Stolen Car- Low Valuation from Hastings Direct

[andychelt]

I had my car stolen on 10th December and submitted a claim to Hastings Direct who have now given me a low value as their "final settlement".

 

My car was a Ford Mondeo Ghia X Estate 2004 in totally mint condition with 112000 miles. I bought it in June 2021 from a private seller for £1900 and it really was in totally mint condition and I have a lot of documents to back up the work the previous owner did on it to keep it exceptionally tidy.

 

Hastings Direct have offered me £1356 which I think is far too low. I have only done 300 miles in it in 6 months (which can be proved by my recent MOT I had done).

 

When I filled in the claims forms Hastings asked for as much information as possible to confirm the condition of the car which I have supplied.

 

The email from the loss adjuster said to call him to discuss what I thought of the offer which I did and was quickly told "that is all you're getting-take it or leave it".

 

I asked where his value came from and he said CAPS guide. I asked had he looked at all the documents I had supplied and he said "no"-he goes by the guides only. When I said about prices on Autotrader he totally dismissed it out of hand.

 

I have gone through their complaints procedure who have totally backed up what he has said.

 

This is a rare car being the Ghia X and there are very few about so difficult to get an exact match on price. There are only about 7 available on Autotrader and the contacting the fosir values are around the £2800 mark-so well above the amount I've been offered.

 

Am I being unreasonable in expecting more from Hastings or are they screwing me over?  

 

On looking on the Financial Ombudsman site they do recommend using guides unless the car is rare or there is a big difference in the price the car was bought for recently.

 

I am thinking of contacting the ceo of Hastings Direct via email personally before going to the fos.

 

Any thoughts/advice appreciated.

Thanks

Andy

Edited January 6, 2022 by dx100uk
added A few blank lines only..dx

[BankFodder]

They are Hastings – they are insurers – they are simply doing what it says on the tin.

Yes of course they are screwing you over. How could you be in any doubt?

Begin by getting together all the evidence you can – not only of the condition of your particular car but also the selling prices of similar cars – make model condition – et cetera.

And we will help you to start making a case.

You say that you want to write to the CEO – Bless!

You say that you want to go to the FOS – Bless!

I'm afraid that the world is full of people who think that there are champions in authority who are prepared to help them out. Bless!

[unclebulgaria67]

Car is not that rare and the value in guides that Insurers use, would mostly be the trade in value.  There would not be that many for sale and cars of that age would probably mostly have been scrapped by now.

 

See little point in going to the FOS, as they are unlikely to be that helpful, even if you did provide evidence to support a higher value.

 

If you gather enough evidence to support a higher value, you could send Hastings a letter before action saying that you will issue a County Court claim against them unless they agreed to meet the value £xxxx for which you have provided them with evidence to support the value.  And issue the Court claim, if they don't negotiate a higher settlement.

[andychelt]

Thanks for replies and advice.

I did actually send an email to the ceo of Hastings yesterday afternoon and he got a senior manager to telephone me this morning to discuss my problems. He was very amicable and he agreed to pay another £350, so £1700 which is close enough to the £1900 I originally paid for the car. So I've agreed to settle.

So in this case contacting the ceo (and politely) did work. As you have said the fos probably wouldn't have helped at all and going to the small claims court for this small amount wouldn't have been worth it.