Halfords have written off my pride and joy

Ianthebeard

So the weekend before Christmas I made the grave mistake of booking my car in for a full service at Halfords. The oil needed changing and after a few long road trips and many miles this year I thought it would be a good time to do it before it becomes icy. The only garage with a convenient timeslot was Halfords, so I thought what's the worst that can happen during a service.
Unfortunately after a couple of hours they rang me to advise the car had been in an accident. Shortly after I drove past my beloved Alfa Giulia Veloce that I've had for 16 months lying in pieces with 2 wheels having departed the car, a huge amount of damage to the front and sides, and multiple sections of road barrier ripped from the kerb.
The driver claimed he was driving 25mph and was clipped by a tow truck, but multiple witnesses have come forward to say the car was being driven erratically and that there were two technicians in the car at the time.  The car is also about 50-60 yards from where the initial contact was made with another vehicle and only stopped because of hitting the road barrier. Fortunately nobody was injured, even the driver and his superfluous passenger escaped unscathed to return to the garage, but a direct collision with another vehicle or even worse a pedestrian could have been extremely serious.
Halfords haven't reached out to me formally other than the site manager who advised it was now sitting with the insurance company. I asked how Halfords were planning to compensate for the situation but he said the insurer would be covering it.
Halfords have engaged their insurer, who have reached out to me and have actually been very easy to deal with, but their valuation is going to be far less than I paid 12 months ago to an Alfa dealer.
I'll never replace the car like for like, and there's also the inconvenience, having to drive a tatty hire car instead of my own car commuting and on business, and also the horror of seeing my pride and joy dragged lifelessly onto a tow truck never to be seen again. Unfortunately I'm one of those who forms an emotional attachment to their car like a pet.
I don't have gap insurance, and I'm reluctant to involve my own insurer any more than they need to be for fear of an increase premium.
How can I recoup for all this? I'm estimating based on 2-3 online valuations that I'll be £6-7k out of pocket if left with an insurers valuation. And I appreciate I've put miles on the car and it's a year older, but they're my miles and that was my car. I'll never be able to replace like for like.
Do I wait for Halfords to come forward with an offer to recoup my losses or is there a formal channel I can pursue to ensure this doesn't drag out for weeks or month?
(Image removed by Forum Team)

Andreg

Engage a specialist solicitor to assist you in making a claim for all your losses and costs incurred.  You should be able to claim for more than just the value of the car.  

CliveOfIndia

As above, any actual and quantifiable losses/expenses you've incurred due to the accident should be claimable from the insurance company.

In terms of the car's valuation, it's no different to if you'd pranged the car yourself.  The insurance company will offer you "market value" for it - if you disagree with their valuation then you can submit evidence to negotiate an increased payout.  This is usually in the form of advertisements for other cars of the same make/model/condition, etc.  If you have a particularly rare car then you do have the option of paying to get an "expert valuation", but mostly all you can do is show them the going rate for that particular type of car.

Andreg

CliveOfIndia said:

In terms of the car's valuation, it's no different to if you'd pranged the car yourself. 

It's very different to if you'd pranged the car yourself.  In that case you can only claim market value from your own insurance company.  In this case you are claiming from Halfords (and THEIR insurance company) and you should claim for full replacement cost plus associated costs.

Car_54

CliveOfIndia said:

As above, any actual and quantifiable losses/expenses you've incurred due to the accident should be claimable from the insurance company.

In terms of the car's valuation, it's no different to if you'd pranged the car yourself.  The insurance company will offer you "market value" for it - if you disagree with their valuation then you can submit evidence to negotiate an increased payout.  This is usually in the form of advertisements for other cars of the same make/model/condition, etc.  If you have a particularly rare car then you do have the option of paying to get an "expert valuation", but mostly all you can do is show them the going rate for that particular type of car.

No, all you can do is show adverts with the asking prices, which may be very optimistic. The insurers use the trade guides, which give actual selling prices, and the Ombudsman generally agrees.

Floyd_Pink

That's a shed load of damage for 25mph- hope you get it sorted and more OP.

MeteredOut

Floyd_Pink said:

That's a shed load of damage for 25mph- hope you get it sorted and more OP.

I suspect they divided the speed by 2 since there was 2 passengers in the car.

OP, so sorry to hear this - I hope you get the best result possible out of this.

pallyman

You need to inform your own insurance,

daveyjp

pallyman said:

You need to inform your own insurance,

Indeed.  As the car is now destroyed that policy ends.  You won't get a refund of premium so the loss due to insurance being cancelled may also form part of the claim.

angrycrow

daveyjp said:

pallyman said:

You need to inform your own insurance,

Indeed.  As the car is now destroyed that policy ends.  You won't get a refund of premium so the loss due to insurance being cancelled may also form part of the claim.

Not the case with most mainstream insurers. Most will allow a reasonable time to add a new vehicle on cover or allow you to suspend cover. most allow 30 days to change the car.

Is your car under or over 12 months old, if under and you were the first registered keeper your own insurers may offer a brand new car when repair costs exceed 60% of current market value.

No way they were only doing 25mph and no reason for them to have it on a public road for service.

sevenhills

Ianthebeard said:

I don't have gap insurance, and I'm reluctant to involve my own insurer any more than they need to be for fear of an increase premium.

I have never had gap insurance either, maybe next time?