Insurance Write off Valuation help please

sonjaday

My apologies in advance for the convoluted nature of this post.

Unfortunately I had an accident in my car in which my husband was driving and is deemed at fault.

As my car is a 2004 Hyundai Sonata it has been classed as a 'write off' as the garage the insurance company used, says it will cost £2,500 to replace all damaged parts as new. The insurance company asked me to find a similar car for valuation, which I did and it was £1300 with 20,000 more miles on the clock. They want to use this £1,300 as a starting point and deduct £270 for scrap value and then my £80 excess, leaving me £950. I have it insured fully comprehensive for £1,400 as it was in excellent condition.

The damage is purely cosmetic, nothing mechanical was involved. I have found a local garage which will put it right by simply filling in the body work and only having to replace one wing. I have seen their work and the results are excellent, I'm confident it will look as good as new. The wing mirror was chipped and they're going to fill in the slight chip and spray it when they spray the rest. The insurance company insist that the mirror is broken and needs to be replaced. This is ridiculous as it only has a tiny chip on the side of the casing, the actual mirror is fine. The alloy wheel had been rubbed by the other car's tyre and had left black rubber on it. This can be cleaned up by the garage for £40. The insurance company think it needs replacing completely. I have had the wheel and tyre checked at another garage and had it calibrated and there was nothing wrong with it at all and as such they didn't charge me as they reasoned they hadn't had to do anything.

I emailed the estimate as requested together with the calibration results. The insurance company say they're not happy to accept the estimate for my car to be repaired as they don't feel it will be repaired properly. One point they made was that the garage failed to mention the wing mirror in their estimate. Contacting the garage said they hadn't included it because the damage was so small they could easily repair it in no time with practically no materials involved. The total bill will be £1290 which is below my insurance valuation and I feel it only right that they cover this cost. If I accept their £950 I'll be out £340.

Incidentally the other driver is claiming for a whiplash injury and as neither my husband nor I were injured it seems a ridiculous claim. Our side impact air bags didn't deploy and I have a medical problem which would mean I would have been seriously injured if it had been such a bump. The insurance company want us to make statements and, if need be appear in court, to help them fight the claim.

It seems to me that this situation is going all one way. They want us to save them money in not paying out for a whiplash claim, but are not willing to cover the full amount of the repairs.

If anyone can help me with this situation, or have any comments to make, I would be very grateful and I hope my explanation makes sense.

Thank you for your patience.

Sonja

maddogb

you can use the online valuation services to see how much increase in value the lower mileage will give you (from a couple of examples I have seen its probably about £200-£300) but all the rest adds up and you would have a long hard fight to get over and above that. most policies contain a clause allowing insurers to payout or replace if cost of repair is above %65 of "market value"
Which insurer is it and why are they not using the guide system?

Quentin

You cannot "force" your insurer to repair the car


Your insurer is offering you £1030 and you keep the car. (Your £80 excess will have to be paid whatever way you get settlement)


Or (presumably) they keep the car and you get £1220 - ie £1300 less your excess


So your argument looks to be over £100 - ie the difference between your valuation and theirs.


If you reject their £1300 offer you need to have some evidence to show why they have undervalued the market value - so get some and (if it's cost effective to devote time to) try and get them to up their offer towards the £1400 you value the car at.


(You did agree to assist them over resolving any dispute when settling your claim when agreeing to their policy ts + cs, so give up on not wanting to co-operate over any future court case)

forgotmyname

Your trying to force them to repair it?

Push their £1300 offer upto the £1400 - £80 excess and you get to buy your car back at £270? Leaving you £1050 to repair the car to your own standards.

You wont get them to go that way, because the mirror will need to be sorted and then the courtesy car and the garage probably bump the price up for insurance quotes anyway.

Take the money and buy your car off them and sort it yourself.

sonjaday

forgotmyname, Quentin & maddogb

Thank you so much for replying so quickly to my query.

The final price I've been offered is £950 because of the sum they deduct for scrap value and the excess. Today I was told that if they pay for the garage bill of £1290, then they have effectively 'bought' the car and it will belong to them. I didn't understand this at all.

