go the the Insurance Ombudsman if they do not refund the renewal in full without any admin fee.

If ombudsman rules against you try a media campaign there are plenty of TV programmes looking for dirt.

[RobN]

Enjoyed your rant, it is nice to be able to get it out of the system.

Agree with what everyone else says, she went up the back of you, I believe you were also stationary so all the repairs should be off her insurance.

Search around to see if you have legal assistance anywhere - AA/RAC membership, car insurance, Trade Union membership, Ferret Club member etc

Claim for everything and don't accept their offer.

[Terranosaurus]

Originally Posted by Lazy-Ferret

There were a few reasons for not claiming for the car.

Firstly, if I do, even when you are not to blame, it still affects your NCB, and I have to pay out the excess.

Also when they write it off, it becomes harder to insure, and basically, they will not pay out a second time either, so if you repair it, and then are unfortunate enough to be involved in another accident that writes it off again, there will be no pay out for the car at all.

So for the sake of £400, I have a £250 excess, it was safer to just do it myself, and not risk it. It also means, not that I am likely to, I can sell the car, with out having to declare it Cat C, D, or what ever.

So long as the other party gets held 100% at fault your NCB won't be effected.

You can claim your excess back off the other party - even in a knock for knock 50/50 you can get half of it back off the other sides insurer.

If you do end up in another accident the assessor and repairer will most likely be able to tell it was repaired and they will offer you less for it.

I had an accident last year, not my fault but it went 50/50 as no witnesses. They wrote it off Cat D (talk to the assessor if they know you want to buy it some will keep it Cat D for you by keeping the total amount just under the tipping point), I bought it back, repaired it myself and ended up well in pocket afterwards and my insurance renewal despite loosing my full unprotected no claims didn't go up any more than inflation.

[Lazy-Ferret]

Well, we got a reply from the insurance company this morning, after telling them that their offer was not acceptable, and to say I am not very happy is an understatement...

I have a question, not sure if anyone on here can answer...

Basically, our caravan had a lot of modifications, and many things fitted that can not be removed with out leaving holes etc. Since the offer is so low, we have no choice but to take all our non-factory fitted bits off, and see if we can either sell them for spares or try and repair them should we be in a position to get a replacement caravan for use on that.

As we have looked after this van, all the fittings are in very good condition, apart from the ones smashed by the lady who hit it.

We have already had 2 people come and see us, who would like to buy some bits off of our caravan, so we know there is some money to be re-gained from stripping it for all the parts.

So, the question... while writing to the insurance company to reject the offer, I also explained that since it had so many of my own parts integrally built into the caravan, I would like a "Buy back price" for my caravan so I could remove them at my leasure. They say as it is CAT B write off, they can not let me buy it back.

When you look up on line, it says CAT B means it is no longer road worthy, and must be scrapped, but the removal of parts is allowed. Surely then, I can be the one to do that, so they should let me have a way of buying it back from them so I can scrap it?

Anyone been down this road, who can give me some advice, we are being shafted big time by them.

ohhh, and as a Side,,, to Name and Shame, this is the Insurance company of the Camping and Caravanning club, the so called "Friendly Club". I do have a vary limited experience of dealing with insurance companies, but this lot are such a shambles, it is unbelievable..

[AD Ent]

Strip it. They are not gonna care if it is to be scrapped. You can remove your belongings anyway on write offs. ie stereo equipment

[solarman216]

Yes Clive you can remove all that you want, and then get them to collect the crap at their expense, Rick