General Chit Chat

[Harry Genshaw]

I'd been given an offer by the insurance company (which arrived in the post yesterday) which I thought, after actually talking to the loss adjuster prior to the offer, to be derisory. I telephoned them back this morning and after casually mentioning the ombudsman in passing, they instantly revised the figure upwards by a factor of ~50%. Having ascertained that the telephone call was being recorded, I pointed out that they (the Insurance company) were obviously trying to rip me off and the demonstration of said fact was in the instantaneous way that she (the woman on the other end of the phone) must have had a range of figures in front of her with specific triggers to which differing amounts would be offered to me depending upon which triggers I stumbled upon.
At this point the woman voluntarily (and rather hastily) passed me on to her supervisor, who in turn, after a ten minute conversation with me, said she'd get her boss to ring me back.
He's just rung and I've now accepted over double what I was first offered, plus the car is mine.
Just goes to show what a little bit of intransigence can get you.

Sorry if I'm being a thicko here but I don't understand how this works. Have they paid for the cost of repairing your car to your satisfaction, or have they paid an amount as a 'write off'? If its the latter, can you legally drive it or can you get scrap value on top of the insurance pay out?

[Lost Leopard Spot]

I'd been given an offer by the insurance company (which arrived in the post yesterday) which I thought, after actually talking to the loss adjuster prior to the offer, to be derisory. I telephoned them back this morning and after casually mentioning the ombudsman in passing, they instantly revised the figure upwards by a factor of ~50%. Having ascertained that the telephone call was being recorded, I pointed out that they (the Insurance company) were obviously trying to rip me off and the demonstration of said fact was in the instantaneous way that she (the woman on the other end of the phone) must have had a range of figures in front of her with specific triggers to which differing amounts would be offered to me depending upon which triggers I stumbled upon.
At this point the woman voluntarily (and rather hastily) passed me on to her supervisor, who in turn, after a ten minute conversation with me, said she'd get her boss to ring me back.
He's just rung and I've now accepted over double what I was first offered, plus the car is mine.
Just goes to show what a little bit of intransigence can get you.

Sorry if I'm being a thicko here but I don't understand how this works. Have they paid for the cost of repairing your car to your satisfaction, or have they paid an amount as a 'write off'? If its the latter, can you legally drive it or can you get scrap value on top of the insurance pay out?

I've got it as a write off. Been paid £5,500 for it. It'll probably cost me in the region of £12,000 to repair it. It will then need re-registering or whatever the technical term is before it's allowed on the road. All the work done will be classified as modifications.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

You must be a millionaire.

How so?

[Montreal Wanderer]

You must be a millionaire.

How so?

I think he may be referring to your 'intransigence factor' in all walks of life.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

You must be a millionaire.

How so?

I think he may be referring to your 'intransigence factor' in all walks of life.

Ah! I see.

[thebish]

this is pretty cool... how big do you think Africa actually is? how many countries could you fit inside it??

http://i.imgur.com/ocPQCRj.jpg

[Hoboh]

Amazing, actually it does however put into prospective just how big Russia is. Two Russia's would almost fill a continent.

[Gary the Enfield]

You must be a millionaire.

How so?

I think he may be referring to your 'intransigence factor' in all walks of life.

Ah! I see.

I was. Glad you enjoyed it.

[TANGODANCER]

That wicked, wicked Peppa Pig.....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... slims.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Hoboh]

That wicked, wicked Peppa Pig.....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... slims.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

These are the creeping changes to what once was our society that according to some Ostriches aren't happening!
After all Manhole covers are really sexist ain't they! I thought it was just another name for knickers.
Chalk boards is another that springs to mind.

[Hoboh]

Anybody see the channel four doco last night about the right wing and their equally obnoxious left wing loons?

People think bringing back capital punishment is barmy! There is no place for either shower in life!

[jaffka]

Get them black and white minstrels on tele.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

this is pretty cool... how big do you think Africa actually is? how many countries could you fit inside it??

http://i.imgur.com/ocPQCRj.jpg

When I was a child I had a map of the world on my wall, which not only highlighted the huge swathes of British pink, but also as disastrously for a young developing mind, had the northern hemisphere vastly larger than the southern. Australia was about twice the size of Iceland; South America a rather small limp turd hanging off the arse of America with a huge Alaska and Greenland the size of a small planet.
I later learnt this was all down to the projection used and wasn't properly proportional - but I'm still unconsciously swayed by it in my mental maps...

