Non fault car insurance write off help

einalem

Some background: 4 weeks ago a guy hit my parked car. He said sorry and said it was his fault. We swapped details and not being in an accident before I called my insurance(just thought that was what you did not been in an accident before), they came and towed my car away as I'm fully comp(it was shunted undriveable). The other guys insurance rang me the next day and they gave me a courtesy car(returns today).
Over 1 weeks later my nationwide call me and say my car is a write off and someone will call me with a valuation. Nearly 2 weeks later finally get call and was offered £1800(2003 fiesta lx semiauto) I was in tears.He emailed his reseach and his price was based on several manual cars(I only drive auto) and one of the same spec in essex(I live in Liverpool so not local!) He said the market price was £2300 minus £500 pre accident damage(anything bigger than a 5p piece or a scratch longer than 1cm he said is pre accidental damage).
I researched and cheapest within 60 miles was £2799 so another engineer came up with 2nd valuation of £2700-£600 of pre accidental damage. I asked for quote for the 'damage' but they said they was just an engineers opinion.

Situation now is it has been referred to an engineer at insurance company but because of the first two valuations I am worried they won't do it correctly again and I'm not sure where I stand with them wanting to take so much money off me for pre accidental damage when working out the market value as th car is written off anyway so not sure why it matters? I am aware I should have gone through other guys insurance now but too late I think.

Thanks any help appreiciated

InsideInsurance

If you are disputing the valuation of your vehicle you will have more opportunities to complain with your insurers than you would have from the third party insurers as if you cannot come to an agreement you can complain to the FOS and if still not happy you could go to court. If you are claiming directly from the third party's insurers your only choice is to go to court.

They are trying to calculate how much your car was worth prior to the accident. They therefore have to factor in what impact the pre-existing damage would have had on the valuation. Vehicle valuation is not an exact science however and a lot comes down to personal opinion.

The older the car the less pre-existing damage should be taken into consideration, firstly as people expect a few scratches etc on a 10 year old car but maybe not on a 6 month old one. Secondly, they are more likely to use cheaper garages to repair damage the older the car is - 6 month old Audi goes to an Audi garage for repairs, a 15 year old Ford goes to the scrapyard to find spare parts etc. Thirdly, people tend to under estimate the cost of repairs so dont deduct enough from it.

When I worked in claims the engineers would estimate the cost of repairing all the pre existing damage by the book prices and then deduct a percentage of it from the value of the car. For a nearly new car it could be up around 90% of the estimated repair. For a nearly dead car it could be as low as 30%

It seems they've gotten the valuation close to where you want it so now it is more about the pre-existing deductions. A question to you.... what damages were there? For you to ask them..... what damages were there? How have they calculated £600 as the correct deduction.

angelboy

Tell them that you are happy for them to find you a replacement car that matches yours in condition.

vaio

The value from glasses, parkers & CAPS is all you need as that is what the insurance company should use to value the car.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html#13

is worth a read and remember it's the retail value you should get

As an aside, why have the third party taken the hire car back?

I’d ring them and tell them that you need it until you get a replacement car and if they won’t give you one tell them you’ll soon find a credit hire firm who will be only to happy to provide one.