Car insurance told me wrong information

[CharlotteBog]

Summary:
Car accident.
Insurance arranged collection of car.
I phoned repair company to ask about progress. Was told car would likely be written off, but report would be sent to insurer to asses and they'd get back to me.
Phoned insurer regarding another issue to do with the claim.
Was told by insurer that they in fact would be doing repair. I questioned this. They said they'd look into it, got back to me and confirmed it would be repaired. I asked them to send me an email confirming. They did.
Repair company phone today and tell me in fact car is going to be written off. They explain that initially it looked repairable, but upon second assessment deemed it not worthy.
I phone insurance very upset and get no proper answer as to why they sent me an email saying repair would go ahead. No one more senior to talk to. They will look into it.

I have sent them the email. I have filed a complaint via their webform. Is there anything else I can do?

It's Aviva

Thanks

They explain that initially it looked repairable, but upon second assessment deemed it not worthy.

So the insurance company took the repair shop's initial view and told you it could be repaired. Then the repair shop changed its view and the insurance company naturally changed its stance. What's your issue?

No one has done anything wrong here as far as I can see.

Depending on the category of the write off, you can ask the insurance company if they'll pay you the write off price and let you repair the car, get a new MOT and put it back on the road. That happened to my car, it might be an option for you.

My issue is that they said they would repair it. Why would they tell me that if in fact they didn't know for sure i.e. that it needed a second assessment?

Surely the back and forth between repair and insurer should happen before they tell the customer the outcome. He even checked and confirmed before sending me the email. Is that person not at fault?

I'm still not seeing the problem. The advice changed so they changed their offer. It happens.

Do you want it repaired? If so talk to the insurance company about being allowed to keep the car and take the money offered to repair it yourself.

This sounds like one of those frustrating, but unavoidable, situations that happen in life sometimes.

I’m not sure what you’re complaining about either tbh.

If you want the car back you can buy it back from the insurance company and do it yourself. We did that when dd’s car was written off, fixed it and the. Used the payout to pay the next years insurance!

How was it unavoidable @BoobyDazzler ?

It could have been avoided if they hadn't told me they would repair it.

I have not seen any sort of report of the damage so I am not in a position to make any decisions. I also need a car to drive. I can't spend time repairing a car and then selling it and only then getting another one. I guess that only works if the owner has use of a car in the meantime.

It’s impossible to fully assess something before they have a good look at it. What looks like superficial damage can be quite significant with cars and the opposite is also trued.

So you're saying that even though they told me they would repair it, I should not have taken their word, and that they can change their mind at any point?

"Your car has been assessed and we will repair it". It's fair of them to have done that?

Hi!

I've spent 25 years running body shops and can tell you this is quite common.

When a car arrives on site, we carry out an assessment based on the damage we can see and justify with images to the insurance company. We are not permitted to estimate on the basis of our experience.

We often complete an estimate, send it to insurers and will say 'there could be additional damage behind the bumper, we need to dismantle this area, can we have authority to do so, it will be 2/3 labour hours'.

Once we've had guidance, we will then commence with dismantle. Technicians are paid an hourly rate, they will not work on a car for free so the authority needs to be sought in advance.

Once it has been dismantled we can show/prove the additional damage to the insurers.

This is a normal experience when you are dealing with a boarder line case. You would have spoken to a claims handler, they would see that an authority had been issued, but not understood the detail in that.

Do you think it's correct that the call handler tells customers their car can be repaired before it's been fully assessed?

They had already told me it was (likely) a write off, then said it could be repaired, then changed their minds.

At what point do I take their word? Maybe they'll call tomorrow and change their minds again?

It sounds like there was a bit of human error, but I’m not sure why you’re so angry? These things happen. Did you desperately want it repairing?

Also you’ve complained so I’m not sure what else you’re looking to do? What sort of outcome do you want?

The claims handler only goes off what reports get sent through from the garage.

They initially thought the situation was X and it turned out to be Y. You weren’t lied to or misled. It really isn’t that big a deal.

Why are you so upset OP? Have you not got an option of a courtesy car while you're car is out of action?

Insurance companies are notoriously crap, it doesn't matter which one, the left hand rarely knows what the right hand is doing, but as a PP suggested it looks like the original assessment indicated that it could be repaired, so they confirmed to you at that point that it was being sent for repair, but now the repairers have it they have obviously found further damage, it has now surpassed the monetary threshold for repair so the insurance will choose to write off instead. It's all quite a normal process, the call handler can only give you the information they hold at the time though, which is subject to change.

Why has this upset you so much?

Ok. I'm clearly being OTT.
I'm upset because I thought my car would be repaired. I was told I could keep the loan car until I got mine back.
With a loss, as soon as you have the settlement they want the lone car back. There will be a matter of days between these happening.
I am a lone parent, living rurally and rely on a car. I do not have anyone to support me. I have friends who are being kind, but no actual practical support.
Clearly I'm lacking resilience and an ability to just shrug it off as "just one of those things".

So now I feel even worse about the situation and myself.

I'm not flouncing, but I will hide this thread.
I was hoping for some support. Having the opposite is not at all helpful.

That’s a bit of a drip feed there. I understand it’s frustrating but it doesn’t change that there has been a screw up or any misleading.

Hope you get enough of a pay out to buy a new car.

Yes, I got caught out with this, I got a courtesy car as non fault (my car was smashed into while it was parked) and I didn't realise how quickly they want it back once they have paid you out.

But the best thing you can do is not chase them up! I got to keep my courtesy car for four weeks, because although my car was clearly a write off from the get go, they seem to have forgot all about it/not done anything with it, I eventually rang them to find out what was happening and they then asked me if it was a write off(?).. the claim was settled within a week after that, but I do wonder how long I could have kept the courtesy car if I hadn't rang them!

You don't have to accept their first offer too, you can negotiate back and forth a little bit and that will delay things, and then they give you a few days grace (I think I got 5 days) after they pay you the money.

You have my sympathy, dealing with the idiot insurance companies and having to go through the rigmarole of getting a new car, especially through no fault of your own is such a massive pain.

You kept chasing them before they had the final verdict. I'm afraid this ones on you.

Maybe next time leave it a few days before ringing car repair place & insurers.

I don't know why you need to keep complicating this it happened move on , your thought process seems odd