Fiat 500

[Rhubarb]

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After one or two hitches the car arrived today.
Mark collected it this afternoon and has clocked up 15 miles already.....and I have done a grand total of 2!
Never owned a car before that hasn't had less 200,000miles on the clock

The hitches?
The insurance company want the bank to write a letter to say we are legally intitled to the payment (the bank of all things, after they have just been bailed out by the government for lack of funds!)

The hub-caps haven't arrived.
We have a leak in the camper van which means moving all the cars in the drive and this Fiat will not be living out on the the road, but have a nice warm patch under the carport.

[Twitchin Kitten]

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Wait, you mean the insurance company wants the bank to say that YOU must pay THEM and it's OK? Like they don't believe you saying you have a loan with the bank and the bank needs to verify that you're making payments to them?

Remind the insurance company you now own the bank since you loaned them money! Wait..... does it work that way in the UK? It does here! Our banks were bailed out with TAXPAYER money and they are indebetd to US now but they fail to understand this little fact and keep asking for more!

What a kick in the head, ain't it?

Want me to write a letter to the insurance company for you?

[LKTraz]

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Want me to write a letter to the insurance company for you?

*What's that sound? Is that the sound of an insurance company's asshole tearing?*

[Rhubarb]

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Want me to write a letter to the insurance company for you?

*What's that sound? Is that the sound of an insurance company's asshole tearing?*

LOL
Even the bank have no idea why the insurance company want a letter.
For once I have to say 'Elephant' have been a good insurance company and I think Christine would have been please with the service. They have been informative, respectful and sensitive all the way through. Her finance company were S**t.
Once everything was finalised the insurance company wrote us a break down list of payments, total loss (items in the car) the loss of the car, the money owing to the finance company, etc.
It has cost them dearly the repair to the lorry are still pending but we know from the driver at the inquest it is in the region of £25,000. They have paid us the maximum.

They asked for legal proof Mark was the allowed to recieve the cheque, but gave no clue what paper work was required. We sent Christine's birth certificate (it having both her and his names on it). That was fine but they wanted someone official to say we were already in possession of Christines' finances.
After Mark gave them one of his 'snotty phone calls' it was agreed that if the bank had already accepted him having a legal right all they need was confirmation.

What hassel!
The girl on the phone was really sorry, but in the past they have paid out to one member of the family only to find the money should have gone to some one else.

If and when I get to drive the car it's real fun!

[Twitchin Kitten]

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Ok Now I'm really confused!

What has Christine's accident got to do with you getting insurance for your new car?

And IF I am reading the above correctly, they deemed it Christine's fault for the accident and they're giving you a hard time paying the truck driver? And goddamn, I saw the photos of the accident and the truck that hit her - £25,000 ($50,000!) is an awful lot of money to repair the truck!

So because Christine was involved in an accident that they are taking WAY TOO LONG to settle, you have to eat shit and beg for insurance on YOUR new car?

30 days to settle accident insurance claims here. That's IT and it has NO bearing on what YOU get to or not get to have in the future!

[LKTraz]

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Yep. It became standard in the US in the late 70's nationwide to have "no fault" insurance.

[Rhubarb]

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My new car is from Christine's insurance.
They have been very supportive on the whole, once they got the enormity of the situation. They have delt with all the police and finance company details.
Christine had both myself and Philip as extra drivers on her car, she beat them into a very good deal (since that was her job after all). After the accident our friends who came to look after us called 'Elephant' but because of protocol they couldn't talked to Tony. Stupidly they could only talk to the insured. Once it was established that was not possible they agreed to talk to either Phil or myself. Neither of us felt we could deal with the paperwork, so I got 'Elephant' to talk to Mark since he was next of kin.
So the cheque was to pay us for damages (or rather Christine), there was no blame established after the inquest. The accidental death verdict was put to ill health but the insurance company agreed to pay for the lorry before the inquest was set, out of 'good will'.
£25,000 sounds about right, our neighbour is a HGV driver and even Traz will tell you the cost of repairs are enormous! The car took out the off-side wheel, and braking system, including the TACHO which effects the onboard computer.

The cheque should have been written to Christine but because of the law and to protect her from identity theft (which what the insurance company are trying to prevent) her bank account was frozen and eventually closed by Mark and Jeff, her boyfriend after the death certificate was released. So any cheque couldn't be banked or cashed. Mark had to prove he was authorised to deal with her account.
It is the sort of thing you really don't want to deal with at a time like this but I can see why it has to be done this way.

So the list I told you was what they were willing to pay us to buy a new car, they valued her belongings, value of the car in February, her life, and how much the finance company were demanding (although, by rights they were intitled to nothing, because a debts dies with the debter). They paid top valuation on everything.
The cheque belonged to me, as an insured driver on the policy, so Mark said we should buy another car.
I got the Fiat!
Only the car arrived before the cheque
But it appears to all be sorted out today and my car is actually mine now.

I know Christine would approve, she wanted me to buy a 500, and she kept bullying the salesmans for test drives for me. I think Chris, Brett and Lee are so relieved they found one for me (although Lee is a Renault salesman now, but he knew I couldn't drive another Clio).

The yearly tax on this car is peanuts, and so is the new insurance deal. £35 tax (the Saab £185) and £210 insurance this year but should drop to less next year (unless I let Phil drive)

[Twitchin Kitten]

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Ok now that explains it better!