Financial Channel

Hey guys, I need some help.

I had a car fire in the back of my 2001 corvette z06 while I was driving it home . The car had been acting up and earlier the previous day we left it overnight at a gas station. On the way home the next day it was acting funny again, I pulled it over on the side of the road and got out to look around under the hood when I noticed flames from the rear of the car. The car is a total loss, everything in the 1/2 back burnt.

Anyways this happened on a busy street with my gf driving behind me in my truck ( she dropped me off to pick up the car ) so there are lots of witnesses that probably could be hunted down.

Anyways with ICBC , they called me to tell me that I screwed up when I insured my car. They said I insured it as having 10 years driving experience but I had been prohibited when I was younger so the actual time of valid driving was less than 10 years and my insurrance contract would be void. The car had only been out of storage for about 1 month prior to the accident so the savings from the mistake was about 25$. Anyways they said because they knew it was a legit claim they would offer me a clause where I could pay a 3050.00 penalty and have my insurance re instated. Although really pissed off about it I accepted the agreement and she gave me 2 signed orriginal copies of the forms. She said I did not need to pay the 3050.00 up front , that it would be removed from the value of the vehicle.

Now they are playing games with me. I went in to drop off the signed form and I asked her about the writing on the document that said the form must be signed, submitted and accompanied by a check or money order for the full amount within 14 days of the issue of the letter. I told her the money would be no problem I just needed confirmation that they didnt want the funds up front. When I put the form down on the table she grabbed it and scribbled void on it due to investigation or something. She said not to worry and that she would re issue the letter when they were closer to paying out on the car. She said due to the type of claim that it was it was going to be investigated.

I asked her to put it in writing that they would re issue the letter at a later date. She scribbled " May 09/06 , this offer would be reoffered once claim resolved" . Resolved being the key red flag word here I think. I said this was no good and that I wanted clerification that they wouldnt just use this clause in my insurrance poicy to void my claim. After arguing for a while she wrote " claim will not be denied due to rate class issue" and signed. She kept telling me not to worry about it but the whole thing seemed really sketchy to me.

When I got home and checked my email I found this waiting for me;
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David,

A hard copy for your file.

the offer to reinstate coverage with respect to the rate class breach has been withdrawn at this time.
this is due to the claim investigation that is being handled by our special investigations officer,
jan loos.

if the claim is authorized for payment, the offer to reinstate coverage by paying the penalty of
$3050.00 will once again be given to you.

as well, as i relayed to you earlier, i do not have either a police or a fire report.

thank you.
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I think this is a scam to void my insurrance due to my rate class because of the value of the car. I still had my other original copy of the paperwork dated May 08 2006 which states I have 14 days to sign and return with a check or money order. It also states this offer would be given just one-time only basis and if I did not accept this offer they will not process any of my own damages.

I took my copy, got a money order for the 3050.00 and had it served to them yesterday May 10 2005.

My question is this . . . Can they offer a document like this and then just take it back ? By submiting this document within the time limit and with the funds am I covered againsed them canceling my insurance due to my rate class ? I dont mind if they investigate the car or it goes to courd but I want a fair shake to deffend myself

Here is the body of the ducument;

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This letter is to confirm that your insurrance is a contract between you and ICBC. If you break any terms of that contract, you are in breach of the contract.

This means that:

- ICBC may not pay for any claims you have;
- You will be required to repay ICBC for all claims made againsed you; and
- ICBC will not provide a lawyer for you if legal action is started againsed you.

Our investigation into this loss shows that you are in breach of your insurrance coverage. Specifically, the rate class for your vehicle is for drivers with a minimum 10 years with a valid driver's licence.

As a result, the claim is invalid and you may lose your right to rely on the insurance policy. However, ICBC is prepared to settle the claim on a "Without Prejudice" basis as follows;

We will pay the claim in full and will not take any action againsed you if you have your insurance policy correctly rated and pay the breach program penalty of 3050.00 within 14 days of the date of this letter. Payment of the penalty must be made to ICBC, in full, by certified cheque or money order.

To accept this offer, please sign the enclosed copy of this letter and return it to me together with the appropriate funds funds.

If you do not wish to accept this offer, we will not process any of your own damage claims. Although you are in breach, ICBC is still legally required to honor any claims made againsed you by other parties. If any payments are made on these claims, ICBC has the right to recover those payments from you and may take legal action againsed you to enforce that right.

Please be advised that any offer to waive a breach ( whether accepted or not ) is made strictly on a one-time only basis. If you are found in breach of your insurrance contract on any future claims, you will not be given the option of paying a penalty to have the breach waived.

