Car written off undervalued offer advice please

snowball2

Hi I have a multipla people carrier for our family of 6 and two weeks ago I was hit in the rear and they have written it off due to the damage which I had expected.

Its a 54 plate updated version eleganza model, I bought the car Jan 2013 for £2400, have it insured for £2500. They are really hard to find and it took me ages to find this one.

Anyway I caught the bumper on a curb in a carpark (stupidly high curb) the week before I was hit and I was just in the process of sourcing second hand parts when it happened, the assessor has taken the damage into his valuation and offerer £1230 for it, I said that it as far too low and eventually he said his top offer would be £1500, again way too low imo, he said they used glass and I have looked and they value on there is £1985-2325, there is 1 comparable car 61 miles away £1595 and he said that the ombudsman wouldn't take that in to consideration and that I had really overpaid for the car when I bought it, which I didn't they were all that type of price or more.

Im dealing with the third parties insurance, they contacted me provided me with a hire car and took mine away.

Any advice?

Hintza

What price does webuyanycar give you for the car?

BJV

Ok 1st so sorry to hear that you have had a accident.


2nd your insurance company is obliged to offer you a fair market value. I would ignore what ever "he " says for the moment. They are supposed to offer you a fair amount so that if you wanted to go and buy the same car again you could. I would get lots of examples auto trader etc and stick to your guns.


P.s The ombudsman will not take into account how much you paid for the car but they would take into account the fact that you must be offered a fair amount.


The FCA took over from the FSA and they are not frightened of using a hands on approach. The last thing that your insurance company will want is the FCA or ombudsman investigating. It cost them a lot of money in terms of staffing, man hours etc so while I do not think that you will get thousands you should be able to tweak him up a little.

InsideInsurance

BJV wrote: »

Ok 1st so sorry to hear that you have had a accident.


2nd your insurance company is obliged to offer you a fair market value. I would ignore what ever "he " says for the moment. They are supposed to offer you a fair amount so that if you wanted to go and buy the same car again you could. I would get lots of examples auto trader etc and stick to your guns.


P.s The ombudsman will not take into account how much you paid for the car but they would take into account the fact that you must be offered a fair amount.


The FCA took over from the FSA and they are not frightened of using a hands on approach. The last thing that your insurance company will want is the FCA or ombudsman investigating. It cost them a lot of money in terms of staffing, man hours etc so while I do not think that you will get thousands you should be able to tweak him up a little.

The OP says they are claiming directly from the Third Party insurer and so (a) their own insurers obligations are irrelevant and (b) they have no right to complain to the FOS


Whilst you have no right to escalate the complaint you can still follow the guidance on http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html as to how they would value the vehicle.

Ultimately you may need to commission your own independent engineers valuation should you not be able to get to an agreement with the TPI

snowball2

So have I made a huge mistake letting the third handle it? Does this mean I have no rights? Can I go back to my own insurance to deal with it?

wongataa

snowball2 wrote: »

So have I made a huge mistake letting the third handle it? Does this mean I have no rights? Can I go back to my own insurance to deal with it?

It shouldn't matter which insurance company is dealing with things. You need to provide proof that to get a similar vehicle will require a larger payout.

phill99

Have you thougt about buying it back from the insurers? It'll prob only be a Cat D write off. You could probabpy get it back for £400 and then with the payout (which will be reduced by the salvage value)' you then buy second hand parts for it.

sh0597

I'd stick with the TPI for now, it's not in their interests to drag things out.


Can you tell us a bit more about the car, what mileage and engine is it?

InsideInsurance

snowball2 wrote: »

So have I made a huge mistake letting the third handle it? Does this mean I have no rights? Can I go back to my own insurance to deal with it?

You have rights, you have a legal right to be indemnified for the accident.

Simply by not going via your own insurer you have lost the right to escalate to the FOS if you cannot reach an agreement but you still have the right of going to court to exercise your rights/ have a ruling on what is the correct level of indemnification.

Going via the TPI is beneficial in many ways, the excess wont be deducted, it wont temporarily impact your NCD, you're not having to risk Credit Hire etc. The only negative is the loss of the use of the FOS. In most cases the FOS isnt needed.

Follow the valuation advice on the FOS site and see where you get to. The only thing you cant do is escalate it to them

Nodding_Donkey

But bear in mind that it IS reasonable for them to take previous damage into account when valuing the car.

snowball2

Its a Fiat Multipla 1.6 Eleganza 54 plate (facelift) with twin sunroof/alloys/full electrics just turned 80k it need a new front bumper as its split underneath and grill (the bonnet latch got stuck so we have to pull it off) Ive had a gearbox, clutch, exhaust, 4 new tyres since ive had it, I know this doesn't count but it was meant to be a keeper

The arm that attaches to the bumper & suspension has broken, so not a buy back option.

Im looking through for cars now, the £1595 exact match is actually 85 miles away, there is another 1 year younger but the basic model & 10k higher mileage for £2395 or the same model but a diesel at £1950 which is closer, im not against getting a diesel if push come to shove.

When I bought the car it was to keep for 5 years or so, I put all my savings into buying it and I don't have money to spend bridging the gap, and I don't think I should have to anyway.