Good afternoon,

Sorry in advance for the lengthy first post.

My vehicle was damaged a few days ago, I wasn't present, so no injuries, but was in the vicinity, the driver stopped and gave me their details no problem. I contacted my insurer and they directed me to a firm of claims solicitors, so as to save paying the excess.

Never having made a claim for decades I thought nothing of it until the paperwork rolled in. The first alarm bell went off when they requested 3 months of previous banking information with regards to taking a 'hire car'. I declined this as I can get by without that. The agent was audibly irked when I called to make sure they knew I was declining.

The vehicle was removed from me in a very quick fashion. It unroadworthy despite very minor damage, driving and handling not affected. I don't even know where it is, somewhere in the northern end of my city is all I know.

An engineer has been out to look at it, he represents the claims company, not me. Correct?

Without going into specifics, most people who see the vehicle are very impressed with it and I worry that if there are any unscrupulous individuals concerned they may see it as an easy mark to make it a total loss, pay me less than it's worth minus their fee and I'll see it back on the road again in a few weeks.

I should point out some personal info, I have a bit of an anxiety disorder so was not on it as much as I would have liked. I got around to scouring through the rest of the documents and made myself aware of the removal charges plus the daily storage fees.as well as the conditional fee agreement.

Obviously I'm aware of the implications if I exert my right to cancel within the 14 days, I imagine I will be liable for recovery and storage costs, plus some made up solicitors fees.

I don't have anyone else who might be able to offer any opinions on this. I feel the claims company will drag this out in order to rack up high storage fees whilst I have no vehicle. I did say earlier I can get by without but it is inconvenient nonetheless.

Currently anxiety is through the roof, I slept 2 hours last night because of this. Can anyone shed any light on whether I can still kick this back to my insurer? That is what we pay insurance for after all, and I am willing to take the hit so far before it gets past the 14 days, plus the increase in insurance premium for the next few years.

Anything I missed out or you need to know more then I am sure someone will ask.

Thanks.

Edited by Vic_S on 06/08/2022 at 17:29