[thebish]

this is pretty cool... how big do you think Africa actually is? how many countries could you fit inside it??

http://i.imgur.com/ocPQCRj.jpg

When I was a child I had a map of the world on my wall, which not only highlighted the huge swathes of British pink, but also as disastrously for a young developing mind, had the northern hemisphere vastly larger than the southern. Australia was about twice the size of Iceland; South America a rather small limp turd hanging off the arse of America with a huge Alaska and Greenland the size of a small planet.
I later learnt this was all down to the projection used and wasn't properly proportional - but I'm still unconsciously swayed by it in my mental maps...

my parents were very much into the World Development Movement (as I am, still) and the magazine New Internationalist - and they regularly pushed the Peters Projection map (they gave away free copies - so we had one in the house!) - I have one on my study wall now. because that is the one I am used to, the other one always just looks wrong to me...

[Harry Genshaw]

Anybody see the channel four doco last night about the right wing and their equally obnoxious left wing loons?

People think bringing back capital punishment is barmy! There is no place for either shower in life!

Quite scary wasn't it? Oddly enough, I felt a little sympathy for some of them, in that their concerns re radical Islam are probably shared with many people but any legitimate protest gets lost amongst the racist, Inger-lund nut jobs that love any chance of a ruck. The Police seemed to get the worst of it being stuck in the middle

[Hoboh]

Anybody see the channel four doco last night about the right wing and their equally obnoxious left wing loons?

People think bringing back capital punishment is barmy! There is no place for either shower in life!

Quite scary wasn't it? Oddly enough, I felt a little sympathy for some of them, in that their concerns re radical Islam are probably shared with many people but any legitimate protest gets lost amongst the racist, Inger-lund nut jobs that love any chance of a ruck. The Police seemed to get the worst of it being stuck in the middle

To me it seemed a lot of the right wing group were not wired up right and those that were are the dangerous ones.
The Ninja's on the other hand just seemed like rebels who'd found a cause and were very nasty and vicious.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

this is pretty cool... how big do you think Africa actually is? how many countries could you fit inside it??

http://i.imgur.com/ocPQCRj.jpg

When I was a child I had a map of the world on my wall, which not only highlighted the huge swathes of British pink, but also as disastrously for a young developing mind, had the northern hemisphere vastly larger than the southern. Australia was about twice the size of Iceland; South America a rather small limp turd hanging off the arse of America with a huge Alaska and Greenland the size of a small planet.
I later learnt this was all down to the projection used and wasn't properly proportional - but I'm still unconsciously swayed by it in my mental maps...

my parents were very much into the World Development Movement (as I am, still) and the magazine New Internationalist - and they regularly pushed the Peters Projection map (they gave away free copies - so we had one in the house!) - I have one on my study wall now. because that is the one I am used to, the other one always just looks wrong to me...

I'm going to have to look up Peters Projection.
When I was a bit older, about nine or so, I had a series of books on social geography, each one a continent: Europe (blue cover), North America (a sandy brown cover), S America (green, I think), etc which fascinated me. But even more amazing - their maps had the Americas on the right, not the left, so that the Pacific was in the middle - mind blowing really...

[TANGODANCER]

this is pretty cool... how big do you think Africa actually is? how many countries could you fit inside it??

http://i.imgur.com/ocPQCRj.jpg

When I was a child I had a map of the world on my wall, which not only highlighted the huge swathes of British pink, but also as disastrously for a young developing mind, had the northern hemisphere vastly larger than the southern. Australia was about twice the size of Iceland; South America a rather small limp turd hanging off the arse of America with a huge Alaska and Greenland the size of a small planet.
I later learnt this was all down to the projection used and wasn't properly proportional - but I'm still unconsciously swayed by it in my mental maps...

You may well have read this. If not, it's interesting:

https://ockhamsbeard.wordpress.com/2010 ... taphysics/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[thebish]

When I was a bit older, about nine or so, I had a series of books on social geography, each one a continent: Europe (blue cover), North America (a sandy brown cover), S America (green, I think), etc which fascinated me. But even more amazing - their maps had the Americas on the right, not the left, so that the Pacific was in the middle - mind blowing really...

oh - aye - I saw some pics once like that - maps of the world with different centres! I may even have posted it on here - they were fascinating!

if I had more time - perhaps when I retire - I'd love to study maps and their history... I mentioned recently (perhaps on the what are you reading thread) how much I love poring over O/S maps..

I remember seeing the original Mappa Mundi in Hereford Cathedral a few years ago (when my mum lived nearby) - a thing of beauty!

[Lost Leopard Spot]

This on's similar to what I was talking about...