Quentin, I didn't mean to imply that we wouldn't appear in court to testify as to our lack of injuries. I was just pointing out that they expect us to put ourselves out to accommodate them, while they stick rigidly to the rules.

The last communication with them was if the garage will itemise the mirror damage and the work they intend to do to rectify it and the buffing of the alloy wheel, then the insurance company say they'll re-evaluate the situation.

The difference between what they're offering and the cost of the repairs is just under £300.

Thank you so much, your advice has been interesting.

Sonja

forgotmyname

Your cars worth £1300 to them, you need to haggle if you think thats wrong, insured for £1400 i would push for that, but lets say £1300 for now.

£1300 - £80 excess, they give you £1220 and they keep the car. You get £1220 to buy another car. OR for £270 you can buy the car back in its current condition to repair yourself.

So you keep the damaged car and get £950 to fix it yourself.

If its £300 to fix then you will have £600 in your pocket for a good night out.

dacouch

sonjaday wrote: »

Incidentally the other driver is claiming for a whiplash injury and as neither my husband nor I were injured it seems a ridiculous claim. Our side impact air bags didn't deploy and I have a medical problem which would mean I would have been seriously injured if it had been such a bump. The insurance company want us to make statements and, if need be appear in court, to help them fight the claim.

Is this an accident when you pulled out from a side junction?

AdrianC

sonjaday wrote: »

The final price I've been offered is £950 because of the sum they deduct for scrap value and the excess.

No, you're being offered £1,300 for the car.

You have to pay the first £80 of any at-fault claim, whether the car's being repaired or being written off. That's taken from the payout.

If your car is written off, you don't keep it. Ownership passes to the insurer - they've effectively bought it from you for the pre-collision value. If you choose to retain the bent car, then you need to pay them the salvage value - the amount they think they would be getting by selling it for breaking. That's usually set at a percentage of the write-off value. In this case, they're saying £270.

So you are getting £1,300 for your car - but you've already agreed to pay the £80 excess towards any claim, leaving you £1,220. And you want to keep the car, so you're paying £270 to buy it back. You are walking away with £950 plus your car. But the payout is £1,300.

If you gave the market value as £1,400 when you bought the insurance, then that's an upper cap on what they will pay out - so you're arguing over £100.

Insurance repairs are always priced at dealer price for new parts. It's entirely feasible you can repair it more cheaply, with used panels or aftermarket new parts. If your insurer was repairing the car, and returned it with a doorskin full of podge, a mirror with a chunk out of the casing and a tyre with potential structural impact damage, you'd be most unamused. If you're repairing it, you can choose to live with those.

Frankly, a dozen-year-old Korean barge is market kryptonite, and a grand and a bit is perfectly fair. No insurer is ever going to repair that, even assuming there wouldn't be big delays in obtaining parts, leading to hire car bills racking up rapidly.

sonjaday

AdrianC

Frankly, a dozen-year-old Korean barge is market kryptonite, and a grand and a bit is perfectly fair.

What a thing to say about my beautiful car!!! :eek::(:eek:
This version of the Sonata looks so like a Jag that people often think it is a Jag and we've had people looking over it in the car park. I must admit that the newer version of the Sonata is not nearly as attractive. My car is really well looked after and is excellent condition, which is why I just couldn't sanction scrapping it for what is really minor body damage.

However, even though I don't agree with your description of my lovely car, I must thank you so much for your explanation of what's going on with this claim. If they had explained things the way you have I would have understood why the scrap amount was being deducted. :T It now makes sense, even though I'm still smarting at your comments.

dacouch

No we were driving in the same direction and had to change lanes to a dedicated right hand turning lane, when he came from no-where and we clipped sides.

AdrianC

sonjaday wrote: »

This version of the Sonata looks so like a Jag that people often think it is a Jag

Just so's we're clear, we're talking about...

d0nkeyk0ng

Figured I'd hijack this thread instead of starting my own. If the insurance company declare it a write-off and I buy the car back as others have suggested to OP, will they still insure the car? Would I have to look elsewhere for insurance?

I'm in a similar situation where third party reversed into me. Damage is cosmetic but extensive (rear door, arch and bumper). Car is perfectly fine to drive.