Write off offer for car

cybernetuk

Hi!
Looking for advice.  My car looks like it will be written off and I want to know what I should be looking at for a fair offer from the insurance company.  I did a Parkers valuation and they say about £3800 as the private price and We Buy Any Car valuation was also around that.  My problem is though that looking on Ebay, Parkers Used Cars, Auto Trader etc.  the cheapest I can see a car for sale with the same milage and age is around £5200 to £5700.  

Not sure if that is normal to see that discrepancy between the prices but am I right to be expecting to as least be able to go out and buy the same car/age/milage?

Any advice would be awesome!

Mark

dacouch

The offer from your Insurers should be on the retail value
Why don't you wait for the offer before you worry

RBN20

Your insurer will use guides such as Glasses/Parker’s, and then they will also use market research such as auto trader, using examples of the same make/model/age/mileage. 

Wait and see what they offer you and then worry about it. If you don’t agree with their valuation send them some of your autotrader examples to justify an increase 

Sandtree

cybernetuk said:

Not sure if that is normal to see that discrepancy between the prices but am I right to be expecting to as least be able to go out and buy the same car/age/milage?

It is normal to see a big difference in the prices because the likes of Parkers (and in a sense WeBuyAnyCar) are based on sale prices rather than advertised prices. Anyone can list a car for any price at all as long as they pay the advert fee but that doesn't mean anyone will actually pay £20k for a 1998 Citroen Saxo X.

Have you looked at the eBay sold listings? Not sure how they work for non-auction options though.

Ultimately see what the insurer says, they do more than simply plug the details into Parkers.

TELLIT01

I recall some years ago some politicians getting involved (not necessarily a good thing) to get the basis of car insurance valuation changed from trade in value, to replacement value.  There is obviously a big difference between the two.  I don't know what the current situation is.

dacouch

TELLIT01 said:

I recall some years ago some politicians getting involved (not necessarily a good thing) to get the basis of car insurance valuation changed from trade in value, to replacement value.  There is obviously a big difference between the two.  I don't know what the current situation is.

The valuation has been based on retail value for as long as I can remember, I don't recall it even being on the trade in value as that is not the market value of the car

TELLIT01

dacouch said:

TELLIT01 said:

I recall some years ago some politicians getting involved (not necessarily a good thing) to get the basis of car insurance valuation changed from trade in value, to replacement value.  There is obviously a big difference between the two.  I don't know what the current situation is.

The valuation has been based on retail value for as long as I can remember, I don't recall it even being on the trade in value as that is not the market value of the car

Thankfully I've never been in a position of having a car written off, but when I started driving insurers never paid out enough for a like-for-like replacement following a vehicle being written off.  I did start driving in the 70's!

Sandtree

TELLIT01 said:

dacouch said:

TELLIT01 said:

I recall some years ago some politicians getting involved (not necessarily a good thing) to get the basis of car insurance valuation changed from trade in value, to replacement value.  There is obviously a big difference between the two.  I don't know what the current situation is.

The valuation has been based on retail value for as long as I can remember, I don't recall it even being on the trade in value as that is not the market value of the car

Thankfully I've never been in a position of having a car written off, but when I started driving insurers never paid out enough for a like-for-like replacement following a vehicle being written off.  I did start driving in the 70's!

I only started living in the 70's so clearly don't have the level of experience that you do but I suspect people over valuing what their car is worth started before the 70's.

Valuation is typically done using the likes of Parkers and Glasses and whilst insurance companies no doubt are an important customer base for these customers those working in the automotive industry and Finance are more significant. Given total loss settlements are based on retail price I cannot see why the key customers would want to have a lowball price for their likely end sale price? Or maybe it is the next Libor scam and we find dealerships have been understating sales to the guides to manipulate the prices down.

[Deleted User]

Part of the problem is that dealer prices are well above private sale prices, so you end up in a situation where you have to buy privately with all the risk that carries AND haggle them down to what the insurance company thinks it's worth.

You had a reliable car you knew the history of and you end to with an unknown used vehicle that at best has an MOT and AA check.

Sandtree

[DELETED USER] said:

Part of the problem is that dealer prices are well above private sale prices, so you end up in a situation where you have to buy privately with all the risk that carries AND haggle them down to what the insurance company thinks it's worth.

You had a reliable car you knew the history of and you end to with an unknown used vehicle that at best has an MOT and AA check.

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/businesses/complaints-deal/insurance/motor-insurance/vehicle-valuations-write-offs

As per above, FOS expects you to get dealer sale price (not advertised) rather than private sale.

I always find it amusing that every car written off is ultra reliable, in perfect condition and exceptionally low mileage according to their owners but every car for sale is a money pit waiting to open up. Some do sell their cars simply because they want something else/newer rather than because its now terminally ill.

TELLIT01

[DELETED USER] said:

Part of the problem is that dealer prices are well above private sale prices, so you end up in a situation where you have to buy privately with all the risk that carries AND haggle them down to what the insurance company thinks it's worth.

You had a reliable car you knew the history of and you end to with an unknown used vehicle that at best has an MOT and AA check.

So if I had a car from new, fully serviced by main dealer, low mileage, good condition etc, etc and it was written off, would the insurer pay for me to replace it with another vehicle of the same make, model, age, condition, mileage, service history, from the same main dealer?