How to Assess Car Write Off Value

AVENUE

Hope someone can help please.


It appears my car 2000 W reg Astra Estate will probably be assessed as a non economical repair & hence written off. (Waiting on engineers report). This was not my fault, someone smashed into my car whilst it was parked.


Please could someone advise how Insurance Companies value vehicles in these circumstances. I've read that some try & value as low as the Trade In Price, but I've just read comments by the Financial Ombudsman who state that they would value a car based on the price of a reputable dealer.


I've looked at both Glass Guide & CAP Guide and these are their valuations for my vehicle prior to write off.


GLASS
Dealer £1,060 - £1,310
Private £620 - £900
Trade In £170 - £315


CAP
Average Dealer Retail £900 - £995
Private £750 - £800
Trade In £310 - £340


Obviously there are quite a difference between Trade In & Retail on both Guides, so where would you expect my offer from Insurance company to reasonably be, and if they initially offer a very low amount, will me using the information I've read via the Financial Ombudsman Service be likely to get them to increase the offer? I've never been in this situation before so would appreciate some advice.


Many thanks - Avenue


PS - As this was not my fault, is the Insurance excess recovered from the other party, or do I have to deduct that from any offer too?

Quentin

Your excess isn't covered by your policy.

So (usually) you will need to pursue the third party to reimburse this ti you aling with any other uninsured losses you have.

The write off value should be based on the car's market value pre the incident..

AVENUE

Quentin wrote: »

Your excess isn't covered by your policy.

So (usually) you will need to pursue the third party to reimburse this ti you aling with any other uninsured losses you have.

The write off value should be based on the car's market value pre the incident..

Thanks Quentin, so the Market value will be the Dealer Value pre incident will it?


Also when you say the third party will need to be pursued, how do I go about that, do my insurance company not do that on my behalf as part of the total claim?


Many thanks - Avenue

Quentin

Your insurer won't pursue for uninsured losses.

If you have "legal cover" with your policy you can use that.

Otherwise diy or use a solicitor.

Regarding market value, yes that will be the cost to buy an equivalent from a dealer. (From which they deduct the excess, and usually any outstanding premium)

AVENUE

Quentin wrote: »

Your insurer won't pursue for uninsured losses.

If you have "legal cover" with your policy you can use that.

Otherwise diy or use a solicitor.

Regarding market value, yes that will be the cost to buy an equivalent from a dealer. (From which they deduct the excess, and usually any outstanding premium)

Thanks Quentin.


Many thanks - avenue

sithemadmonkey

Bear in mind that dealer's prices always have negotiating room built in, so don't expect to get the sort of prices that you see in AutoTrader.

I've seen quite a few FOS complaints where they have told the insurer to offer the top book average between Glass', CAP and Parkers but they may have changed their stance a bit since then.

As regards your excess, who is arranging the engineer's report etc? Is it your own insurer, the Third Party's or an accident management company? If it's your own insurer then (as Quentin says) your excess will be deducted and you'll have to recover it from the at-fault party (using either legal cover or your own means). If the Third Party's insurers are sorting it for you then they won't charge an excess, nor will an accident management company.

AVENUE

sithemadmonkey wrote: »

Bear in mind that dealer's prices always have negotiating room built in, so don't expect to get the sort of prices that you see in AutoTrader.

I've seen quite a few FOS complaints where they have told the insurer to offer the top book average between Glass', CAP and Parkers but they may have changed their stance a bit since then.

As regards your excess, who is arranging the engineer's report etc? Is it your own insurer, the Third Party's or an accident management company? If it's your own insurer then (as Quentin says) your excess will be deducted and you'll have to recover it from the at-fault party (using either legal cover or your own means). If the Third Party's insurers are sorting it for you then they won't charge an excess, nor will an accident management company.

Thanks for that....so as a benchmark figure based on the above values from the 2 guides what would you say was a reasonable offer. Car was in no worse than average condition, and was low mileage at 70,000.


The conversations I've had are with a firm called quindell who handle the claims on behalf of swinton. I still havn't been told its certainly a write off yet, but its looking very likely the chap from the bodyshop said. I got a phone call from the legal dept the morning after the claim was reported....I didn't understand fully what they were asking, but they didn't actually use the term uninsured losses but asked it I had suffered any financial loss if any contents of the car were damaged or if anyone was injured. Neither of those things applied, so they said they would contact swinton & close the case....however they never brought up the subject of a policy excess!


Would you wait for them to get back in touch with me once they've decided if its a write off, or should I ring them back prior to that to state I want my excess recovering?


Many thanks - avenue

sithemadmonkey

I take it Swinton are your insurer? Ring them back and ask what's happening with your excess. If it's a clear open-and-shut case with liability obviously 100% with the other party then they may not be bothering with the excess (since any amount they pay to you will be recovered in full anyway, might as well lump the excess in with that).

dacouch

Have Quindells put you in a hire car or courtesy car?

AVENUE

dacouch wrote: »

Have Quindells put you in a hire car or courtesy car?

Good question, I'm not sure of the difference....its come from a Hire Company, so I'm assuming its a Hire car. I have to replace the fuel I've used when its collected.


So for a fair valuation of mine should I take an average of the Glass Dealer price of £1,060 - £1,310 and the CAP Dealer Price of £900 - £995 which would be approx. £1,100 then factor in a dealer negociation amount of say 10%/15% which would take me to a valuation of around £935 - £990.


I'm assuming the trade in or private valuations wont apply, is that correct?


Many Thanks - Avenue

AVENUE

sithemadmonkey wrote: »

I take it Swinton are your insurer? Ring them back and ask what's happening with your excess. If it's a clear open-and-shut case with liability obviously 100% with the other party then they may not be bothering with the excess (since any amount they pay to you will be recovered in full anyway, might as well lump the excess in with that).

Yep that's right they are & its definitely open & shut as he ran into my car and two of my neighbours cars too....we were parked outside our houses and were not in the vehicles at the time!


So for a fair valuation of mine should I take an average of the Glass Dealer price of £1,060 - £1,310 and the CAP Dealer Price of £900 - £995 which would be approx. £1,100 then factor in a dealer negociation amount of say 10%/15% which would take me to a valuation of around £935 - £990.


I'm assuming the trade in or private valuations wont apply, is that correct?



Many Thanks - Avenue