What's the book value of a 150k mile Z4MC...

autobahner said:
Is it worth buying a cheap car and selling on after repairs have been completed?
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I have considered it, but it would have to be reliable enough to guarantee it'll do the weekly Liverpool to London commutes.

If they still don't have a courtesy car for me this week then that's likely what I'll do - unless I can force them to pay for a cheap hire car.
 
AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH

That is all I have to say at the moment :headbang:

I won't post any more, as I don't think anyone wants to read a procession of obscenities. I'll save them for my letter of complaint (although I'll obviously remove them from the final version before I hit send).
 
Sounds like it's turned into a bit of a nightmare, sorry to hear. :thumbsdown:

Are they trying to write the car off now or something, hopefully it's still just hire car issues?
 
TomK said:
Sounds like it's turned into a bit of a nightmare, sorry to hear. :thumbsdown:

Are they trying to write the car off now or something, hopefully it's still just hire car issues?
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Just courtesy car issues, although I'm starting to seriously consider negotiating a couple more grand on the settlement and taking it :thumbsdown:

Took an hour off work today to drop my self-funded hire car off and pick up the courtesy car, as they were around the corner from each other.

I'd already called to check, and they had reserved a courtesy car for me.

Waited a few minutes for them to find my file, then a few more to find the car keys, then a few more to get their printer working, and finally had the courtesy car forms in front of me to initial.

There were about 20 clauses I had to read and initial to show agreement, but the first one was that I could only have the 'free' courtesy car if I had fully comp insurance which would cover the courtesy car.

He seemed shocked when I told him that I didn't have any insurance, as my car had been off the road for 6 weeks while they faffed about getting authorisation for the repair, and it had expired 2 days after the accident, and I hadn't bothered to reinsure as wasn't even 100% sure it was going to be repaired.

I told them that I assumed the insurance company authorising the repair would be covering the insurance aspect, but was told that he'd check and I could complete the rest of the form in the meantime (including the usual 'responsible for all parking/speeding fines clauses, etc.).

He came back a few minutes later and said that it would have to be my current policy that covered the courtesy car, as they couldn't allow it to be given out without a fully comp policy in place.

So I get a taxi home, phone my previous broker and they can't get the same insurer to cover me as the "don't want the risk" and their best offer is now £1800 :headbang:

Go online and I'm seeing only about 4 insurers each time that will quote on the comparison sites - Shiela's Wheels (with free handbag cover), Admiral/Bell telematics policies at about £50 cheaper than their non-telematics policies, eSure, etc. all will about £750 excess.

Start getting bore of this and close all the windows down after couple of hours of playing around with job descriptions, slightly changing mileage estimates, raising & lowering 'market value', and so went for a cup of tea.

Came back a few minutes later, and my inbox is full off the quotes from the comparison sites. But I notice that a couple of them are under 4 figures. I read the emails and the bottom prices seem to range from £905 to £975. The one that stood out the most was the LV= one at £915 as they where the company I left when they said they wouldn't cover a modified vehicle. Seems they do now!

So I tweak the options a bit to reduce the excess, add full European, any-car breakdown cover (my RAC one is due next month anyway), and I get a total price of £1070. Which is £100 more than my renewal, but includes £200 of breakdown cover (home start, any car, etc.) - and includes the latest accident.

Call the bodyshop, and tell them that I've got insurance, but that it's not valid until midnight, so will pick the car up in the morning.

There's a long pause, and then they tell me that they've 'unreserved' it and given it to someone else. All in the space of 3 hours :x

I was dumbfounded and just put the phone down :o

I've just spent 2 hours crafting a abusive email of complaint to both the insurer and the broker. However, I'm not emailing it until I've calmed down and sanitised it. Even then I'm loath to 'complain' at all, in fear that this will have a negative impact on my ongoing claim/repair.

Think I might have bruised my knuckles from punching the fence when I got home :(
 
yep I'd be pretty pissed right now too, what an all round bunch of ####'s. Good idea to leave the emails till the morning I'd say, try not let it ruin your evening!
Hope you have better luck soon, you've come this far with it I would persevere still. FWIW I think you were originally making the right choice re: the repair.
 
