Insurance Issue (Didi?)

The only problem is, is that when a WOF is issued, it is stating that the car was OK at the time of inspection. I am pretty sure that in fine print on WOF sheets or elsewhere that it is then up to the owner to ensure that the vehicle is kept up to a warrantable state for the next 6 months as well. In other words, if you have a tire that passes, then whose tread goes below the limit, you must replace that tyre to keep the car warrantable, not just wait for when the warrant expires in 6 months. Therefore, even if the car had a WOF at the time of accident, but it is found that certain aspects, such as a warn tyre, mean it would be unwarrantable at that time, you may not be covered by insurance.

As tigger said - but whoever is speaking to them when (if) they refuse needs to ask them to send out a copy of their Disputes Resolution Guidelines (or similar words!)

Then as tigger said, you will know who to address it too and off you go - with gloves (NOT boxing!) on - as you still want to win! Time to get stroppy is later.

I seem to recall they have to respond within a certain time frame - it will be in the information they provide. Hope that helps. Want to know it all works out now!

Ok, have informed my brother to request a disputes resolution guide from them IF they say no. Apparently the tyre guy has already said he can write to them if need be.

I'd wait until there's an issue, if indeed there is even going to be one.

It's important to separate the legalities of the situation (info supplied suggests that's fine) re driving it on the road vs the contractual obligations of the insurer. In other words you need to read the fine print.

Now that said it would be interesting to know if the road surface was wet or dry at the time? This will make a difference re stopping times depending on tread depth. I know the issue wasn't that, given what you've said, but IF it came to an argument it's worth bearing that in mind (hopefully it was a dry surface).

P.

DiDi;330307 wrote:
If they start to argue after the Assessor has looked at it, it would still be a good idea to get the letters from the tyre shop and mechanic while this is fresh, if possible. I know this because it happened when my niece crashed my mother's car (with my mother in it) as she was under 25. The other driver was totally in the wrong but the Insurance Company jumped at the chance to refuse it, despite having "accepted" the claim on the day.

Knowing a bit about State insurance I can only second what Didi wrote. Get letters NOW. Memories can be short, employees can move.

I can give you a written guarantee that State will decline your brother's claim once they have all the facts. They put his claim into their system - that's what you interpret as 'they accepted it'.

We've been through this, done that. Very likely your brother will have to take them to the dispute's tribunal and there all that counts will be the letters. It hardly costs the insurance company anything to get taken to the dispute's tribunal - they just send one of their staff - you pay the fee which isn't that much. They are there all the time, often they don't even go back to their office between cases.

It takes months to get an appointment at the dispute's tribunal and by then the mechanic probably won't remember the details. I had to go back to the people I asked for letters two or three times until they had actually written them. They were invaluable at the hearing. Without them we wouldn't have had a chance. With them we won

The insurance rep lied at the hearing. That's when I handed one of my letters to the referee and I will always remember what she said, word for word, while holding the letter in his face:

'I've got a letter here, on official letter head, signed by the person you are quoting, saying exactly the opposite of what you are saying. Now - what do you think we are going to do with your little story!'

At that moment the rep conceeded, we got what we asked for and and the hearing was over. Phew!

Without the letter the insurance rep would have been the more trustworthy person and just his attitude proves to me that they get away with this time and time again.

So write down a plan, your brother can use those exceptions like 'being on the way to get the tyres' etc and if he can prove that he genuinely was trying to bring his car up to WOF standard then the referee may well decide in his favour.

Fencerman - how did you get on?

Hey, sorry for the late reply, the insurance company paid for the repairs, no problems at all...

That's awesome FM. I was quietly worried as there was a loophole (stopping in time) they could have used if they wanted, so great result.

Good stuff...restores some faith in insurance companies, because so often where there is a loop hole they will use it

Personally I've never had a problem with state and found them great to deal with...medical/health insurance has been a whole different issue [!]