An absolute disaster day, month....

[huntsman666]

Rotten hard luck!

Perhaps an opportunity to remind beekeepers of a safey tip and not to light their smokers 'after' they have their veils up.

 

[Headnavigator]

Must have been lighting my smoker that did it. I was not worried about the surroundings as it was decidedly damp, but my bag of shavings may well have collected a hot ember and gone up.
RAB

Just don't be too quick to blame yourself. We all do it - I nearly had a crash at traffic lights one day and stood on the brakes screaming at myself for being a fool (well, an F i d i o t!) when my son quietly said, "Mum, they were green, he crossed at red, he was in the wrong, what is up with you?."

It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that your car went up from an electrical fault or something else, but you seem to have pre-judged the situation and decided you're at fault. Not necessarily so.

 

[Ed Woods]

.

Only just a month ago J's car was destroyed by some russian lorry driver who changed lanes on the A1 and side-swiped her rear end spinning her into the armco and then across both lanes of the carriageway.

As usual a near full tank of fuel, just been serviced and the MOT was renewed just this last week (would have expired in about another two weeks - I could have saved another £150+ if I had left it for another week!

It will be hard to replace the little pogo - absolutely reliable over the last 40k miles with only normal service item replacements in the time we have had it....

And at least J is recovering. I now need to seriously re-appraise my hobby.....

RAB

One week after starting a new job, having a full MOT, new brakes, tyres, suspension, exhaust, just filled my tank - I was hit in the side, sent through the central reservation, through three lanes of oncoming traffic, jumped a ditch and hit a tree - walked away - decided I would start bee keeping this year instead of putting it off until next.

 

[aberreef]

Bloody hell, what a day. I thought my luck was poxed but this does take the biscuit.

Glad to hear nobody was hurt. It's reassuring for me to see it's not just the Welsh Ambulance service that's a shambles (I'm a paramedic). Unfortunately demand far outstrips resources

 

[Hombre]

Best regards to you and your's RAB.

Around these parts it's the Bi that has a tendency to burn vehicles . . .

Part of you must have been screaming that all of this just couldn't be happening. .

 

[psafloyd]

Rotten hard luck!

Perhaps an opportunity to remind beekeepers of a safey tip and not to light their smokers 'after' they have their veils up.

I think you'll find RAB is far too experienced to have left a lit smoker in his motor.

What ACTUALLY happened, was an unfortunate electrical fire/fuel leak. Uncommon, but it can happen with these old cars.

And RAB, make sure you reject the insurer's first offer. It will be risible.

 

[oliver90owner]

Yes, thanks PSA. The smoker was in my hand, at the hives. It was lit well away from my car.

However the insurers are going to be suspicious (aren't they always) that the vehicle was parked on the side of the road, almost in a field. The fire crew's report will make that clear. Thanks for the advice re the first offer. J is already in dispute for her mishap just a month previously. I think we intend staying in bed on the 25th of July!

Regards, RAB

 

[psafloyd]

Yes, thanks PSA. The smoker was in my hand, at the hives. It was lit well away from my car.

However the insurers are going to be suspicious (aren't they always) that the vehicle was parked on the side of the road, almost in a field. The fire crew's report will make that clear. Thanks for the advice re the first offer. J is already in dispute for her mishap just a month previously. I think we intend staying in bed on the 25th of July!

Regards, RAB

Very wise. Let's see what the insurers do. Offer too little, knowing 98% accept it begrudgingly. If you reject it, the second offer will be better as they don't want - can't afford - to engage with you if you are a pain in the arse.

Of course, sometimes, they're just arses themselves and won't play ball...

 

[onriver]

Hi RAB - the crappiest day by a long chalk. I'm glad you all are ok and I'd love to hear about your combatative skills against the insurers - I'm sure they don't stand a chance

 

[RoseCottage]

Far be it for me to criticise those fine people who are looking after our interests sitting in their insurance offices and call centres...ADMIRAL...

but...

When my step-daughter Alice-Kate was hit by another driver whilst reversing off the driveway and had her car written off I was disgusted that they ignored evidence in preference for an easy settlement. They made her take all the blame as she was joining the carriageway and didn't consider his driving and the obvious visibility and time which he had to slow down.


So I sat on the process and thought bugger them. They made an initial offer on 1100 quid for a car they had valued at 2250 3 months before. Clearly I rejected the offer and then just ignored them for a few weeks.

I then got a call from them and they negotiated the money back up to 1850. During this negotiation I refused several times to take part and expressed disgust at the insurance company's attitude. In the end I got the best I could and they asked me what I wanted, what would it take to close the deal that day. The insurer admitted to me that they were desperate to do a deal that day as it was the day before 60 days and the next day I could take myself off to the ombudsman and complain about them.


So I recommend rejection and then waiting if you can afford to. You may get a better deal that way,

All the best,
Sam

 

[BERNIE]

only just read this thread Rab, feel bad about bothering you with my problem
hive.it reads like something out of the final destination films.glad your wife's ok.

 

[psafloyd]

So I recommend rejection and then waiting if you can afford to. You may get a better deal that way,

All the best,
Sam

You will definitely get a beter deal. They offer cheap deals for cover for the mas market but to make any oney have to process these quickly and cheaply. If you cause a wrinkle, it isn't worth their while fighting it (you do have to be in the right) and there is also the stick of the ombudsman.

My old man has spent 60 years in all kinds of insurance and sees it as a necessary evil.

However, he taught me this:

1) Insurance companies exist to take your money off you but they'll be buggered if you're going to find it easy to take it off them.

