[jb2]

Hi ive been recently involved in an accident where i wasnt to blame. In pursuit of the claim the claims company rang me up and said that my vehicle was being repaired. In order to find out exactly what repairs where required i rang up techsreport who follow up any repairs. Whilst speaking to the engineer he informed me that i can take a "cash in lieu" where they would pay me and allow for me to keep my vehicle as no repairs will be carried out by them. I agreed and i let the claims company know, they confirmed and said they would follow up my instructions. Now, yesterday i had a phone call from the garage who had my vehicle and said it has been fully repaired. After recieving that call from the garage i was annoyed and so i rang up the claims company and according to their computer records, the cash in loot was the offer that i authorised not for my vehicle to be repaired.
At the moment the claims company are investigating, as i did not authorise any repairs. Can anyone please advise me on what i should do next as i have already aquired a new vehicle and i want to stick by the cash in lieu offer not the vehicle being repaired! thank you!

[eric pisch]

Have you got anything in writing?

Either that they offer cash in lieu (and what the procedure is)

or of your request for the cash

[jb2]

hi thanks for reply, ive got nothing on paper from them or vice versa..i didnt even sign anything. None the less i spoke to them today and basically they told me that its thier fault as on their computer system it clearly says ive accepted the cash in leiu offer but their employees did not follow up on the offer and the vehicle has now been repaired! What really frustrates me is that i rang them up couple of times just to confirm thats what i wanted!
Their answer to me was that thier really sorry and are now investigating. I have refused to accept my vehicle back and now waiting for their response!
any suggestions? thanks much appreciated!

[lmccauley]

Originally Posted by jb2

any suggestions? thanks much appreciated!

Keep a diary of who said what, when.

It will make it easier to write a coherent letter of complaint (or giving details to a solicitor) along the lines of this, if you end up needing to:

21st October 4:30pm. Spoke to John Smith on telephone and he said "blah blah blah"

Good luck!

[DJMS]

Any news?

[jb2]

hi..
well the latest is that ive not accepted to take my vehicle back and now waiting for the manager to ring me!! any more advise as to what i should say?!
thanks

[penno116]

Hi
I'm not really sure there is anything that you can do in this situation. Insurance is there to put you back in the same position as you were before the incident and that is what they have done by repairing the car.

I can't see an ombudsman seeing it any different, after all the insurer has the choice as to how they settle the claim not the policyholder.

You might have outlaid for another car but that has nothing to do with your insurers.

You do realise that cash in lieu is the cash it would cost insurer to repair the vehicle, so I can't see how you have suffered any loss, if anything you could flog the car for more repaired.

Also bear one thing in mind, if you refuse to take back the car the insurer/garage might charge you for storage