Apologies for the long post, any help/advice much appreciated
I drove to work on the morning if the 5th January, parked my vehicle outside my place of work. Half an hour later. I had a lady come to find me to tell me she had driven into my car causing damage to the rear end. On inspection of the vehicle, I found the engine was not running as a result of the collision. She had caused extensive damage to her vehicle, the force being so great she had snapped the axle and the front passenger side wheel had snapped off her car. other party excepted liability straight away.
I rang the number on my insurance documents(the only number
I would ever need) which unknowingly put me through to Kindertons accident management.
My vehicle was left where it was until Kindertons took it away 2 days later and provided me with a courtesy car. They informed me the other party had accepted liability and ensured me my car would be repaired. My car was taken 60 miles away,(I was informed that of I wanted it to go to my own garage I would have to pay).
(There was no diagnostic report preformed until the 31st Jan some 26 after collision)
Fast forward to February, I have a phone call from kindertons informing me that they had fixed the body work but would not be fixing the mechanical issues as they believe (didn't know as they would not let the engineers look at the engine) the damages were not accident related. They based there decision on a one paragraph report from an engineer that is only seen the vehicle via desktop, this was undated and then signed. they informed me that if I wanted to claim I should get an independent engineers report. They also demanded the courtesy car back leaving me with no vehicle.
Very distressed and after days of ringing numerous numbers I managed to get hold of my underwriters Markerstudy. Here I was advised to start a new claim in order for them to deal with it. Which I did, they sent an engineer out to make a report.
This report stated that my vehicle was roadworthy prior to the accident. Off the back off this report Markerstudy agreed to diagnose my vehicle. I spent 3 weeks desperately trying to contact Markerstudy, hours and hours on hold, incurring £100 + phone bills, emails begging for someone to contact me(no one ever did).
They changed their minds 3 weeks later when I requested, they send my vehicle to local ford garage and not the one 235 miles away which they wanted to. At this point I was advised that I had to go back to Kindertons.
I went back to Kindertons with the engineer's report stating my car was roadworthy prior to the accident.
On 31march kindertons agreed to pick my car up and find out what the issue was, they sent it to back to the body shop (60 miles away), despite needing mechanical not bodywork( Even the garage themselves didn't understand why it was sent to them)
On 6th April I received an email saying that they were awaiting cost from ford to diagnose the issue.......
In the mean time the body repair shop changed three sensors on the camshaft of my vehicle, something they are not qualified to do. On the 25th April I received a phone call from kindertons again telling me they would not fix my vehicle and they were sticking to their original statement despite no engineer having looked at the car/no diagnostic report as promised. They had decided that Ford EcoSports have problems with the engine and they would not get anybody to look at it. My engineers report was apparently no longer good enough and that the case was closed. I have spoken with the body shop my car was in and they have informed me that kindertons won't let the Ford garage diagnose the car as it is too expensive (£150 per hour)
I was informed that if I get the vehicle diagnosed and a report to clarify the issue is
accident related I can claim back,
'if you have sufficient evidence' i have so far provided them with an independent engineers report, diagnostic report from Ford and a letter from an independent engineer explaining how this type of damage can be caused by a rear end collision (ford confirmed the timing belt Had jumped, an engineer confirmed that this can be caused by a rear end bump if the car is left in gear). This is still not good enough?
I've asked for reports and jobs sheets on my vehicle on numerous occasions, in order for me to take it garage they need to know what has already been done, I just get a simple 'No'.
I've contacted the financial ombudsman who have informed me it is not the fault of either the broker or the underwriter, and the accident management company are not under the due restriction of the financial ombudsman. I contacted the national Conciliation service who were very obvious in the favour towards kinndertons from their initial email.
I would appreciate your help with this matter as i simply cannot afford to get my vehicle repaired myself.
My vehicle, which I am still paying for, is currently sat on my drive not running as I cannot afford to pay any further costs.
The mental torture these companies have put me through over the last 10 months is quite frankly immoral,I would not wish on anybody, I have been to close to breaking point on many occasion. How are these companies able to treat people this way?