I'm literally crying, so sad to see this

Roger S said:
If the insurance do not offer what you can can show to be a reasonable payout, by examples advertised you can take the claim to the insurance ombudsman, who will look at it from a non biased view, but you will need to demonstrate why it's is worth what you ask by way of adverts etc. The insurance company won't like that as they will have to pay the ombudsman.

Best of luck

Roger
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Actually the first couple of claims are free so depends on their track record this year. TBH, the Ombudsman is a waste of space - under resourced, slow and inefficient. Could take a year to get your claim sorted
 
TheBig1 said:
possibly, but prove that based on the equivalent actually selling at the high price, would be the insurance company's answer
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That was part of the point I was making, there is a possibility if haganap can show that he would need to pay £3000 by way of adverts of vehicles currently advertised he can argue that he would need tha £3000 to put him back in the position before his loss (y)
 
so an update as we reach the end of week 2. I made contact with the company who are responsible for storing the van and doing the engineers report and pricing strategy. The engineer had requested extra pictures and these were sent to him and he has completed his report. The next stage is for the same company to ring me Monday and discuss the value they are putting on it and why. Also, they will need to confirm that it's actually written off because that has not been confirmed yet. Not sure I want it back though!!

This weekend was operation rescue. Obviously we just threw everything in to bin bags and put it all in the garden. This weekend we had our first opportunity to go through all the belongings and see what if anything was salvageble. I wanted to just chuck it all but Nikki was sentimental about lots of bits and wanted to see if any bits could be saved. Things like her make up, all the pots and pans and just things that we never even knew existed. Things like shot glasses we had collected from various places we have visited.
It was a bit of a wench doing it but it's now done, all photographed, placed in different piles of Rescue V Tip.

I really feel for anyone that's ever had a house fire, it must be terrible.
 
haganap said:
wanted to just chuck it all but Nikki was sentimental about lots of bits and wanted to see if any bits could be saved. Things like her make up, all the pots and pans and just things that we never even knew existed. Things like shot glasses we had collected from various places we have visited.
It was a bit of a wench doing it but it's now done, all photographed, placed in different piles of Rescue V Tip.

I really feel for anyone that's ever had a house fire, it must be terrible.
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So did you help as well;)

Good luck with the loss adjusters BTW, is it too early to mention a Arto at ES Hartley:unsure:
 
They won't be repairing the van as the smoke damage will be throughout the hole interior, you would never get rid of the smell. The insurers will likely behave a salvage contract at a set percentage rate so they will get a fair bit back on salvage, possibly 20 per cent.

Good luck with the negotiation.

Roger

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Roger S said:
They won't be repairing the van as the smoke damage will be throughout the hole interior, you would never get rid of the smell.
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From experience, that was exactly my advice too which I relayed to Nikki & Paul elsewhere.

haganap said:
I have a new van lined up which I'm due to collect in March
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Positivity. (y) I like that. :)

Good luck for tomorrow's telephone discussion Paul. (y) Remember, it's all about yours and Nikki's loss, and not about the insurer's mitigation. ;)

Cheers,

Jock. :)
 
haganap said:
Seen that, it's an F with hardly a garage..

I have a new van lined up which I'm due to collect in March
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Well done Paul & Nikki, onwards and upwards. It's ok to cry about the trauma you went through, but the future is calling and will be what you make it. Positivity brings positivity
 
haganap said:
I have a new van lined up which I'm due to collect in March
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You can't leave us all 'dangling' like that :oops:... it's not fair :cry: ... positively cruel:crying: ... we NEED details!!!! :eek:

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Minxy said:
You can't leave us all 'dangling' like that :oops:... it's not fair :cry: ... positively cruel:crying: ... we NEED details!!!! :eek:
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Minxy you are so nosey you should be ashamed of your self asking the question that we all want the answer to , well come on what is it haganap
 
haganap said:
yes thanks, Nikki is looking in to this. We might actually keep it as is as a little reminder, so find someway of laminating it
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Have a look at coin frames, they encapsulate, suspend and frame all in one... Look on amazon x
 
Good luck with your phone call this morning. (y)

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Hi Paul. I didn’t twig from your thread title what this was about but have been alerted to it by a mutual friend. I’m fairly minimal on Fun at the moment with trying to save the MBs while travelling. :RollEyes:

So sorry to hear about the loss of your lovely new van and treasured possessions. And hope that the insurers do the right thing by you.
 
So Wednesday's update...
I expected a phone call on Monday, it never came. I therefore rang at the latest time I could to be told "we are awaiting the engineers report" despite me being told it was done Friday. This was said by the company who are responsible for managing the claims on behalf of the insurance company. They said, once the engineers report is completed, we then call you back to discuss the valuation attached to the vehicle and then agree the figure, and put the money in your account. However, we have to await the engineers report.

