Advice needed: Car crashed into, No note

The thing to remember on the price of the vehicle is that it is based on private sale not forecourt therefore you need to look in the likes of autotrader but even then remember that just because I put my citroen saxo in there for £50,000 doesnt mean that is how much it will sell for.

I left claims 3 years ago so it may have changed since my day but when you buy a car from the forecourt you would expect all the minor scratches and dents to be sorted out, the car to have been valeted and most likely to also get a warranty on the car.

Unless the OP had just driven his car off the forecourt then he would have none of these and therefore it would be considered betterment hence why you base it on private prices which are a closer match to what the OP had.

The alternative methodology is to base the vehicle on forecourt prices but then deduct money for pre-existing damage which the dealership would have fixed (plus the more significant damage obviously), the lack of a warranty etc

As per (from your link)

However, the trade value may be a useful indicator where the car was not in ‘guide retail’ condition
...
Customers who dispute the firm’s assessment of a car’s market value often draw our attention to ‘forecourt prices’ advertised in local papers, and – increasingly – to prices quoted on internet sites. Generally we place little weight on such evidence. Advertised prices for cars are widely understood to be a starting point for negotiation, rather than a fixed price. And the information provided is often insufficient to ensure a like-for-like comparison of age, condition and mileage

The private sale price (which is in Parkers and a few other guides but not Glass) is really a good price to use as it is between the 2 prices of trade and retail to reflect these aspects