2) If you don't understand an exorbitant quote, don't accept it, ask to speak to the underwriters (had expereince of this in my line due to arcane beliefs about what journos get up to).

3) Never, ever accept liability at the roadside after an acccident. Don't even say "sorry" in a polite fashion whether your fault or not. It could come back to haunt you.

4) Whenever asked by friends/relatives what should be the first action on receiving an offer from an insurer, he has always said: "Reject it." They rely on you believing its the best you will get. It is most certainly at least 50% less than they are prepared to pay out.

My own experience has been similar. I advised someoen I know who'd had her MX-5 stolen and vandalised to do the same and within a month, she'd not only got a higher value for the car, but paintwork and a new mohair roof all included. Almost doubled the original offer, yet she had almost taken it.

 

[HelenX]

Just seen this after a weekend away. You have made me think about work/time/hobbies/the other half/the maening of life.

My very best wishes to you both.
Helen

 

[nelletap]

Rab

I read this a few days ago and was too shocked to write anything especially as I don't know you personally. What a dreadful catalogue of events - we are all so glad that the people involved have at least come through.
It was a bad week for us - 2 deaths of friends and a family member threatened with disease so though it sounds rather crass, it reminded me that others have got even worse things to deal with.
Tricia

 

[johnnythefridge]

Hi Oliver & J,

Sorry to hear about your car fire and J's reaction to being stung. I'm glad to hear that you and J made it through ok.

Cars are very combustible items in such dry weather, and with the summer sun beating down, who is to say what ignited fist and why? It's something that we will probably never know for sure. Cars dont take long to burn, most small to medium sized ones reach maximum heat energy output in 10 mins and can reach a peak output between 2 and 8 Megawatts, 10 mins later they have all but burned themselves out.

All that matters is that no one was done any lasting harm. It may help to take the philosophical view when trudging through the paperwork with the insurers. you might like to bear in mind that to them, this is just another claim that they will try to settle as cheaply as posible. If they do cut up rough, remember it's nothing against you personally, just them trying to make a quick buck.

Thanks for posting on the forum, it has cetainly made me consider sourcing an an eppi pen or some such.

Best Regards.

John.

 

[John M]

Rab

I'd like to add my relief that you are both ok, and my best wishes. Thanks for letting us know; there are a lot of people being safer because you took the time to write this.

John

 

[Nellie]

It's true I've managed not to set fire to my car for well over 48 hours now.

 

[Nellie]

On a more helpful note, I used to negotiate Total Loss Claims so heres a few hopefully helpful tips.


1) The value you quoted the insurance company is NOT what the car is insured for, but if you over-estimate that value you might just end up paying a higher premium.

2) They'll send an engineer round to inspect what's left of the car to try and figure out what sort of condition it was in. They use Glass's Guide and they'll be ruthless. If you had obvious cheap repairs/damage that'll be taken into account when they come to a value. If it wasn't declared and/or insured separately that flash stereo, alloy wheels and well wicked body kit isn't worth anything, you're insured for a bog standard <make> <model> of whatever it is that you declared.

3) Depending on the company you're with, their first offer might well be 80% (or lower) of that glass's guide price. That price btw is what you can expect to receive if you SELL your car to a dealer tomorrow. Doesn't matter if parker's says it is higher etc, Glass' is the bible in the auto trade.

4) The principle of motor insurance is that you should be able to replace your car, like for like, from PRIVATE SALE with the settlement money. So if you think your car was worth more, get on Auto Trader and the local second hand car mags etc and start looking within 20-30 miles of your postcode for cars in a similar condition to yours and see what they are going for. Be realistic about the condition of your car. You might have a bit more leeway to be economical with the truth if things like your odometer were destroyed, but the last mileage is on your MOT so there's no point claiming it's got 10,000 miles on the clock if there was 70k on the last MOT.

5) When you ring the claims department and talk to someone be nice to them. For the most part they do actually want to help you, we know it sucks to have lost your car and we know that what you've been offered is going to sound low even if we just gave you 50% over book price. For 8 hours a day I surfed auto-trader and sorted out people's claims and if you're nice to me I'll do my best to help you. Start calling me names and I'll find every bargain basement jalopy on auto-trader for £500 less than we offered you that match the engineer's description to justify the settlement we offered you and believe me when you do it 8 hours a day you can find those in minutes.

If you consider point 3) add 20% to the settlement offer and that's a price I'd generally have been happy to go to (under duress naturally) especially if auto-trader backs it up. Glass' is a flat rate national guide price and different models go for more/less depending on geography. To go above that I've got to justify it to the boss so I can't be giving everyone 50% more than what we offered, so am I going to push to help the guy being nice to me or the guy calling me names?

Those are the key points imo. If your policy includes a courtesy car check the fine print. A lot of people assume they have the car until they get a new one or the money arrives, it didn't with the companies I worked for. at the point you accepted the settlement that car hire ends and it goes back

 

[John M]

It's true I've managed not to set fire to my car for well over 48 hours now.

... and I guess the elephant powder is working too?

 

[kermit]

- with everyone.

RAB, got here from the other place we frequent...

Read it through and was shocked. However, the second time I read it I did laugh out loud (after reading all this thread) - in years to come I am sure you will too. Glad to know J is well.

I now know your true loss as a 205 is a real car - especially the turbo diesel. Where could you find another of these nowadays? Bomb proof engine, drive great and just keep on going.

Hope everything gets sorted quickly.

Dave