urgent advice please - wife just had a crash

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Saltlick said:
Got a letter from Churchill today (dated 21/May!! :mad:) to say that the car is damaged beyond economical repair and is valued at 1900, and the salvage is to become the property of churchills, and they have notified the DVLA that my Landy "has been dealt with as a total loss".
What. the. ####? :mad:
That is totally different to what I've been told, and the engineer even said that we could avoid the car being written off and then I could repair it with lots less hassle.

Better still is that the hire car is to be revoked on Tuesday and I've not been able to do anything because the cheque hasn't arrived yet. I had expected to buy a shed load of bits (and I have) today as it's payday for me, but because it's almost the weekend, I can't get much of it delivered until Monday/Tuesday and then I'll be away with work on Thursday/Friday, so if I don't get the disco repaired, the missus will have no transport for her and the kids either...
That's assuming it's not actually written off.

Aaaaaaaaaaargh! Why do they have to be such obstinate, bureaucratic, awkward jobsworth twunts?

And how does this turn from driving along safely and minding our own business, to having to fight with insurance companies for the almighty ####ing privilege of "going back to the way things were" and having to deal with loads of stress?

What can I do to these ****ers to cause them as much grief as they're causing me?
Click to expand...

Tell them you're putting your story on every car forum you can think of!
 
Tell them you'd like to be in the position you were before the accident ...

mend the motor regardless of expense, if they're going to mess you around ...
 
I'm going to have a good scream up on the phone to the, in the morning. I've had enough now.

It does seem like their business model is to disappoint, confuse and wear down claimants to minimise costs. Same as almost all the rest of them I guess.
Thanks chaps...
 
Have you signed anything to agree the settlement? If not, do not bank the cheque. You need to write a reply to the letter offering £1900 in settlement and send in by fax post and email. Make your response clear that the settlement terms you agreed are for the repair of your vehicle by yourselve and that you are not prepared to accept that figure as a full and final settlement. Hire car to be retained for your use for a period of x days whilst repairs are undertaken.
 
Sorry this has turned into such a nightmare for you. Hope you manage to get it sorted without too much more stress :(
 
Saltlick said:
Got a letter from Churchill today (dated 21/May!! :mad:) to say that the car is damaged beyond economical repair and is valued at 1900, and the salvage is to become the property of churchills, and they have notified the DVLA that my Landy "has been dealt with as a total loss".
What. the. ####? :mad:
That is totally different to what I've been told, and the engineer even said that we could avoid the car being written off and then I could repair it with lots less hassle.

Better still is that the hire car is to be revoked on Tuesday and I've not been able to do anything because the cheque hasn't arrived yet. I had expected to buy a shed load of bits (and I have) today as it's payday for me, but because it's almost the weekend, I can't get much of it delivered until Monday/Tuesday and then I'll be away with work on Thursday/Friday, so if I don't get the disco repaired, the missus will have no transport for her and the kids either...
That's assuming it's not actually written off.

Aaaaaaaaaaargh! Why do they have to be such obstinate, bureaucratic, awkward jobsworth twunts?

And how does this turn from driving along safely and minding our own business, to having to fight with insurance companies for the almighty ####ing privilege of "going back to the way things were" and having to deal with loads of stress?

What can I do to these ****ers to cause them as much grief as they're causing me?
Click to expand...
Nothing I suspect, they are all the same. Not very helpful, but I do see why people go without insurance. It's daylight robbery.
 
Sounds like the insurance company have got them selves confused, if it's written off you should have two options offered by the insurance company here.

1. As above, total loss, insurance company pays you £1900 and takes the vehicle away.
2. A buy back option where the insurance company offers you £1900 minus the value of the scrap so could pay £1500 and you keep the vehicle.

If they are actually offering £1900 for the repair, just take it to a garage an get the work done, and the garage should provide a loan car during this period. I work and maintain all my cars, even restore some, but when it comes to an insurance claim, just let a garage handle it. It's not costing you money after all, plus you get a car while it's being repaired.

If this is a total loss, the moment you receive the money the loan car is gone, that's normal.

Do you still have the V5? If so this is not registered as a write off, have the insurance company stated what category of write of this is (likely C or D).
 
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I know I have said this before, but I tell everyone not to go with Churchill.

I had an accident when I was 18, (was my fault for driving like a moron, but to my credit the other driver pulled out on me) Churchill's engineers sent me a report saying they would only pay £2400 because of a list of stuff that was wrong with the car prior to the accident such as broken mirror, missing wheel centre cap. Only one thing on the list had been present before I crashed. I complained and I got the response "you get this or you get nothing".

Bunch of condescending arses, I tell everyone I can not to go with them and have hopefully cost them more than the £500 it would have cost to pay me a proper price for my car. £500 was a lot of money when I was 18!
 
Ok, panic over - they've admitted to sending out the "wrong letter", and the car isn't written off at all. They're now confirming this in writing to me.

They'll also be leaving the hire car with me until monday the 8th of june instead of next tuesday the 2nd - something else I didn't know! That's good though obviously...

Thanks for all the quick responses and kind words! James, I don't blame you at all - I'd be the same - I'm 35 and £500 is a lot to me at the moment! Just a shame it doesn't go very far these days :(
 
I had similar issues when my last car got smashed up.

I was very lucky I had a car I could use, even if I could not easily open the rear right door. But was not long until MOT.

Ended up getting offered £600 and having to take it on a car I paid £4500 for 8 years previously. I lost £65 for title and managed to get about £1200 by breaking it myself,

Had to buy the first decent car I could find, so paid around £1000 over the odds for my Discovery. Got abut £2000 for injuries though.

i HATE insurance companies.

Oh I nearly bought another Omega with wrecked engine but they did not reply to me, I would have been back on the road for around £400 then!
 
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