my lovely KA is an insurance write off - how do I negotiate the best price

aah

Hello there

My daughter's lovely 2001 Ford KA was written off yesterday. It is possibly going to turn out to be her fault.

We paid 1500 for it in early April. She has an excess of 500 pounds on her comp insurance. We are expecting at some stage to get an offer for the car.

Looking at websites etc, 1500 still seems a fair price for the car. How do I prevent the insurance company getting away with offering us peanuts?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anne x

mrtobs

Hi there,
Could be worth checking your policy - does it cover the cost of the car if you were going to sell it, or the amount that you would have to pay if you were to buy it - as there would be a bit of difference between the two. Check out the appropriate valuation on Parkers, etc (I would get more than one for comparison) - though you might have already done this? Only other thing I'd say is that you don't have to accept the first offer - if you have a good argument that the offer should be higher, go back to them. We did this a few years ago and successfully raised the offer to a more reasonable amount. Having said that, I know a couple of people who have had very reasonable offers first time round from their insurance and so haven't needed to go down this route! I hope that your daughter's okay and isn't too shaken up?

Quentin

Use current ads (autocar etc) for similar models (age/mileage) to back up your argument.

Bear in mind that the asking prices in ads are not what the seller expects to realise. (These days, everyone is open to offers)

dacouch

The policy will cover the "Market Value" of the car which coincidently should be the same price as you would get if you were selling or buying it at the pre accident value.

aah

Thanks everyone, this is realy good advice, some of it new and some corroborating what I had been thinking; so all very welcome as it gives us some confidence.

And Mr Tobs thank you for asking about Cait. She is quite shaken up and today has some bruising and a little whiplash from the hard hard airbag - although of course nothing compared to the shaking up she would have had pre-airbag days. She is only 18 so a lesson learned quite young. But the young are resilient and I am sure she will recover well....

Yes, asking prices are asking prices; that is of course how we bought the car by getting 50 pounds off the asking price, and that is what we would expect to claim.

But again, thanks all so much, a confidence boost is most welcome today!

Anne