5 month old car written off

CommyGhirl

I purchased my car brand new on 14th Feb this year. On 17th July, a lorry crashed into me and the car has been written off. The driver has been charged with careless driving. The car was purchased from Peter Vardy on a 5 year interest free promo.

Can anyone advise, because the car is less than one year old, if my insurance should be replacing my car for a new one? A couple of people have told me this.

I know not to accept the first offer they give me but i am really worried i am going to be left paying for the finance on this car which means i will not be able to afford another NEW car.

InsideInsurance

It depends who you claim off of.

Claim off of your own policy and if the policy has a NVR clause for cars under 12 months old where you are the first registered keeper then it'll be a new car as per the policy terms.

If you claim off of the TP to avoid your excess/ having an impact on your policy whilst the claims settled then they only have to indemnify you which almost certainly is a cash settlement at the nearly new value of your vehicle.

cajef

CommyGhirl wrote: »

Can anyone advise, because the car is less than one year old, if my insurance should be replacing my car for a new one? A couple of people have told me this.

Read your policy it should state whether I will be replaced with a new one if written off in the first twelve months, mine does.

CommyGhirl

i have found this section within my policy. The bit that i am unsure of is the cost of the repair being more than 50% of the value. Should i call the repair garage, will they tell me how much they valued the repair at?

Replacement car

If your car is;

stolen and not recovered within 28 days of you reporting the

theft to us; or

damaged to the extent that the cost of repair is more than

50% of the United Kingdom list price (including VAT) of an

identical new car at the time of loss or damage;

we will, at your request, replace your car with a new one of

the same make, model and specification.

We will only do this if:

l

you have owned your car (or you have hired it under a

lease hire or hire-purchase agreement) since it was first

registered as new;

l

your car is a United Kingdom specification model bought

from one of the manufacturer’s authorised United

Kingdom dealers;

l

we have your permission (or the hire-purchase

company’s permission) to replace your car; and

l

the loss or damage occurs before your car is one year old

and the model is still available from the manufacturer’s

authorised United Kingdom dealers. If not, then we will

settle your claim by paying you the equivalent cost of

replacing your car with one of the same make, model

and specification.

InsideInsurance

Do you want to keep the vehicle if it could be repaired?

Obviously it somewhat depends on the what the car is but if you had a £40k new car and its estimated its had £20k of damage then thats a hell of a lot of major damage and a fairly high chance that as you strip it back you'll find more damage that could be even more expensive.

Normally the threshold for write off is significantly above 50% but of cause thats of the current value of the vehicle not the list price for a new one and so you've got to factor that in too.

CommyGhirl

i actually don't want it repaired as it was brand new and will be all patched up. it was a corsa excite 63 plate. all four door panels needed replaced along with the wish bone and 2 alloys.

InsideInsurance

CommyGhirl wrote: »

i actually don't want it repaired as it was brand new and will be all patched up. it was a corsa excite 63 plate. all four door panels needed replaced along with the wish bone and 2 alloys.

In which case, claiming off your own policy (assuming you meet all their terms for the new vehicle replacement - one people overlook is being the first registered keeper if they buy a nearly new car etc)

If the TP has admitted liability your insurers may be willing to waive the excess. If not, and you have legal expenses cover, then they should appoint someone to assist with getting that back from the tP

CommyGhirl

Does TP mean Third Party? My insurance are attempting to recover the costs from the TP insurer.

InsideInsurance

CommyGhirl wrote: »

Does TP mean Third Party? My insurance are attempting to recover the costs from the TP insurer.

Yes, TP is Third Party, TPI is Third Party Insurer, PH is policyholder, TPSol is third party solicitor, a V is vehicle..... unfortunately when you've spent a few years having to type up notes from conversations etc you get into the habit of using acronyms/ abbreviations.... PH adv TP hit parked PHV in OSR wing. TPI conf liab & indem ok

Clive_Woody

I had my 9 month old car written off by some numpty kid playing in his dad's car. I got a new car as it was less than 12 months old and with a bit of negotiation I was able to up the spec a bit (obviously paying the extra myself). To help things along I did manage to locate a new car myself by ringing around a few dealers then letting the claims handler know who to call.

dacouch

CommyGhirl wrote: »

Does TP mean Third Party? My insurance are attempting to recover the costs from the TP insurer.

When you say your Insurer are attempting to recover the costs from the third party, have they passed you to an accident management company and / or put you in a hire car?

If they've put you onto an AMC and are claiming direct from the other party you could end up out of pocket as you may not get the new car replacement but the value of the car immediately prior to the accident (As explained by Inside Insurance)