I’ve received this letter from Direct Line’s Chris Moat, have a read:

Dear Mr Jamieson

Thank you for your letter dated 5 June 2007 and your patience whilst your concerns have been investigated.

I understand your frustration with how Mrs Jamieson’s claim has been dealt with and how this may have inconvenienced you. I hope to be able to explain the reasons for our actions and our decision on this matter.

The Contract of Insurance for the vehicle P192PLR was agreed between Mrs H Jamieson and her insurance company, Direct Line Insurance. This agreement was based on ‘utmost good faith’. That is to say that when a contract is taken out customers are obliged to disclose any detail which may be of importance to the insurers whether or not it is requested. At the point of inception of the policy, Mrs Jamieson would have been asked, and confirmed, if she was the registered keeper and vehicle owner. We therefore, under the principle of ‘utmost good faith’, had no reason to question this information. Documentation to this effect was issued and the policyholder is asked to ensure that all information is correct. As this documentation was not challenged it is assumed to be correct and forms the basis of the contract.

Mrs Jamieson is our policyholder and we have to respect her wishes regarding how her policy is managed. After your call to report the theft of the vehicle we later received a further call from Mrs Jamieson requesting that we no longer discuss her policy with anybody but her. In relation to the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998, which we must abide by, if a policy holder requests that we only discuss their policy with them then we have to do this. This is the reason we were then unable to discuss the claim with you further. This is In accordance with Direct Line’s settlement process and the process was followed correctly. Once the claim was registered it was then validated and settled on a cash basis with the policyholder, Mrs Jamieson. The vehicle documents were then requested in order for us to take possession of the vehicle.

This case has been referred to our legal department and discussions have been held with Mrs Jamieson’s solicitors in order to make a final decision regarding the ownership of the vehicle. We have been informed that even though the vehicle was insured in Mrs Jamieson’s name you were the main user of the vehicle and we have no rights over the vehicle in question. It is on this basis that your V5 has been returned. The Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft Register (MIAFTR) has now been updated to confirm that the vehicle is no longer stolen. You have stated that you feel that you were intentionally tricked into sending in your V5 document so that we could retain it. I can assure you that this was not our intention. The V5 was requested in a genuine attempt for us to further investigate your complaint.

I hope I have been able to explain the reasons for our actions during Mrs Jamieson’s claim. I realise that from your perspective Direct Line were refusing to discuss the claim with you and attempting to take possession of your vehicle. This must have been both frustrating and confusing for which I apologise. More effort should have been made to clarify the ownership of the vehicle at an earlier stage.

We have no offers to make in regard to the depreciation of the car, your loan repayments or the storage of the vehicle, as it is not accepted that these costs were incurred as the result of our actions. However in recognition of any inconvenience caused to you I have arranged for a cheque to be sent to you for the sum of 200GBP which I hope you will accept with my best wishes.

I appreciate the time you have taken to make me aware of the problems you have experienced.

Yours sincerely

Chris Moat
Managing Director

Hmm, 200GBP? That only just covers the loan repayment on the car for the last 4 weeks. I find it hard to believe they say they’re not liable for the depreciation, storage and loans when they have admitted that they should have tried harder to ascertain who owns the car at the beginning.

Obviously I’m going to refuse this, it’s insulting.

I’ll post my reply to this next week.

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I just phoned Neil Foster from Direct Line, who left a message on my phone last night saying a letter had been drafted to me.

He told me just now that my V5 was being returned to me, the marker was being removed from the car and a financial offering was being made to me for compensation.

I win…

I feel slightly sad. This battle has been raging nearly a year now, and I’ll miss the struggle in my life. Naturally I recorded the message, and it will be online this weekend as a podcast.

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I’ve just sent this letter to Direct Line:

Chris Moat
Direct Line Insurance
3 Edridge Road
Croydon
CR9 1AG

Wednesday June 5th 2007

RE: BMW Z3 Registration P192 PLR

Dear Sir, it is with regret that I must complain about the actions of Direct Line Insurance and its employees over the theft of my car, one BMW Z3 (P192 PLR). I have spoken to the financial ombudsman and they have requested I make this complaint to you in writing, giving you a period of 8 weeks to resolve the issue.

My car was stolen last summer from the Hillcroft Garage in Langstone, Newport. I notified Direct Line immediately and spoke to a Sarah from your claims department. She and I both agreed that the theft of the car was the fault of the garage, and thus their insurance company (Royal Sun Alliance) would be liable. She requested information from me, including a photo copy of my estranged wife’s driving licence.

