Car insurance??

Grrrrrrrrr...

I'm not sure if this is really the place to be asking this, but I have no idea where else to look, so it has to be worth a try!

A few weeks ago my car was hit from behind in an accident that was 100% not my fault. To cut a long story short, the third party's insurance company have decided my car is not "cost effective" to repair and have offered me the "pre-crash value" instead, which obviously is nowhere near enough to get my car back on the road.

So, is their a law that says they can do this? I really can't believe that an insurance company can decide whether or not I should have my car repaired! And is it possible for me to take them/the third party driver to court to try to get more money from them?

If I can, does anyone know how!?

Labman_2

Grrrrrrrrr... wrote: »

I'm not sure if this is really the place to be asking this, but I have no idea where else to look, so it has to be worth a try!

A few weeks ago my car was hit from behind in an accident that was 100% not my fault. To cut a long story short, the third party's insurance company have decided my car is not "cost effective" to repair and have offered me the "pre-crash value" instead, which obviously is nowhere near enough to get my car back on the road.

So, is their a law that says they can do this? I really can't believe that an insurance company can decide whether or not I should have my car repaired! And is it possible for me to take them/the third party driver to court to try to get more money from them?

If I can, does anyone know how!?

The insurance campany will have calculated that it is cheaper to offer you their idea of the 'value' of your car rather than pay for the car to be repaired. This would allow you to buy a car of 'similar' value.

mattymoo

The insurance company is essentially offering you what a court would award you if you were to sue their driver.
As an extreme, no court would award somebody £10,000 repair costs to fix a car worth £1,000. Same applies if repair costs are £2,000 and the pre-crash value is £1,900. The court would award £1,900.

There is some room for negotiation though. Insurers will be using the Glasses guide value - the motor industry bible. If you have a friend in the trade ask for a gander at their copy (or website access) for the month the accident occured. If you feel the car was worth more, find ads to support that in Autotrader etc.

Be aware though that just because someone advertises a £2,000 car for £2,500 they will get that much. Insurers do ring and check.