Car

frangroz

Hi my car was hit while parked for the night the car has been written off we are claiming of the other party’s insurance DD o I have to pay the srappage fee which is 650 pounds surely his insurer should be paying that not me also the figure they gave me from loss adjuster is low I paid 8 grand for car in feb on finance they say it’s only worth 6100 minus the scrappage fee would take me to 5 and a half grand is this correct

angrycrow

This is the downside of claiming from the other drivers insurance directly. They are under no obligation to dispose of the salvage. You could ask them to collect and dispose of it and if they agree to do so they should pay you the full value of the car. They will probably refuse. 

With regard to the value you will need to show evidence that similar cars are selling for more than they have offered. The difficulty is Autotrader adds are not evidence of the selling price. Whilst you paid £8000 for the car in Feb it is possible you overpaid. What make model and mileage are we dealing with. 

You don't have the option to complain and escalate to the Ombudsman when you claim directly from the other drivers insurance 

You could withdraw the claim and ask your own insurers to deal. They will offer you market value and dispose of the salvage. 

GrumpyDil

You're also not being helped by the ridiculous increase in 2nd hand car prices.

One thought is what do the car buying sites say if you enter the car's details as they were prior to the incident. That might give you a little more leverage to increase the price offered.

If that price would gave been higher then you could go back to the insurer and try to negotiate indicating that if you can't agree a price then you may consider withdrawing your direct claim and going via your own insurer.

AdrianC

frangroz said:

Hi my car was hit while parked for the night the car has been written off we are claiming of the other party’s insurance DD o I have to pay the srappage fee which is 650 pounds surely his insurer should be paying that not me also the figure they gave me from loss adjuster is low I paid 8 grand for car in feb on finance they say it’s only worth 6100 minus the scrappage fee would take me to 5 and a half grand is this correct

"Scrappage fee"?

Are you keeping the salvage?

It sounds like it's £6,100 for the car less £650 and you keep it - or £6,100 and you never see it again.

If you think it's worth more than £6,100, then reject the £6,100 figure. But you'd better have better evidence than "I paid £8k in Feb" - because you may very easily have overpaid. If there's a shortfall to your finance debt, then that's what gap insurance is for. The insurer only owe you market value.

Petriix

You're under no obligation to accept their offer and can take them to court if you think you have a reasonable chance of convincing a judge that your losses are greater than the off they've made. You can do this without your own insurance company getting involved.

They are obliged to leave you in the position you were in before the crash. If you can find evidence to support your claim then you probably stand a good chance of persuading them to pay you more. You definitely shouldn't be paying for the scrappage. 

AdrianC

Petriix said:

They are obliged to leave you in the position you were in before the crash.

But, as far as the finance goes...

If the car was £6,100-worth, but the finance debt was £8,000 - then you were in £1,900 -ve equity before the collision. All that's happened is that's been crystallised.

Grumpy_chap

frangroz said:

Hi my car was hit while parked for the night the car has been written off we are claiming of the other party’s insurance DD o I have to pay the srappage fee which is 650 pounds surely his insurer should be paying that not me also the figure they gave me from loss adjuster is low I paid 8 grand for car in feb on finance they say it’s only worth 6100 minus the scrappage fee would take me to 5 and a half grand is this correct

This is quite some impact for a parked car to be hit and the damage sufficient to write the car off, especially one worth around
 £8k.  It must have been a very unpleasant thing to wake up to.

To challenge the value, you will need to establish evidence.  Advertised prices are one source of information.  You could also obtain quotes from the likes of WBAC / Motorway for cash purchase, based on not having been crashed.

You paid £8k for the car in February and in the 6 months since the car will ordinarily have devalued.  The amount of that devaluation will depend on what type / age of car it was and how much use the car had in the mean-time.  A brand new Dacia Sandero at £8k will depreciate quicker in the 6 months than a 2 yo £8k Aygo.  Similarly, you may have done 2k miles or 20k miles in that time.  Either way, there is some cost associated with the beneficial use you have gained from having the car so you are unlikely to recover the full £8k originally paid for the car.  (The current inflated used car prices may go some way to mitigate that, but it will impact the cost of the next replacement car in a similar way.)

NSG666

As a matter of interest what is the benefit of not getting your own insurer involved?
I thought insurers were only interested in whether you have made any claims - which you will have?
Whether those costs were recovered in full from the 3rd party - which they will be either way?
Genuine questions not trying to be a clever !!!!!!!

neilmcl

NSG666 said:

As a matter of interest what is the benefit of not getting your own insurer involved?
I thought insurers were only interested in whether you have made any claims - which you will have?
Whether those costs were recovered in full from the 3rd party - which they will be either way?
Genuine questions not trying to be a clever !!!!!!!

The main advantage is not having to pay out on any excess because you're not claiming from your own insurance. Also, the chances of getting a like for like replacement vehicle whilst yours is repaired are greater going direct, particularly if you don't have replacement vehicle cover on your insurance.

Petriix

NSG666 said:

As a matter of interest what is the benefit of not getting your own insurer involved?
I thought insurers were only interested in whether you have made any claims - which you will have?
Whether those costs were recovered in full from the 3rd party - which they will be either way?
Genuine questions not trying to be a clever !!!!!!!

You can ultimately keep the total cost of the claim lower and end up with more of it in your own pocket. Your own insurance company don't care about you, just their own profits. They often just palm you off onto a third party claim management company who, again, are only interested in their own profits.

If you give the third party insurers a chance to sort it with minimal fuss, they can limit their expenses by keeping hire car and legal costs down etc. If they offer an unreasonably low amount then they might ultimately have to pay your legal fees on top of the settlement so it's in their interests to be reasonable. But don't accept their first offer.

sheslookinhot

You should have claimed your own insurance and they would recover costs from the 3rd party insurance. That’s what they do.