600sel insurance claim

[TONYS500]

I have a 600SEL that was owned by 'Tiny' Rowland ans his family.It has had more than £50k spent on it keeping it in perfect condition.I had a house fire last June and lost just about all our belongings and seeing as the car was parked outside the house was damaged by fire equipment,chemicaks etc.Then last week someone reversed into my car causing the lower bonnet to disstort!I have not claimed on my insurance as I have had to get some where to live and start replacing items and generally getting our lives back on track!My insurance is fully comp with protected no claims discount.Now my question is what do I need to do to initiate a claim for the damage to the bumper and paintwork (I have digital photos which show the fire brigade,smoke,water etc etc around my vehicle).I have a £400 excess but paintshops want that just for painting the bumpers!Is it worth claiming on my insurance?Any advice gratefully recieved.

 

[mlc]

Tony,

I'm a bit confused but I think you are saying that you have two unrelated incidents, one the fire and the second the bump.

I believe that the damage due to the fire needs to be claimed on the car insurance, and your insurers will rightly want a very good excuse for why youve waited so long to claim. The fact that the damage is due to the fire men isnt going to make a difference unless you are trying to say that they set out to damage the car. They will have done their best on the day and incidental damage to the car is very low on their priorities.

As far as the damage last week, if you know who did it and have evidence, for instance a witness or you were with the car at the time then make a claim on your insurance and recover the excess from the other driver. If the damage happened when the car was parked and you dont know who did it then you have to decide whether to pay the whole bill yourself or claim and pay the excess and pick up the bad mark on your insurance.

Hope this helps a little.

Mark.

 

[TONYS500]

Yes there are two non related incident but Ithought that seeing as I am going to get the paint done it might be worth having the bonnet done.The damage to the car from the effects of the fire etc were caused by the close proximity to the premises (it was the only place to park)and as I only just escaped with my life I didn't stop to search for my car keys (I was in bed sleeping off nights when the fire occured in the afternoon).The house was full of toxic smoke nand fumes as the fire was started by toxic farm pesticides and chemicals being knocked together and as such the effect was a total black out in the house!I know what you mean about the fire service and I don't blame them - all I know is that the damage has been done to my paintwork and requires sorting.At the time Iphoned my insurance company and informed them of the event but that I would have to leave it for a while as I didn't have the excess then as I had other priorities,also I took the vehicle to my local MB dealer for them to inspect the damage - the insurance company was also informed of this.