write off advice

number9

On Christmas Eve our car was shunted, squarely across the bumper, from behind whilst stationary and indicating to turn. The other driver was 100% at fault. We informed our insurers, Directline, and it was collected a few days later and a hire car has been provided for our use.

Today the local repair shop recommended by our insurers, phoned up to advise us that the "engineer says the car is a write off" but we've had no contact off any other party yet.

Toyota Yaris 1.3 CDX 5 door, June/July 2002, 02 plate, c.72000 miles.

4 new tyres, excellent condition. Owned since May 2003. MOT until June. Road tax until May.

We really don't have a clue what to do next and obviously, we want the best redress as we cannot afford to lose out on the value of this car to us.

We did not claim (driver & 2 passengers) for the minor whiplash injuries sustained by us all as we took pity on the elderly driver who had had recent heart problems and had communication problems! Now I'm about to have a heart attack. We are really anxious as we don't feel we are going to get out of this situation without an overall financial loss (i.e. we will have to buy a replacement).

What questions/actions do we need to take to best deal with this case?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

1. if you were shunted from behind then the eldery drivers insurance will pay up you wont have to pay any excess on your policy (if you have will be refunded).

2 many insurance copmany's will offer bottom book for written off vehicle's,
you could argue that the car was in good general working order and condition,had 4 new tyre's at x amount of money. generally dont accept their first offer ask them to reconsidder as you believe it is worth more than they are offering. but bare in mind the may reduce the amount.

number9

As we are not in any way to blame, we feel we should not suffer any loss whatsoever. What I would expect is a similar car from an authorised dealer. This is what we had - a good car with a good history and serviced regularly. Generally, we expect to be in the same position as we were prior to the accident and welcome any advice to help us achieve this goal.

thanks.

dacouch

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/used-prices/Valuation.aspx?deriv=17576&plate=69

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/used-prices/Valuation.aspx?deriv=17577&plate=69

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html

number9

cheers dacouch. got the parkers info but ombudsman link is very useful.

blue_haddock

One thing to bear in mind when getting a settlement value is that whilst you want to get a similar car from an authorised dealer that would inevitably put you in a better position than you were before the accident as it would generally have a warranty that your vehicle no longer had. The fact that you had recently put new tyres on will not effect the value of the vehicle as they are merely a running cost of having a car.

number9

Fair comment that the warranty has some financial value, but I didn't need it on my own car as I knew its entire history and service record. Having a warranty on a new car merely is part of redressing the position we were in of having a reliable family car with a known state of condition...

slummymummyof3

We had a claim with Direct Line (admittedly a number of years ago) where our car was a right off and their initial offer was £2,800 below what we could actually find a relacement car of the same type/model/mileage etc. We were told we had to provide evidence of 5 other cars (the same as ours) before they would reconsider their offer, which we did (although difficult as it was a limited edition model)

Their offer was £5,100 and we couldn't find a replacement car of same reg/mileage etc for less than £7,900. They eventually came back with an offer of £7,200 as a final offer as they supposedly had found this car for £5,100 which bought down the overall average of what they were prepared to offer. Make sure you get garages/dealers to email you details of cars that are the same make/model/specification etc as 'proof' to back yourselves up.

Hope that all makes sense???

Anihilator

number9 wrote: »

Fair comment that the warranty has some financial value, but I didn't need it on my own car as I knew its entire history and service record. Having a warranty on a new car merely is part of redressing the position we were in of having a reliable family car with a known state of condition...

No it isnt

Your entitled to market value of your car. Not a superior version because you liked yours.

A look online suggests that you will be looking at 2.5k-3k settlement. Plenty of examples available from dealers for this price.

Exemplar

Go onto autotrader and narrow down the make/model/mileage. Whatever the cheapest is in the country will be the offer amount (normally). As for the tyres, ask for them back if you feel the need but they are associated as an ongoing cost.

dacouch

alcot33uk wrote: »

Go onto autotrader and narrow down the make/model/mileage. Whatever the cheapest is in the country will be the offer amount (normally). As for the tyres, ask for them back if you feel the need but they are associated as an ongoing cost.

Where did you get the idea that they offer the cheapest on Autotrader in the country from? (It's wrong)