Elp! Motor Insurance Help Required

[StarsEnd]

Hi All

Wondered if anybody had any thoughts views on the following:

Month or so ago I'm driving home from work in my 2012 BMW 320d. All of a sudden, kabooom!, smoke everywhere but no actual sign of fire as such. Police turned up, called the fire brigade who came out checked it over and disconnected the battery (whatever caused the smoke had stopped by now).

Car is taken to my garage. They say catastrophic engine fire with some parts of the engine aluminium actually melted (no real visible damage under the hood though). Car is a writeoff. They advise to claim on insurance as it's fire.

I put in a claim. Their engineer says DPF (diesel particulate filter) caught fire. Insurance co. say not covered for unclear reasons. They say it 'melted' rather than 'fire as such' and there's no visible sign of fire. The engineer's report says it caught fire which caused the melting. Pretty obvious to me. Anyway, doing a bit of research it seems fairly clear to me it's covered by the fire clause (regardless of the initial cause of the fire, the damage done by the fire is covered). Interested in other people's thoughts on this though as I intend to take them to court.

Second question. When this happened I went out and bought a new car, Honda Civic. Rang up to change my car insurance which had 9 months left to run and had been paid in full up front. The insurer apparently refused to quite for a Honda Civic. Completely standard 2009 diesel Civic. Apparently, because I had a claim in I don't get a refund for the 9 months left. Now this seems dodgy to me. If the insurer didn't have a problem with Honda Civics then I would have got the rest of my insurance. As it is, they just state they don't like Civics and I lose 9 months premium. Seems arbitrary to me and a bit of a scam. If it was a Ferrari I could perhaps understand. Thinking of hitting the broker with a summons as well.

Anybody had similar experiences or know anything about these issues? Much appreciated.

[Bossybabe]

Insurance ombudsman?

[MrPin]

You can't be penalised for having an exploding car, surely! All mine explode!

[council dweller]

My 24 year old Nissan Serena has never exploded... in fact it passed it`s MOT today which I`m chuffed to bits about. It only cost 267 quid.

If I`m really lucky the diesel scrappage scheme should start sometime over the next year.....meanwhile I`ll use it as a camper van during the long hot summer !

And good luck OP.

[frozen_out]

If you make a claim then your entire premium is forfeit. I know that's not great news for you, but that's how it works.

I don't get the Honda Civic issue though. If your car was repairable they would continue the insurance and you would have another opportunity to make a claim within the same year, so all I can think is that they're stopping you from making more than one claim in the same policy year. 

My advice - get a friend/relative to give them a call and find out if they would cover the Honda as a new customer. Might not get you any further, but it will give you an idea of their motives.

[CunningPlan]

1 minute ago, frozen_out said:

If you make a claim then your entire premium is forfeit. I know that's not great news for you, but that's how it works.

 

Is that really true - or is that only for a total write off?

Makes my excess £3k rather than £500!

Does it also apply if you pay monthly - I can't see how it could be enforced.

[StarsEnd]

1 hour ago, MrPin said:

You can't be penalised for having an exploding car, surely! All mine explode!

I've had two bmws in a row, both have exploded. The first was the turbo, second the DPF. I won't be buying a bmw again. They used to be quality cars and worth paying a premium for. They are now less reliable than a Ford.

[MrPin]

2 minutes ago, StarsEnd said:

I've had two bmws in a row, both have exploded. The first was the turbo, second the DPF. I won't be buying a bmw again. They used to be quality cars and worth paying a premium for. They are now less reliable than a Ford.

Ain't that right sir? They used to be top notch, not now! Nothing wrong with Ford BTW.

[StarsEnd]

8 minutes ago, frozen_out said:

If you make a claim then your entire premium is forfeit. I know that's not great news for you, but that's how it works.

I don't get the Honda Civic issue though. If your car was repairable they would continue the insurance and you would have another opportunity to make a claim within the same year, so all I can think is that they're stopping you from making more than one claim in the same policy year. 

My advice - get a friend/relative to give them a call and find out if they would cover the Honda as a new customer. Might not get you any further, but it will give you an idea of their motives.

Yes that's my understanding as well from what I've read. But then surely a less scrupulous insurer can then make a bit of money by refusing to switch the insurance to cover your new car knowing they won't have to refund you.

I might take it to small claims as a test case. A lot of these 'rules' that insurance companies come out have never been tested properly in court and IMO many are probably a bit dodgy.

[The XYY Man]

I've had two Hyundais in a row.

Neither of them have exploded - and both have been very reliable and very economical. 

Motoring can be fun again when it becomes affordable - which it will once you get beyond the badge....

 

XYY

                                                                                                               

The dog's kennel is not the place to keep a sausage - Danish proverb

[geezer466]

Ombudsman first then write to a letter to them to remind their OWN engineer stated on the report it caught fire.

You could title the letter 'Letter Before Action'.

 

I am no solicitor but I would guess an official engineers report which mentions something caught fire means your fire clause will apply.

Insurance firms can be a bit bone at first claims. They don't like paying out and are messing you about in the hope you go away.

 

I would suspect you have insured the civic through another firm by now?

