Insurance Pain in the neck STORY

Pabs · Post by **Pabs** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 2:06 pm

My car (2001 Ford Cougar) got hail damage last Novemeber during those wild storms up here,I think I posted pics earlier on.
Anyhow just after the hail storm we waited for 3 weeks for hail damage expert (from Melbourne)to come and see the car,
He took one look and said I cant fix that

Then he said go and a quote from a smash repairs,
So we booked in to get a quote,YES BOOKED in January that was as early they could see the car. F#$@k
January arrives-Smash repair bloke says,Iam just finishing cars from Last April/March Hail Storm F!@#$K
Anyhow he has a look and says,THATS TO BAD SUCH A NICE CAR TOO.
I say Thanks

Last Monday now Feb'06 Insurance says to me after recieving smash repair bill that my car is a Write off.

Insurance were going to almost pay out my loan ,But there was going to be $1400 short fall,Those bastards I really lost it big time after been with the same insurance company for 9 years without any claims.
Well jump on the mobile for at least 2 hours (and not losing it) to see why the shortfall.
1 Market value = what you would pay if you bought privately
2 They had my car down on paper as March 2001 Built
3 The quote was in 2006
Down to the chase
My car is as I discovered was built in April which is a revised engine(better)
Quote done in 2006 But damage was in 2005 and first reported in 2005
Well Insurance agreed to pay the lot out as they had made mistakes and that while all the above went on nobody rang me I had to do all the ringing.

Well Iam sort of happy I did'nt lose it on the phone and happy they are paying my loan out,not happy about losing my car.
I love my Cougar,I am scared if I buy anotherone that its going to Hail down on me again winter is around the corner.
HappyPabs

red_dave · Post by **red_dave** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 2:11 pm

Mate, buy it back from the insurance company and then fix the dints yourself...

You get to keep your fav car and won't have an outstatnding loan...

Pabs · Post by **Pabs** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 2:17 pm

They want $5,500 for it (U remenber what it looks like)
repiar cost $12,000 el cheapo version
No Thanks Dave

red_dave · Post by **red_dave** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 2:22 pm

Fark that...

I didn't get that close a look at it Pabs so i just saw the dints in the roof, bonnet and boot. Looked home repairable to me that's all.

Neka79 · Post by **Neka79** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 10:34 pm

mate...can u live with the damage??
would be worth having them pay it out, buy it back, and just put up with the damge...if u could handle seeing it like that..otherwise u gotta look for another car..which is a pain in the ass..nowhere near as fun as looking for a new bike...

Johnnie5 · Post by **Johnnie5** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 3:36 pm

i heard a story of a bloke that lived out in the bush and worked as high up in the pizza hut management and used to travel all over the place out bush racking up big miles so after a couple of years his car was worth SFA

so after one of the huge hail storms he bought a brand new golf ball style

BMW 7 series for $30K

figured his cars were worth fuckall after a couple of years and that he could never afford the luxury of a 7 series and for the same money as a new falcadore he just had to put up with the speed dimples lol

Cath · Post by **Cath** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 6:09 pm

Even though I know next to nothing about panel beating, when I saw the car I figured it would end up as a write off. There's no fixing it, red dave - you may as well push all the dimples out of a golf ball and expect it to look 'fixed'. She had dints everywhere - even in places only big enough for one dint - there was a dint there.

Sorry Pabs, but I'm happy you got a resolution out of them in the end. I would be fuming about the delays, though you kind of have to just put up with it if the area got hit so hard - but then losing money on the delays - ouch! Good on you for being a persistent bugger.