Car Insurance - total loss advice please

java24

Good evening all, 

Someone crashed into my parked car down my road sometime over a period of 2 days where it was no in use, they left no details and of course I informed my insurance company

My insurance company have deemed the car a total loss, the settlement figure they have provided is £4323. I don’t know much about this kind of thing but the policy states market value is based upon similar cars of make, model, age and mileage. Is this based on the price that the car dealer would buy for or sell for? If selling for I have found the exact same make, model and age with 2k additional mileage for £6995, I’ve also found same make and model and age with varying mileage for between £6990 and £8000.

insurance company won’t budge is it worth going to the ombudsman? 

Many thanks 

MikeJXE

I believe it's auction price or at best part exchange 

400ixl

MikeJXE said:

I believe it's auction price or at best part exchange 

No it isn't. There are industry guides they use such as glasses quide which are updated daily in the digital era. Typically the prices are based around what a car would sell for (not list) at a non franchised dealer with a statutory or manufacturers warranty. 

If you are looking at cars on franchised dealer forecourts as the list price then this will likely be considerably higher than they would pay out. They are also national rates, so if you are only looking locally then again the prices may be higher.

Also remember any optional extras are not considered either.

What is the car. Make, Model, year mileage?

Altior

It's the perceived market value of your vehicle before it was hit, at the time it was hit. Not the sticker price of a replacement, that will include a showroom markup etc. So the assessor will review the condition, maintenance record, MOT history etc. It's been a while, but I believe they subtract the excess as well.

To get a rough idea, see what private sellers are asking for, for similar cars, and knock a bit off. 

When this happened to me, effectively I had to 'upsell' the vehicle. So let them know what I thought would push up the value, eg low mileage, options, pristine condition, FSH etc. 

DullGreyGuy

java24 said:

insurance company won’t budge is it worth going to the ombudsman? 

To go to the ombudsman you must first have made a complaint and received their final response (or 8 weeks passed if they havent responded)

The ombudsman see these complaints as very simple to settle... they simply use the same Motor Industry guides (eg Glasses) and will say the price they produce is appropriate. Given these guides are updated daily with information from a massive number of retailers its had to argue the guides are wrong unless you have an exceptionally rare vehicle.