Total loss car Interview & Question

We had visitors last Wednesday around 3 in the morning.

They took my Audi ( 2.0 SE A6 Avant 55 Reg) and a load of other personal items ( DSLR Camera’s, Phones, Laptops , wallets Purses ). Word of warning a Standard UPCVC door handle and Eurolock will offer 2 minutes maximum protection to an experienced thief oh don’t think they will make a lot of noise my wife 8.5 months pregnant myself and 3 year old were asleep upstairs ! the police believe the car was the target as they had failed to get a VW Passat earlier in the morning

I have a phone ‘Interview’ with the insurance company tomorrow so was after a little advice.

1 how do they value a car that is no longer there. ?
2 how long before they decide it is not going to turn up.?
3 what questions are they going to ask during the ‘interview’ ?
4 what happens regarding thing like car seats that were in the car ?

So really worried that they are going to try and ‘Trip me up’ and not pay out my Audi was a ‘Little’ luxury that we had scrimped and saved for has been taken from me and I just feel so ‘Bloomin Angury’ I now feel that the insurance company don believe me.

I would love to put all this behind me and enjoy a wonderful with a very excited 3 year old. But feel I am going to spend most of it arguing the ‘Toss’ with insurance companies

Regards a very grumpy and pee’d of Agriv8 family

Just tell the truth don't hide anything and ask for clarity where appropriate... A bit like giving your witness state net to the police.

remember their job is to not pay out. so don't take any BS from them. tell the truth, don't exaggerate anything, because if you exaggerate anything, and next time they ask, you exaggerate by a different amout, they'll use that as a reason tpo not pay out.

Only when they suspect you are trying to better yourself will they get awkward, as said just stick to the facts and offer up what evidence you can, receipts, instruction manuals etc for the missing gear.

Don't let the thieving scum get you down, hopefully they'll buy enough poo to inject and kill themselves.

I use to work in a total loss department dealing with accidents altho theft claims were delt with by the theft department, the process is quite similar.

We use to request all the documents for the car ie v5, service history, purchase receipt, proof of extras fitted etc.. these were sent to the engineer dealing with the case to place a value using glasses guide when i was there 4 years ago.

Im not too sure how long they wait before they pay out, I do remember the process took along time tho over a few months in some cases alto I was working for RBS lol so could be different now.

They will ask the usual questions about who was the last to use the vehicle, where it was parked, where the keys where, where you were, where any named drivers where, the list is endless but they mainly ask them to access how you answer them and how you react to the questions.

As for the contents of the vehicle that will depend on your policy, we classed things like baby seats audio equipment etc.. as an accessory to the vehicle so they were covered in full, things like sunglasses cd's etc.. are person effects so were only covered up to £100 on the policys we delt with so you will have to check you schedule on that one. Sorry to hear about the car btw should have there hands choped off!

Dont do as i did after a garage fire, with a lot of total loss items, i undervalued them severley to be quick as there was 25 pages of items with 50 items per page , so just wrote in rough prices,

I should of methodcly gone through machine mart,screwfix, halfords etc etc websites and got current prices,
i did not and just made it up, and in hinsight grossly undervalued the destroyed items

I reckon that i am out of pocket by amout 5k

Steve

The insurance company will value the vehicle on 'bottom book' value, unless they/you have an agreed value policy. This fact makes a mockery of them asking you the value of the car 'so they can assess the amount of the insurance premium' when you take out the insurance. I know this from experience. So if you have any reciepts for the original purchase price that owuld be helpful.

You have my sympathies in this matter, not a nice place to be in. Appart from the above just tell the truth and stick to your guns.

Not from personal experience, but I too have heard that they they offer the lowest possible value. Assuming the insurance is supposed to cover the value of the car when stolen, if you don't like the offer, ask them to show you specific cars available for the price offered (same model, age, accessories, etc.).

one of the most important facts where were the keys kept , if they were left in full view or put away somwhere,,,!!!!! ???????????????????

and never take their first offer... do your homework. Find out how much that car was worth... autotrader etc.

quote:

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Originally posted by Humbug
Not from personal experience, but I too have heard that they they offer the lowest possible value. Assuming the insurance is supposed to cover the value of the car when stolen, if you don't like the offer, ask them to show you specific cars available for the price offered (same model, age, accessories, etc.).

