I've got a copy of the engineers report. It states:
All glass, seats, dash, plastics.................parts cost £14300, labour £1800.

They didn't pay me anything, said the car was not stealable, and that towing away would be "frought and noisy". The fact that it was parked in a dark quiet street in an industrial area didn't seem to matter.

Anyway, they work on the balance of probabilities, and do not cover all eventualities apparently. Just hope nothing unusual happens to you guys.

Luckily, when I got the car back, cleaned the smoke from the windows etc, most of the interior was fine. Seats only needed re covering as the damage to the originals was only scorching, the dashboard , a door panel, door seal, winscreen, headlining mirror, sunblinds, interior lights were replaced. Under £3000 all in.

Ive considered Watchdog, but could do without the publicity at work. WALLO.....
BE GOOD......IF NOT BE CAREFUL!

Did you have the keys both sets ? It is wrong that they can get away with not paying out it seems that they are makeing the rules up as they go along. Keep fighting dont give up

As for been noisy towing a car, back in the days when I was a bailiff it took 5mins to put a car on the back of the loader with it's hi-ab, no louder than any normal hi-ab Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

I agree with npinks, but as you know, I fear the matter is concluded as far as the insurance company is concerned.

hey all reading with interest, i have done some indepth reserch on the subject of insurance write off. due to my 8k bike being a write off (not my fault) some of you guys are wondering how it can be recorded as a write off when the insurance didnt pay up.

i found that as soon as you report a accident or claimable incident the insurer must asses the claim and then come to a conclusion on what is to be done. once the claim is opened then there is no going back and if the out come is a total loss they will file that info with the DVLA

the cats are ABCD and X tthey will label this to the vehicle to protect other buyers as has been said for example Cat X is a non recoverable write off ie car that was 3rd party only is crashed and the insurance get wind of the car being taken of the road as a result the car will be cat X and be recorded.

once the CAT has been established and recorded the investigation to see if they can wriggle out of payment begins

they are handled usualy by two different departments as i found out by being past to one dept to another.

and by the way i would buy that car tomorrow once my car sells lol does the car have the vosa inspection
hope this helps any confusion

best regards andy

THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT GUYS, SOUND LIKE I'LL BE WASTING MY TIME PERSUING THE REMOVAL OF THE MARKER...

YES I DID HAVE BOTH SETS OF KEYS...............I'M ALSO AWARE HOW EASY IT IS TO TAKE A VEHICLE AWAY. I HAVE RECOVERED PLENTY IN MY LINE OF WORK, SIMPLY BY TOWING AWAY OR PULLING ONTO ONE OF THE NEW TOW TRUCKS. EVEN LOCKED VEHICLES WITH THE HANDBRAKE ON, AS THE HANDBRAKE ISN'T THAT STRONG WHEN PUT ON IN THE NORMAL MANNER(THATS WHY IT NEEDS A BIT MORE WHEN YOU HILL PARK).

I HAVEN'T BOOKED THE CAR IN FOR THE VOSA TEST YET, PROBABLY DO IT NEXT WEEK....HAVE NO WORRIES THOUGH....THE CAR IS MECHANICALY/ELECTRICALLY PERFECT, AND THE ALPACA LEATHER TRIM LOOKS GOOD TOO, BUT I DON'T THINK THEY WILL BE INTERESTED IN LOOKING AT THEM.  WALLO.....
BE GOOD......IF NOT BE CAREFUL!

If I was you I'd be gutted by the whole affair! They obviously think it's an inside job (i.e. you pulling a fast one) And if they were so sure why didn't they involve the police that you were trying a dodgy claim?
Get a Solicitor on the case (don't bother with trading standards or watchdog etc.) Do you have legal cover on any insurance policy or bank account etc. or does L/R assist have such cover?

Last edited by Junior on 15th Nov 2010 4:33 pm. Edited 2 times in total

whoops

JUST TO UPDATE THE SAGA. I HAVE NOW SOLD MY FREELANDER-DUE TO WIFE'S REDUNDANCY. I GOT A FAIRLY REASONABLE PRICE FOR THE CAR, FROM THE ORIGINAL BUYER TAKING THE CAR AS IS. I STILL HAVE AN INSURANCE OMBUDSMAN COMPLAINT GOING FORWARD, QUESTIONING THE ENGINEERS DECISION THAT THE CAR WAS A WRITE OFF IN LIGHT OF THE TRUE COST OF THE REPAIR, AND THE SUBSEQUENT FINANCIAL IMPLICATION TO ME IN RESPECT OF THE CARS VALUE DUE TO THE WRITE OFF MARKER....WILL SEE HOW THIS GOES.
MANAGED TO LET THE CAR GO THREE DAYS BEFORE THE HEAVY SNOW ARRIVED...  WALLO.....
BE GOOD......IF NOT BE CAREFUL!

I feel gutted for you, I hate dealing with insurance companies at the best of times, but regardless of the cat c marker and possible needless write off I'm very confused as to why they refused to pay out. If you had both sets of keys and they are discounting it being hoiked on the back of a low loader, how did they think it was nicked?

I sympathise with your predicament, I've never heard of a car that's not nickable without the keys before. Certainly didn't see a sharp drop in the insurance costs because of this special feature.

Incidentally, I did hear of a LR dealer mechanic setting off all the airbags in a customers car once (I can't remember how he managed it). Repair price (for the dealer) was £15K to replace all the internal plastics and bags etc. It may be the claims engineer prices include all these bits too.

I too am beginning to question just how valid insurance actually is ! my Friend had his car stolen from a street whilst he was in a restuarnt and he too had both sets of keys but the insurance company refused to pay out ! The car was recovered a year later and only had 2 sets of keys logged in the ECU. The car also had no miles recorded on it so it looked like it had been lifted and towed to yard !

I unfortunatley had a car written of in a serious road accident in which it took nearly 2 years to recover from and was off work all that time. I had GAP insurance ! it was the other parties fault ( clear cut ) but i was treated like a criminal and it took months and months to sort out the GAP payment. I also had to provide photo's of the car during its ownership to prove I had looked after it and all the reciepts for service etc. They wanted as many photo's as possible, as luck would have it I used it for a wedding and a holiday only months before so had some recent pics but it was a very stressfull time indeed !

My FR2 was hit whilst i was stationary in the fisrt few months of ownership but wasnt worried as the time as i was stationary but after months of battling with an insurance company had to accept 50/50 claim ! aaahhhh whilst i was stationary 1

I think its about time insurance companies are put under the spot lamp !