Car written off by a drunk driver

thebirches

I would really appreciate an unbiased opinion on this.
Last Monday we were unfortunate enough to have had our car written off by a drunk driver. The car was parked in a street and the drunk driver just steamed straight into the back/side of the car. Fortunately nobody was in or around the car.

The car was unsurprisingly written off, which was a shame as it was a well looked after ten year old Touran.

We have now had our offer which is for £3200. Their first offer was £3000 which my wife said was not enough. Admiral (our insurer) have said this is the final offer which we must accept.

Before we received the offer everyone I talked too (friends and family) were all very bullish. I was told not accept the first offer, find a like for like car and present this as evidence etc...

I now find myself in the position where I'm going to find replacing the Touran hard for what I have been offered but realistically when I valued the car on webuyanycar the value was ridiculously low (£1500) but equally a like for like car on auto trader is £4500.

I know I can go to the ombudsman to get a decision but wondered if it is worth it.

Would really appreciate anybody who has been in a similar position thoughts and/or advice.

straighttalker

Why not go directly to the drunk driver's insurer?

bigadaj

The whole point of insurance is to put you back in the position you would have been if the incident hadn't occurred.

Have you submitted the autotrader examples to the insurer, this is the evidence that should determine the outcome, assuming they are as close a match to your car as possible.

Hintza

straighttalker wrote: »

Why not go directly to the drunk driver's insurer?

It is not your insurer who will be paying out. I don't even understand why your insurer is involved at this point.

thebirches

Thanks for the replies, the problem my wife came up against today when on the phone to Admiral is that they appear to only give trade value when settling the claim, but we will obviously have to pay forecourt prices to replace the car. She also felt that Admiral were forcing the second offer on to her because we have a hire car and they want to limit the cost of that.

I would maybe accept the treatment if we were the guilty party, but when we are the victims it all seems very unfair.

m.colak

Hi,

Had a similar incident but at traffic lights and police weren't interested. Either way my work van was wrote off as a class d and I stated I wanted £2750 for an 08 plate Vauxhall combo. They ( aviva ) offered me £2600 as this was the book value of my van and the the sign writing. I checked into it and yes even though I lost my work van and have had to buy a new one I can't fault aviva as they have been reasonable throughout. They can't make you take an offer you don't accept and you can take it to the ombudsman if you are not happy with the offer. The best threat you can do is tell the other persons insurance that they pony up otherwise you will get your insurance company involved and then their costs will increase exponentially.

AdrianC

thebirches wrote: »

but we will obviously have to pay forecourt prices to replace the car.

It is perfectly reasonable to purchase a ten year old car privately.

She also felt that Admiral were forcing the second offer on to her because we have a hire car and they want to limit the cost of that.

Of course they do.

The market value of something as generic as a VW sprogbus is easy to determine by various priceguides. If a car is being advertised for a much higher price, then that is quite probably an outlier, and the car is unlikely to sell for that price - or there's some factor which means it isn't directly comparable.

I would maybe accept the treatment if we were the guilty party, but when we are the victims it all seems very unfair.

You're claiming from your own insurer, under the contractual terms and conditions of your own policy. Whether they're reclaiming from the other driver's insurer is not relevant to that claim. If you were claiming from the other driver's insurer, you may have a little more flexibility.

MEM62

thebirches wrote: »

I valued the car on webuyanycar the value was ridiculously low (£1500)

It's going to be. Why would you use webuyanycar to value yours?? Their business model is to offer the lowest price possible to people that want to offload their cars quickly.

An insurance company will only offer you the trade buy-in price (Usually as defined by Glasses Guide) This is lower than dealer retail so there would be a gap between what you were offered and the prices on a dealers showroom floor. It sucks I know but you always lose out to some degree when your car is written off.

arcon5

Trade prices? That ridiculous! I'm sure this isn't how insurers work!!!

Why not contact the third party insurer?

I would accept that much less for the car!!

foxy-stoat

The value you should get should be;

More than webuyanycar,
More than trade in,
Less than retail,
So that leave around the private sale mark.

So how much are similar cars been advertised on the private market?

Car_54

foxy-stoat wrote: »

The value you should get should be;

More than webuyanycar,
More than trade in,
Less than retail,
So that leave around the private sale mark.

So how much are similar cars been advertised on the private market?

That's not what the Financial Ombudsman Service says.

"Most of the complaints we see involve disagreements about the “market” value of the vehicle. This generally means the price it would have sold for at a reputable dealership just before it was damaged or stolen."

That seems pretty clear that it's the "retail" price that should be paid.

They also say: "In general, we don’t think adverts and listings are a reliable guide to a vehicle’s price."

Lots more info at http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html