Fast forward the coming months of anguish & expense then try getting a decent insurance policy to cover the car with mod specifics that you had previously & obviously still want want :cry:
This is revving up like a JE thread , you,re chasing a outcome that's only gonna hurt one way or another
Id take the best cash offer you can muster , then run a dd for a while with cash in bank while opportunity knocks , & it always does :thumbsup:
 
mr wilks said:
Fast forward the coming months of anguish & expense then try getting a decent insurance policy to cover the car with mod specifics that you had previously & obviously still want want :cry:
This is revving up like a JE thread , you,re chasing a outcome that's only gonna hurt one way or another
Id take the best cash offer you can muster , then run a dd for a while with cash in bank while opportunity knocks , & it always does :thumbsup:
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I've already got insurance (as of midnight last night via LV=) to cover the car - including the mods and accident declared. It was also about 50% of the price that my current broker could offer (which was double my original renewal offer).

As I said, normally I don't go for the cheapest as the savings have to come from somewhere, but as this exercise makes clear you won't necessarily get better aftersales service by paying more or going to a specialist.

So it's the case that all insurance companies are crap at 'own fault' claims, then you might as well pay the bare minimum you need to - for the same level of cover.
 
CornishRob said:
Have you seen any progress on the car yet? What's the completion date?
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The 'status' website has changed from 'being assessed' to 'in the bodyshop'.

The garage wouldn't give me the courtesy car until the repairs had been approved.

They said they've got to do a certain amount of repairs before they can check for other issues - which to me sounds like they want to get some money out of the insurance company whether they get to do the whole job or not.

Completion date is 'a month or two' depending on whether they need to order parts from BMW, Bilstein, etc. Although I'm not holding out too much hope as they didn't even know who Bilstein are - it's not like it's a dodgy North Korean aftermarket supplier.
 
So, I've calmed down (with copious amounts of gin & tonic) and sanitised my missive to the insurer.

What do you think? Too much?

EDITED 18-Jan-16

Raving Loony Customer said:
Dear Sirs.

I would have called to expedite this complaint, but I fear I might have ended up being categorised as a raving lunatic and have had the police around to my front door before I'd gotten off the phone, so hopefully writing this email, and reviewing before I send it, will dampen some of the vitriol I'll be sending your way.

I apologise in advance for any offence I cause, this is purely down to my current state of mind after 6 weeks of being passed from pillar to post between umpteen claims departments/handlers, none of whom seem to be able to do anything other than to forward you to another department or to tell you to 'give it another week'.

I'm also loath to 'complain' at all, in fear that this will have a negative impact on my ongoing claim/repair - as I’ve worked out that I'd need about £20k in settlement to be in the same position as I was before my accident, yet the valuation is closer to £14k.

Whilst I consider the accident to be of no fault of my own, I understand that without a 3rd party to claim against it will have to by my policy that bears the scars of this claim.

However, this email is not about how the blame is apportioned in these instances, but rather about the poor level of service I've received since.

Until the satisfactory handover of my vehicle, my expectations of Markerstudy/Vizion in resolving this matter are:
  1. The timely provision of a courtesy car for the period of the repair, starting Friday 22-Jan-16, or reimbursement of ongoing hire car costs (approx. £100/week for a small car at Enterprise or similar)
  2. Reimbursement of the unnecessary hire car charges that I’ve incurred due to failures on the part of Markerstudy/Vizion (currently standing at £680);
  3. Clear communication of expected timeline for repair;
  4. Clear communication when delays arise, and reason for delay;
  5. Single, named, point of contact at Markerstudy for any further issues, rather than having to sit on hold to be passed between 4 different handlers;
  6. Copy of engineer’s report / bodyshop assessment for my records to maintain my car’s full history.

Please digest the following 6 week diary, which provides the background for my concerns. However, please forgive me if the dates are not perfect, as they are from memory. I hadn’t assumed I would have the need to keep a diary after reading Keith Michael’s / Markerstudy’s websites/terms about quick and efficient claims handling process.

