Good afternoon everyone - I'm looking for advice from someone who knows about these things. Long story short... Our car was involved in an accident just before Christmas. Transit Van 1, Fiat Panda Nil. The back end was pretty wrecked. We had the car recovered to our local (trusted) garage. It was taken from there, without or knowledge or consent, by a certain salvage company. They assessed the car on behalf of the insurance company and valued it at about half what we think it should be worth. Now, I know everyone thinks insurance valuations are lower than they should be, but they had a lot of the technical information wrong, valued it as a manual when it is automatic, didn't take into account the very low mileage or excellent condition (only 17,000 miles from new) and offered less than the We Buy Any Car valuation. All of this is the subject of an ongoing complaint to the insurance company. Now - Here is the part I need advice on - The car is currently advertised for sale on this company's auction website. As I understand it, as we haven't accepted a final offer for the total loss yet (the insurance company haven't actually confirmed officially that the car is a total loss yet) the car still legally belongs to us. That being the case, they are trying to sell something that doesn't belong to them - which must surely be illegal? Can anyone confirm this one way or the other? Many thanks...
The car belongs to you until you agree a settlement figure and receive the funds from your insurer, at which point title will pass to them. What they are doing at present, in law, is known as 'conversion'. You'll see it explained in various forms but they all boil down to the same thing, taking with the intent of exercising ownership inconsistent with the real owner's rights. In your favour, is the fact, there is no defence to this offence; it is a tort (a wrong against an individual) of strict liability. Simply put, they cannot sell it, and should not even offer it for sale, until title has passed to them. My advice is to phone them asap and instruct them to remove it from sale; point out they are in the wrong as it is still your property. All calls are recorded but even so, send them an email confirming the conversation immediately afterwards. Hopefully, you'll get it sorted out with them but insurers will ALWAYS seek to pay out the minimum and defray their costs. You will have to show them what it would cost to replace the vehicle with an identical spec, mileage, condition and haggle, haggle, haggle. Let me know how you get on.
they are breaking the law, call them and tell them they must remove it from sale immediately and confirm to you this is done, or you will warn them you will take legal action
True, but it would just complicate matters, best, at this stage to prevent the sale in the first place.
@JR45 you are within your rights to obtain another assessment of the car’s value. You’d have to find an independent assessor though, Google will give you loads, and then pay for it. If the variance between their assessed value and it’s true FMV is as much as 50% then it may be worth it. It’s all ammo to you to argue the true value of the car.
@JR45 Any news? You can PM me if you want. Where I can I will dispense pro-bono legal advice to members of this forum.
The car has been removed from the salvage company's auction site - we complained to the salvage company and the insurance company telling them that they were acting illegally. We have had a letter from the insurance company in reply to our previous complaints - which does not actually address the majority of the complaints - and a cheque for £250 for the "inconvenience"... We will probably accept their offer for the total loss - tbh we need the money - and then pass the case/complaint over to the FOS.
One always has to weigh up need for the money and it's true value/cost to replace, that's a tough call to make. However, once you do accept their offer, that's it, you'll not be able to get anymore from them at a later date, even if the Ombudsman finds they've been out of order. The fact they've already issued a cheque for £250 indicates they know they were in the wrong, and they know you know as well. I'd give it a bit more of a go yet. If not already done so, put together a folder of adverts of similar spec/age/condition/mileage cars for sale (the more you can get the better); include the offer to buy from WBAC, take their average asking price and compare that with what your insurer is offering. Point out the difference to your insurer and ask them to explain why they are so low. Complaints like this will be dealt with at a low level within the organisation and they can sometimes, through inexperience/insufficient training of the administrator, trip themselves up when one starts asking for written justifications of their offer.
