Car being written off - help with Insurers please

wibblewibble

Several weeks ago a lorry drove into the side of our car whilst my son who was driving was on the main rd - the lorry pulled out from a side street and broadsided him - at the time they admitted liability - then changed their tune - we disputed their version of events and the impact damage proved that the accident couldnt have happened they way they claimed, moreover as our car had the right of way it was always going to be their fault. They have now accepted liability and yesterday the insurers picked up the car and took it for repairs.

I've now had a phone call from them saying its a Cat C write off - uneconomical to repair (damage is to the front nearside wing and passenger door) the car is an N reg Mazda 323f auto, we paid £1700 for it 12 months ago, and it has only done 67k and only 2 weeks before the accident had spent over £300 having new brakes and cv boot fitted.

The loss adjuster told me they will not make any allowances for the work we had done as that would be "essential maintainance" and that all they are legally obligated to offer is a price based on what it would cost to buy another car of the same age - I hit the roof we knew we'd paid top book for the car precisley because of the low mileage and fabulous condition of the car, we'd spent out on it only recently and it was in immaculate condition.

We have of course got the option to buy it back off them but before it went into them we'd actually got an independant estimate which was £950 to repair it.

The offer as it stands now is £700 - which is derisory! theres is no way we can buy a comparable car for that kind of money!!

This was not our fault - the moron ran into us!! Why the heck should we be out of pocket??

What can we do?

1984ReturnsForReal_2

wibblewibble wrote: »

........They have now accepted liability and yesterday the insurers picked up the car and took it for repairs.

...the car is an N reg Mazda 323f auto, we paid £1700 for it 12 months ago, and it has only done 67k and only 2 weeks before the accident had spent over £300 having new brakes and cv boot fitted.

...I hit the roof we knew we'd paid top book for the car precisley because of the low mileage and fabulous condition of the car, we'd spent out on it only recently and it was in immaculate condition.

The offer as it stands now is £700 - which is derisory! theres is no way we can buy a comparable car for that kind of money!!

This was not our fault - the moron ran into us!! Why the heck should we be out of pocket??

What can we do?

1) It was never worth the money you paid for it.

2) Its not the other drivers fault you spent £300 on it making it roadworthy.

3) Why the hell should anyone else be out of pocket because of your unbelievable purchasing.


Serious though... You need to search for used cars & come up with 2 or 3 at the top end & add all your additional costs on top of the claim.

You will cetainly get more than £700. Print of some ads from autorader etc will same mileage & gearbox & age. You should be able to get them up to £1000-1100 easily before adding on a couple of hundred for calls & additional transportation costs etc (if you did indeed incur extra costs as a result).

Then go & tell them you are going to hire a car & add that to the claim unless they settle immediately...

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

Why on earth did you pay almost double what that car would be worth?

Secondly your son was driving, could you confirm who owned and drove this vehicle on the most occasions.

GT60

do what 1948 has said and IF you ave got legal protection on your insurance contact them for use of a hire car and any other uninsured losses.
If you don't have legal protetion goto a REAL legal team not the muppets of the tv.
I have PM you read it BEFORE ACTING ON ANYTHING
Niall

Hintza

LinasPilibaitisisbatman wrote: »

Secondly your son was driving, could you confirm who owned and drove this vehicle on the most occasions.

What relevance is that?

dieselhead

I can sympathise, I have been in a very similar situation and unfortunatly you are going to wind up out of pocket, in time and money. I had someone drive into me and write my car off too, then had to pay the garage for the £200 worth of work done the previous week.

You will need to be proactive find similar cars on auto trader, send them to the loss adjuster, saying that you reject his first offer based on you evidence, they should then come back to you with your second offer. You can continue to reject offers but there will be a point when they simply tell you that is it, when I began rejecting offers they also started to make things difficult by withdrawing my hire car etc. Also expect it to take time (in my case 9 months) to gain your excess back.

I can understand why people make personal injury claims in these sorts of circumstances as it seems if you have an accident on the roads that isn't your fault you will wind up out of pocket, not just through the money but obviously you will now have to spend time and money trying to find a new car.

Best of luck and stand your ground but be prepared for the fact that it is likely you will not get all your money back.

peter_the_piper

When this happened to us they offered a low amount as a start to the negotiation, I asked for more than I wanted, the upped their offer, I slightly reduced my amount. In the end we settled for twice what they offered at first and kept the car which was locally repaired for far less than the insurers garage would have charged. It takes time but its worth it if the car is economical to repair and you still want to get it back.

Don't accept their first offer.

wibblewibble

LinasPilibaitisisbatman wrote: »

Why on earth did you pay almost double what that car would be worth?

Secondly your son was driving, could you confirm who owned and drove this vehicle on the most occasions.

The policy we have is fully comp with my son as both a named driver and listed as the main driver - it is our car however and all 3 of us have the use of it.

As for why we paid what we did 12 months ago it was worth that price to us - with 57k miles on the clock, a fsh, and looking like it had just rolled off the production line - moreover it came from a garage we know and trust and they sourced it for us knowing full well we wanted a reliable car - 12 months on it still (until the idiot drove into it) looked as good as new, had only 10k extra miles and sailed thru the mot with no work needed - even the brakes didn't need doing but the garage had said they'd probably need doing before the next mot so while we had the money we decided to get them done.

As for the price we paid being double what it was worth - top book when we bought it was £1500 we were happy to pay that little bit extra to have the car from a reliable source and with a known background and history.

I have the full service history for the car all stamped and recorded in the log book, I have every mot certificate ever issued for it, and I have receipts for the brakes and cv boot work we had done.

I have been unable to find any comparable cars for sale - ours is an automatic those advertised are either manual or are not the same model, or are older/younger.

We have a hire car whilst the insurers are dealling with the matter and they told me I can keep the hire car until we replace our car.

I would be more than happy for them to agree to pay the £950 and have the repairs completed in the garage we obtained a quote from - this is not about making money from the insurance company - we want OUR car repaired and put back in the condition it was before some twerp drove into us.

dieselhead

Don't forget though if you do buy it back and repair it yourself you will have to get it checked by Vosa (can't remember name of check) before you put it pack on the road.

Also it will now always come up on an HPI as a cat C write off (even after it is put back on the road) and will never retain its value.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

wibblewibble wrote: »

I would be more than happy for them to agree to pay the £950 and have the repairs completed in the garage we obtained a quote from - this is not about making money from the insurance company - we want OUR car repaired and put back in the condition it was before some twerp drove into us.

In that case do as I said above.

They will be quaking in their boots with a £1200 pay out plus expenses (dont forget to include £0.40 per mile there & back wherever the car is to collect it & double it & multiply that by 1.5 as it involves use of a 2nd vehicle & time out for the additional driver) & car hire.

I could quiet easily get this claim above £1500 that no loss adjuster could argue with.

Paying out £950 + incidental expenses would be a right result for them.

dacouch

Please bear in mind the following

a) You are entitled to the hire car until your receive the settlement cheque plus a few days to give you time to source a car. They will not allow an indefinate amount of time for you to source a car. Keep in touch with the company providing the hire car as if you keep it to long they may pass part of the bill on to you.

b) Cars may be advertised on Autotrader etc for a certain price but it does not mean they are selling for that price. So use their prices as a guide but be prepared for the other Insurer to offer less than the autotrader prices.

c) They are correct in pointing out the money you spent on the brakes etc were essential maintenance and do not affect the value of the vehicle as they are normal maintenence on a vehicle.

Get the quotes for alternative vehicles and ask them to review their offer, be reasonable on the amount they are offering you and bear in mind that you having the hire car could effect them offering to repair the car