Broken sump, insurance claim?

[mike hatton]

Afternoon chaps, quick question for you...

The wife has put a hole in the sump on her Passat and ran it until it "sounded like something was falling off"!

With the engine run dry is it possible I could get the insurance to cough up? The car was due to go to pastures new and probably would be considered a write off anyway so assuming the insurance would pay I'm less than upset.

Thanks.

 

[Doodle]

If it's a holed sump because you've hit something on the road, then yes. Bear in mind the knock-on effects of claiming though.

 

[mike hatton]

She thinks she hit it on a speed bump... don't suppose that really matters? Not sure we'll be keeping the policy or replacing the car so bumped premium wouldn't matter. Thanks.

 

[Shayne]

Find the speed bump and threaten the council with lawyers , they paid the bill for a new exhaust on my sisters BMW .

 

[Trevor]

And this is why our premiums keep going up, each to their own I suppose but in my view morally wrong.

 

[Paddler Ed]

I deal with Hertz hire cars, and whilst their insurance terms are viewed about one rung above other bottom feeders, their insurances does not cover damage to the underneath of the car.

 

[mike hatton]

And this is why our premiums keep going up, each to their own I suppose but in my view morally wrong.

1st claim ever and paid way over the car value in that time. I can't afford to keep the car anyway so I'll fix and sell up if they don't write it off. Why is it morally wrong?

 

[Shayne]

If it was bust by a speed bump the speed bump is not within the regulation size guidelines and the council is responsible just the same as if you trip over a broken curb and injure yourself . Pen a letter offering them the opportunity to repair the damage at cost or if they prefer you will take legal advice . No need for insurance to be involved .

 

[mike hatton]

Googling regulations on speed bumps now... thanks.

 

[mike hatton]

4inches high x 900mm long max. Tape measure out tomorrow....

 

[Trevor]

The way I read the post is that ripping a sump off on a speed hump is down to driving too fast, so lets say Shayne is right and it wasn't build to regs it still takes some doing to knacker a sump that much, so I go back to how the car was driven. As a driver approaching a lump in the road you'd take some precaution to drive over it?

After a clonk that bad and not stopping to see if anything had happened and then allowing the engine to run dry, how can you expect an Insurance policy to pay out. Yes I can see how perhaps this is a sort of accident but the driver has to take the bulk of the responsibility here, if not all.

Going back to Shayne's point and if the hump was out of regs, at best you might be able to claim for the sump (is this a brand new speed hump, if not then deffo driver error) but not for the engine repairs, but the Insurer would likely argue that the car was being driven too fast (so they can get out of paying up).

The morally wrong bit for me here is "I'll stick a claim in anyway" when on balance it reads like this was driver error.

 

[Graham]

If it was bust by a speed bump the speed bump is not within the regulation size guidelines and the council is responsible just the same as if you trip over a broken curb and injure yourself . Pen a letter offering them the opportunity to repair the damage at cost or if they prefer you will take legal advice . No need for insurance to be involved .

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This sounds the best approach.

I think claiming on your insurance isn't going to go far, I seem to remember one of my good friends hitting a speed bump, and was turned down by his insurance.

He did go to measure the speed bump, but found it to be within the specifications, height is 10 times length.
Typically 100mm high, and 1 meter from rise off the road surface to the end of the bump.

I suggest you measure the speed bump you went over, or perhaps go looking for one that is "OUT OF SPEC" then try writing to your local council.

Gra.

 

[Trevor]

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or perhaps go looking for one that is "OUT OF SPEC" then try writing to your local council.

Gra.

Jeez, that's my point exactly. It's morally wrong, it pushes insurance premiums up and at worst fraudulent. Just doesn't sit right with me.

 

[clivehorridge]

Just chuckling to myself on this one, we've regularly got 650mm diameter manhole covers missing in the road, fat chance of claiming of anyone here if you hit one, and at 50kph they can rip a car wheel and it's suspension, clean off!

Lucky me, I can bounce right over them

Ah, ah, here's one now

http://youtu.be/Gizv8KD-qqA

 

[mike hatton]

Trev, fully comp is to cover personal error. If I never wanted this covered I'd buy 3rd party cover. If I could afford to take it on the chin that'd be different. Also, dont expect too much of the missus when it comes to mechanics.

 

[Shayne]

I agree with you Trev about bogus insurance claims , i have an elderly neighbor that refuses to house train her dog , a dog that replaces her previous which died of old age still not house trained . Every 6 months or so she claims on house insurance for new carpets , so the way i see it is everyone in this postcode is forced to chip in to buy her new carpets twice a year . I discussed this with my truck insurance provider as i feel i pay way over the odds , the reply was "sorry we can't disclose how premiums are calculated"

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

If I have an accident that was my fault it's usually because I wasn't driving in an appropriate manner If I went round a bend too fast hit a tree and wrote the car off of course I'd make a claim, that's the point of fully comp no? A speed bump is a bit less dramatic than a tree but still sounds like the same sort of thing to me.

Steph would also drive her car till it wouldn't go even with warning lights on, maybe it's a girl thing

 

[Doodle]

Steph would also drive her car till it wouldn't go even with warning lights on, maybe it's a girl thing

The lack of mechanical sympathy of some of my female friends scares the daylights out of me. Slipping the clutch rather than using the handbrake on a hill. Hearing a odd noise but not bothering to mention it for 3 or 4 weeks, by which time it's too late and the car is utterly f*cked. Ignoring the fuel warning light and continuing to drive until the car "mysteriously stops".

There's a couple of them I refuse to passenger with - their driving is so bad I have no idea how they got their licence.

 

[jbecks]

My view is;

insurance is there for a reason, and fully comprehensive insurance is there to cover an accident...going to fast over a speed bump may have been silly, needless to say it was an accident and if the insurance will pay out, well great that's what insurance is for.

trevor you say it's wrong to claim because his wife drove to fast over a speed Bump, does that also mean you should not claim of your insurance if you drove into the back of someone?? Both incidents are caused by poor judement or not paying attention.

 

[clivehorridge]

My view is;

insurance is there for a reason, and fully comprehensive insurance is there to cover an accident...going to fast over a speed bump may have been silly, needless to say it was an accident and if the insurance will pay out, well great that's what insurance is for.

trevor you say it's wrong to claim because his wife drove to fast over a speed Bump, does that also mean you should not claim of your insurance if you drove into the back of someone?? Both incidents are caused by poor judement or not paying attention.

I agree with this, when you've paid for fully comp it's your right to claim even when you're at fault, that's what the cover is for.

BUT

Tell the truth and shame the devil.

If you hit a speed bump that's out of spec, notify the council and claim from them too, but you can't claim twice for the same damage, and it would in any event be fraud to fabricate a claim.

I think this is where Trevor was coming from and I entirely agree with him.

It's not a case of being righteous and a lot of folks laugh at it, but it's a fact that bogus claims have created the stupidly high premiums the UK (and I suppose others) are saddled with now.

An ex GF once had her car "stolen" and torched in a lane simply because it was old and the engine was shot. I was really p!ssed with her and she didn't see anything wrong with it. The fire brigade had to go and put the thing out (instead of being available for someone who really needed them) and the whole episode really got to me.

Treat the system fairly and it will look after you, abuse it and it's anarchy. Same with social services..... rant ...rant...