Insurance write-off help

kim_kat

Hi,

My boyfriend's car has just been written off after an accident (someone drove into his parked car while he was at work, plus 4 other parked cars before his!) but the settlement the insurance company has offered is ridiculous!

We knew it would be a write off as the cost of replacing the body damage alone was more than the car is worth, not including labour, re-spray and any chassis/radiator damage. The insurance have been rubbish in communicating, but have finally got back to him today and said that they will offer him £1,100 for the car. He argued and they upped it to £1,300.

Now the car is actually worth at least £2,500, which was the value when he p-x'd it with his old car. It's low mileage and was in mint condition. The quote they've offered is including lowering springs and an after-market exhaust (all declared as they are a modified car company), which alone are worth £200.

We've looked around and the market value of the car in its former condition was pretty high, and there are other higher mileage examples on the market for over £3000. The company are saying that they have gone on market value, which is clearly incorrect. It's not even them who has to pay out!

Can my boyfriend demand a second opinion from another garage? How far can he argue this? At the moment, they're not offering to put him in the position he was before accident, as he would have easily sold the car for £2500.

Thanks in advance

mikey72

kim_kat wrote: »

Hi,

My boyfriend's car has just been written off after an accident (someone drove into his parked car while he was at work, plus 4 other parked cars before his!) but the settlement the insurance company has offered is ridiculous!

We knew it would be a write off as the cost of replacing the body damage alone was more than the car is worth, not including labour, re-spray and any chassis/radiator damage. The insurance have been rubbish in communicating, but have finally got back to him today and said that they will offer him £1,100 for the car. He argued and they upped it to £1,300.

Now the car is actually worth at least £2,500, which was the value when he p-x'd it with his old car. It's low mileage and was in mint condition. The quote they've offered is including lowering springs and an after-market exhaust (all declared as they are a modified car company), which alone are worth £200.

We've looked around and the market value of the car in its former condition was pretty high, and there are other higher mileage examples on the market for over £3000. The company are saying that they have gone on market value, which is clearly incorrect. It's not even them who has to pay out!

Can my boyfriend demand a second opinion from another garage? How far can he argue this? At the moment, they're not offering to put him in the position he was before accident, as he would have easily sold the car for £2500.

Thanks in advance

If it's your insurer, they should use

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

if it's the third parties, they're not obliged to, but it's a good starting place.

kim_kat

It's his insurer who has arranged the quote and offered the settlement, even though it's the other party's insurance that should be paying out. There's no way they can't admit fault as the police were involved to take away the other PARKED vehicles she hit.

paddedjohn

Tell him to cancel his claim with his own insurance and start a claim against the 3rd party