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Im not sure if this is a legally binding document but she sure wanted it back quickly and she scribbled on it with a pen . Am I covered now that I have filed this paper with them. When I filed the papers I had the legal document service look over the paperwork and confirm the contents of teh envelope. Ill get a receipt that they have been served with these.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated !!

It appears that they are offering you, by virtue of the quoted letter, a fourteen day window to pay the balance due resulting from your misstatement of your driving experience, and that if they receive payment within that fourteen day window they will honor your claim for the loss of your vehicle.

If you did sign and return that letter along with payment as described, it appears that they will be paying your claim.

Thank you for the response, I hope you are correct !!

They were served with the signed letter and payment today at 2:55 pm . Thats only three days into the fourteen day window. The people serving the papers made copys and swore an affidavit to having served them .

Also do these type of papers hold up in court ? Is there a law about this that says they cant just say "yeah we offered you that but now we want to change our mind and cancell your insurance anyway" ?? Im so scared of this insurance company. Thy started acting really funny after they got the details on the car as the replacement value on a low mile 2001 z06 is quite high up here. Then they wanted to withdrawl the offer to reinstate my insurance for the 3050.00 but they had already given me the paperwork ?

PS: The fine I payed was on 1 months worth of the difference of the discount , multiplied by 12 for a full years coverage , multiplied by twenty . (X) x 12 x 20 = 3050.00 . Ouch !!

Thanks again for the help.

As you accepted the terms of their offer, it should stand as a contract. I doubt that they would have made the offer if they did not intend to keep it.

My adjuster was trying to say they are withdrawing the offer until after they investigate the fire. Basically I think they are going to try to use the 10 year clause in my contract to try to void my insurance againsed the burden of any real proof. I want to make sure the deal with the 10 year clause is done for good and I can deal with the rest of the claim. If it helps I signed and dated the papers before she told me she was trying to withdrawl the offer but they were not served until a day after as I needed to get the money order made up.

Thanks for the help .

If they revoked the offer orally, and they don't determine the fire to be arson (which is presumably what they are investigating), they'll probably be stuck if you press the issue. If they find arson, they probably won't pay no matter what you do. (You may wish to start hunting down your witnesses.)

She only revolked the offer orraly and then in that email she sent me. Actually she didnt really revolk the offer orraly she just danced around the issue and then sent the email I posted above.

They are investigating the fire but thats ok, I have nothing to hide. I just dont want them to deny my claim based on the rate class issue which is the way I think it was starting to lean . I think its an easy out for them.

My sister in-law has an aunt that works for this same insurance company and the first thing she said was to watch that they wouldnt pull the "without prejudice" offer from the table and void my claim based on breach. She said she was surprised they offered it in the first place and thought it may have been a mistake.

What worries me is that it would be next to impossible to fight in court because your not fighting againsed the cause of the fire but instead the breach of the insurance contract which is right there in black and white. Now they will have to do a proper investigation into the accident and if my claim is denied I beleive they will have to give me a reason. I can then fight this out in court.

Thanks again for the feedback its very helpful. Any information or tips on dealing with this would be great.

Hey guys, since you have been so helpful I have a few more questions.

I gave a taped statement to the insurance company after the accident when they were still being "nice" to me. My adjuster said the statement was to help the investigator with the fire ( symptoms or any problems with the car that could help them determine the cause ) . After I received a written copy of the statement , knowhere on it did it say it was to do with pre symptoms or any problems Ive experienced since ownership. It was pretty easy to see she was trying to get me to void my insurance by saying the fire was a direct cause of something that either happened on the race track in August or something mechanically that I did to the car ( I do all my own work ) , modifications to the car ( cam, valvesprings, intake etc ) . I only ever did light mods to the car and none would cause a fire but should I be worried about this ? Are these grounds to void a claim ?

She also mentioned that the insurance covers only the damage and not "whatever" made the damage. She provided the example of a spark plug saying that if the spark plug was the cause of the fire , everything but the spark plug would be covered by my insurance. Its pretty clear its not the spark plug or anything in the engine compartment but what happens if they cant pinpoint a cause of the fire ? Who holds the burden of proof when an insurance claim is denied or taken to court ? This case would go to supreme court I beleive as its over 25000.

It sounds like they are looking for any basis they can find to deny or diminish your claim. If they have a decent fire investigator, you may be surprised by how effectively they can pinpoint the cause of a vehicle fire.

Who would have the burden of proof in court? That depends upon the laws of your state or country, and possibly the terms of your insurance contract, neither of which are known to us.