I notified the wife by phone of Direct Line’s request. Rather than give me the information however, she took the insurance forms from my house when I was in work, and contacted Direct Line to remove me from the policy.

When I telephoned Sarah a few days later with the information she requested, she stopped me dead and explained she could not speak to me due to data protection.

At this stage Direct Line did not have the insurance details for the garage, nor did they have a crime number from the police. As they would not speak to me, I could not give it to them.

The car was then recovered some weeks later, and Royal Sun Alliance paid for the repairs to the car as it required a new engine.

It was then I discovered from my solicitor that my soon to be ex wife had claimed on my car, after it had been recovered and received over GBP6,000.

Sarah phoned me around December asking me to turn over the car to her, and wanted to know why I hadn’t informed Direct Line of its recovery. I explained that I did phone them, but she wouldn’t speak to me, and Direct Line never returned my calls.

I phoned again in January and spoke to Ray Harper and then Chloe O’Driscol, explaining my situation. She said she would investigate and get back to me. Naturally, she never did. I phoned again in May and once again requested to know what was going on. Chloe apologised for not doing anything, and said that if I sent my V5 in to her to prove the car was mine she would see about getting the marker removed.

I did this, but rather than get the marker removed Chloe said she was keeping the V5 and they were still insistent that they had acted properly, and wanted the car.

Chloe claimed that the policy holder (Mrs Jamieson – now my ex-wife) was entitled to have her own insurance company pay out on the car, even though the garage was clearly liable. It seems that Direct Line did not think there was anything suspicious about a person claiming on their own insurance for a theft that was not their fault, after barring Direct Line from speaking to the legal owner of the car!!!

If your car is stolen and someone else is liable, you don’t claim on your own policy… unless you have something to hide, such as the car isn’t yours.

I was tricked into sending the V5. Chloe said I would receive a letter explaining Direct Line’s decision. I never did.

I have to date not received any correspondence by post from Direct Line pertaining to my car.

Obviously I am extremely angry about the whole situation, as not only was my car stolen but the insurance money for it was also stolen, and I am the victim of crime twice.

Direct Line negligently paid out the wrong person, AFTER the car had been recovered without ever contacting the liable party’s insurance company or speaking to the police to get a crime number. Had they done either of these things they would have known the car had been recovered. Had they spoken to the owner of the car they would have known the car had been recovered.

I have since bought another car as obviously I required one for work, costing me over GBP200 per month. I am now repaying 2 cars and have been since September. I am of course still paying the loan on the Z3, and have over GBP6,000 to pay; hence I will not be handing over the car to Direct Line to cover their mistake. They paid the money to Mrs Jamieson, she was not the owner of the car, and they can get the money back from her.

As previously mentioned I am the victim of crime in that my car was stolen, with the Hillcroft garage admitting liability. I am not going to be made a victim again by Direct Line.

I would like this matter resolved within 8 weeks of the date of this letter, which is Wednesday August 1st. If the matter is not resolved the information will be passed on the financial ombudsman for them to deal with.

What I demand from Direct Line is the following:

• The return of my V5
• The marker removed from my car so that I can sell it
• Financial remuneration for the depreciation of the car since it has been off the road, GBP1,000
• Financial remuneration for the amount I have repaid in the loan on the car since it has been off the road, GBP190 per month and counting…
• Financial remuneration for storage of the Z3, GBP50 per week since December 2006 and counting…
• A written apology from Direct Line

Please reply to this letter on or before August 1st 2007. If the reply does not meet with my satisfaction a complaint will be made to financial ombudsman.

Kind Regards

Darren Jamieson

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Just a quick update on my stolen car. I’ve spoken to the finanical ombudsman and he’s suggested I give Direct Line 8 weeks to respond to my complaint.

I just phoned Ray Harper at Direct Line to let him know I’d be sending him a letter and outlined what I wanted:

My V5 returned
The marker removed from my car
1,000GBP for the depreciation on my car
2,090GBP for the amount I have paid in loans on the car since it was stolen

Ray in his defence was disgusted at the decision from Chloe O’Driscol, and said he’d be investigating himself. He gave me the name of Chris Moat, who is the motor division manager. He’s the person to address my letter to.

I will of course post the full letter here when I write it, so stay tuned for more rants and raves.

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I’m sure everyone’s been waiting for an update on the stolen car saga, yeah? Well this is your lucky day.

