Non fault claim retention fee

battyboimatt

Long story short, I was driving down a striaght road at about 30mph and a lady reveresed out of her drive right into the side of me. Of course she has admitted liability and I have gone though there insurance, now they have offered me £1475 or if i want to keep the vehicle I can pay a retnetion fee of £243 so they will give me £1232. Now if i am right the retention fee is what they would of got from the breakers for scarp value but surley a £243 for a renault seems high.

Thoughts anyone ?

vaio

Yep, I'd have guessed at £150 scrap value but don't forget if the thing can be repaired then it's not scrap value you are looking at, it's salvage value which will be higher.

Depends on the car & damage

InsideInsurance

If the vehicle is a total loss than the salvage becomes theirs upon the payment of the claim.

If you wish to retain the salvage then they are entitled to deduct the value of the salvage from your settlement. 16.5% is a fairly high percentage to be paying for salvage unless the vehicle is particularly desirable - given its an odd number it suggests it isnt a floor.

battyboimatt

Thanks Vaio, well they say it's unecenmoical to repair hence the offer, i.e the labour and parts will be more than what they are going to offer me/ Bascially its two side doors and trims then the time and labout to install swap insides out and paint. So they have decalred it a cat c write off. So I can give them the car and they will give me 1475 or if I wish I can keep it but pay them the retention fee to keep my own car which is still drivable just so annoying especially as it wasnt my fault, how come all the inconvinaince to the non fault driver.

InsideInsurance

battyboimatt wrote: »

so annoying especially as it wasnt my fault, how come all the inconvinaince to the non fault driver.

Hence why their initial offer is simply to give you the value of the car, they deal with the remains of your car, and you can just go out and buy a like for like replacement (at least that is the theory)

battyboimatt

Thanks Inside Insurance, it's a little Renault Megane 1.5 My Expression, its 10 years old but its really low milage and I have just paid alot to keep it prestigine new tyres, brakes, etc. prior to the crash it was in immaculate condition and I will really struggle to find something like it for £1475.

InsideInsurance

battyboimatt wrote: »

I will really struggle to find something like it for £1475.

The dispute the valuation. As you are claiming directly from her insurance you have no rights to complain to the FOS but you can still use the below page on how to go about valuing a vehicle

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html

OnanTheBarbarian

ON vehicles under £3k in pre-accident value, 10% of the PAV is usually the salvage figure an independent engineer would put on a car. However, the insurers have massive bulk contracts with the likes of CoPart and Universal Salvage, who pay way over the odds as they can shift the volume. So the value an insurer would be offered for salvage compared to a private punter going to his local salvage yard can be two very different figures.

So your choice is either keep the car, try to haggle on the amount they offset in salvage value and realise you will more than likely have to get a VIC check done on your car and possibly re-MOT it if you decide to keep using the car. or you take the full pre-accident value and go shopping for another car.

Nodding_Donkey

Do you want it written off?

battyboimatt

No I dont want it written off, like I said it was in emaculate coniditon, I guess I will take the hit and the Retention Fee and source a couple of doors and get a VIC and MOT done. Thanks all

Nodding_Donkey

Well insist they repair it then. Your insurance company can write it off because you have agreed to that in a contract. You don't have a contract with a TP insurer.