We are an innocent third party in a motor accident

Rimkh2

...bearing in mind as a mug punter you always pay more than it says in glasses guide for old bangers and certainly more than a dealer will pay you.

Rimkh2

Thank you vaio... I suppose DVLA can fill in the blanks for them these days as they have never asked for them or inspected the car .

ruggedtoast

I would like to know what car it is please.

tberry6686

An insurance valuation is supposed to give you the value that can purchase the same vehicle from a dealer. The only way that a dealer will give you £700 for a 13 yr old car is if it values at more than £700 or they are making more than the difference back in the deal ie using the old car as a trade in.

From what you have said so far there is no evidence that the true value is more than £700 except that you have found one online that the seller wants £1600 for.

When you sent back the cheque did you include evidence that their valuation was low. This would need to consist of several adverts for similar age/condition vehicles with an amount knocked off for haggling.

The reason people asked what the car was was so they could get an idea if the valuation is reasonable or not and to advise you what the maximum you could push for would be.

I've recently been through a similar scenario with my car being written off by a third party but there the similarities end, the insurer we were dealing with (directline) were excellent with pretty much everything being done by phone and an agreement on the value of the car around £1000 above book price within 20 minutes of their decision to write the car off so not all insurance companies will try to rip you off, in fact it can be cheaper for them to give a higher value for your car than let it drag on.

I suspect that the car is something like a mondeo size or smaller, if so then £700 for a 13 year old one is about right, unless it is a premium marque.

CKhalvashi

Rimkh2 wrote: »

Thank you makeyourdaddyproud. That would be a more realistic figure that would offer us a few options. The problem is that the insurer does not respond to our letters or emails.

You need to send proof, in the form of same make/model/spec.

I had a written off '57' plate Ford S-Max Zetec (it was about 3 months old at the time), and this ended up being replaced (with my agreement) for an '07' plate S-Max Titanium ex-demo, with same engine. They paid the £80 (I think it was then) to get my plate transferred, too. I didn't want to wait 16 weeks for a new car, and a 9 months old, 9000 mile, better specced car was cheaper/easier for both me and the insurance company, especially as they were paying for me to be in a rental.

This would highlight (IMO anyway), that a lesser specced car a year newer (with similar mileage) would be possibly a good guide, and would probably come to around the £1000 mark, depending on make/model.

Bearing in mind (around the right age) that you could have this for £400, this for £600, or my mothers latest car, bought for £900. The last of these is nearly as well specced at the 2nd S-Max I had (only thing missing is leather seats).

CK

Rimkh2

Thank you terry and ckalvashi. The make and model was not really a part of my problem. Yes you can buy a similar model not the same spec for under one thousand pounds. You can buy newer models starting from around £1200. The model and engines changed a year or so later. The newer ones have had technical issues. Generally these have no provenance and are hundreds of miles away. Ours had full service history and had been in our ownership for 12 years.
Locally older models have asking prices of £1200.00. Again I say the only vehicle that matched ours, model spec, provenance was priced at £1600.00. The web link for this was forwarded to them.
Also CK you appear to have had the opportunity for dialogue with the insurers. This company do not respond to us. All we want is fair dealing and explanation of their actions and attitude.

dacouch

Rimkh2 wrote: »

Thank you terry and ckalvashi. The make and model was not really a part of my problem. Yes you can buy a similar model not the same spec for under one thousand pounds. You can buy newer models starting from around £1200. The model and engines changed a year or so later. The newer ones have had technical issues. Generally these have no provenance and are hundreds of miles away. Ours had full service history and had been in our ownership for 12 years.
Locally older models have asking prices of £1200.00. Again I say the only vehicle that matched ours, model spec, provenance was priced at £1600.00. The web link for this was forwarded to them.
Also CK you appear to have had the opportunity for dialogue with the insurers. This company do not respond to us. All we want is fair dealing and explanation of their actions and attitude.

What is the make, model, year and mileage.

If you answer this people can give you some specific advice.

tberry6686

Provenance is pretty much irrelevant in a 13 yr old car. Full service history and 1 owner will, at most, add £100 to the value.
Just because someone thinks that their car is worth a lot more than book value because of history, ownership etc does not make it true.

One example when trying to prove your car should have an increased value is of no real use, you will need multiple examples and even then with newer models costing less than the older one you will be unlikely to get a large increase.

ruggedtoast

What make and model is the car please?

jonesMUFCforever

How interesting that OP complains that insurance company does not correspond with him whilst he has been asked on here about 10 times what the make and model of car he is claiming on! Hardly a state secret is it?

My guess a Ford FIESTA

Perhaps they deserve each other.