Potential insurance write off - old car

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EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

Your other option might be to get a quote for repairs yourself and sue your neighbour for that amount. They will presumably pass it on to the insurers who, so long as it is not extortionate, will probably pay up rather than battle in court about its book value.

Don't you still have a duty to mitigate your losses?

Trying to claim for £2000 of repair work on a car worth £500 is not mitigating your losses..

Harrygolucky

like I said I'll wait and see what they come back with before I start worrying too much but surely I am entitled to fair compensation if it is deemed too expensive to repair

this whole 'book' price is a complete scam when it comes to old cars - most like for like vehicles of that age are long gone by now so consequently a replacement is going to cost more than the 'book' price of mine. I don't get any discount for insuring an 'old' car so I should receive the same service as anyone else. As I said at the beginning - if another party has caused 'X' amount of damage to someone else's vehicle and it is repairable it should be covered regardless of age.

elsien

Muscle750 wrote: »

Do not take the first figure they offer you either

How would you argue it up, though? My insurer made it very clear that they would not be accepting any comparatives from Autotrader, ebay or any other similar sites.

EdGasketTheSecond

elsien wrote: »

How would you argue it up, though? My insurer made it very clear that they would not be accepting any comparatives from Autotrader, ebay or any other similar sites.

Argue that you need to buy an equivalent car and if they won't accept 'Autotrader, ebay or any other similar sites' then ask them where they suggest you buy a replacement car from to the same standard for what they are offering? No use offering you trade price is it; can't buy one for that.

Ectophile

Ultimately, you can argue it up by telling them that if they don't make a sensible offer, you will have to sue them for the damage instead.

You could then present to the judge a series of adverts for similar cars.

Car_54

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

Argue that you need to buy an equivalent car and if they won't accept 'Autotrader, ebay or any other similar sites' then ask them where they suggest you buy a replacement car from to the same standard for what they are offering? No use offering you trade price is it; can't buy one for that.

They should be offering retail price, not trade.

But as the Ombudsman's guidelines point out, prices on Autotrader etc are asking prices, not reality.

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Car_54 wrote: »

They should be offering retail price, not trade.

But as the Ombudsman's guidelines point out, prices on Autotrader etc are asking prices, not reality.

This is true, but as more and more people are finding out, dealers won't shift on their prices that they put on autotrader.

Shaka_Zulu

Is the car still in your possession? Hopefully it is. Neighbours hit our car on the lane and I bought it back for 9% of the value.

If it has been taken somewhere else you might struggle unless you can collect it.

snnl

As the saying goes, if you dont ask, you dont get! I would also ask if they give you a low offer.

When our Ford Focus was written off, they came back with an offer of £2500. I simply said it had just had a fresh MOT, Service and it was in fact a top end model and would now be priced at the top end of Autotrader or on any dealers forecourt. They lady was happy to go back and ask the valuer and she came back with a new offer of £2800 which was accepted.

It obviously didn't pay for the work we just had and was a little lower than a private sale had the car been sold not written off but it was settled and money in our account next day. Went out and bought a new car the next day (which was a lot less stressful then getting it back from insurers and repairing etc).

It may be a trusted car and served you well but there are so many out there you can replace it with id save yourself the hassel.

Wilson82

Hi Everyone

I was recently involved in an accident that wasn’t my fault, someone in a van ran into the back of me while I was static and my car has been written off, so what happened next was my insurance company mailed me the engineers assessment and they valued the car at £4550, so the next day I mailed them back saying I thought it would be more than that because of mileage, condition and the fact I can’t find anywhere near a like for like replacement. So I get an email back saying they had already sent the valuation away to the third party insurance. After reading online a bit i get the impression I should have been asked to accept the offer first? Anyway this has went on for weeks and they have paid the £4550 but every email I send I get no reply and when I call them they just say the engineer hasn’t got back. I also sent them pictures of cars from autotrader.