Insurance Write Off - Tesco

wilksy007

My dad owned a 1998 Nissan 200sx, which has recently been written off.

He has been offered just £2500 as a final settlement! This seems far too low, only 53k on the clock and it was in very good condition.

We plan to take the complaint up with the Financial Ombudsman, does anybody have any advice?

Lemonade_Pockets

The point of insurance is to offer you indemnity. So one of the questions i'd be asking them is do they know of any 53k 1998 200sx's on sale @ £2500. If not ask them how they arrived at this figure.

A quick search on autotrader would suggest that they aren't a million miles of the mark

Its hard to say for this type of car for a couple of reason's:
Its difficult to put a value on the low mileage
They are a rare car so in the main only for sale privately - lots with giddy asking prices and lots that have had extensive modifications.

I would say if you can get anywhere in the region £2650 to £3000 if the car was absolutely mint, fsh and a touring would be fair. Not what you want i'm sure.

This sort of thing is bordering on where it might be prudent to get it insured for a agreed value - a lot of people do this with classics/modified/rare cars. The premium will be a lot more but if its your pride and joy and hard to replace like this one it might be worth it.

If your hoping for somewhere in the region of £4k some people on pistonheads are advertising at good luck to you, but i would be suprised if the FO agrees!!!

peter_the_piper

Is it a real write off or just too dear for Tesco's to repair?
Insurance offers should be viewed as a negotiation, they offer a low figure hoping you will accept and make them a bit more money. Why not reply saying you thought it too low and ask for a higher figure, they will probably come back with a bit higher figure. You could accept this and the car and maybe repair it for a lot less than Tescos