Worton

That's exactly what I'm thinking, it's my main argument at the moment.

Yes I'm fully comp, direct line do have vandalism damage cover but if have to pay the excess and I don't want to admit it was vandalised as it wasn't.

Funnily enough shorade (my preferred garage) rang me today to arrange for me to bring the car in. I told them no as I'm still sorting this out with DL. Seems like they're trying to push me. When I get home I'll take a pic of the inside of the boot to show that there are no scratches or anything where any vandals would have tried to break in

Worton

Ok brief update, I've spoken to DL who said that they've received information from the assessor now however he's adamant that the damage was not caused by the accident. They also said that it wasn't raised as a complaint officially but he did mention that I wasn't happy. So I raised it "officially" just and waiting for a response tomorrow sometime.

Next update tomorrow!

Worton

Right I've asked europaconsultants for help as I need to take extra days off work that I can't afford and to be honest I'm getting really stressed about it. Hopefully it won't come to using them but I thought I'd cover my back. Here's the brief description I sent them:

"Firstly the third party has accepted full reliability for the damage so my issue isn't with the third party himself. The issue is because I wanted to use my own garage and because I went through my insurance (they are aware that I wasn't at fault) and they sent out an assessor. The issue stands at the assessor doesn't believe all of the damage was done because of the accident. I'm obviously upset with this as I've done nothing wrong and done all the right things such as take photos etc and yet MY insurance company are questioning my credibility. I understand they need to filter out fake claims but he didn't seem interested in the evidence I have to support my claim. I'm currently at the start of the complaints process with my insurer (Direct Line) however I feel helpless and worried that they're going to not fix my car and needing to take extra days annual leave from work which I can't afford to do and shouldn't have to. Ill be extremely grateful for your advice, I don't want the stress of having to prove myself to my own insurer"

Worton

final update for tonight i promise!

Here are pics of the damaged area in question (i wont even get onto the wheels!)

Apologies for the picture quality, its dark outside and the car hasnt been cleaned in a while, too cold!

as you can see there is not even a scratch on the inside of where they were supposed to have vandalised the boot at all. ill get better pics in the day on saturday.




and externally when the boot is shut so you can see the area. that orange bit is actually rust



also one of the other things he said was that he can see that the wheels were damaged before the accident. as you can see by the cleanliness of the car, how the hell can he see that from under all this dirt?!

jesus i didnt realise how dirty the car was, weekend clean i think!

Worton

Update: I've had a call from Direct Line regarding my very brief complaints procedure. So I started the complaint last week, and this is the first time I've heard from them since. They said that they agree with the assessor and said that they're closing the complaint and if I want to follow it up then I need to provide a report from an independent assessor backing my argument. Then if I can get one they will do the work and refund and cost of the assessor.

Bloody good complaints procedure.

Funnily enough today I received an email from the claims management agency saying that they're sending an independent assessor round to give a separate report and they havent told him Direct Lines outcome as to not make his decisions biased.

I'll update you with their response.

gbduo

Oh for goodness sake, we pay an absolute fortune for insurance and you are honest, hard working motorist and you get treated like that. Insurance companies need far higher regulation and get their bloody priorities straight.