My cars been wrote off, A little advice about payout

Chamby

well as said my car has been wrote off after after i had an accident with no other vehicles involved


i havent been made an offer yet but im guessing it wont be a much as its actually worth from what ive read


now what im wondering is can i dissagree with what they offer me?
as i think they may well have got a few things wrong or just not bothered about them

the independant valuer that came to look at the car told me he would have to research it as its not a regular car he sees (the car is an imported nissan skyline)

he took a picture of the mileage at which point i told him its in kilometers and not miles but he didnt make a note of it and 80k miles and 80k kilometers is a big differance

i also told him that the car has a limited edition Active Limited Slip Diff which is a VERY rare extra again the guy didnt make a note of it or seem to care


just a little worried that if he has left theese details out it will be valued lower and thus i will be offered less and wondering what my rights are? (never claimed before so its all new to me)

cogito

Presumably your insurers know that it's an import. If they don't, you'll be lucky to get any sort of offer other than to get your premium back.

Assuming that's not an issue, you should look on Autotrader or similar sites to see if any similar cars are on the market as that would give you some idea what to expect.

Chamby

cogito wrote: »

Presumably your insurers know that it's an import. If they don't, you'll be lucky to get any sort of offer other than to get your premium back.

Assuming that's not an issue, you should look on Autotrader or similar sites to see if any similar cars are on the market as that would give you some idea what to expect.

yea they know its an inport so it all fine that way

ive been looking on auto trader and other sites too to get a jist of what i might be offered already
but what im trying to find out is if they offer considerably less is there anything i can do?

like in the vein of personal injuries alot of people give the advice of refuse the first offer and the second will be better
is car insurance payouts simular? if not can i argue that the amount is too low when compared to simular cars on auto trader ect and get them to possibly pay out something closes to the cars actual value (if they dont when they do tell me what im offered)

like i said ive never claimed for anything at all in my life so i dont know how any of this works lol

cogito

Print out the relevant results from Autotrader to show your insurers if you coinsider that their offer is unreasonable but bear in mind that the prices sellers want are not the same as the prices they get.

foggytown

Chamby wrote: »

yea they know its an inport so it all fine that way

ive been looking on auto trader and other sites too to get a jist of what i might be offered already
but what im trying to find out is if they offer considerably less is there anything i can do?

like in the vein of personal injuries alot of people give the advice of refuse the first offer and the second will be better
is car insurance payouts simular? if not can i argue that the amount is too low when compared to simular cars on auto trader ect and get them to possibly pay out something closes to the cars actual value (if they dont when they do tell me what im offered)

like i said ive never claimed for anything at all in my life so i dont know how any of this works lol

You won't be the first (or last) to be low-balled by an insurer. Most insurers view their policyholders as fair game in this regard.

You certainly do NOT have to accept their first (or second or third) offer. What they owe you is the fair open market value of the car, i.e. what it would sell for. Your problem here is that the vehicle is uncommon in the UK, so it's no good just telling them that their offer isn't enough. You have to be able to demonstrate to them why it's too low.

BTW, how much do YOU think it's worth?

(Don't hit hard on the "limited edition Active Limited Slip Diff" as a value booster. These kinds of mechanical quirks don't often make any difference to value.)

When they make their first ridiculous offer, that's when you will find out whether they appreciate the difference between kilometers and miles. If they think it's 80,000 miles, you can immediately pressure them to increase their offer by pointing out their error.

Here's a link to a Skyline owners club.

http://www.skylineowners.com/forum/

You can probably get some useful info from them.

Chamby

foggytown wrote: »

You won't be the first (or last) to be low-balled by an insurer. Most insurers view their policyholders as fair game in this regard.

this is what im affraid of tbh and being unemployed at the moment im hoping to get as close to the real value as possible because what i get will have to buy me a new car and pay for my insurance for the year
and i cant just get "an old banger" as it would need to be reliable so i can get to job interviews ect (also so i can actually get to work and back if i manage to get a job with early starts or late finishes)

foggytown wrote: »

You certainly do NOT have to accept their first (or second or third) offer. What they owe you is the fair open market value of the car, i.e. what it would sell for. Your problem here is that the vehicle is uncommon in the UK, so it's no good just telling them that their offer isn't enough. You have to be able to demonstrate to them why it's too low.

how would be the best way to demonstrate why there offer is too low (if it turns out that way)
i take it telling them to take a look at auto trader wont be good enough? but what else can i realy do to prove that its worth more? print out some ads like someone above suggested?

foggytown wrote: »

BTW, how much do YOU think it's worth?

this is something ive never really thought about (untill ive had to claim)
the car is/was my pride and joy (just ask the missus lol)
to me its priceless
but id hope to get as close to £5k as possible as that seems to be what ones of the same spec/condition/miles seem to be selling for

foggytown wrote: »

When they make their first ridiculous offer, that's when you will find out whether they appreciate the difference between kilometers and miles. If they think it's 80,000 miles, you can immediately pressure them to increase their offer by pointing out their error.

so is it pretty much a given that the first offer will be ridiculous?
if so whats my best course of action?
how much of a difference would the mileage make if they have made a mistake and confused the kilometers with miles?

foggytown wrote: »

Here's a link to a Skyline owners club.

http://www.skylineowners.com/forum/

You can probably get some useful info from them.

cheers for the link:beer:, been a member of that site for a few years now since i first got the car


sorry for all the questions but your signature suggests you know what your talking about

Annisele

The Financial Ombudsman Service publishes a technical note on car valuations here.

Ultimately, if you disagree with what your insurer says you can complain to the ombudsman service, and their approach is set out in the above note. I've not the slightest idea what your car would be worth (and I don't even know what a "slip diff" is), but if your vehicle is listed in Parkers that would be somewhere to start.

adamc260

I look on auto trader when valuing peoples cars just to get an idea of 'whats out there'

emmell

Didn't you put the value down when you took the insurance out?
ML.

adamc260

emmell wrote: »

Didn't you put the value down when you took the insurance out?
ML.

That doesn't really count for a lot nower days, more of an indication rather than 'its worth that'.

Most companies tell you nower days if the car were written off its based on market value.

Chamby

Annisele wrote: »

The Financial Ombudsman Service publishes a technical note on car valuations here.

Ultimately, if you disagree with what your insurer says you can complain to the ombudsman service, and their approach is set out in the above note. I've not the slightest idea what your car would be worth (and I don't even know what a "slip diff" is), but if your vehicle is listed in Parkers that would be somewhere to start.

cheers for that ill have a good read thru it

emmell wrote: »

Didn't you put the value down when you took the insurance out?
ML.

yes i did put down a value
but as said just below your post it doesnt mean a thing nowadays unless you get an agreed vaule policy which insurers gerally dont want to give unless its an extremly rare car or a clasisic car ect