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Car hit from behind, other driver admitted fault but my car deemed to old for repair?
Belinea2010_2
Posts: 9 Forumite
in Motoring
Hi
Two weeks ago I was stationary at a set of traffic lights when the car behind me hit my car.
My car is a relatively low value, money wise, £750.00 maybe but it's my only car and as I live out in the
sticks (not even a local bus service), it's my only means of transport for shopping, doctors
Appointments and so on. It's basically my lifeline.
The female driver has admitted liability to both my insurance company and hers.
My insurers immediately arranged for a free hire car (the cost to reclaimed from the other side)
And to have my car taken into a nominated accident repair centre for assessment. They did say
Something about that in the event my car is deemed not economical to repair then the free car
Hire is limited to a specific length and after that I would have to pay.
My insurance company is handling the claim against hers and they asked me not to talk to her
Insurers should they contact me and said I should inform them straight away if I get any approaches.
Two days after the accident I get a phone call from her insurance company (we exchanged numbers at the
time of the event) and I said I can't talk to you, please contact my insurers. The guy on the phone started talking
very fast and said his company wanted to make me a one time offer of £500 to settle and would I at least listen
to the offer.
I said ok BUT I won't be accepting any offer you make in person, it will only go through my insurance company.
So he said that he has spoken to my company and discussed matters and that as the value of my car is likely to be
Lower than the cost of repair, it was likely that it will be written off and placed on some "written off register" with the DVLA.
He said i would be free to then pay for the repairs privately and have the car retested and MOT'd, and if it passes, apply to have it taken off the register but he said this would all be at my expense.
He said that the current Parkers list price for my car is much less than I paid for it so any settlement would be approx 1/2 to 3/4 of the value I have it insured it for. He said if I accepted his offer then I would not have to claim for the loss of the car against my own insurance and have that claim on my record.
I told him I am not discussing my intentions or thoughts but I will pass all he told me onto my insurance company. He said that he would call me again in a few days to give me time to speak to my own insurers. I asked him not to call and keep all contact through
My insurers.
I reported this call to my own insurers and they said to ignore any further calls and not accept any offer made.
A day later this guy calls me back and I tell him I do not wish to discuss matters with him. He asks if I have been offered a hire car yet and when I said its all been arranged he said well in that case he withdraws his offer as any hire car would have to be made by his company and my own.
A week later I get a call from the hire car company saying my insurer is stopping payment for my hire car and I should return it by 6pm. I rang the company appointed by my insurers to handle the claim and they said that garage had inspected my car and reports that it is not economical to repair although it is drivable. I should arrange to go and collect my car (a round trip of some 35 miles) at my own cost and that my insurers would contact me shortly. Although he did not directly say, he seemed to hint that the claim against the at-fault driver would not now go ahead as MY insurers would process this as a WRITE OFF via MY policy.
On Xmas eve I got a letter from my insurer saying that my car had been deemed uneconomical to repair and that they would be instructing their agents to collect my car and remove it to a place of safety.
They also asked me to send my original V5 document and complete and detach section 9 transferring ownership to them together with my original cert of motor insurance, MOT and servicing documents to them straight away. Because of Xmas this has not been done yet.
The way I see it is simple, my car was legally being used by me, I was stationary at the time my car was hit at traffic lights, the other driver has admitted fault so I should not be inconvenienced or placed in a position where I may loose money and have a claim showing on my own policy.
The other side should pay all and any costs I incur OR pay the full value of the car plus some compensation for the inconvience caused.
Now obviously this is very distressing to me, my neck and shoulder are very sore, I face having my car written off due to no fault of mine, it seems on the face of it I may loose money on this, I certainly cannot afford to replace my car, especially at the value being placed on it.
The worry and inconvenience is huge and to top it all off I am sadly on benefits due to ill health and simply can not be with out a car period.
Is there any thing I can do about all of this?
I find it hard to accept that I can be sitting at a set of traffic lights minding my own business thinking my life was about to get better when this woman hits my car and changes it all for the worst.
The was some talk by my insurer about compensation for my neck and shoulder but I am conscious of the "compensation culture" we seem to be living in and I don't know if a aching neck and shoulder really warrants such action?
Can I take any civil action in this matter?
All I really want, and I guess expect, is that my life is returned to how it was before she hit my car at no cost to me.
Any advice from anyone who knows about this kind of thing would be greatly appreciated as I have never had to deal with this before (I have been driving for 35 years without a single accident, not even a scratch or ding).
Thank you for reading this rather long post.
Two weeks ago I was stationary at a set of traffic lights when the car behind me hit my car.
My car is a relatively low value, money wise, £750.00 maybe but it's my only car and as I live out in the
sticks (not even a local bus service), it's my only means of transport for shopping, doctors
Appointments and so on. It's basically my lifeline.