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they will try and take the wee with the first offer

DO NOT ACCEPT OR BANK ANY CHEQUES until your happy, as once this is done, your screwed

gather adverts from autotrader, local paper etc for similar cars to yours, this is to proove the value of your car for replacement

its their legal obligation to return you to the position that you were in before the event of the claim

I argued for months with my insurance company, a non fault accident, my car written off, they were offering me such stupid prices that I couldnt even buy a car, let alone one like I had lost.

the car hire companies in these cases charge a flippin fortune, so it is in their interest to get it sorted, or so you would have thought

I was 19 and they gave me a corsa as a hire car, I saw the paperwork, they were being charged £383 per week for it, I had it 9 weeks, while they offered me £250 for my car LOL if they had just given me the £1000 that it was valued for and I prooved that it would cost to replace, they would have been in pocket a lot earlier, especially as my policy was £1400, I mean its not like they were losing out with me is it LOL

then once it was sorted the car hire company came after me for the hire charges, they said that the insurance company would only offer a hire car up until the bill was 80% of the claim, as mine had gone well over that, they wanted the rest from me ( which they never got!)

insurance companies are the spawn of satan.

My wife experience this with a rare (ish) rover 218 coupe which was written off.

Find as many simular spec/condition to yours.
Find add's from places like autotrader.

She was eventually paid nearly double the first offer.

Main reason at the time was a 216/220 was worth a lot less than the low mile 218VVC with A/C, Leather and was like new.

They even insisted that it was unrepaible, and will not be back on the road. My wife was very supprised 3 months later when a car dealer ask if we had it history.
Made me laugh we the wife told him £50 and it's yours. Not bitter and twisted at all

As the others say. Be factual/truthful, and stick at it, they will try all sorts to not pay the full ammount.

When interviewed have a note pad and pen and write a commentary of Qs and your A's.
Or even better record the phone call and tell them that you are, I bet that makes them get jumpy as they 'apparently' record it at their end too

Thanks chaps.

I am not that good on the phone as I cant read people I am woried that they are going to start asking trick questions ect.

The main problem is the familly is going to incrase by 1 in a couple of weeks and the short of it is we can not all fit in the wife's fiesta.

It took me 6 weeks to find the 'right A6' last time now the millage is over 116k but having 3 VAG tdi in the past ( one which is now over 214k ) did not bother me but suspect that's going to pl;ay to there advantage.

I bought the A6 as I have found it best for comfort and safty to keep the family safe on the regular trips to Telford.

The statement to the police is accurate and the keys were in the kitchen draw and the back door locked so that should be OK.

Police have the spare key.

I just cant get over the fact that this sort of thing happens to other people and fast 'sports cars', anyhow its not going to bring the car back.

I have receipt for car but alot of the car seats were presents from 'grandparents ect' I have some pictures of the car


A6Gone

any further guidence gretfully received or anyone that has seen an new shape A6 for sale for about 10k ( possibly 8k )

Regards

Agriv8

I was asked all sorts of questions, and several times over like:
What was the value when you bought it? (£4k?)
What do you think the value is now? (Well about £75 it was burnt out!)
What do you think the vehicle was worth before it was taken? (I dunno, £3k?)

How many keys did they give you?
How many keys have you got now?
How many keys can you give us?

If you're telling the truth you're going to be consistent with these... I think they ask to catch out liars but you're not lying are you

The wife (carpenter by trade) is a manager with the councils upvc door and window programme.
She trains cops to get into those multi bolted doors in ........... 40 seconds.

Big condolences btw. I hope you and yours get over this as best you can, and that you get what you
want insurance wise, and that the perpetrator/s get out of the car in the ice and slip and die.

Andi

Insurance companies are now using voice stress analysis over the phone, to weed out the scammers.
Do your homework and be factual and, as already said, don't accept any offer you think is unreasonable.

Unfortunately you can'y stop these little sh1tbags getting into your house, you can just slow them down or make life awkward for them

With most newish cars the only way to "steal" them is with the keys, hence domestic burglaries where the car and house contents go. It's also part of the reason for so many cars being taken from you when you are out in them.

Its a product of our sh1t legal system where the punishment doesn't fit the crime

Don't undervalue any of your belongings or any of the damage caused (carpet/decoration etc) because you will be out of pocket anyway - and the interview is carefully scripted so just be honest with them.

good luck and make the best of what little Christmas you have left

Steve

Make a note of your answers - based on experience, there's a chance they'll do a second chat in three weeks and ask the same questions all over again - presumably to spot inconsistencies in the accounts.

Euro cylinders are stupidly easy to open... look up bump keys on youtube and prepare to be terrified. I broke in to my own house once with one of these and was staggered how easily I could make a bump key in the garage.

quote:

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Originally posted by garyo
Euro cylinders are stupidly easy to open... look up bump keys on youtube and prepare to be terrified. I broke in to my own house once with one of these and was staggered how easily I could make a bump key in the garage.

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just had my 'interview' which was tick the boxses due to info received from police.

Mainly just confirming detials from driving licence ect.

Just need to start ammasing forms and photo copies ready for the valuation fight.

regards

Agriv8