Thursday 03-Dec-15
  • Driving north on the M42 in heavy rain in lane 4 of 4 of managed motorway, no reduced speed limit in force
  • Puddles everywhere, so speed reduced to between 50-60mph, and all 4 lanes doing around the same speed
  • Car in front is about 10 cars ahead and I'm having no difficultly clearing the standing water
  • Car sat about 1 length behind lorry in L3 indicated to come into L4, there's plenty of room so he does so, but my gap instantly goes down to about 2 car lengths
  • As he completes his move into L4, and before I have any time to increase the gap by simply lifting off, he sees the standing water and brakes
  • I react to this, and to avoid hitting him in the rear, brake heavily - just as I enter the next section of standing water
  • My car aquaplanes and does a 180° spin across all 4 lanes of the motorway and hits the barrier on the hard shoulder at quite a low speed, but facing oncoming traffic
  • No other vehicles stop or are involved - so no witnesses
  • Call Traffic Officers to help me turn around, call RAC for recovery, and call insurance company to report accident
  • Car is recovered after about 2 hours, and taken back to Liverpool
Friday 04-Dec-15
  • Insurance company call back to arrange my car to be taken to local, approved accident repair centre and tell me that I'll be provided a courtesy car
  • Insurance company tells me that the accident will be recorded as a 'fault' claim, as there is no 3rd party to claim from
  • Friday comes & goes with no pick up from accident repair centre
Saturday 05-Dec-15
  • I call on Saturday morning and am told they're shut for the weekend
  • I am in work in London on Monday morning (a 5am start) so cannot do anything about the courtesy car, and so arrange a hire car (£114 for the week) to get me there & back (much cheaper than the £250+ Liverpool to London return train ticket, and taxi/tube/buses from home to the station, and station to the office
Monday 07-Dec-15
  • Car is picked up by VIZION accident repair centre (Lookers Vauxhall, Speke)
  • No courtesy car is provided
Tuesday 08-Dec
  • Receive email from VIZION stating car is being assessed
Friday 11-Dec-15
  • Call VIZION asking about courtesy car
  • Told that I can’t have a courtesy car as the repair has not been authorised
  • Extend the hire car for another week at my own expense (£114)
Monday 14-Dec-15
  • Call Markerstudy, go through 3 or 4 different claims handlers to be told that the engineer was waiting for some further info from the garage, but that has now been received and the repair will be authorised ‘today or tomorrow’
Friday 18-Dec-15
  • Call VIZION asking about courtesy car
  • Told that I can’t have a courtesy car as the repair has STILL not been authorised
  • Extend the hire car for another week at my own expense (£141)
Monday 21-Dec-15
  • Call Markerstudy, go through 3 or 4 different claims handlers to be told that the engineer was waiting for some further info from the garage, but that has now been received and the repair will be authorised ‘today or tomorrow’
  • Point out that this was the same excuse given a week earlier
Thursday 24-Dec-15
  • Call VIZION asking about courtesy car
  • Told that I can’t have a courtesy car as the repair has STILL not been authorised
  • Call Markerstudy asking about authorisation/courtesy car
  • Greeted by a message that says the office is now closed for the Christmas holiday
Tuesday 29-Dec-15
  • Call Markerstudy asking about authorisation/courtesy car
  • Given apologies and promise that it would be put on the engineer’s ‘priority queue’
Thursday 30-Dec-15
  • Call VIZION asking about courtesy car
  • Told that I can’t have a courtesy car as the repair has STILL not been authorised
  • Call Markerstudy asking about authorisation/courtesy car
  • Now greeted by a message that says the office is now closed for the New Year
  • Hire another car for the week at my own expense (£110)
Tuesday 05-Jan-16
  • Receive call from a very professional and efficient Engineer at Zenith insurance to talk me through my current repair estimate (about £7000) and valuation (£9,300 for the basic car, and £4,500 for aftermarket parts)
  • Detail the Bilstein B16/PSS10 suspension (£2500), Rogue Diablo exhaust system (£1200) and Gruppe-M carbon fibre air filter (£600), plus the recent new clutch & flywheel (£2000), cooling pack replacement (£1000), new alternator & battery (£500) and full service history
  • Agreed that I would prefer it to be repaired as a £13,800 settlement would not enable me to buy a similar car to add the same modifications to, as the cheapest car currently for sale is £13,500 and didn’t have any mods or most of the rare factory options that mine had (including BMW Individual exterior & interior)
  • Told that repair would be authorised
Friday 08-Jan-16
  • Call VIZION asking about courtesy car
  • Told that they don’t have any courtesy cars
  • Hire another car for the week at my own expense (£86)
Monday 11-Jan-16
  • Receive email from VIZION stating car is now in the bodyshop, and get a call saying it may be a few weeks/months before I get the car back due to difficulty sourcing parts
  • Told that a courtesy car has been reserved for me
Friday 15-Jan-16
  • Go to VIZION to collect courtesy car
  • Get given forms to read & sign
  • Notice that part of the items state that I must have a fully comprehensive policy in place to take one of their courtesy cars - I don't have any insurance as it lapsed 3 days after my accident, and as I was told in December that my car would probably be written off, I saw no need to renew until I had a better understanding of what was happening. I also put my car on SORN to reclaim the tax as it was going to be off the road
  • I head back home to investigate my insurance options and am told by my broker (Keith Michaels) that Markerstudy will not quote, and their best price is now double what I was paying.
  • I decline this offer and go online to find another insurer
  • After a couple of hours I finally get insurance elsewhere (LV=) for a similar price and level of cover (except for LV='s ludicrous £190 windscreen excess), but it won't start until midnight
  • I call the garage to state this and am told that the car has been 'unreserved' and allocated to someone else, and that they ‘may’ have one available next week
  • HIRE YET ANOTHER HIRE CAR AT MY EXPENSE (£117)
  • Total hire car bill now almost £700 and I’ve got no guarantee that I’ll have a courtesy car next week
Can you understand why I'm starting to become disillusioned with Markerstudy specifically, and the whole infrastructure supporting the industry in general.