The female driver has admitted liability to both my insurance company and hers.
My insurers immediately arranged for a free hire car (the cost to reclaimed from the other side)
And to have my car taken into a nominated accident repair centre for assessment. They did say
Something about that in the event my car is deemed not economical to repair then the free car
Hire is limited to a specific length and after that I would have to pay.
My insurance company is handling the claim against hers and they asked me not to talk to her
Insurers should they contact me and said I should inform them straight away if I get any approaches.
Two days after the accident I get a phone call from her insurance company (we exchanged numbers at the
time of the event) and I said I can't talk to you, please contact my insurers. The guy on the phone started talking
very fast and said his company wanted to make me a one time offer of £500 to settle and would I at least listen
to the offer.
I said ok BUT I won't be accepting any offer you make in person, it will only go through my insurance company.
So he said that he has spoken to my company and discussed matters and that as the value of my car is likely to be
Lower than the cost of repair, it was likely that it will be written off and placed on some "written off register" with the DVLA.
He said i would be free to then pay for the repairs privately and have the car retested and MOT'd, and if it passes, apply to have it taken off the register but he said this would all be at my expense.
He said that the current Parkers list price for my car is much less than I paid for it so any settlement would be approx 1/2 to 3/4 of the value I have it insured it for. He said if I accepted his offer then I would not have to claim for the loss of the car against my own insurance and have that claim on my record.
I told him I am not discussing my intentions or thoughts but I will pass all he told me onto my insurance company. He said that he would call me again in a few days to give me time to speak to my own insurers. I asked him not to call and keep all contact through
My insurers.
I reported this call to my own insurers and they said to ignore any further calls and not accept any offer made.
A day later this guy calls me back and I tell him I do not wish to discuss matters with him. He asks if I have been offered a hire car yet and when I said its all been arranged he said well in that case he withdraws his offer as any hire car would have to be made by his company and my own.
A week later I get a call from the hire car company saying my insurer is stopping payment for my hire car and I should return it by 6pm. I rang the company appointed by my insurers to handle the claim and they said that garage had inspected my car and reports that it is not economical to repair although it is drivable. I should arrange to go and collect my car (a round trip of some 35 miles) at my own cost and that my insurers would contact me shortly. Although he did not directly say, he seemed to hint that the claim against the at-fault driver would not now go ahead as MY insurers would process this as a WRITE OFF via MY policy.
On Xmas eve I got a letter from my insurer saying that my car had been deemed uneconomical to repair and that they would be instructing their agents to collect my car and remove it to a place of safety.
They also asked me to send my original V5 document and complete and detach section 9 transferring ownership to them together with my original cert of motor insurance, MOT and servicing documents to them straight away. Because of Xmas this has not been done yet.
The way I see it is simple, my car was legally being used by me, I was stationary at the time my car was hit at traffic lights, the other driver has admitted fault so I should not be inconvenienced or placed in a position where I may loose money and have a claim showing on my own policy.
The other side should pay all and any costs I incur OR pay the full value of the car plus some compensation for the inconvience caused.
Now obviously this is very distressing to me, my neck and shoulder are very sore, I face having my car written off due to no fault of mine, it seems on the face of it I may loose money on this, I certainly cannot afford to replace my car, especially at the value being placed on it.
The worry and inconvenience is huge and to top it all off I am sadly on benefits due to ill health and simply can not be with out a car period.
Is there any thing I can do about all of this?
I find it hard to accept that I can be sitting at a set of traffic lights minding my own business thinking my life was about to get better when this woman hits my car and changes it all for the worst.
The was some talk by my insurer about compensation for my neck and shoulder but I am conscious of the "compensation culture" we seem to be living in and I don't know if a aching neck and shoulder really warrants such action?
Can I take any civil action in this matter?
All I really want, and I guess expect, is that my life is returned to how it was before she hit my car at no cost to me.
Any advice from anyone who knows about this kind of thing would be greatly appreciated as I have never had to deal with this before (I have been driving for 35 years without a single accident, not even a scratch or ding).
Thank you for reading this rather long post.
0
Comments
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The way I see it is simple, my car was legally being used by me, I was stationary at the time my car was hit at traffic lights, the other driver has admitted fault so I should not be inconvenienced or placed in a position where I may loose money and have a claim showing on my own policy.
You're absolutely right. Stick to your guns. You should be returned, at the third party (or their insurer's) cost to the situation you were in before the accident. You can claim back everything, from the price of a new car to public transport costs.
Your car might be a write off, but the price they offer you for it is a starting point for negotiations. Before you call, have a think about it's value to you & what it'd cost to get you back in the same kind of vehicle. Think about any recent maintenance, etc. You might be pleasantly surprised at their counter-offer. Especially if you 'naively' ask if there's some kind of ombudsman you can write to.
