Help! Worried about a car insurance claim

LondonDiva

Thanks for all your comments. I was aon a credit hire car - but gave it back as I was worried about the cost if the two drivers didn't admit liability.

We are now trying to agree
value of the car
losses as a result of the accident. So far, the car tax still has not been returned, the petrol in the car, a cd in the car cd player that I can't get back

My problem is that I'll probably get back about £?? towards buying anohter car when I would have been able to get a really good deal if I'd been able to scrap the car.

raskazz

Silk wrote: »

So what are you suggesting then Dacouch, ignore the offer from the insurers and just accept it without contest ???
If you are going to contest it what are you going to use instead of valuations ?
You seem intent on putting the OP off going down this route ???

No, what is is doing is giving eminently sensible advice based upon the position which the Ombudsman has publicly stated that it takes - i.e. that advertised prices are a starting point for negotiation. Hence in your post where you gave the example of 10 vehicles ranging between £700 and £1000, the market value would not be £850 - the average asking price would be £850, the market value would be less.

Silk

raskazz wrote: »

No, what is is doing is giving eminently sensible advice based upon the position which the Ombudsman has publicly stated that it takes - i.e. that advertised prices are a starting point for negotiation. Hence in your post where you gave the example of 10 vehicles ranging between £700 and £1000, the market value would not be £850 - the average asking price would be £850, the market value would be less.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
Talk about splitting hairs :rolleyes:
All this talk about Ombudsman's public statements ....Its an offer from an insurance company not Watergate !!!
It's worked for probably thousands of people doing it that way to get a better offer and at least 5 people I know of in the last 4 years.
so out of interest how does Mr Ombudsman instruct the average layman to come up with a market value figure ? as in when they ask you what its market value is what do you tell them ??????????

dacouch

The reason I quoted the Ombudsman is because what he says is law with relation to settling claims, so the Insurers abide by his advice.

This is what the Ombudsman states on vehicle adverts

"[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Other sources of reference may be relevant when making or assessing a valuation. For example, we would expect the firm to look at the price guides available to the general public, especially where these suggest significantly different results from the trade guides. Specialist publications can help in the valuing of unusual or ‘classic’ vehicles. And it can sometimes be useful to get evidence from an independent engineer (or even from a firm’s in-house engineer), especially in relation to ‘non-standard’ vehicles. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]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. But we do sometimes take local factors into account when deciding a relevant replacement cost. If, for example, the car has been bought recently from a reputable source, then this may be a sensible starting point for determining its market value".[/FONT]


http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/22/issue-22-motorinsurance.htm

As I said before sending in adverts does help to value a car but you should not expect to get exactly what the adverts are selling cars for. You have advised the client they should expect to get the average price of the adverts they send in which is not neccessarily what the actual market value of the car is.

If you click on the link I have posted above, you can read the article from the ombudsman on valuing cars in full.

Silk

Excellent work Dacouch ....top marks buddy
However my suggestion which usualy works is quoting a selection of ads of similar vehicles by that I mean same year mileage etc etc.
The Ombudsman objects to "Forecourt Prices" and people using adverts for Forecourt Prices which is correct and understandable because Joe Public is not going to acheive the same price as a dealer on a forecourt.
Whilst I took it for granted that most people would understand that I will apologise that I should have been a little bit more specific

Dacouch wrote:-

You have advised the client they should expect to get the average price of the adverts they send in which is not neccessarily what the actual market value of the car is.

You realy take this stuff seriously don't you :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

raskazz

Silk wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
Talk about splitting hairs :rolleyes:

If you call correcting something which is manifestly incorrect 'splitting hairs', yes...

foggytown

Try www.whatcar.co.uk which has a free valuation service which gives the average private, trade, dealer, trade-in prices for any car.

LondonDiva

To summarise the advise from the lovely people at MSEafter handbags have been set down....