I don't know whether this poor level of service is due to incompetence, time of the year or just general attitude to claims management, but I'm certainly currently not in a position that I'd ever consider recommending Markerstudy to anyone.

If it wasn't for the difficulty I know I'd have in replacing my car like-for-like, I would have seriously considered taking a write off settlement. But I know I'd face spending another £5k on top of the settlement to put me into the same position as before the accident.

I eagerly await your reply.
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Great letter....

Missed out a couple of T's and i would probably reword the "slam on" bit for heavily brake or similar...



You are a lot calmer than me..... I would be sat in head office screaming at them..... Or asking for a better settlement figure to get the predicament out of your life..
 
Tony, have you sent the email?

FWIW have you considered outlining exactly what YOU want and expect from the repair company and the insurance company?

I suggest you put together a numbered list of brief but clear expectations which might, for example, include:

The provision of a courtesy car/reimbursement of costs so far - detailed/outline of expected timings of repair made clear in writing to you/close communication (by a named person?) regarding acquiring parts, with you before they are bought and fitted/close communication (from a named person?) regarding progress to be made clear to you say every week, twice a week? Etc

Then offer your long outline as the background to the case and the reason why you are seeking such reassurance and expectations.

If you've already sent your lengthy email then simply put together a list of expectations and send them that in the hope that they are more likely to respond to a direct request for action, rather than a response to what has been poor service and a lack of understanding of your case? You can follow up on the poor service over time - for now you can outline just what you want and expect from them to get you and your ///M back on the road.
 
Thanks for the input.

No, not sent it yet.

Still tweaking, considering options, but got completely buried in the moaning part that I didn't even see that I'd Not laid out my expectations of them.
 
flimper said:
My heart sank reading this Tony, I have just taken out a new policy with Markerstudy....
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Companies make mistakes. It's how they rectify those mistakes that separates a good company from a bad company.

Complaint has been sent, so you might as well wait and see what their response is, then worry :fuelfire:

I couldn't use them if I wanted, as I'm too high a risk now and they won't quote for my business.

Lucky in one way, as it prompted me to spend a few hours on the internet looking for better policies. With the exception of the huge windscreen excess, the LV= one is more or less identical.
 
As a Markerstudy customer, via Sky Insurance (as a few more on this forum most likely are) - feel free to let them know on my behalf that my existing policy renewal, and impending new <insert RS or M product car> policy is heavily depending on the outcome of the service you receive. I'm confident pistonheads, bimmerpost, e90post and the various VAG forums would be interested to see the outcome too.

No s**t, that's terrible - unless they do something to fix this i'm going to default back to Admiral and start anonymously sharing this thread.
 
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