Lastly, what the insurance company says does not neccessarily "go". You have rights & they'll sometimes rely on the fact that people don't routinely make insurance claims & therefore might not know what they're entitled to.
Good luck.0 -
Also, get it in writing that this claim has been put down on your 'record' as 100% non-fault (or words to that effect). I had a similar situation where I was fully paid out for damage to my car with no resistance. It transpired about 2 years later that it'd been put down as 50:50 - apparently to dissuade me from making any kind of personal injury etc. claim later on.
I don't know if this is common but it was a bit of a worry that I'd been telling subsequent insurers that I had no 'fault' claims. This would perhaps have invalidated my insurance? Who knows, but I wouldn't put it past them.0 -
Legally all you can have is financial compensation if your car is uneconomical to repair. That means the market value of the car pripr to the crash.
You cannot expect to get what it was worth "to you".
If this is a "revelation" about what happens after a write off you msy want to reconsider the compensation you could go for regarding the injuries you mentioned.0 -
Have a read at what the ombudsman says about car valuations here
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html
Basically you're entitled to enough to buy a car of similar age, mileage and condition from a reputable dealer. If you bought your car some time ago this will obviously be less than you paid for it. It may also be less than the value you wrote on the form when you took out insurance.
What do you think the car is worth, and why do you think that?0 -
Whoever spoke to you was talking rubbish. If the car is written off and you repair it yourself you don't have to mot it to get it off the register, also if you are claiming off the other party insurance rather than your own it still goes down as a claim against yourself.0
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They are trying to get you to accept and pay you off before costs spiral. The hire car could car far more than the value of your car. So the claim for a £750 car could be a couple of thousand by the time its all over.
Where you accept their offer or let your insurance deal with it. You still need to declare it when taking out insurance for the next 5 years or so.
So your premiums may also rise. Even if you have protected no claims.Censorship Reigns Supreme in Troll City...0 -
If you have a sore neck and shoulder, please get it medically checked out. My one and only accident was in 1981, where my ex-wife was bumped forward and had 'neck and shoulder pain' the next day. We kept a stiff upper lip (very British) and didn't put in a claim or even get medical advice. To this day, she has upper back pain and doesn't have full movement in her neck.
If the sore neck turns into something worse, you might regret not getting proper advice at the time.If someone is nice to you but rude to the waiter, they are not a nice person.0 -
specialboy wrote: »Whoever spoke to you was talking rubbish. If the car is written off and you repair it yourself you don't have to mot it to get it off the register
Not an MOT as such, but a formal check may be needed. It depends on the category of write-off it's assigned.
Too badly damaged to be properly repaired :-
Cat A - can't be returned to the road, can't be broken for bits.
Cat B - can't be returned to the road, but can be broken for parts by a registered breaker.
Damaged to a value beyond the vehicle's value :-
Cat C - can be returned to the road, but needs to go through a formal "vehicle identity check" before a new tax disc or V5C can be issued.
Not damaged beyond the vehicle's value, but written off anyway :-
Cat D - can be returned to the road, no check needed.
What car, what's the damage? If it's driveable safely and legally, but cosmetically 'orrible, either get it lashed-up on the cheap or take the salvage value and use the car as transport whilst you find a replacement. Then scrap it.
One thing that you have to take into account when running a sub-grand car is that it could die (due to uneconomically expensive mechanical issues, if nothing else) at any time, so you have to be prepared to chop semi-quickly. If that's not for you, then scrape to fund something newer - and be prepared for the higher running costs that'll entail.
As for the value - no, you can't force the insurers to pay thousands to repair a car that's worth shirt buttons. Nor is it the other insurer's fault that you live in the back end of nowhere with no plan for back-up transport. What would you do if, instead of being hit, it'd had to be taken off the road for mechanical problems?0 -
If the car is still safe and legal to drive you could have it returned to you and have a payment to you for the value of the car minus its scrap value. A new bumper and paint could be £500 which will uneconomical on a cheap car for an insurance company but you may be happy to continue driving the car with compensation for the loss in value.0
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........Nor is it the other insurer's fault that you live in the back end of nowhere with no plan for back-up transport. What would you do if, instead of being hit, it'd had to be taken off the road for mechanical problems?
It might not be the other insurers fault that the OP lives in the back of beyondwith no public transport but they still need to pay any reasonable costs for alternative transport arising from the accident.
What the OP would have done if it had failed mechanically is up to the OP and absolutely nothing to do with the accident.
The rule in Tort is that the at fault party needs to put the innocent party back in the position they would have been in had the accident not happened together with paying any consequential costs like injury and alternative transport0
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