Any insurance experts? Update 02/12/15

[GD]

Our 13 month old 3 series was stolen and written off last year.  The person had stolen the keys from our house the first night of our holiday.  We had just bought a new X5 and got valuations for the 3 and a 1 series to trade against it. 

Admiral were really easy to deal with whilst we were in America but cancelled the policy after a week and made a big play on who parked the car last as they are the driver and it affects their no claims (even if it is protected).  When we came back off holiday they wanted the keys and V5, turned out I had fogotten to tell them we swapped cherished plates but that wasn't a problem, they charged £10 and back dated the paperwork.  I did worry they would reject the claim for this.

They told me I would get an offer in a week.  It passed and no offer so I called my appointed rep.  He was really apologetic but the Eqifax check showed that the cars had been subject of check for finance and as a result, he was now following a guide to ensure this wasn't an insurance fraud if the car was worth less than the finance.  I got the dealer to send me a copy of the offer which was more than the finance and explained it to the handler.  To be fair to him, he was embarrassed but had to follow procedure. 

It took 7 weeks before I got an offer, which was £17500, £2k al less than the price of a similar car so I rejected it.  I told the guy making the offer I was quite happy to go to arbitration, I read somewhere that it is 3 offers then arbitration, that they offer the lowest price in the hope you are struggling for a car.because they have cancelled the policy so you have no courtesy car.  I directed him to the policy and told him I would accept a car of similar age and spec or the money to buy one based on the Autotrader price as the policy said like for like or cash to replace. 

2nd offer was £500 more so I told him we should just forget offer 3 and go to arbitration, he simply said ok we will pay £19750, £250 more than I wanted which covered my excess.

If I'm honest, I would recommend Admiral, they were helpful followed their procedure but said why and were apologetic.  The offer was clearly a game and arbitration costs them in fees for solicitors more than the £2k we were arguing about.  Check what your policy says about car or payment.

[jagr]

Spoke to Admiral earlier and apparently since the Ombudsman got involved they have received valuations of £2500 more than they offered me.

They are now investigating those valuations.

Hopefully I will get a satisfactory outcome in the end. Annoyed that my paid for valuations were disregarded and they used there lower valuations without any review but now CAP etc have given higher values they need to investigate.......

[X5Sport]

Well, well, there's a surprise!!  >:(

[jagr]

Update to X3 theft:

I found my X3 while searching for a towbar for my new X3.
It was in a scrapyard in Bolton being broken and advertised on eBay.

I notified the police that I believed it was my car, they investigated and confirmed it was my car.

When the police got there the car was apparently stripped as the engine was dead. Strange how it was a 50k 2.0d that ran perfectly.
The story the scrapyard have given the police is they received a call to collect it. They sent a low loader in the middle of the night and when it arrived with them (28/11/15) over 3 weeks after it was stolen from my drive it had a damaged/knocking engine.
They gave the mobile number who made the call to collect to the police but apparently no longer in service.
The police contacted the driver of the low loader but as he was told to collect the police can't charge him (why? he took my car without permission and delivered it to a scrap yard). He even said that he walked round to collect as to not make any noise and low loader was to big for my road.

The scrap yard can't be charged with receiving stolen goods as they say they were told to collect (again no key or logbook and collect during the night).


My insurance company finally paid up and sold my car to the scrap yard who took it (again why?).


And to rub salt in my wounds my insurance is due in a month so got a quote from the comparison sites and nearly fainted...last year I paid £211 fully comp...lowest quote today so far £736.

Before my theft I had 24 years NCB (protected).
I know this car is a higher group but when I insured it I only had to pay £28 extra (6 months of policy left).

[Reusch]

That is unbelievable regarding the scrapyard they sound like a right dodgy outfit,how the hell did they get away with it is crazy.

[X5Sport]

Either poor investigation, or no proof they were lying - even if they were!  I suspect it will have been a CPS decision and they really are useless.  When I was an investigator, my Gov't Agency refused to use them and we trained our own specialists.  Our success rate rocketed!

Gutted for you, and more so with the way the whole sorry mess has ended.

[Steamyrotter]

[quote="jagr"]

The police contacted the driver of the low loader but as he was told to collect the police can't charge him (why? he took my car without permission and delivered it to a scrap yard). He even said that he walked round to collect as to not make any noise and low loader was to big for my road.

...


The scrap yard can't be charged with receiving stolen goods as they say they were told to collect (again no key or logbook and collect during the night).

[/quote]

I think the salient point there is "NO KEY"  so how did he pick it up to get to the truck?

This sort of thing makes you sick!

[jagr]

I was annoyed that my insurance contacted the dealer I bought the car from to check how many keys they gave me.
This was after I had sent them the 2 I received.

According to one officer I spoke to I am not the victim....because insurance have paid me they are now classed as the victims.

[X5Sport]

Correct.

[Reusch]

You may well be back to "victim" when your insurance renewal pops thru the post.

[jagr]

[quote="Reusch"]
You may well be back to "victim" when your insurance renewal pops thru the post.
[/quote]

Yep, just had another quote with a members discount of £771 >:( :'(

[Reusch]

Feel for you pal.

[Richard137]

Absolutely in Shock!!!!!!!!

[jagr]

Finally got an acceptable quote that I have snapped up quickly of £372

I nearly gave up with this Aviva quote I got 10 minutes earlier:



How can youngsters afford insurance nowadays?
I am nearly 42 with 24 years NCB and a clean license
My Corvette only costs me £270 a year

[X5Sport]

I stopped using Aviva years ago.  Way too expensive!