I contacted Chloe O’Driscol of Direct Line the other week to ask why no one has bothered to get back to me since January 28th. She remembered my call, and thought someone else was doing it. That tells you a lot eh?

I reminded her of the situation, my car was stolen then recovered, my ex-wife saw pound signs and claimed the insurance money from Direct Line, then spent it quick so they couldn’t get it back, Direct Line wanted my car. All up to speed? Good.

Chloe said she’d speak with the legal team and investigate the possibility of getting the marker removed from my car so I could use or sell it. She asked if I had the V5 document proving it was mine, and that if I could post that to her she could speed things up.

Now at this point alarm bells started ringing. But I did it anyway. She then got back to me a few days later and said the legal team have looked at the situation and decided they were NOT going to remove the marker from my car, and that I was liable to return my car to them.

They said what now?

That’s right – I have to give my car to them. I asked Chloe to return my V5 to me. She refused, saying it had to go to the claims department for them to decide. I suggested to her that she had deliberately conned me into sending it, she denied this.

She went on to say that she wasn’t refusing to send my form back, so I asked her again to send it back, she said no.

Surely a refusal?

You see, the cold hard facts of this are that my car was stolen, I am STILL paying a loan for it, and I cannot use the car. I have continued to be out of pocket for this since it was stolen in JULY LAST YEAR!!!

Direct Line paid out someone who was not the owner of the car, without a crime number, without speaking to the responsible insurance company (RSA) and AFTER the car had been recovered… yet they still say they acted properly.

They obviously believe by chasing my ex-wife they won’t get their money, and I’m more likely to be able to pay. Meanwhile my car sits rotting somewhere, and I keep paying the loan.

These fucking thieving bastards are pissing me off. I paid for the fucking car, they stupidly paid someone else for it and now I’m the one suffering.

Don’t use Direct Line, they’re a bunch of thieving incompetent wankers. If they’d like to sue for liable, please try… I can prove everything I have said. Fuckwits.

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As regular readers of this online rantathon will know, my BMW Z3 was stolen some months ago from the Hillcroft Garage in Langstone, and Direct Line insurers foolishly paid out my estranged wife over 6k despite the car having been recovered.

My efforts to notify Direct Line of the vehicle’s recovery fell on deaf ears, as my ex had instructed them not to speak to me for the purposes of defrauding them, so every phone call to them was met with a staunch “sorry, we can’t speak to you” rebuttal.

A quick update before I recount today’s frustrating events: The car is safe with me, my ex has attempted (through an illiterate solicitor) to get me to pay the money she defrauded, Royal Sun Alliance (the garage’s insurer) have my documents and Direct Line still refuse to speak to me.

So, over to today…

I need to get my car documents back from Royal Sun Alliance, and to get the outstanding problems fixed with the car so I telephoned Churchgate Insurance Broker’s Don Robinson today at 2:00pm to try and find out why they have done nothing since I last contacted them on November 17th. He insisted he’d try and find the contact details for Royal Sun Alliance and call me back before he goes home for the day at 4:00pm. Guess what? He didn’t bother. There’s a surprise.

I then phoned Direct Line’s customer support, and got instantly cut off. After my experiences with the morons at BT last night, this did not go down well.

I tried again instantly, and eventually got through to someone called Nick in their Bristol office. After explaining the situation to Nick, he attempted to find out who was dealing with this farce. He tracked it down to their Leeds branch, but when he tried to call them they said they could not speak to me. That’s nice isn’t it? They’ve been defrauded and I’ve had a car stolen, yet they can’t speak to me. How else do they imagine they’ll get this fucking situation sorted???

Nick dealt with my frustration very well and gave me the number for their head office in Croydon, Surrey, which I’ll share with you now. It’s 020 8686 3313, and a chap named Ray Harper, who handles complaints. I told Ray everything that had happened, and he said they’d look into and get back to me.

Less that an hour later, a woman named Chloe O`Driscol phoned and said that the case was being looked into, and even though she couldn’t give me any details (because they can’t still can’t speak about the policy, due to the ex putting the bar on them talking to me) they’d get back to me tomorrow with a status update.

I truly hope they do, because I just can’t understand how I can have a car stolen, Direct Line can be defrauded, my ex can walk away with over 6k and Direct Line can persist in refusing to speak to me even though we’ve both been the victim of wilful crime.

It’s now 3:58pm, and I just phoned Don Robinson back as he’d assured me he’d call me before he left for home at 4:00pm. Guess what readers? The dopey lying fucker has gone home.

Further updates to follow as and when I get them.

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