This can't be right!

[Woodwould]

Mrs. Wood bought a brand new car a year ago. Two weeks ago she set off for her mother's in Gippsland and along the Pakenham Bypass, the traffic in her lane slowed to a bumper-to-bumper crawl. She was struck from behind by a coach doing over 100kph (police's and insurance assessor's estimations). Somehow my wife escaped with only minor injuries, but the car was demolished. The police are charging the coach driver.

The car was one year and two days old. Mrs. Wood had just renewed the rego and insurance. Under the terms of her insurance policy, the car would have been replaced with a new one if under twelve months old. That window was missed by two days and despite Mrs. Wood's pleadings, the insurance company won't budge. They did provide a hire car for a period of two weeks. That terminates this Sunday.

I have searched every on-line car sales site and many others too and because the model is new to Australia, there are no commensurate twelve month old cars in the country. The assessor still managed to come up with a 'second hand replacement value'. His pay-out figure will obviously not buy us a similar second hand car because one doesn't exist. Our only option is to buy another new car, but the pay-out figure is considerably short of the cost of an identical car – and there's an eight week hiatus until another identical car arrives into the country.

Mrs. Wood is utterly distraught. Through absolutely no fault of hers, her immaculate and well maintained car has been destroyed and is seemingly irreplaceable. Nobody at either Mrs. Wood's insurance company or the coach company's insurance company see a problem with that.

We have hit a brick wall, but common sense tells me (and especially seeing that the car was just two days into its second year) that if there are no commensurate vehicles available, then the coach company should stump up for the next best thing – a new car. Mrs. Wood is even prepared to take a slightly different model (which is in stock at the local dealer's) in order to defer any further car hire, but her insurance company told her that their duty had been met and they wouldn't be pursuing the coach company for anything more than their pay-out figure.

The coach driver will face court, but as of Sunday, Mrs. Wood will be left without any transport and incapable of purchasing a similar car with the pay-out. It's not just!

EDIT: Mrs. Wood has just been advised by a lawyer that if she accepts her insurance company's settlement that she will have no recourse with the the coach company!

[silentC]

Unfortunately I think that insurance companies are very well aware of what they can and can't get away with and taking them on requires a lot of effort and expense so they know full well that most people won't bother.

You should probably get some legal advice though. Are you sure Mrs Wood has not been emotionally or physically affected after being rear-ended by a coach at that speed? Maybe there are other avenues for compensation.

Fifteen years ago, my sister was rear-ended at a similar speed by a lady who was doing her make up in the mirror. She still suffers neck and back problems to this day but being a humble sort of person she never bothered to pursue her rights despite advice to do so from many people including her doctor.

[Woodwould]

Mrs. Wood was transported to hospital in an ambulance, but released that night. She is receiving on-going treatment for whiplash and bruising. perhaps there is some room for recourse on that front. Normally a very stoic individual, Mrs. Wood is emotionally, an absolute mess at present.

[silentC]

Well then I'd say you've got nothing to lose by seeking some advice.

[Dave50]

yep it's just not right at all and she has my sympathy, a friend of ours was travelling along a country road at road speed when the caravan coming the other way seen a parking bay they wanted and crossed in front, obvious outcome, my friend has only minor injuries but the car was on hire purchase, she placed a large deposit and took the vehicle over five years repayment, the insurance company paid out the vehicle but because it was over a year old it wasn't enough to pay the vehicle out, depreciation plus interest, she has lost her car and her rather large deposit plus twelve months of repayments and now has a bill for the remainder of the vehicle cost, for something that was not her fault! this cannot be right!!!! the elderly driver of the other vehicle is undergoing charges but this does not help her at all!

life stinks sometimes!!!

[Bob38S]

Good advice from silentC.

Go and explore what avenues are open to you - legal advice may offer up an alternative you have not covered.

Any dealings with the coach company or insurers will carry more weight from a legal perspective than from a private individual.

All the best and regards,
Bob

[jimbur]

There is a non-legal avenue which I am sure you have considered. However, it involves opening your life to the reptiles of the media and is not something to be considered lightly.
Cheers,
Jim

[munruben]

Sorry to hear about Mrs W's bad luck but main thing is she is not seriously injured. Could have been much worse.

Insurance companies are pretty much unbending with their decisions about pay out on claims and seems like their decision is final unfortunately.

Maybe worth looking at an agreed value policy on your next car after the initial first year of insurance is up. Market value policies are just that, you get the figure that the car is worth (if you can find one) in the market place. Agreed value, you get the price that the insurance company has agreed for your vehicle. The premium is higher for an agreed value insurance but in a case like Mrs W's, where replacing the vehicle is not easy, might have been the way to go.

[Woodwould]

I'm loathe to involve the media, but who knows!

Sorry to hear about Mrs W's bad luck but main thing is she is not seriously injured. Could have been much worse.

Insurance companies are pretty much unbending with their decisions about pay out on claims and seems like their decision is final unfortunately.

