How do insurance write offs work?

Parva

Quote guidelines at me as you will but having been there and knowing many others that have too I have a good idea of how it works. And if you seriously belive that an insurance company will actually raise the value insured by the policyholder, well, I'll truly give in.

Parva

Further to this, perhaps you should PM the OP.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Parva wrote: »

Quote guidelines at me as you will but having been there and knowing many others that have too I have a good idea of how it works. And if you seriously belive that an insurance company will actually raise the value insured by the policyholder, well, I'll truly give in.

if this is what you have had done to you in the past regarding value, then you have truely been a rollover and take it customer.

insurers will try it on at any given point so hence getting a bit of knowladge behind you is key.

i bought a rover that was pinched 4 weeks after purchasing it, i paid then £695... my excess was £200.

they offered £495 plus minus the excess, £295 final.

i reminded them that oft rule dictate that any vehicle purchased and subsequently written off withing a short time of purchase is considered the value of the vehicle and fair to pay this amount back.

i sent them proof of the value of similar vehicles of age and mileage and spec all were above £1000. they came back with offer of £995 take £200 off. £795 pay out.

Muscle750

The car is scrap all day long take the money and go and buy another ive worked in the car accident repair busniess now some 30 years and it never ceases to amaze me. Best one ive seen is a car 2 days over the year old decided to put it on its roof in a field if hed of done it a few days earlier he would have had a new car as it was it was they paid out £14k less than what it cost new a year and two days earlier. Ive also seen the insurance offer £1500 for a written off renault camper van, the owner threw a wobble and they finally settled on £3000 !!!.

dacouch

Parva wrote: »

Quote guidelines at me as you will but having been there and knowing many others that have too I have a good idea of how it works. And if you seriously belive that an insurance company will actually raise the value insured by the policyholder, well, I'll truly give in.

You simply quote the relevant ruling (See previous post) from the Ombudsman, if they still persist make an official complaint and if still not happy go to the Ombudsman.

Most Insurers would abide by the ruling by simply ringing and quoting it to them

s_b

dacouch wrote: »

You simply quote the relevant ruling (See previous post) from the Ombudsman, if they still persist make an official complaint and if still not happy go to the Ombudsman.

Most Insurers would abide by the ruling by simply ringing and quoting it to them

ive seen cars in compounds wait there 2 years before insurance was settled

dacouch

s_b wrote: »

ive seen cars in compounds wait there 2 years before insurance was settled

I know a few compounds, they used to tell me the majority of these cars were from Tradex. A few of them started to refuse to accept cars which were insured with Tradex

useless_git_requires_wife

Your payout is not based on your quoted value on the insurance policy.

It's based on the current fair market value of your car (if you had to replace it). If you are offered any less than £700 you should consider refusing that initial offer.

Scrap the car (it will likely be left in your hands by the insurer) and you should get about £100 as a further bonus. Make sure the scrapper fills out the correct section of the registration document as they can be sneaky about this.

Obukit

Right, update time. The insurance company has come back and offered us £290. They say they have lowered the valuation because the car was a category D write off in 2008.

We didn't know about this but is it really fair to make such a change to the valuation for some minor cosmetic damage 4 years ago? The car had the usual scratches but nothing exceptional for the age? They say they will reconsider if we can send them 3 examples of other cat D VW Golf of a similar age and mileage but aside from getting tons of HPI checks I don't see how I am going to find them.

Any advice appreciated but I have a nasty feeling I will have to take this to the Financial Ombudsman. After all at this end of the market something roadworthy with MOT is a hundred times more important than perfect paintwork.

s_b

Obukit wrote: »

Any advice appreciated but I have a nasty feeling I will have to take this to the Financial Ombudsman. After all at this end of the market something roadworthy with MOT is a hundred times more important than perfect paintwork.

yes
tell them seeing as it is a non fault accident because you cannot replace this car for a similar one for the money offered that you want your car repairing and being put back in the position you were in prior to this other car hitting you
now go on autotrader within a reasonable 50 miles radius and download some cars similar to your own at more reasonable money and say this is what you would expect as payment if they dont want to repair it
if you have legal protection insurance get onto them now and make them fight for you

ive had to do this twice in the last 15 years because the insurance usually use a claims assessor on commission to negate any payments they are likely to have to make so its in his interest to offer derisory amounts