Negotiating total loss payment

AdrianC

Looking at Autotrader, there are a selection of Octavia VRS - petrol or diesel, estate or hatch, manual or DSG - within the <3yo, <£15k bracket. Without the OP saying which his is, it's not easy to narrow down further, but there are lower mileage manufacturer-approved examples of virtually every combo well within the budget. I'd even go so far as to say the £14k was fairly generous.

Petrol estate seems the only rare combo - there's only one, a 12 plate DSG, with 15k miles with full dealer history for £13,750 asking (private sale).

Approved used petrol hatchs - £14k for either box with ~15k, 62-plate.

Diesel hatch or estates? A choice of approved, either box, for £14-15k asking with ~20k on 62 or 13 plates.

redpete

bowlhead99 wrote: »

Though the vrs is a cracking little car, people like it because it's value for money which is part of the appeal. Cars that are famously value for money - rather than famous for being able to command an expensive price for being prestige and sexy - are not going to hold up as a high priced car once you've added 40k of wear to them. People buying sporty Octavias are looking for performance bargains, not to pay a lot of money.

Of course, but the 2nd hand price for the later Mk 2 VRSs are higher than they might be because of the large price hike Skoda put onto the Mk 3 VRSs. It would be interesting to compare the relative depreciation rates between budget performance like the VRS, pricey performance like BMW and premium performance in the classic car sector. I suspect (not very informed guess) that 'premium performance' suffers more than cars at either end of the spectrum.

For a start, if it was listed in the dealer for £14900 you would not pay £14900 you would haggle like hell to get stuff thrown in and extended warranties and whatever they could give you to knock it down. If you sold it privately you would not get £15k for it just like if you were buying privately you wouldn't want to pay more than £14k for it. It's harsh but if you can't prove some direct comparables and didn't go for a guaranteed value policy or GAP, then you are likely stuffed.

Possibly true again - but the only evidence I can offer is the prices advertised for other Blackline VRSs and extrapolate for mileage, est vs hatch and man vs auto to get as best a comparison as I can for my Blackline VRS DSG hatchback

The aftermarket towbar and bluetooth are specialist items that you want but another buyer might not want - so you won't recover anything like half the cost for them once they become second hand, and way way less if you paid full dealer prices to buy and fit.

I agreed with them that £14k is a good mid-point estimate based on advertised prices but I was annoyed that they placed £0 value on the factors that I argued should put mine at the top of the range (dealer service schedule, VGC bodywork, and the extras I had fitted).

What did you tell the insurance company they were worth when declaring those extras last renewal?

They have never asked the value when I declared them as non-standard fittings, I did allow for them in the value of the car I gave when renewing the insurance (£15k).

dacouch

Do you realise that adverts are regarded by Insurers and the Ombudsman as the starting price the seller is prepared to start negotiating from?

Adverts do not mean a car is worth x they simply show what price you can start haggling from.

Richard53

Given the age and mileage, I'd grab the £14k and run.

redpete

Ok - before I look too much those who come on here wanting only advice that fits their expectation... it's time to stop arguing.

Back to my normal persona of a poster handing out blunt truths.

dacouch

Read this link a few times as it explains how your Insurer should value your car, you may find there are parts you can use against the Insurer to negotiate the price up

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

redpete

I know I said I'd stop but...

dacouch wrote: »

Do you realise that adverts are regarded by Insurers and the Ombudsman as the starting price the seller is prepared to start negotiating from?

Adverts do not mean a car is worth x they simply show what price you can start haggling from.

A bit like they expect their first offer for a total loss to be a starting point to start haggling from ;-)

Dakent89

redpete wrote: »

I know I said I'd stop but...



A bit like they expect their first offer for a total loss to be a starting point to start haggling from ;-)

I agree here, it works both ways.

I've always been advised never to accept the first offer.
Never have done
Always ended up with more than the first offer, even on the old rubbish I've written off.

Wouldn't be so bad if they're willing to reach a mid point, at say 14.5k.

Fact of the matter is that you're not obliged to accept any offer, though it is in your own best interest to do so

sheramber

When our car was written off we were advised they did not pay out extra for the tow bar but we could take anything we wanted off the car as it was being scrapped.

We took off the tow bar and the electrics for it and the spare wheel as the new one had a repair kit only.

The car was sitting on our drive so access was easliy available.