Mechanic Set Fire to my Car

motorguy

Car_54 wrote: »

No, not me. It was the OP who said "... insurance company valued her at £220 in my last renewal (April). I guess that valuation assumed MOT. She was coming up for MOT and needed some work doing including welding which was going to cost £500."

£220 doesn't sound unreasonable for a 17-y-o car.

It may be worth a lot more to the OP, but that is totally irrelevant.

I'd have thought a Fiesta with a years MOT on it was worth £400 easily if its in reasonable condition at all.

If it was viable to MOT it - which clearly it was - then its worth more than the £100 its worth now as scrap metal - unless of course you're saying that taking someones car and setting fire to it doesnt impact the value at all?

Car_54

motorguy wrote: »

I'd have thought a Fiesta with a years MOT on it was worth £400 easily if its in reasonable condition at all.

If it was viable to MOT it - which clearly it was - then its worth more than the £100 its worth now as scrap metal - unless of course you're saying that taking someones car and setting fire to it doesnt impact the value at all?

Whether it would be worth £200 or £400 with an MOT is a bit academic, since it didn't have one and needed £500 of welding to get one! So, yes, I'd suggest we're looking at scrap value both pre- and post-fire.

While the OP thought it was viable to have the work done, that was not necessarily a rational decision.

EssexExile

juliebunny wrote: »

I hope that anyone reading this will learn from my experiences, if nothing else comes out of this sorry tale.

The last time I had any welding done he gave me a bucket & a sponge to keep on top of the fires he regularly set.

motorguy

Car_54 wrote: »

Whether it would be worth £200 or £400 with an MOT is a bit academic, since it didn't have one and needed £500 of welding to get one! So, yes, I'd suggest we're looking at scrap value both pre- and post-fire.

While the OP thought it was viable to have the work done, that was not necessarily a rational decision.

The O/P said it needed £500 of work, not £500 of welding. A lot of that could have seen the car through several more years - serice, new discs, pads, shocks, exhaust, etc for example.

The O/P has had the car for 15 years and knows what they have / had and clearly planned to drive on at it for many years yet.

To say that setting fire to it doesnt affect the value at all is ludicrous.

The O/P is now out of pocket with no recompense / good will gesture from the garage for setting fire to her car.

AdrianC

motorguy wrote: »

The O/P said it needed £500 of work, not £500 of welding.

Yes, to be worth £220 from WBAC, maybe £400 on a good day - for a 130k, patched-up 17yo cooking Fester? There's a million better ones for that money.

The O/P has had the car for 15 years and knows what they have / had and clearly planned to drive on at it for many years yet.

Which is where the sentimental value comes in. And that is never something that can be recompensed.

To say that setting fire to it doesnt affect the value at all is ludicrous.

The O/P is now out of pocket with no recompense / good will gesture from the garage for setting fire to her car.

And everybody's said that they're due the value of the car when it was delivered to the garage... Which is scrap value, which is what they'd have got if they'd NOT taken it for the work.

motorguy

AdrianC wrote: »

Yes, to be worth £220 from WBAC, maybe £400 on a good day - for a 130k, patched-up 17yo cooking Fester? There's a million better ones for that money.




Which is where the sentimental value comes in. And that is never something that can be recompensed.



And everybody's said that they're due the value of the car when it was delivered to the garage... Which is scrap value, which is what they'd have got if they'd NOT taken it for the work.

And WBAC offer the lowest of the low trade value, not market value, right? Or have i missed something with their business model?

Its not sentimental value that makes people spend money on a car. I could spend £500 on servicing my car tomorrow and it wont be worth a penny more, so the amount the O/P was spending MOT'ing it is a moot point.

In fact - i've seen many threads on here whereby people are actively told to repair the car they have, rather than buy a new one? The RX8 thread recently springs to mind whereby the repairs would cost several thousand, but the car was worth several hundred.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5839391&highlight=rx8

So i'm not sure why this is different?

AdrianC

motorguy wrote: »

Its not sentimental value that makes people spend money on a car. I could spend £500 on servicing my car tomorrow and it wont be worth a penny more, so the amount the O/P was spending MOT'ing it is a moot point.

In fact - i've seen many threads on here whereby people are actively told to repair the car they have, rather than buy a new one? The RX8 thread recently springs to mind whereby the repairs would cost several thousand, but the car was worth several hundred.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5839391&highlight=rx8

So i'm not sure why this is different?

It isn't at all different.



Let's say it'd been hit by a steamroller on the way to the garage, instead of the welding setting it alight. How much would insurance have paid out? Simple. Market value. Which, for a 17yo 130k scratty Fester with no chance of an MOT without spending half a grand on it, is a half-sucked, lint-covered Werther's Original.

Exact same situation.

motorguy

AdrianC wrote: »

It isn't at all different.



Let's say it'd been hit by a steamroller on the way to the garage, instead of the welding setting it alight. How much would insurance have paid out? Simple. Market value. Which, for a 17yo 130k scratty Fester with no chance of an MOT without spending half a grand on it, is a half-sucked, lint-covered Werther's Original.

Exact same situation.

Firstly, the car presumably is MOT'd if the O/P is driving it but is in need of an MOT soon. Therefore the insurance company wont value it at scrap value, they will value it as a road legal vehicle. They wont know or care how much it might take to get it through MOT at some point in the future as long as it meets the minimum requirements to be on the road now.

I would have thought they would easily be saying its worth the £200+. I'd be personally surprised if they would pay out less than £300. They have to put you back in to the position you were in before you started and a driveable road legal Fiesta is going to cost you £200-£300. They're absolutely not going to say "well its worth scrap money because its due MOT next month so heres £100 - nip down to your local scrappers and he'll sell you a scrap car for £100 to replace it.".

Not only that, but they'd put the O/P in to a hire car for the few days until it was written off.

The "welder" - i'm using the term losely here - reduced its value to scrap value of £100. They've also caused the O/P considerable hassle. Therefore as an absolute minimum the "welder" should pay the £100 difference.

I dont see that as either difficult to understand or unfair.