Been In an Accident - Advice Please?

Retrogamer

Just to update on this.

First offer was £400 and i keep the car.
I rejected this.

So after a discussion i got hire car (Polo 1.2tdi), they took the car to a salvage yard for an engineers report.

Engineer valued the vehicle then minus £200 for "damage" (i imagine this is a due to some rust on the bottom of one of the doors and some stone chips to the bonnet and wings...i'd only just rust had the rust fixed on the other side a few weeks prior)
And minus £220 for the mileage.

New value is £350 but since they offered £400 first time they will honour that. However, unlike the first time i don't have the car.

Understandably as i wasn't pleased with the first offer i'm even less pleased by the second offer.

I've advised them if they return my car to me and give me the £400 pay out then i'd accept that (just have to suck it up i guess?)
But the offer of £400 and no car back isn't acceptable


I've advised them there are no other CDX 1.5TD's for sale i can find for that price and since the engineers report was based on the cosmetic imperfections and high mileage they don't directly reflect the value as mechanically it's in much better condition than cars at 100k, let alone my mileage (184k)
Along with mods left on the car including upgraded stereo and speakers and even my road tax.

"we don't care about any of that" was the indirect response.


They're going to see if they can arrange the car to be returned to me but there might be a snag
It's a cat B and apparently they can't be sold or given back.

My dispute with this is i haven't agreed to take their offer yet so i don't think it's reasonable to keep something that still legally belongs to me. There's no way i'd try fixing it, it would just be to recycle some parts and scrap the shell

If they had offered me £700 on the first call i'd have found that reasonable and accepted. Because of the hire car they've provided me, salvage costs incurred and all the time wasted i imagine it's cost them a lot more than this already. Seems crazy.

Jamie_Carter

I'm sorry to have to say this, but we did all tell you that you wouldn't get what you were hoping for.

Retrogamer

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

I'm sorry to have to say this, but we did all tell you that you wouldn't get what you were hoping for.

You sure did :T

To be fair, i over estimated how reasonable insurance companies can be, or at least this one in particular.
I also over estimated the market value for my car and because of the work that i've done on it (mostly mechanical restoration) over 3 years and the money spent i was pretty gutted for the most part.

It's gradually been sinking since then and the comments here and taking on board what was said.

I still however won't settle with them for £400 and no car back, since that puts me worse off than the original offer. It's still my property after all.

demystified

I still however won't settle with them for £400 and no car back, since that puts me worse off than the original offer. It's still my property after all.

You're still not getting it. When the insurance company offers you money they take the car and it becomes their property to dispose of as they see fit. Or you decline the offer and keep the car.

Your choice. Like it or not, thats how it works.

Retrogamer

demystified wrote: »

You're still not getting it. When the insurance company offers you money they take the car and it becomes their property to dispose of as they see fit. Or you decline the offer and keep the car.

Your choice. Like it or not, thats how it works.

If it really comes down to that, i'll probably accept the car back. For about two days work it looks like i can get more than they're offering by breaking it, selling what's undamaged and recycling the shell.

We'll see what happens. They're reviewing my counter proposal (i.e £400 and i keep the car as per the original offer).
Since it wasn't a straight no towards that, then there may be a compromise.

At this stage i'm trying not to be too stubborn and more realistic but at the same time i want to recover as much of my losses as possible.
There's not many cars i can buy for £400 let alone ones which have had the work done listed below.

To give people an idea of the work i've done in the 3 years (for anyone who's interested)and 30k i've owned it (about £800 alone in the last 6 months)

Jamex front and rear dampers
Jamex lowering springs
Camber bolts
K&N panel filter
Stainless steel custom exhaust from the downpipe back
Angel eye headlights with expensive bulbs (Approx £60 for bulbs alone)
Custom one off rear lights no longer being made with with expensive bulbs
Smoked side repeaters
Alpine component speakers front and rear with MP3 player
All plastics redyed black again pernamently.
GSI windscreen with OEM top tint
LEDs in the dashboard and interior lights
De-wipered rear
Black number plate surrounds
Wind delfectors
Fully rebuilt rear brakes with new springs, handbrake cable, wheel cylinders, pipes, shoes, retaining springs, wheel bearings ect.
Rust treated and painted rear axel.
Fully undersealed and rust treated underside.
New front lower arms
New balljoints
New track rod ends
New driveshaft.
Timing belt & tentioner kit
Brake fluid flushed
New header tank, radiator, and coolant.
Flocked centre console in dashboard.
New starter motor
reconditioned alternator
New battery
Alloy parts polished in engine bay
Aero wiper blades
New vaux wiper arms
New power steering and alt drive belts
OEM rubber floor mats
New thermostat with block flushed
Engine flushed and injector treatment at every service
Brake bias controller adjusted and camber adjusted for lowered suspension
New rocker cover gasket.
Magnetic sump plug.
Replacement gear linkage with bushes from a 60k miles Corsa


Engine and gearbox received regular oil changes and ran sweet as a nut. 184k and pulled higher than standard power on a recent dyno run and didn't burn any oil.
It was almost all vauxhall grade parts i was fitting as well so not the £5 ebay ball joints or the likes you see. It was mechanically great and cosmetically average.

The only saving grace is when the accident happened i still had my steelies on it (although they were refurbed recently with new tyres) from the winter and my refurbished Vauxhall Cavalier Cesaro wheels are still with me.

GAZ237

Well your list of mods. Just read Chav mobile and add no value to a car that had no value to start off with.

To be honest £400 was a kind offer. I bet the engineer was shaking his head, having to do a report on the car.

Being a cat B. I stand to be corrected but I don't think they are allowed to let you have the car back.

So looks like its £400 and like it.

Look on the positive side £400 will buy you a newer better car than you had before.

arcon5

demystified wrote: »

You're still not getting it. When the insurance company offers you money they take the car and it becomes their property to dispose of as they see fit. Or you decline the offer and keep the car.

Your choice. Like it or not, thats how it works.

Actually, since nothings been agreed negotiations such as this are perfectly acceptable! There isn't a one size fits all scenario as far as RTAs are concerned.

arcon5

As for the car being cat B op -- surely they can't write it off if they don't own it?

GAZ237

arcon5 wrote: »

As for the car being cat B op -- surely they can't write it off if they don't own it?

Of course they can.

They have inspected the car and have decided its a cat B write off and will inform the DVLA according. Owning the car does not come into it.

After having a quick look on the DVLA they say a cat B cannot be sold on or go back on the road, but can be used for parts.

Although this seems to be industry standard practice rather than law as far as I can tell.

mattyprice4004

adlakha84 wrote: »

Hi all,

I was waiting at the traffic light to turn right , there was no specific light for right turners . a bus was standing at the opposite side , when the light turned green , I judged that there was enough time to turn right so I moved but the bus was fast and hit me at the rear passenger side door . I had my mum and my sister in the car . 2 months after the incident I got a letter from bus company asking for damages approx. 800£ . I wrote them the letter saying as the accident was not my fault and I had a lot of damage to my car and passengers were not hurt I would not like to claim against them . as in 50/50 claims we will both pay for our own damages . however the bus company replied back asking for my insurance details or demanding to pay for the damages myself .

I would like advise on what should I do give them my insurance details or put the claim through the claims management companies .
pay for bus damage myself . how would these things affect my premium . can in future any passengers in the bus claim for damage against me for damages and will it further increase my premium .

I thank you all in advance for you time and advice .

Are you completely stupid? How on earth is you misjudging a gap not your fault?!

Learn to drive or hang up the keys, hopefully this is a lesson to stop driving like a tool.