Car written off

Sandtree

BOWFER said:

jimbo6977 said:

BOWFER said:

[Deleted User] said:

 They can't source vehicles for people, people would just moan that the spec isn't the same and the insurance company would get into warranty issues. 

There are (or were) insurance companies that did  exactly this, one (I forget who) even used to use this as a thing in their TV advert.
If your car is written off, they will source you the same.

There still are, but they usually only replace on a like for like basis when a car is less than a year old, which is indeed due to warranty issues. 

Although these days with the chip debacle they might have a struggle buying a new replacement car at all!

I wondered if it was anti-fraud as well.
If you claim for a lost watch, for example, many insurance companies will just source you another one now, rather than sending a cheque like they used to.
This is to discourage fraudulent claims where people just want the money.
I collect/buy/sell watches and have benefitted from this several times, buying watches from people cheap because they didn't actually want a replacement from the insurer.

It was more to leverage their buying power... more watches they buy the bigger discount they can get. 

The ombudsman does now consider it fair that a cash settlement be based on the corporate discounted value rather than retail price but still the insurer would prefer to replace the item.

Most insurers do provide a replacement vehicle for a car that was bought from new and is less than 12 months old. Direct Line I'm fairly sure is the one that used to offer a wider replacement vehicle option leveraging their sister company JamJar but that all came to an end some time ago.

"Book price" isnt a single value, for each car the guides contain trade in, private sale and forecourt sale price. The guides these days are digital and normally updated monthly and so typically are at worst only a few weeks out of date. The guides are used much more widely than just insurance and so there is no vested interests in the guides to understate values.

ontheroad1970

BOWFER said:

[Deleted User] said:

 They can't source vehicles for people, people would just moan that the spec isn't the same and the insurance company would get into warranty issues. 

There are (or were) insurance companies that did  exactly this, one (I forget who) even used to use this as a thing in their TV advert.
If your car is written off, they will source you the same.

Direct Line used to advertise it

Aretnap

[Deleted User] said:

[Deleted User] said:

Justamum said:

Last week someone reversed into my car and damaged it.  He admitted full responsibility.  His insurers have written the car off as it's going to cost a few thousand to fix.  I've been told that I'll be given the book value of the car - I don't know what that is yet, but I'll be lucky to see £1500 - which means that I'll have to find a few thousand quid to replace it.  It seems extremely unfair that I'm the one out of pocket. 

Surely I should be put back into the position I was previously, ie with a fully working car.  The book value is irrelevant to me because I wasn't going to sell it. 

Sadly this is how insurance is in the UK. Your car gets written off and you are left desperately looking for another one. The law only requires them to give you the pre-accident value of the vehicle.

But the OP isn't in the UK. Is anyone on here qualified to advise on Manx insurance law?

If the OP is claiming from the third party's insurer it's likely to be more a question of Manx liability law than Manx insurance law.  Unless things are radically different to the way they work in the UK the insurer's liability to the OP will consist of what the driver would have to pay the OP himself if he were not insured - no more, no less. The exact terms of his own insurance policy won't be relevant. 

Sandtree

Manx Civil Law, including Torts, is an English Common Law system. There will be local case law which will create some differentiation to deal with their own circumstances (eg unrestricted roads) but otherwise the parallels will be unsurprisingly very similar to England.

Justamum

I've asked and it looks like I'm stuck with the insurance company's offer - and I'm still waiting to hear back from them.  In the meantime we've dug into our meagre savings and bought another car - there are a few good dealers over here, and went to the one we bought our last car from.  It means I'll have to put off buying a motorbike (I've just started having lessons).  Oh well, I'll just have to save a bit longer.

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions.

caprikid1

"Direct Line used to advertise it"

From my experience of Direct Line, they would most likely not source a comparable car , drop it on your drive then tell you to get stuffed. Horrid company to deal with, anyone who insures with them should beware, all good till a claim ! (TP was a direct line customer).

MX5huggy

You are on a better position now then because you have a car so don’t need the money in the short term to buy a car, you can fight them for what is due. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16653221

Sandtree

MX5huggy said:

You are on a better position now then because you have a car so don’t need the money in the short term to buy a car, you can fight them for what is due. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16653221

Wrong country, Isle of Man has its own Financial Ombudsman

Like the UK FOS however they only consider complaints from customers and therefore wouldnt assist with the OP as they are claiming from the third party insurers.

caprikid1 said:

"Direct Line used to advertise it"

From my experience of Direct Line, they would most likely not source a comparable car , drop it on your drive then tell you to get stuffed. Horrid company to deal with, anyone who insures with them should beware, all good till a claim ! (TP was a direct line customer).

The replacement car was dealt with by their sister company at the time JamJar and it didnt have to be comparable

ColzD

I have been through a very similar situation. Admiral wrote my car off following a front end non fault collision.  They sent my case to "Acorn Assessors" who basically looked at the "Glass's" guide and gave me a rubbish valuation. I disagreed and provided them several examples from Auto Trader - but because mine was a rare version with upgrades hard to find they wouldn't agree and said my only option was to refer it back to Admiral for them to assess it themselves. So - I did this, and AGAIN dug out another load of examples, wasting loads of my own time - and sent them to Admiral. 
I ended up chasing them up a few times until eventually my "caseworker" said he'd have a look, kept me on hold then said he'd looked at Glass's guide and got the same price - I said that he would have because that's all Acorn did!  I asked if he'd looked at my examples - he hadn't bothered and had a glance at them after he'd given me the price and said it made no difference.
I said that the Glass's guide is not in touch with the current market value of vehicles, that I have been quoted 30% less than my vehicles value, that the second hand car market had gone through the roof and how it was unfair that someone has crashed into me and I'm only given the option of buying a cheaper car than what I had.  He said that I could complain and have a final third opinion, where someone else would look at the Glass's guide!!!
I am in the process of going through the Ombusdman now, but they even say on their website that the Motor Insurance Industry can only refer to certain "guides" so I don't hold much hope.
I'm not taking this lying down though and am looking to put this issue out there as much as possible as it stinks.  
I'm currently having my own car repaired privately as I refuse to be thousands out of pocket and make do with a rubbish car - I'll still be badly off in the long run as my car will be hugely devalued now as a Cat N even when fully repaired.