So move on to Tuesday, again no phone call, ring them up late as possible to be told. "we are awaiting hte engineers report" but he said it would be done for Friday morning? yes that's correct, but it's still not done. "as soon as it's done, we will contact you and then we will discuss the value he puts on the vehicle and agree a settlement figure and then pay that straight in to your account. Ok, no engineers report, nothing can be done.

So, move on to Wednesday, still no phone call, so I emailed the engineer myself as he had sent me an email previously. He responded and apologised for the delay and stated the difficulties in valuing such goods. Still no call from the claims settlement team so I took the liberty of waiting till the last minute and then ringing them up "again". "yes we have the report and your vehicle is a total loss". we have the documentation from the engineer which states what you paid etc". Ok thanks, so where's my payment? "well, due to the high level of the claim we have to go back to your insurers and get them to indemnify the claim due to the amount". So we have sent them an email regarding this and have to wait for them to agree before we can begin to discuss value.

So I suppose this is the point whereby the insurers look to wiggle out of things because the claims so high, despite having been told by their investigator that it's all good. This is the bit whereby they say, "your MH was built on a Saturday and we don't cover those built at weekends, or insert excuse here.

just dragging on, could do without the stress, there's much worse going on in the world, granted, but this is my stress.
 
It's how the claims system works if it's out sourced. I expect the company that is managing the claim are doing so based on the fact that they have the ability to save the insurance company money on settlements. But in a big boy claim like this the value is above the cap they are able to settle (verbally ) on.

Don't worry Haganap 👍

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haganap said:
So I suppose this is the point whereby the insurers look to wiggle out of things because the claims so high........
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Just out of interest but what is the wording in your policy regarding value and claims; i.e does it mention (a) agreed value, (b) market value, (c) new for old, (d) or other?

Good luck with the whole process ;-)
 
Blue Knight said:
Just out of interest but what is the wording in your policy regarding value and claims; i.e does it mention (a) agreed value, (b) market value, (c) new for old, (d) or other?

Good luck with the whole process ;-)
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tbh, I've never looked at it. What I have learnt is that I will do in the future. I know it's not new for old and didn't expect that. Our claim limit on personal belongings is 3500 we had at least 7k in there. Check yours, it's amazing how quickly it adds up. I had two leather jackets for our scooter for example and a few weird fish jumpers.... That's over 1k straight away before you talk anything else like a sat nav TV's etc. With regard the van itself, like most I would be looking for market value which would allow me to go and buy exactly the same vechile. Thing is, its so difficult with RVs. But at least what I paid for it is not unreasonable considering that I had 3 days.!!
 
haganap said:
tbh, I've never looked at it. What I have learnt is that I will do in the future. I know it's not new for old and didn't expect that. Our claim limit on personal belongings is 3500 we had at least 7k in there. Check yours, it's amazing how quickly it adds up. I had two leather jackets for our scooter for example and a few weird fish jumpers.... That's over 1k straight away before you talk anything else like a sat nav TV's etc. With regard the van itself, like most I would be looking for market value which would allow me to go and buy exactly the same vechile. Thing is, its so difficult with RVs. But at least what I paid for it is not unreasonable considering that I had 3 days.!!
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Keep your chin up it seems like forever , your not the first who has not read a policy until its needed and won't be the last.the offer will be with you soon check to see if you can refuse the offer and ask for more and if so how many times they may have a limit. Went making an offer often they check you records to ensure that your not a coral claimer (contents is riddled with regular claimaints)but don't forget you house contents and credit card insuranses messy fluffy every little helps .thoughts are with
 
Have been reading about your sad loss just check to see if your clothes are not covered on your household policy ours with the nfu doing both house and motorhome told us that clothing would come under allrisks on the house policy, good luck in getting the best payout you can.
 
Hi Paul - Only just caught up with this thread and Margaret & I are totally gutted for you and Nikki. Thinking of you both and hoping you can get over this frightening loss. Robert

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Ok, so it's time for another update, read in conjunction with last weeks.

haganap said:
So Wednesday's update...
I expected a phone call on Monday, it never came. I therefore rang at the latest time I could to be told "we are awaiting the engineers report" despite me being told it was done Friday. This was said by the company who are responsible for managing the claims on behalf of the insurance company. They said, once the engineers report is completed, we then call you back to discuss the valuation attached to the vehicle and then agree the figure, and put the money in your account. However, we have to await the engineers report.

So move on to Tuesday, again no phone call, ring them up late as possible to be told. "we are awaiting hte engineers report" but he said it would be done for Friday morning? yes that's correct, but it's still not done. "as soon as it's done, we will contact you and then we will discuss the value he puts on the vehicle and agree a settlement figure and then pay that straight in to your account. Ok, no engineers report, nothing can be done.

