Challenging Insurance "market value" payout..

Sirbendy

Some Background:

1997 P reg Astra Auto, 117k, well maintained, serviced every 6 months, no rust, spotless. Mounted from behind by a Fiesta with enough force to twist the chassis.

Insurance say total loss, and have offered £400 as market value. How would I go about challenging this, or requesting a review? Obviously I don't wish to come across as arsey or whatever..

The valuation takes not into account that the car also had 3/4 a tank of fuel in it, which based on 52 litre tank is..39 litres, at current pricing..and i'd raise the issue of vehicle condition too, as it really was in stunning shape.

Just looking for some pointers or advice if anyone has any?

Cheers all..:)

pianeet

the only way is to find similar vehicles to yours in autotrader and ebay etc and prove your vehicle was worth more finding completed items on ebay is better evidence than asking price,you could also say you were going to use it as part of the scrappage scheme and was therefore worth £2000 but they will probably tell you to get lost:rotfl:

Sirbendy

My mother suggested that, heh.

The replacement Astra cost £1995, bless it. Hmm. I'll look at autotrader then, and parkers etc..see what I can find.

Thankyou very much..:)

EDIT: Oh, tedious...Parkers now requires you to pay for the "how much would it be worth" bit! Stuff that.

Hintza

You will probably have to get arsey about it. You will need to do some research into this but i suspect you will get "market value" so perhaps anothe £200 or so might be feasible.

Tell them you were planning to trade it in for a new car under scrappage and as such must have a value of at least £1K...;).

vaio

pianeet wrote: »

………you could also say you were going to use it as part of the scrappage scheme and was therefore worth £2000 but they will probably tell you to get lost:rotfl:

excellent point, slight flaw is that surveys have shown that the scrappage is worse than useless and better deals can be got outside it. Another example of government trying to fool punters into thinking they are getting a good deal when they aren’t and it really results into a hand out to the manufacturers and increased take to the exchequer via the vat take

pianeet

there have been a couple finished recently on ebay one a r reg 1998 89,000 7months mot £451
and r reg 87,000 12 months mot £399, both are 2 owner cars ,

they are not far off but as you were not at fault ask them to get you the equivalent car in the same condition for £400

dacouch

Is the £400 offer before your excess is deducted or after?

Sirbendy

the excess was waived, so doesn't apply..:)

MX5huggy

Might go with it then as they might say OK its worth £550 but we will enforce the excess which is say £200, not a good deal!

dacouch

It doesn't look that far out, you might be able to get an other £200 if your lucky.

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/VAUXHALL+ASTRA/Ne-2-4-5-6-7-8-27-44-49-53-61-64-67-103-133-146-236,N-12-63-214-240-4294966677-4294966947/search.action?showMoreOptions=&formSearchParams=Ne%3D2%2B4%2B5%2B6%2B7%2B8%2B27%2B44%2B49%2B53%2B61%2B64%2B67%2B103%2B133%2B146%2B236%26N%3D12%2B63%2B214%2B240%2B4294966677%2B4294966947&sort=&make=VAUXHALL&model=ASTRA&min_pr=&max_pr=1000&max_mileage=&lc_channel=cars&dealerGroupId=&dealerId=&radius=100&postcode=b1+2ab&e_source=&e_min_pr=Ne%3D2%2B4%2B5%2B6%2B7%2B8%2B27%2B44%2B49%2B53%2B61%2B64%2B67%2B103%2B133%2B146%2B236%26N%3D12%2B240%2B4294966677%2B4294966947%2B63%2B214%2B15&e_colour=&e_enginecc=&e_bodystyle=&e_mileage=&e_doors=&e_fuel=&keywords=&ukcarsearch_full.x=104&ukcarsearch_full.y=9&ukcarsearch_full=SEARCH

Bear in mind that just because a car is advertised for X price does not mean it actually sells for that price so the prices from autotrader and the like are a guide, you should not neccessary expect the Insurer to pay the Autotrader prices. (This is the Ombudsmans view on vehicle values)

Send the Insurers copies of adverts for exactly the same model of vehicle with similar mileages and ask them to review their prices. If you just pick the most expensive vehicles they will send you back adverts showing the lower priced vehicles.