insurance advice needed

[able]

i posted in the "what you been up to" thread two weeks ago concerning my mistubichi van having its nose punched in by a person not giving way and pulling out in front of me.

its been just over two weeks and they finally sent a assessor to have a look at my van. he rang me yesterday and said they will not fix it and its a write off but that is not what the panel beaters told them they said its fully fixable at a cost of $4200.

the woman's insurance is "budget direct" and with some checking into i find out that they are a south African company and not Australian at all..... they have a very bad reputation see here
http://www.productreview.com.au/showitem_simple.php?item_id=11769

when i have a look at their site they say they go through "red book" as to what a car is worth... i looked up my bitchy and it claims $2500-$4200 depending on condition....

but here is my beef.

i payed $7000 less then two years ago after beating them down from $9999 and with a grand trade in.... the car was in excellent condition and its previous owner was (and im not joking) "sisters of the good Shepard" yes a nuns convent so that will give you a idea as to the condition of the van.... you could say it was almost virginal 

i added gas that cost me $2500 just over a year ago.... cd stacker $500 new tyres six month ago and $1600 on a major service (new breaks and leaks ect)

bull bars front and back, efi and tinted windows...

i needed the tinted windows because my daughter went through three months radiation therapy and a year of kemo and i have to be careful with direct sun light.... i also needed to have the model with the reversible middle seat so i can store a wheel chair and a walking frame and still comfortably seat eight people (bluddy Irish blood).

so where does this all leave me when they think they will get out of this for less then $4200??

as far as i can tell they need to give me a excellent condition 1992 dual fuel tinted windowed powerstearing airconed ect ect van.....

NOT a pissy amount to buy some rust bucket!!!!!

why in hell should i end up in a clapped out L300 when i started in a nice shiny well running starwagon?


advice?

[BlackBedford]

G'day
You will probably need a good Solicitor. He probably will tell you you're screwed anyway.
There are lots of stories of people being ripped by insurance companies. I am one of them, but that is another story.

My mate got a small hit in his legal WB 6 wheeler one tonner. He got tricked into signing some paperwork and before he knew it his flash ute was gone on a truck and he only got a $2000 payout.

You need to keep control of the wreck and beware what you sign.

It sounds like the best you will do is a cash payout, keep the wreck and get a better price for the repair. Make sure the insurance company dont log it as a write off with the RTA.

There is an Insurance Ombudsman but they can be a bit of a toothless tiger.

In NSW we have the Dept of Fair Trading. Do you have anything similar in Vic?

[BusyKiwi]

buy the van back from the insurance company for a fraction of the payout price, get the payout, repair the van ....

only downside (and there may be different to NZ) is the van may have to be reregistered and because it has been written off could require a full engineering cert before able to be road legal/worthy

[able]

i was toying with the idea of taking the money and using the back seats,gas ect in the beddy... i could use some of the cash to hire (cash in hand) a panel beater?? to get it to spray ready fast... just a idea... 

im apparently getting their offer tomorrow.... they will probably try to go for the lower end of the payout from redbook....
i will update after the call.

[able]

update....

rang them today to complain about not getting a phone call as promised by the accessory and a worker.

i was told i would have to possibly wait up to two weeks for the report before they can make a offer??? and the report is not on file so she cannot help me today.

i asked why was i told by the accessory and a worker that i would get a phone call Friday as its been fast tracked because of my daughters condition? she stated that it is never that quick, so i asked if the the other two workers lied to me? she said no so i asked if she is lying to me? she said that they don't lie to customers..... i said im not a customer im someone you owe a $7000 dollar debt too!

i went into the fact that the car is not a write off and if i have to i will get affidavits from the panel beaters stating that its not a write off and will pay racv to inspect my car to see if the damage is cosmetic or structural!

i then said that she can tell the bean counters that i will not except one cent less then the $4200 to repair my vehicle!

she hung up....

i went and retold the phone call to the better half.... by the time i finished my phone rang and a woman on the other end said that they would like to break down my payout figure.... (that was fast)

she said i can keep the van.... it wont be written up as a write off with the r.t.a.

she said that they are making a cheque out for $4216 and its up to me if i want to repair it or buy another car.

i said well.... i just got of the phone with a very rude worker.... she said yer that was me and i looked into it, we decided to get this cleared up immediately...


so i got the repair costs and $16 to catch a taxi back from the panel beaters.


still up in the air about fixing it or picking up a bomb and sinking the other 2 grand to get the beddy on the road asap.

[BusyKiwi]

good on ya for sticking to your guns

if the van is good (bodywise) repair it as no doubt you know all the faults in it if you get another it's like starting from the begining again, you know, the omg if I had known/seen that ....

[able]

that is probably good advice...

the fact that redbook's top payout was $4200 and the quote to fix it was $4200 smells a bit.... maybe the panel beater looks up on redbook and quotes the highest number taking a gamble on the job???

i will see if i can get a lower quote at a panel beater a friend or rellow have been happy with and still come out of it with some beddy money

once the beddy is on the road i can sell the van and recoup a few grand then.

[BlackBedford]

G'day
I am sus about quoted repair costs too.
I and a couple of mates have been making a tidy profit buying "repairable writeoffs".
The actual repair costs have been so low that I have been left wondering what the hell is going on.
I have found by preparing the vehicle such as stripping the damaged area, chasing up the required parts, and getting a panelbeater to just do the actual panelbeating and then the same with the spraypainter, a substantial saving can be made.

[hotrod]

insurance companies work on %'s and will only spend a % of what the car is worth to fix it, as after all they are there to make money. For example  say you have a 10 grand car and the quote is 6k to fix, if they fix it they are 6k out of pocket if they write it off, give you 7k for it and sell the wreck for 2 1/2k  they are only 4k out of pocket. that is pretty much how the system goes, was told this by a mate who is an assessor.

[obsession]

The only company I insure my vans with is Shannons  they are great people no fuss and will update your insurance as you build your car including insurance on laid up unlicensed vehicles.