Help - Car is a write off

emmielou

:(Hi,

Could any one give me some advice.

Someone hit my mum's car the other week and it is now a write off.

The figure they have offered her seems very low and she is very upset and stressed out by the situation.

She has a Renault Scenic 53 plate. Her car is an automatic as she can no longer drive a manual due to a problem with her foot and she chose the Scenic as the height meant it was easier to get in and out of with her back problems.

The money they have offered would be lucky to get a manual megane from a quick look in the paper. She is also upset as she had just had work done on it.

This is the driver who hit her cars insurance company. What should we do and what should we expect for her car?

bob_a_builder

"What should we do" - not accept the 1st offer

"What should we expect for her car" - check Autotrader etc for a value

"She is also upset as she had just had work done on it." -unfortunately that has very little bearing on the actual value

Amanda65

DD1 wrote her car off 16 months ago and her insurers offered her £800, which would have meant a £400 payout after her excess (it was an 'S' reg Clio we had paid £1700 for a year earlier and her insurance premium was based on this). I argued the amount, they offered £1100, I argued again and they finally paid her £1600 - which was an £1200 payout after the excess.

Basically I would get your mum to go back and argue - the girl at the insurance company said they don't expect people to accept their first offer as it's always a bit cheeky, but sometimes some people do, so they're quids in.

dacouch

bob_a_builder wrote: »

"What should we do" - not accept the 1st offer

"What should we expect for her car" - check Autotrader etc for a value

"She is also upset as she had just had work done on it." -unfortunately that has very little bearing on the actual value

Autotrader does not give you the value of a car

bob_a_builder

It'll give a guide to the 'real world' replacement value

The insurance will of course be looking to pay the minimum
i.e. no where near the replacement value.

Knowing those numbers gives you the info required to decide if/when their offer is reasonable/acceptable

why should OPs mum be worse off thru no fault of hers.

The Insurance co's job is to max their profits, our job to make sure they don't rip us off any further


"She is also upset as she had just had work done on it"
Just part of normal running costs, rather than part of value, unless of course she's 'pimped' it, sounds unlikely though

NeverAgain_2

Similar cars advertised on Autotrader give some documentary support to your argument for a higher payout from the insurance company.

It is better than simply saying: "I want more money."

dacouch

The adverts on Autotrader etc are regarded as the price the seller is willing to begin negotiation from, so they do not give a true valuation. They can be helpful to supply an Insurer with but you should not expect to get the full value of the advert but allow an amount off for the haggling.

MrRedundant

Whats the full spec? Whats the offer?

newfoundglory

I would expect that you can get the write off value increased by a minimum of 10%, possibly 15% or more with some negotiation.

Marsh_Samphire

Find out what category of write off it is (A, B, C or D) as only A & B are truly knackered. If it's C or D it's repairable. This happened to my Mum's car, someone hit her and the insurance company wanted to write it off and pay a pittance. We provided "real world" comparisons for the make, model, year and mileage of the car and argued with them, they eventually agreed we could have the car back. We have a local independent garage our family has used for years and they did all the work. Then it just needed a new MOT and off you go. This all happened about 6 years ago to my Mum's V reg Seat Cordoba estate and it's still running today.

skint-student-nurse

we checked on www.whatcar.com to see what our car was worth as we knew it would get written off and didnt want to get offered a low amount for it. We were lucky enough to get a great settlement for our car, but what car really did help.