Insurance write-off advice needed please

DaFoot

My car was hit by another driver a month ago. There was no problem with their insurance accepting fault (based on camera footage from the works van) with a few days, the time since then has been taking photos, waiting for them to respond with valuations etc. So a month (so far) without car, but the inconvenience is another issue.

It has been written of as a CAT-N. Which I understand to be cosmetic only (how the 'engineer' determined that from a few photos of cracked panels is beyond me!).

We've finally got settlement figures for the write-off.

They have valued at £2500 which, while at low end of the range as expected it is (just) in the acceptable range (Autotrader ads are all slightly higher by 1-5 hundred).

The problem we have is that they are offering £2k in cash on the assumption we can get £500 for the car if we were to sell it.
The other factor is the AC is kaput. At no point have insurance asked about anything like that, it's why I'm not going to argue over the £2500 valuation, but I do know anyone looking to buy it won't offer near £500 as a cat-n with busted AC.

Should we be able to insist they deal with the car in it's entity, including taking it away, and pay us the full £2.5k?

GrumpyDil

Normally I would expect them to offer you a write off value including them taking ownership of the vehicle. I'd then expect them to reduce the offer if you wanted to keep it which would in essence be you buying the car back.
So I'd check and if the valuation is based on you keeping the car ask them for the figure including them taking the car from you. 

couriervanman

If its the first offer.....reject it but if you think its worth more get some examples off auto trader 

DaFoot

couriervanman said:

If its the offer.....reject it but if you think its worth more get some examples off auto trader 

It may be worth a little more - at least to buy something comparable would cost may a few hundred more, it's more the hassle of selling the car. Knowing dealers will try and push the price down and I'll probably struggle to actually get the 'salvage' price insurer is using I'd rather just get it paid (approx value) and them take ownership.

DaFoot

GrumpyDil said:

Normally I would expect them to offer you a write off value including them taking ownership of the vehicle. I'd then expect them to reduce the offer if you wanted to keep it which would in essence be you buying the car back.
So I'd check and if the valuation is based on you keeping the car ask them for the figure including them taking the car from you. 

They valued at £2.5k, then deducted £500 for salvage value they have deemed it's worth now. The 'offer' includes us having to do the work to sell it as a cat-n car.

I'd rather they deal with disposal and pay the full £2.5k. Can we insist on that?

Sandtree

DaFoot said:

GrumpyDil said:

Normally I would expect them to offer you a write off value including them taking ownership of the vehicle. I'd then expect them to reduce the offer if you wanted to keep it which would in essence be you buying the car back.
So I'd check and if the valuation is based on you keeping the car ask them for the figure including them taking the car from you. 

They valued at £2.5k, then deducted £500 for salvage value they have deemed it's worth now. The 'offer' includes us having to do the work to sell it as a cat-n car.

I'd rather they deal with disposal and pay the full £2.5k. Can we insist on that?

Have you spoken to them? Many insurers prefer to retain the salvage themselves because through volume they get the best salvage prices. 

Aretnap

DaFoot said:

They valued at £2.5k, then deducted £500 for salvage value they have deemed it's worth now. The 'offer' includes us having to do the work to sell it as a cat-n car.

I'd rather they deal with disposal and pay the full £2.5k. Can we insist on that?

You can certainly ask but if you're dealing with the third party insurer I don't believe that you can insist on it. Legally their obligation is to compensate you for the loss in value that your vehicle has suffered, ie the difference between what it would have sold for before the accident, and what it would sell for now. While there might be room for argument about exactly what those two numbers are, in principle they're within their rights to take the scrap/salvage value into account.

This is different from the situation if you claim from your own insurer where the terms of your policy mean that the default outcome is that your insurer pays the full market value (less your excess) and takes ownership of the salvage.

I wouldn't expect that the state or the air-con is going to make a big difference to the value of a car that you are essentially selling for scrap, spares or repairs.

When I had my car written off a few years ago I bought a replacement one from a dealer, offered the old one as a trade in, told the dealer what the assessor had said it was worth and got that as the trade in value with no argument and very little hassle all round.

AdrianC

DaFoot said:

My car was hit by another driver a month ago. There was no problem with their insurance accepting fault (based on camera footage from the works van) with a few days, the time since then has been taking photos, waiting for them to respond with valuations etc. So a month (so far) without car, but the inconvenience is another issue.

Is your car still in your possession, and still driveable? If so, then there's no need for a hire or courtesy car, you can still drive this one.

It has been written of as a CAT-N. Which I understand to be cosmetic only (how the 'engineer' determined that from a few photos of cracked panels is beyond me!).

N = Non-Structural. They decided it wasn't financially worth repairing, but the damage was not structural.

We've finally got settlement figures for the write-off.

They have valued at £2500 which, while at low end of the range as expected it is (just) in the acceptable range (Autotrader ads are all slightly higher by 1-5 hundred).

The problem we have is that they are offering £2k in cash on the assumption we can get £500 for the car if we were to sell it.
The other factor is the AC is kaput. At no point have insurance asked about anything like that, it's why I'm not going to argue over the £2500 valuation, but I do know anyone looking to buy it won't offer near £500 as a cat-n with busted AC.

Should we be able to insist they deal with the car in it's entity, including taking it away, and pay us the full £2.5k?

Yes. It should be a choice of...
1. £2,500 and never see the car again.
2. £2,500 minus £500 to keep the car.

They're basing the £500 on salvage auction value of it. The aircon is irrelevant to that. It may well be worth £500 to somebody to break - or to you continue to drive, albeit battered. Put it on eBay, 99p no reserve, all damage and faults declared.

What is it, and how bad is the damage?