Insurance valuation of car

JohnB69

Hi,
Our car was in an accident a couple of weeks ago. Our insurance company has decided that its a 'total loss' and have offered us £1410 ( their market value) - our £410 excess, leaving us £1000.
I think their valuation is too low. Our car was in good condition inside and out.
Do I reject their offer in the hope that they will up it?
What are the chances of them increasing the offer?
What is my next step if they don't or I'm not happy with the next offer?

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

John

Sk8lly

Hi There

What insurance company you with?? I work in the trade and should be able to advise you if it is one of our insurance companies.

bjcl

Have you looked at prices for cars similar to yours (autotrader, etc) to give some backup that their offer is low. I would have thought that they will always try to give you as little as possible. If you could show that similar cars to yours are selling much higher then they would surely have to increase their offer

JohnB69

Sk8lly wrote: »

Hi There

What insurance company you with?? I work in the trade and should be able to advise you if it is one of our insurance companies.

Hi Sk8lly,
The insurance company is Diamond.

JohnB69

bjcl wrote: »

Have you looked at prices for cars similar to yours (autotrader, etc) to give some backup that their offer is low. I would have thought that they will always try to give you as little as possible. If you could show that similar cars to yours are selling much higher then they would surely have to increase their offer

bjcl,
I have looked and they do seem a bit higher.
The prices vary depending if it's a trade sale or a private sale.
We bought our car from a large garage. Should this matter?

John

bjcl

JohnB69 wrote: »

bjcl,
I have looked and they do seem a bit higher.
The prices vary depending if it's a trade sale or a private sale.
We bought our car from a large garage. Should this matter?

John

I wouldn't have thought it would matter as really you are looking at the price to replace your car, therefore I would go for the trade prices. I also wouldn;t be afraid to look at prices nationwide that you are getting a truely representatiive value

JonBoy_SCFC

i wouold have thought that Diamond should have to back up their offer by showing you similar cars available at the price they're offering - have they done this??

If not then i'd ask them why. If they have then buy the car they're showing and job done:money:


Not trying to be clever after the event as that can be annoying, but maybe in future you might want to consider only F&T cover - for the payout you're getting then my guess is that future premium increaes for the claim/loss of NCB will be more than what you're getting, giving you little value in making a claim

Hope this helps!:beer:

sarah_elton

bjcl wrote: »

I wouldn't have thought it would matter as really you are looking at the price to replace your car, therefore I would go for the trade prices. I also wouldn;t be afraid to look at prices nationwide that you are getting a truely representatiive value

Depends whether the area you live in is above or below the national average. If it's above, use local, if below, go wider.

It's negotiable - don't just reject their offer. Decide what you want, have plenty of ads to demonstrate the cost to replace (ones with similar mileage and condition to yours), and tell them what you want. They'll agree or try to meet you in the middle. Keep haggling.

tinkerbell84

But remember that asking price is not the same as selling price/value

JohnB69

tinkerbell84 wrote: »

But remember that asking price is not the same as selling price/value

What do you mean tinkerbell84?

anniecave

JohnB96 - I could put an advert up on autotrader trying to sell my car that's worth about £3.5K for £6.5K. Obviously no-one will buy it (unless they are rather silly...).
So don't just pick one advert, find a few.

If you can find ones that would actually be worth less (eg older, higher mileage) and they are going for more than the price you are being offered then that's even better...