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Advice needed! technically stolen?

bowman

bowman

Messages
594
Hey guys,

Im just after some advice as to where I legally stand with my situation!!

Just before xmas I lost control of my EP3, and ended up with a Cat C write off :( the car was recovered to a local Copart salvage yard, and has been there since

From the outset I told the insurers I wanted the car back due to extensive modifications and the amount of money I had sitting in the car.... with the intent of transferring my engine, exhaust, intake, ECU and interior over to RY4N's rolling shell he is selling.

So we finally settled on an evaluation of £4000 in its modified state (after being valued at £3100 unmodified) which I thought was a low ball figure, but I wasn't bothered as I just wanted it sorting and my car back!! They asked me to send in the V5 as well as MOT cert and service history etc, which I was fine to do as I just thought this was needed to confirm its value.
After excess and retention fee, I receive my cheque for £2480 on 9th January... happy days!
I rang the insurers, advise them Ive received the cheque.... but also advised them that I was going offshore for a week, and would be back on Monday 19th and pick the car up on Friday 23rd, to which they replied "thats fine, just ring us the week you get back, and we will contact the salvage yard and get them to release the car for you".

So I get back, ring the insurers on Tuesday to be told that I need to sign and return a rentention letter.... so they email it through, I print, sign, scan and return instantly via email.

Then yesterday, out of instinct I thought I better ring the salvage yard to see if they have received notification from my insurers that I will be coming to pick up my car today.... and thats when they hit me with it.
The car has already been sold, and someone has been to pick it up... obviously they wouldnt tell me who due to Data Protection and all that boll*cks! and naturally I hit the roof with them! They go on to say that they received instruction from the insurers to release the car and make it available for purchase on Monday 12th Janurary. 3 days after I cash the cheque and the first day Im in Aberdeen waiting to go offshore!!

So after a few lengthy phone calls with the insurers, they finally ring me back and admit that they are at fault and someone "pressed the button" for it to be released... even though I had told them my plans to retain the vehicle from day 1! And they try to get out of it with paying me the full £4000 including waiving the £400 excess.
At which point I told them I wasn't happy about, and explained again it was because of how much money I had spend, and the amount of modifications on the car... and I told them I am expecting 100% compensation for the modifications (90% of which I have receipts for).. totally around £4300

They've asked me to scan in all receipts and email them across, and they will "see what they can do"

Ive explained that its impossible for me to get a car with the same modifications for £4000, given that my exhaust was a Fuj RM01A catback, and that alone cost me £830!!
I said Im expecting a payout of £3100 valuation for my car in an unmodified state, as well as the total of all my receipts



Im just wondering if I have any chance of getting a decent pay out from them, as you expect this is completely unacceptable... and in my eyes its classed as theft! was the car was ever theirs to sell? they had never gave me a full pay out for it to be classed as theirs?
Is it worth ringing the police (I know they wont do jack sh*t, but gives me a crime reference number to make the insurers sh*t themselves a bit?)... and more to the point is it worth taking legal action if they turn around and say they wont pay out any more than the £4000?

I just dont know where I stand at the moment!

Any help and advice much appreciated!
 
might be worth moving this to General Insurance Chat? didnt see that section before posting!
 
Sounds like youre having a mare. It can be so fustrating dealing with big companys over the phone when youre just talking to some muppet on £8 an hour.

Dont know much and cant really offer much advise but it must be worth contacting the ombudsman, as they are there to help in such situations. Good luck with it.
 
No nothing was signed... I simply sent the V5 in under their instruction, thinking this was just to check the chassis number etc
 
If you haven't signed it over then there is no way they could of sold the car to anyone else, as far as I'm aware I could be wrong. It's like selling a car with the previous owner being the registered keeper. Your still the registered keeper and are responsible for the car as it stands, unless they have forged your signature
 
cool I will certainly mention this on Monday when I ring them for an update.... by now though I imagine my car has already had the parts stripped :(
 
Maybe, they usually get repaired on cat C as they are a wanted car, you could always ring the DVLA explain the situation and see if they can advise?
 
Your insurer will be overseen by an insurance ombudsmen, whose contact details are usually in the the schedule of insurance or policy documents sent by your insurer.

You'll probably be talking Monday by now, but I'd give them a ring. You may find that once you've accepted an offer from the insurance you've effectively surrendered the vehicle to them and they are under no obligation to sell you the vehicle back and it is up to them how they dispose of it.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong for your sake however.
 
Loxy said:
You may find that once you've accepted an offer from the insurance you've effectively surrendered the vehicle to them and they are under no obligation to sell you the vehicle back and it is up to them how they dispose of it.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong for your sake however.
Click to expand...

I could certainly see where your coming from if I received a cheque for £4000? but with me paying to retain the vehicle does this not mean its technically still mine?




Thanks for all the help and advice, I will call the ombudsmen on Monday and see where I stand... Ill update in here once I know more
 
another question, usually you get a value of what the insurance pay so you will get a cheque for this, THEN you get a payment from the salvage yard for its scrap value usually, from what it seems you have only received the payment from the insurance not the salvage company to?
 
Yeh that's correct.

I've been in touch with the insurance rep on this board who's going to help sort it out. So fingers crossed it should be sorted soon!
 
well things have been sorted!


The insurers have looked at receipts, and we have came to an agreement for an additional payout of £4420 on top of the £2480 already received, which was only around £400 short of what I was claiming for.

Obviously not the same as getting my car back, but Im happy with the payout, and seen a Cosmic Grey EP3 on CTRO Im going to view as soon as the money has reached my bank :)
 
Sounds like a decent win to me.

With any luck you'll be able to get a car with most of the mods you want without paying much more than OEM spec, then have a few £k to improve it over the last one?
 
Yeh exactly, well the Cosmic Ive seen on CTRO has the following:

Suspension
meister zeta r fully adjustable coilovers
Hardrace rear adjustable camber arms
Front camber bolts
Fast road setup alignment (tdi North)
JDM front and rear anti roll bars

Brakes
Tegiwa brake stopper
RPB front grooved discs
EBC yellow stuff front pads

Engine
Hondata k100 (tdi North) map
Tegiwa m air intake
Skunk 2 70mm throttle body
RBC 70mm intake manifold
both with thermal gaskets
Tegiwa full manifold back exhaust


So already has most the parts on I want, plus more, and running 250hp compared to mine was at 234... just needs a diff putting in! :D
 
Greenlight were the insurers, but MarkerStudy were the underwriters who made the mistake


I think its worth saying that Greenlight really helped with the situation, I gave Tony@Greenlight on this board a message and he rang me less than 30 mins later. We went through everything together and I left it with him, 2 days later he came back with the £6900 settlement figure after MarkerStudy had already tried to pay me off closer to £6000. Top man!


Will definitely be using them in the future!
 
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