here's a thing; in short; my FL2 got scuffed by an Ocado van the other week - mine was parked so the fella let me know by knocking at the front door and confessing. nice chap and not much damage - just a scuffed wheel arch and bumper - probably £250 at a bodyshop.

So i report it to my insurer, Zenith, who then pass me on to their claims handler - Enterprise Rent a Car! They offer me a hire car for the duration which I refuse. The bodyshop is appointed and the online claims system shows that they await authority for repair.

Then, today, I receive an email from Incident Management Solutions (presumably on behalf of Enterprise) telling me the car is a total loss, stating a figure of £3,088 and that a salvage company will be collecting it shortly!!

I ring the bodyshop to query what's going on and they tell me its 'normal' for Enterprise to do this....

As far as I can see, its outrageous banditry. Presumably Ocado know that its happening and are powerless to do anything about it?

I'm thinking my options are: firstly refuse the total loss outcome, secondly withdraw my 'claim' and/or try and find someone at Ocado who looks after their motor fleet and spill the beans. Any other suggestions?

thanks,
Pete
Fl2 2008 142k and going strong. 154k miles from new!

Can you ask (and receive) a breakdown of exactly what that figure is for?

Often they just lump on the cost of a hire vehicle in the quote as standard and it often pushed the figure above write off, it’s a con. Regards

David

Lovely i6 has now gone, but not me......

Please let me know if anything in my post offends you, as I may wish to offend you again......

You have the rite to refuse the total loss on the grounds that the vehicle is worth at least 50% more than the repair costs. It's your vehicle, you can demand what you like for purely cosmetic damage. Their offer is BS anyway, you try buying an equivalent Freelander 2 for that money, you won't.

My wife's VW Eos has just been repair after it was hit by some slates off of our own roof
The repair cost over £1,600 to carry out, and the vehicle is worth under £4,000.
The car was in for repair for 2 weeks, and we had a curtesy car the whole time.

If it were me, I'd tell them to stuff it, and report them to the ombudsman. 2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Soon to be sold.
Hyundai Ionic 5 Ultimate on order.
Gone. 2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE.

Tell them to get lost.

FWIW Years ago I bought a 2nd hand Beemer for £29K and took out gap insurance with BMW.
When the car was about 2 1/2 years old it was involved in a 4 car crash (nobody injured thankfully). The repair bill came to £23K and I thought they would right the car off but no, my own insurer agreed to a repair. I always wondered if it was because they somehow knew about the gap insurance and the two insurers did some sort of deal between themselves. Jules

I know hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Maybe a thought nowadays with a minor bump NOT to go to insurance first but get your local body shop/garage to have a look.
All of our FL2’s are getting older and insurance companies are just trying the easy way out.
See this a lot on the Defender/Discovery forums.
Think about it. Jim A
Fl2 HSE 2010 auto
Disco 2Td5 auto 2002 gone
Disci 1 300Tdi auto 1996 gone

How long do you plan on keeping the vehicle ?
Personally, if it were me I'd try and get a better settlement figure based on current market values that reflect the motor, then I'd ask for a buy back figure. If that buy back figure is low, I'd take the settlement and buy it back. If you're keeping it another few years then you've got the car and you've also got cash in the bank. Insurance companies , despite what people claim, do not put your premium up for vehicles that have been written off.
Plus, on a vehicle this old, the selling price isn't really going to be affected if you move it on in a couple of years time - just make sure if you have it repaired, that you have pics of the cosmetic damage to prove just how minor the damage actually was.

If you did that, wouldn't it make the car a Cat N write-off which would definitely affect the resale price.

Ok - did think about settling then buying back but that makes me part of the big con which is not acceptable to me. Of course getting hold of the claims firm is impossible (you are 22nd in the queue) but yes in hindsight I should never have involved my insurer, but how else do you get hold of the other vehicles insurers?

The answer is - do a search on the Motor insurers database which for £10 will give you the insurer and their contact details….I’ll now contact them directly and see what they make of it….
P 154k miles from new!

congoblue wrote:

If you did that, wouldn't it make the car a Cat N write-off which would definitely affect the resale price.

and that's the way it s looking right now - i take the £3k for the car offered and buy back the 'salvage' at £400 (!) which leaves me £2600 up. repair the wheel arch (maybe 250 - 300) and I'm still well ahead.

But, we all pay for it in the end!

thanks for all the comments
Pete 154k miles from new!

That's a good deal. You could even move it on straight away for the £2k mark, or you could spend a day taking it to get the category marker removed.
Either way, financially , you're up.