Car due to be written off, How much can we expect

rio

My husband was involved in an accident yesterday. Someone behind him hit their accelerator rather than the brake pedal and went into the back of our car at 30mph causing extensive damage. The garage that collected it indicated that it is likely to be a write off, but obviously we will have to wait for the insurance assessor to confirm this. The trade price for our car (25000 miles, Full service history - which ours has )according to What Car is £5225, while to buy from dealer is around the £6k mark. Our car was immaculate before the accident, and was serviced only a week ago, so I'm sure our regular garage can vouch for its condition.

My question is how much do you think we are likely to be offered for it by the assessor, or what should settle/hold out for? My husband's insurance won't let him keep a hire car once a write off has been confirmed, so we shall need to get a new one ASAP and may well have to buy one before the insurance money comes through as their is no public transport to where he works.

Thanks

DavidHM

What's the car? Make, model, engine, trim, age, colour, extras? Roughly where in the country are you located?

xzibit

If the trade in price is just over £5000, I'd expect £5000. You will never get anywhere near what it is worth private. Which is annoying. If you get offered below £5000, do not accept it, and ask for more, get information on what similar cars are going for on autotrader, and check parker's, and glasses guides.

DavidHM

Xzibit:

I made this post on a similar topic earlier:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=353133

I think it bears repeating: the replacement value is the likely price in the market where the insured would usually purchase a car (generally a dealer), less any allowance for haggling and betterment (e.g., problems fixed, warranty, etc.) for as near a replacement to the written-off car as possible.