Car's a write off-any options?

LandyAndy

Abenson wrote: »

Hi

The garage contacted me a couple of days ago to let me know it was going to cost almost £3000 and he thought this would be a write-off which the insurance company confirmed today they have quoted me £3250 for the car. However the car is 6 years old, we bought it new and the mileage is only 35,000miles,

Here's one at a dealer for £2395 (a 53 plate with 37k miles).

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/200932339233888/sort/priceasc/search-target/usedcars/make/kia/model/carens/maximum-age/up_to_7_years_old/maximum-mileage/up_to_40000_miles/price-to/3000/postcode/sp61ej/page/1?previous=%2Fsearch%2Fresults%2Fusedcars%2Fpostcode%2Fsp61ej%2Fmake%2Fkia%2Fmodel%2Fcarens%2Fmaximum-age%2Fup_to_7_years_old%2Fmaximum-mileage%2Fup_to_40000_miles%2Fprice-to%2F3000%2Fpage%2F1%2Fsort%2Fpriceasc&anchor=advert200932339233888&logcode=p

Makes £3250 look a good offer.

dacouch

Viper_7 wrote: »

You should get more than the car is worth.

It's not the cost of said car - it's the cost incurred in you replacing it with a similar vehicle.

That cost in invariably more than the vehicle - ie you are paying the purchase price, not the insurance paying the selling price.
The cost in time for you hunting around for a replacement, and the time spent talking to the insurers.
You should expect and get more than the car is "worth" as you have been put in this situation at no fault of your own.

If they give you a silly price - put it to them to find a vehicle of the same age/milage/condition/spec for said money. They will fail.

If he is claiming off of his own policy then his own Insurers will not pay for the time in hunting around for a replacement and the time spent talking to the Insurers. These are classed as consequential losses which are not covered. If however he is claiming directly off the other drivers policy it might be possible to claim for reasonable costs for calls, dealing with the Insurers and time spent seeking a car. However UK law puts a duty on you to mitigate your losses so you have to keep the costs to a reasonable amount.

With regard to the value of the car, the Insurers should pay the market value, this is not neccessarily the price cars are being advertised on autotrader etc as these are regarded as a price to start negoiation. Its the the price the cars are actually selling for that the Insurers should pay which is the market value.

He will not get more than the car is worth if he claims off his own Insurance

Viper_7

dacouch wrote: »

If he is claiming off of his own policy then his own Insurers will not pay for the time in hunting around for a replacement and the time spent talking to the Insurers. These are classed as consequential losses which are not covered. If however he is claiming directly off the other drivers policy it might be possible to claim for reasonable costs for calls, dealing with the Insurers and time spent seeking a car. However UK law puts a duty on you to mitigate your losses so you have to keep the costs to a reasonable amount.

With regard to the value of the car, the Insurers should pay the market value, this is not neccessarily the price cars are being advertised on autotrader etc as these are regarded as a price to start negoiation. Its the the price the cars are actually selling for that the Insurers should pay which is the market value.

He will not get more than the car is worth if he claims off his own Insurance

Yes he will. It's off the other party though as he was the "victim".

very easy to get more than the car is "worth"
It's what it is worth to the owner not the material value. Just keep at it and get the money!
Then buy it back as scrap - fix it cheap to make it road worthy and re insure it. Insurance companies love re insuring a car that they have already written off and they seldom back check, even better when you write it off again.
Been there and done it and came out quids in.

TRADESIZE

I work in the complaints dept of a very big insurer so listen up this is from the horses mouth. Simply ask to register an official complaint about the value then tell them to give u the average of cap Parkers and glasses guide, tell them if they don't u will go to ombudsman . Unless u know a very good bodyshop and can get repairs done cheap it's not worth retaiing the salvage. Trust me I have 10 years experience of this. It's far far easier to buy a replacement. You should easily be able to if they give u the average of the 3 guiides.once you asked for this do post a reply to let me know how u got on. Best of luck jeff

TRADESIZE

Viper_7 wrote: »

Yes he will. It's off the other party though as he was the "victim".

very easy to get more than the car is "worth"
It's what it is worth to the owner not the material value. Just keep at it and get the money!
Then buy it back as scrap - fix it cheap to make it road worthy and re insure it. Insurance companies love re insuring a car that they have already written off and they seldom back check, even better when you write it off again.
Been there and done it and came out quids in.

Where I work we always notice prev write off status and always deduct 20/ from settlement other insures I can assure u will do the same .

dacouch

Viper_7 wrote: »

Yes he will. It's off the other party though as he was the "victim".

very easy to get more than the car is "worth"
It's what it is worth to the owner not the material value. Just keep at it and get the money!
Then buy it back as scrap - fix it cheap to make it road worthy and re insure it. Insurance companies love re insuring a car that they have already written off and they seldom back check, even better when you write it off again.
Been there and done it and came out quids in.

Sorry I still disagree, the way he has posted it appears he is claiming off his own comprehensive policy for the write off of the vehicle. If he claims off his own Insurance policy it will cover the market value of the car only, it will not cover the cost of calls or looking for car prices or the time spent looking for a car. These are known as consequential losses and motor policies exclude them. If he claims directly off the other policy then he can claim the other consequential costs he has mentioned.

Have a look at your own motor policy and have a look at one of the main exclusions that applies to the "Own Damage" section which is excluding any consequential costs.

Perhaps the OP could advise us which Insurer is actually giving him the cheque for the vehicle eg his own Insurers or the other drivers Insurers.

Viper_7

why would he be claiming off his own policy when hit my another vehicle?

Even if they were not insured there are mechanisms in place to cover it.
If the insurance company will only cover the "worth" of the vehicle and not the consequential losses then you sue for such losses.