Car written off undervalued offer advice please

snowball2

Im scared by the fact that I would have to go to court to get teh money, I cant manage without a car, i have a hire car at the moment, but surely they would want it back pretty soon and I will be left in a rural location with 4 young kids and im self employed as a children's entertainer and need a car to work

jimjames

Not sure where you've been looking but a quick search on Autotrader shows quite a few around the £1200-2000 mark so the valuation doesn't seem too far off.

Including this 55 reg one at £1250 for 73k miles

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201410228416104/sort/default/make/fiat/radius/1500/model/multipla/usedcars/postcode/me89db/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/price-to/3000/page/2?logcode=p

If you paid £2400 nearly 2 years ago then you wouldn't normally expect to get the same sort of amount now but if you can find similar vehicles for higher amounts then that may help your case with the insurer.

snowball2

Tha'ts great but its almost 200 miles away from where I live in North Wales so hardly a practical option, Im not prepared to travel beyond a reasonable distance 50-60 miles if there are any problem with it im going to be stuck, which I think is fair

I don't expect the same price back of course ive had the car for getting on for two years, i expected in the region of £2000, £400 over that time is fair depreciation imo

sh0597

They are only obliged to pay you market value for your car though, it is not their problem if the car is rare. You might want to look at other makes models.


There seem to be two issues, the retail price of the car and how much to deduct for the pre-existing damage. Price guides are better for the retail price than a few autotrader adverts. As for the damage, it depends how bad it was and how much the repair would have likely costed.


I don't think you are likely to get £2000, £1500 is probably not too bad an offer but you might be able to get a little more.


Unfortunately it is usual to end up in a worse position after a write off but not a lot can be done about that.

InsideInsurance

snowball2 wrote: »

Tha'ts great but its almost 200 miles away from where I live in North Wales so hardly a practical option, Im not prepared to travel beyond a reasonable distance 50-60 miles if there are any problem with it im going to be stuck, which I think is fair

I don't expect the same price back of course ive had the car for getting on for two years, i expected in the region of £2000, £400 over that time is fair depreciation imo

£400 depreciation over 2 years is fairly low and you've got the damage to factor in as well. Whilst you're thinking of 2nd parts etc for vehicle valuation they will be thinking a moderate percentage of the Coachworks price of fixing it to be deducted off it.

If getting to the replacement vehicles is going to cost you then add that on as a separate head of claim. Assuming your driving go for the simple 45p per mile so if its 200 miles away add £90 or £180 (wasnt sure if that was round trip or not) as a separate claim as part of the negotiation

snowball2

The dealer value on CAP is £1985-2325 so im well within the range in expecting upto £2000 mark, like you say its not the claimant who comes out on top as usual!

What will happen if I refuse the offer and they won't offer any more, im prepared to come down a bit more to get it settled. Will they force a settlement on me and what happens to the hire car if it remains unresolved?

InsideInsurance

snowball2 wrote: »

The dealer value on CAP is £1985-2325 so im well within the range in expecting upto £2000 mark, like you say its not the claimant who comes out on top as usual!

What will happen if I refuse the offer and they won't offer any more, im prepared to come down a bit more to get it settled. Will they force a settlement on me and what happens to the hire car if it remains unresolved?

Glasses is more the industry standard not CAP and as standard CAP tends to be a little higher than Glasses hence car dealers will quote Glasses prices to you if you are selling your car to them but CAP prices if you are questioning the price of the car they are selling to you.


In the first instance dont dwell on the what ifs but deal with the here and now. The FOS link talks about how to contest a value and in the first instance this is fine. In the second instance is looking at other legitimate costs, like travel to view the car etc, that you can add on as separate heads of claim that will increase the cash you get.


Ultimately if you cannot agree a valuation the insurer will send you a cheque for their final offer advising that you can cash it on a without prejudice basis and 7-10 days later they will demand the return of the hire car. You would need to decide if you want to fight this further or just accept their final offer (with or without other heads of claim). If you do want to fight it then you'd send the insurer a letter before action giving them 2 weeks or so to pay you the remaining £X and enclosing all your evidence. Assuming that didnt result in the action you want then you'd file court papers, normally these days online via MCOL

Realistically with the sums involved it is very unlikely it would ever go to court as the cost to the insurer would be greater to defend the claim than simply settle it and solicitor fees etc are barred at this level of court.

On the outside chance it does it may be worth considering getting an independent engineers report into the valuation of the vehicle as the pre-existing damage makes it difficult to judge based on book price alone.

Did the insurer use an independent engineer or an in house one as far as you know?

OnanTheBarbarian

They will force your hand by sending you an interim payment for what they value your vehicle at and then pull the hire car from under you in 5-7 days.

BJV

InsideInsurance wrote: »

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

TBH car insurance is not my field so I stand to be corrected. When I said your insurance it was reference to the insurance company the OP was claiming from.


Ref - wavier the rights to refer the matter have to say never knew that. Surely the Op has the right to refer the issue no matter who they are claiming from. ? The insurance company they are claiming from must be regulated in some form so wouldn't this mean that they are covered?


If what you say is true that is terrible for consumers everywhere.


Again I stress I am not a car insurance expert but I bet like a lot of people I thought that no matter who the claim was settled by I would always have the right to refer.


Very naughty!

snowball2

The glass price on the free search was £1985-2325 but on the phone the assessor said that Glass values it as £1795, the prices I was quoting were dealer prices, not the actual value and that he had reduced it down to £1500 for the bumper damage. He said he was going to pass his report on to his superior with the photo's/report and he would get back to me with the outcome tomorrow.

We will have to wait and see what tomorrow brings now