My car on PCP was written off! What should I do?

AdrianC

marlot wrote: »

Check your own policy too - some will replace a car under 1-year old with a new one.

Not usually when the car isn't owned by the policyholder.

Goudy

What generally happens is after the engineer has deemed your car a total loss, the insurance's loss adjuster will make an offer of settlement after taking some details of you and the car, like outstanding finance.

As you have no GAP, you can negotiate this settlement with them yourself.
(with GAP you will need to more than likely leave this to the GAP claims team).

Before you try and negotiate with them it's worth contacting your finance company to get an idea of what figure they will settle the finance for.
They will work out what is left to pay by remove most/all of the interest but might add a small settlement fee to it.

If you can back up a counter claim for a better offer they will usually negotiate a little with you, though you need to be reasonable.
Apart from the obvious things like how many owners and mileage, t hings like service history and valuations from recognised industry experts (like CAP-HPi or Whatcar valuation) help with this along with adverts for similar makes and models that are available through similar outlets like you bought yours from.

Once negotiated, the loss adjuster will pay the finance company's finance settlement figure direct and you will be paid any outstanding amount from the claim OR be liable to the finance company for any outstanding finance the settlement doesn't cover.

This is why it's important to know the finance settlement figure before you try and negotiate the claim settlement figure.

I had a fairly new car on PCP stolen earlier this year and although I dealt with my own insurance company rather than a third parties insurance, things went pretty smoothly.

It was all done on the phone pretty painlessly, even though the car was 16 months old, I didn't even need to try that hard.
I got back the deposit (value of my trade in) and they fully settled the finance and I quickly claimed the RFL back before I sent them my logbook back.
All the car cost me was the 16 monthly payments (for 16 months motoring), which were pretty low anyway.

Car_54

Goudy wrote: »

Apart from the obvious things like how many owners and mileage, t hings like service history and valuations from recognised industry experts (like CAP-HPi or Whatcar valuation) help with this along with adverts for similar makes and models that are available through similar outlets like you bought yours from.

The insurers generally comply with the ombudsman's guidelines, which base the valuation on the trade guides (Glass's, CAP etc.), and specifically warn against using adverts, because they show only asking prices.
The trade guides of course take account of mileage: the number of owners has no bearing.

Goudy

They would warn against using adverts if it's not in their interest.

Some models can suffer price fluctuations that the guides don't account for, particularly models that demand outstrips supply, like say an Up GTi.

Obviously if your car's value has crashed below guide, like some small Peugeot's have recently, don't use them.

They aren't some sort of evidence to use in court, insurance companies can choose to ignore them, but it's worth trying if it means you might possibly reduce a gap in what you owe to the pay out by backing up your negotiation.

born_again

marlot wrote: »

Check your own policy too - some will replace a car under 1-year old with a new one.

Except the OP said "approved used car"

So a very good chance is over 1 year old.

Think MotorGuy missed that as well with his figures.

Car_54

born_again wrote: »

Except the OP said "approved used car"

So a very good chance is over 1 year old.

Think MotorGuy missed that as well with his figures.

My last five cars have all been 'approved used', and less than a year old.