Car Damaged by Fallen Tree in Hotel Car Park £17000 damage

born_again

cmarkhammiller said:

So here's the thing, it is a "classic" car, so they obviously got a standard valuation but if I research, there are 9 cars of similar age, mileage etc that are up for sale at 50% above what the insurance offered, of course I haven't accepted it  , it's just the tiresomeness of the whole thing - especially as it occurred over 7 weeks ago and they are slow to respond form all side as in both insurers.....
Agreed legal proceedings far too much effort, hence my point the only loser here is me!

Go back with your proof on the value. If they do not agree as @AdrianC said complain & go to FOS. Will take time (months) but if you are looking at 50% of your perceived value. It's got to be worth it.
But a for sale price does not mean much as you can ask for as much as you fancy. It's the sold price that counts.

What car is it?

Norman_Castle

cmarkhammiller said:

3. As always insurance companies will win - and will reclaim or lay off the cost. I will be left with no car and 50% of the value even under fully comp insurance as advised by The AA, they will approach Aviva the hotels insurers and recoup and sell the car to a salvage company who will repair and get 50% more money than they offered me....as I said, it truly does not feel fair as I am the only one who will be worse off!!
But not surprised - insurance companies are so not fair!

You can dispute the valuation. With a classic car this expensive its possibly worth paying for independent valuations. Buy the salvage back and repair it yourself if you believe that's a viable option.

jimbo6977

I'm intrigued to know what model the car was. My guess is Jag XK8 or similar. Old and somewhat prestige, but not really classic. 

Manxman_in_exile

cmarkhammiller said:

...
2. Sandtee - truly not sure the reference to a heartache but just to clarify - it was not windy, the tree was rotten as confirmed by the tree surgeon at the time and could have fallen anytime in the last 20-50 years!
...

I'm a bit surprised that you omitted that piece of information from your first post.  Did they give any indication that the tree was so rotten that the hotel should have noticed it and taken appropriate action to prevent property damage?  Had they by any chance notified the hotel previously of the tree's condition?

(I know absolutely nothing about trees but I'm a bit surprised that one would still be standing up to a few weeks ago when it was so rotten that it could have fallen as long as 50 years ago.  On common sense grounds it seems a bit unlikely to me.  But, as I say, I'm not a tree expert... ).

Sandtree

cmarkhammiller said:

Thanks for all comments,  a couple of things.
1. My insurance company will not pay appropriately, the car will be written off and they will pay me less that it's worth and recoup either via hotel's insurance or a salvage company.
2. Sandtee - truly not sure the reference to a heartache but just to clarify - it was not windy, the tree was rotten as confirmed by the tree surgeon at the time and could have fallen anytime in the last 20-50 years!
3. As always insurance companies will win - and will reclaim or lay off the cost. I will be left with no car and 50% of the value even under fully comp insurance as advised by The AA, they will approach Aviva the hotels insurers and recoup and sell the car to a salvage company who will repair and get 50% more money than they offered me....as I said, it truly does not feel fair as I am the only one who will be worse off!!
But not surprised - insurance companies are so not fair!

1) Why would they not pay appropriately? If they settle  total loss then the salvage becomes theirs and they will naturally sell it to recoup some of their losses. You often have the option of retaining the salvage if you'd rather keep it in which case the salvage value is deducted from the settlement.

What they can attempt to get back from the third party would be the net payout... I am not sure why you think there is anything wrong with them recovering their outlay? Doing so will reinstate your NCD and mitigate impacts to your premiums.

If the car was a classic as you seem to later say then presumably its covered by a guaranteed value classic car policy in which case you will get the amount you insured it fo.

2) Then you need a copy of that report from the tree surgeon to confirm not only that the tree was rotten but that it was obviously so (trees can rot from the inside out and so isnt noticeable until it falls). This is your hope to prove negligence.

3) Someone is going to pay you c£17,000 so not sure how the insurers "win". They may get £4k back from salvage but thats still a £13k hole and I'm sure your premiums arent close to that. Even if they recoup the £13k from the hotel insurer then firstly they are still down the cost of handling the claim and the hotel insurer is down the £13k 

If you think being a salvage company is such a profitable business then why not set yourself up as one? Ultimately they are a business and so do try and make a profit... most argue insurers are very tough negotiators and so margins are very thin for any of their suppliers inc salvage companies.

NBLondon

The OP says £17K to repair.  And now we learn that it's a classic of some sort.   Now does that mean that it would be £17K to repair back to the state you had it in?  Which could be more than the book price of buying a (non-restored, not award-winning) replacement of the same model/age so the insurers will obviously write-off.

The question then becomes - what is a realistic payout to allow you to buy an equivalent replacement.  Is there an owners club that could give genuine valuations?  Can you find something equivalent in recent classic car auctions to show what you need to spend to replace it?

born_again

The question is even if Aviva had agreed to pay out.
A. Would they have stumped up £17K to repair or
B. Would they have just paid out the book value of the car.

Me thinks it's B.

martindow

Going back to the tree, it may be evidently rotten once it has fallen and you can see the interior.  It could well have looked fine from the outside and no-one would have known it was in danger of falling. 

maisie_cat

martindow said:

Going back to the tree, it may be evidently rotten once it has fallen and you can see the interior.  It could well have looked fine from the outside and no-one would have known it was in danger of falling. 

and if it looked obviously rotten nobody would have parked next to it, we had a tree fall last winter, it was rotten inside but looked fine outside.