So, move on to Wednesday, still no phone call, so I emailed the engineer myself as he had sent me an email previously. He responded and apologised for the delay and stated the difficulties in valuing such goods. Still no call from the claims settlement team so I took the liberty of waiting till the last minute and then ringing them up "again". "yes we have the report and your vehicle is a total loss". we have the documentation from the engineer which states what you paid etc". Ok thanks, so where's my payment? "well, due to the high level of the claim we have to go back to your insurers and get them to indemnify the claim due to the amount". So we have sent them an email regarding this and have to wait for them to agree before we can begin to discuss value.

So I suppose this is the point whereby the insurers look to wiggle out of things because the claims so high, despite having been told by their investigator that it's all good. This is the bit whereby they say, "your MH was built on a Saturday and we don't cover those built at weekends, or insert excuse here.

just dragging on, could do without the stress, there's much worse going on in the world, granted, but this is my stress.
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Well, no phone call was forthcoming so on Friday morning I rang the underwriters myself. This involved a 2.5 hour wait on hold to eventually get through and discuss it with someone that was obviously a robot but an effective type of one. I went through the claim with him and asked what was happening to my contents claim. He informed me that I was insured up to a value of 3k on my policy, took my details and then paid the money in to my account, total losses, at least 6.5k, lesson learnt, don't leave your expensive leather jackets, ski jackets and HOKA trainers in the motorhome.

I thanked him and said the problem I have is the COPART arm of your company who are telling me that the claim is to much and they need the underwriter to indemnify it. said he will do that right away and email them and to call them later. I called COPART later to be told "No one has emailed us, we spoke to someone from your underwriters but he needs to send over the correct code for us to pay out.". I asked if they could ring him back and get that and they said they would. No reply late on Friday or Saturday so come Monday afternoon I thought I had better try again. I rang COPART and asked if they had authority from my underwriters to discuss the claim amount. The answer I got back was shocking "No sir we have rejected your claim and sent it back to the underwriters as it's too expensive". I stayed calm but wandered exactly what this meant. All in all, it was just another lie on their part. I never really understood what this actually meant. Therefore I rang my underwriters again and after 2 hours of being on hold through numerous streams of endless pointless music and watching myself go from "you are number 7 in the que to next" I found myself speaking to the nice robot who was the one I spoke with on Friday.

He informed me that the reason that my claim with copart had been kicked out is because the most they would offer me for the vehicle was £93400 and I was insisting on £94000. He informed me that if I wanted £94000 of which I had paid he would have to put it back to the "underwriters engineers" who would essentially begin the process again. I informed him I felt this was really unfair and that I was actually being forced to take this payout under duress as I simply could not cope any longer and the 5 hours of being on hold over the past couple of calls had left me a broken man. I said all I want to do is be able to sleep at night without the constant agro and chasing of getting the money paid so I could safely move on to my next van. He said if I accepted the 93400 he would put it for payment today but because of the amount , it might be that it has to go in front of the Ops manager to sign off but there is no reason why they wouldn't.

At this point, many of you might think I would be mad to accept. Essentially the van cost me £600 for 1 weekend away, they can give no justification as to why they differ in the value paid to the value 3 days later.
But, if you have ever been in my position with losses from insurers, they grind you down, I am convinced that the near 11 hours I have spent on hold is set to break you. It has led me to drink, literally, prevented me from sleeping and reignited my already fragile mental health issues. Therefore for the sake of £600 I felt I had no option. I was never in it to make money, I simply wanted back what I paid. In the interest of sanity I did what I did and hopefully in 4 days the money will be in my account and I can move on. You know they grind you down, they use tactics that I'm convinced could be construed in the Hague as crimes against humanity (humor btw they don't).

In the end you are left with this great big fear, the fear that someone in an office far away is going to say "nah, not paying that" despite everything being ok, you run the risk, they start by making you question if you put a match to it yourself whilst you were sleepwalking over night to making sure it was effectively maintained. They throw all sorts of doubt in your head, they play with your mind. You then look at the posts on here "I hope your insurance play ball, I hope they pay out" etc etc and it strikes more fear in to you until you are firmly forced to say, it's £600, deal with it... So I have done.

And finally, the thing of all that gets my goat, is not once, not once through this 3.5 week process have they ever once rang me. I have rang them on every occasion for an update.

But hopefully this is now the end, new van by the end of the month and the process of making sure I can enjoy getting on the road again.

keep the faith.
 
I feel for you and would be hopping mad too with being held to ransom. But while £600 may be a lot of money to some, in the great scheme of things, and at that value of motorhome, it isn't worth going through endless phone calls and waiting the outcome for another week or more. You've done the right thing and can now move on with the excitement of planning the new purchase. Good luck.
 

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