Car Accident Settlement

Quickblood

So I was rear ended and the driver admitted liability. My car is a Cat C total loss and the insurance company seem to have valued it well, although for some reason it's gone back to an engineer.

My problem is that I was told that they want to deduct the salvage value of the car from my settlement cheque and I'll be responsible for collecting and dealing with my wrecked motor.

Is that right, cause that doesn't quite seem fair?

arcon5

That's usually how it works if your buying the car back. Not if you are not as they are effectively buying the vehicle off you

dacouch

arcon5 wrote: »

That's usually how it works if your buying the car back. Not if you are not as they are effectively buying the vehicle off you

I assume the OP is dealing directly with the other Insurer or through an Accident Management Company. If this is the case they normally deduct the salvage value and expect you to deal with the salvage

Quickblood

dacouch wrote: »

I assume the OP is dealing directly with the other Insurer or through an Accident Management Company. If this is the case they normally deduct the salvage value and expect you to deal with the salvage

Yeah I'm dealing directly with the other chaps insurance company. So I just have to accept the salvage?

dacouch

Quickblood wrote: »

Yeah I'm dealing directly with the other chaps insurance company. So I just have to accept the salvage?

Yes basically.

If you ring the claims handler up (Be polite and friendly) and ask them if she could give you the contact details of the company they deal with for their own clients salvage vehicles she may give you their details.

Failing that it should not be difficult to sell the salvage on to a company that deals with this or put it on ebay etc

OnanTheBarbarian

If they have taken the car to one of their approved garages and it is still there and if you don't want to retain the salvage, just tell them and they won't offset the salvage value from your payout.

It is not compulsory for a third party to retain the salvage of their own vehicle and in any event, if you incur costs to get the car you don't want back from a garage that all arises from their insured's negligence when you don't want to keep the salvage, you could sting them for recovery fees in the event the car was not roadworthy, so they may as well just keep the salvage.

Most of the time insurers are keen to keep the salvage themselves due to the excellent rates they get from their salvage agents helping to mitigate the write off payment.