[geezer466]

4 minutes ago, MrPin said:

Ain't that right sir? They used to be top notch, not now! Nothing wrong with Ford BTW.

My 6 year old (diesel) Mondeo with 52,000 on the clock threw it's Dual Mass Flywheel last week. Terrible racket coming from under the bonnet.

Just over £600 for the repair included new clutch. Research on internet throws up this is a common problem and they can go at any mileage. 

[MrPin]

1 minute ago, geezer466 said:

My 6 year old (diesel) Mondeo with 52,000 on the clock threw it's Dual Mass Flywheel last week. Terrible racket coming from under the bonnet.

Just over £600 for the repair included new clutch. Research on internet throws up this is a common problem and they can go at any mileage. 

Indeed! As was the A4LD transmission in my Granada. It just popped going round the M25

[MrPin]

Those Korean cars are far better than they used to be. Not exciting, but they still seem to keep going!

[The XYY Man]

8 minutes ago, MrPin said:

Those Korean cars are far better than they used to be. Not exciting, but they still seem to keep going!

Working in the automotive supply-chain  - I judge the value and quality of car manufacturers by just how much we bend over to keep them happy.

Hyundai take us up the shitter without giving us a "reach-around" on a regular basis.

And we LOVE it...!

 

XYY

                                                                                                               

The dog's kennel is not the place to keep a sausage - Danish proverb

 

[MrPin]

I have a Korean washing machine! It plays a tune when it has finished!

[frozen_out]

1 hour ago, CunningPlan said:

Is that really true - or is that only for a total write off?

Makes my excess £3k rather than £500!

Does it also apply if you pay monthly - I can't see how it could be enforced.

That's absolutely true. In the now dim and distant past I was a phone jockey for Direct Line. Many things will have changed since then, but the basic policy structure will be the same. I've had this discussion many times with customers.

If you pay monthly they enforce it the same way they enforce any other credit agreement.

To refuse to continue your insurance after a claim sounds unusual to me though. I wonder of there's a miscommunication or misunderstanding going on somewhere along the line.

[Sandwiches33]

Im two an a bit years in with my korean car, its every bit as bomb proof as the Toyotas i had. The Japanese are feeling the squeeze from the Koreans now just like they did with electronics.

Of course everyone has a luxury german car and looks down there nose at me but Im an HPCer so brands mean nothing to me

[Sledgehead]

3 hours ago, StarsEnd said:

Elp! Motor Insurance Help Required

Your problem is you have made the school-boy error of insuring your car with a 1970's progressive rock supergroup, rather than a regular motor insurer. To expect the professionalism provided by a regular car insurer displays a level of optimism I can't relate to. Try to be more realistic in future. And if you must use ELP for anything use them for your ears.

 

[SNACR]

Not sure if mentioned but, did you claim on your insurance for the first BMW 'explosion' also?

These days good customer service tends to only be within reach of those with a huge social media following. Although it's all part of the same problem, post-internet, consumers just sort everything by cheapest and flock there - unless an alternative is a brand that confers some social status.

 

[Lurkst]

4 hours ago, Sledgehead said:

Your problem is you have made the school-boy error of insuring your car with a 1970's progressive rock supergroup, rather than a regular motor insurer. To expect the professionalism provided by a regular car insurer displays a level of optimism I can't relate to. Try to be more realistic in future. And if you must use ELP for anything use them for your ears.

 

[The Generation Game]

Just to add to this thread, my mother's car catastrophically failed its mot yesterday. Car is scrap. 

Just over a month left on Insurance. Called insurer to cancel insurance and admin fee to cancel is the equivalent of about 2 months insurance. 

Would she have been better off just letting the insurance lapse, even though there is no car to drive? Seems like a nice bit of small print to pay for the boardroom champers. 

[council dweller]

TGG....

Live and learn innit.

My 24 year old van finally passed it`s MOT yesterday too, Cost me £270 ....a bit of welding. I`ve been going to the same place for 12 years and hanging around their  `reception area` gives you a good idea if they are people you can trust. I always do it `while I wait.`

At the end of March 2018 I`ll be straight down to the scrap yard.

[assetrichcashpoor]

I'm wondering if the Diesel Particulate Filter being the cause of the fire might be the problem. If the fire was caused by the DPF not being regenerated when it should have been are the insurance company implying you've been negligent? Hence why they won't pay out.

 

Having said that when someone broke into our shed and stole our bikes our insurance company wouldn't pay out initially. I discussed it with them explaining that the bikes were locked to themselves, in a locked shed and were out of plain sight. They'd known this all along but when I explained it over the phone they paid out.

[The Eagle]

On 24/03/2017 at 5:07 PM, StarsEnd said:

I've had two bmws in a row, both have exploded. The first was the turbo, second the DPF. I won't be buying a bmw again. They used to be quality cars and worth paying a premium for. They are now less reliable than a Ford.

They never were quality, I knew somebody who bought two brand new E46 BMWs in the early 2000's (one after the other, not at the same time) and he had endless problems with both of them, luckily covered by the manufacturer warranty, but still a major hassle.