Maybe worth looking at an agreed value policy on your next car after the initial first year of insurance is up. Market value policies are just that, you get the figure that the car is worth (if you can find one) in the market place. Agreed value, you get the price that the insurance company has agreed for your vehicle. The premium is higher for an agreed value insurance but in a case like Mrs W's, where replacing the vehicle is not easy, might have been the way to go.

While in the UK, I had several sportscars and road-going race cars which were insured through my broker under agreed value policies. One of the cars was stolen and the insurers offered me a lesser figure to account for 'depreciation'! Needless to say, lawyers were involved then too.

[artme]

Sorry to hear of Mrs. Wood's trouble. I hope she gets counselling and supportand recovers well.

Silent C has offered salient advice. I would not accept the insurance company's offer. Seek legal advice as a first step.

[jimbur]

It is always best to keep written correspondence to the known facts. However, if you manage to meet a representative of the company one line to take would be disappointment that such a well renowned entity would do such a thing. Emphasise that you are a member of a number of Australia wide groups many of whose members have been pushing you to name the company. You of course have not done this as you are sure that they will act ethically and not allow a loophole to get in the way of justice to their suffering client.
Cheers,
Jim

[Sturdee]

Whilst I sympathize with you I think it's a bit rich to condemn the insurance company for doing what your contract of insurance requires them to do.

There are two issues here. Firstly the accident which is clearly the coach driver fault and if you take legal action against them, not through your insurance company, they will be required to pay the full costs incurred.

The second issue is your claim against your insurance company under your policy of insurance. They will pay out in accordance of your policy, and in doing this you will assign all your rights to any claim against the coach driver to them.

So the issue is do you act yourself against the coach driver or do you claim against your insurance.

But maybe you have already claimed in accepting the hire car so your rights to act separately may already be extinguished. So go and see a good lawyer as soon as possible as our esteemed Silent C has already said.

BTW I would be most upset if insurance companies paid out more than the their policies required for that would unfairly raise premiums for the others.


Peter.

[ian]

Mrs. Wood bought a brand new car a year ago. Two weeks ago she set off for her mother's in Gippsland and along the Pakenham Bypass, the traffic in her lane slowed to a bumper-to-bumper crawl. She was struck from behind by a coach doing over 100kph (police's and insurance assessor's estimations). Somehow my wife escaped with only minor injuries, but the car was demolished. The police are charging the coach driver.

The car was one year and two days old. Mrs. Wood had just renewed the rego and insurance. Under the terms of her insurance policy, the car would have been replaced with a new one if under twelve months old. That window was missed by two days and despite Mrs. Wood's pleadings, the insurance company won't budge. They did provide a hire car for a period of two weeks. That terminates this Sunday.

I have searched every on-line car sales site and many others too and because the model is new to Australia, there are no commensurate twelve month old cars in the country. The assessor still managed to come up with a 'second hand replacement value'. His pay-out figure will obviously not buy us a similar second hand car because one doesn't exist. Our only option is to buy another new car, but the pay-out figure is considerably short of the cost of an identical car – and there's an eight week hiatus until another identical car arrives into the country.

Have you searched for the price of a demonstrator model of Mrs Wood's car or one very similar?
Often this is the best source to a cost guide for a one year old car as the price asked usually reflectes +1 model year plus the kms on the clock.

I'm assuming Mrs Wood's car had a 2009 compliance plate

as to fairness, please don't forget that the cost of Mrs Wood's new car included registration, stamp duty and GST all of which effectively went "poof" when she drove the car out of the dealers yard.

Your best bet might be to seek legal advice and look for a compromise between the cost of a 2009 demonstrator and what the insurance assessor considers the "second hand" value to be -- at the end of the day you're looking for common ground between two opinions.

[mic-d]

Good luck and best wishes to Mrs Wood, both for health and sorting out the insurance mess.

[Woodwould]

Thanks for all the considered input.

The second issue is your claim against your insurance company under your policy of insurance. They will pay out in accordance of your policy, and in doing this you will assign all your rights to any claim against the coach driver to them.

This is the crux of the problem. Mrs. Wood wasn't made aware of this. In their 'caring' way, her insurance company were all too quick to organise a hire car and by that deed she was sunk. In her initial call to the insurance company, she asked repeatedly, and was assured repeatedly that they would seek recompense from the coach company's insurers, not only for the extras on the car (which they'd been advised of at the time of fitment), but also for the many items of value she had in the car for her long weekend at her mum's.

By the next phone call they had changed their tune to a whole different opera. Mrs. Wood was then told that none of the extras would be covered, but she was permitted to go to the tow yard and retrieve any of the extras if they were serviceable. She was also told none of her personal belongings would be considered. This is why we're up in arms.

There's a lot more to this that I don't want to divulge... yet. There was some positive discussion late yesterday and next week will hopefully see Herself with a smile on her face again.