Written off car -The insurance (1st) settlement offer is too low! negotiation questions?

katesheet

To summarize car collision, car was economically written off, insurance company offering a settlement

When checking out 4 other cars on autotrader, their settlement offer they offered is about £800 - £1000 less that similar cars of same mileage, of same city, same year etc..from these 4 autotrader cars, and possibly other sites.

They said to dispute this offer I would have to prove that it has a higher market value.

I have some questions, can you please assist with as many of the answers as you can.
Apologies to the vast questions, but it is a distressing time x

a) Is it true insurance companies offer only 3 offers, 

if you reject the 1st one, they offer a 2nd and if you reject that a 3rd final one?

or they can offer more than 3?

b) In their first offer, they gave a slight incorrect fact.

Their mileage fact was wrong by 8000 miles.

When corrected them to the new mileage they increased their offer by just a tiny bit.

..b) Does this new 'slight increased' offer count as 1 of the 3 offers?  (so they have used 2 offers) leaving only 1 offer left? 

c) What proof/evidence of market value of cars 'higher' than their offer would they need?

Photo/screenshots of cars from autotrader for this higher price?  yes/no?

Photos of MOT? yes/no?

Photos of both keys?  yes/no?

anything else?

d) They have confirmed that they are offering us the  'market value' of the car,

When mentioned to them on the phone call, that autotrader prices are much higher than their 1st settlement offer

they said that, autotrader prices are showing the cars 'advertising' values, not their market values. 

Is that true? or they just said that to put us off, and encourage us to accept this first offer?

d) To send these researched photos to the insurer, would it be fine to just email these photos and information,
or it is best to post them with royal mail recorded delivery? or doesn’t matter

- Which did you do? email them/ or post them  in your case?

e) Would photos of the keys, V5 log book, MOT certificate be needed to be sent to them? yes/no/ doesn't matter?

f) Can I say anything to them which will scare them, ie I will go to the Financial Ombudsman with this matter

if they don't go any higher in their offer?

g) any other advise things you can point out which have been missed?

h) Is there any case that they can pull out completely and say  "they are now offering £0" 

i) Have you had experience in this very similar scenario/ or your friend/family member?

share your story please, did they increase to the value in line with your researched cars?

I would be grateful towards assistance towards as many of these questions a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, and i.
As I said apologies to the vast questions, but it is a distressing time x

Thanks very much x

TSx

I won’t answer everything as it’s posted but there is no limit on the number of offers. They may say that their first offer is also their final one or they may spend some time negotiating. Your policy means they have to indemnify you so they can’t just retract the offer. 

It is true that auto trader prices are not the prices they sell for - you would be expected to negotiate and the selling price is usually less than the advertised price. 

Your best bet is to email them the adverts you’ve found and let them assess and see if they’ll increase their offer. If they won’t, ask to make a formal complaint and then you can go to the FOS. Note though that this isn’t likely to ‘scare them’ as the FOS say that guide prices are more compelling evidence than adverts. It may result in an increased offer to avoid the hassle of it going to the FOS.  

csgohan4

haggle with them and show proof, I've managed to get a few hundred added just by being nice

triton07

how do you work out what their cut off amount is, which is the amount the insurer will not go any higher than?

garth549

Remember you'd be expected to negotiate at least 5-10% off the asking price of a private listing so you need to factor this into their offer.

triton07

garth549 said:

Remember you'd be expected to negotiate at least 5-10% off the asking price of a private listing so you need to factor this into their offer.

Can you explain this with an example please,
Lets say the autotrader price for a car is £4000, but the insurers are offering £2500

can you put that in an example, do explain your 5-10% point please ?

so it is a bit easier to follow, cheers

silvercar

triton07 said:

garth549 said:

Remember you'd be expected to negotiate at least 5-10% off the asking price of a private listing so you need to factor this into their offer.

Can you explain this with an example please,
Lets say the autotrader price for a car is £4000, but the insurers are offering £2500

can you put that in an example, do explain your 5-10% point please ?

so it is a bit easier to follow, cheers

So autotrader has a car for £4000, if you were serious about buying it you would negotiate with the seller and expect to get some discount. depending how overpriced that £4000 is, you could expect 5-10% discount, so you would end up agreeing at £3600-£3800.

silvercar

This is a good week to negotiate, insurers often want to close cases by the end of the month.