Car write off-insurance pay out

sjrichards405

So my car was written off by a third party whilst the car was parked. I've checked the trade price and it comes back at £2,300 at best. My problem is to replace like for like the cheapest private sale is £3,300 and a dealership is more around the £4000 mark.
When I've looked on the financial ombudsman page it says insurers should use market value from a reputable dealership. I'm so confused and frustrated. If anyone can shed some light or some experience of what I can expect, I'd appreciate it. 

Car_54

Insurers should use the "retail" price from the trade guides (Glass's etc.), not the "trade" price.

sjrichards405

I think I may have got it confused. I asked someone to run my details through their cap account and it came back at £2,300 top price. I also ran a check through auto trader which came back just slightly higher £2,600, I think. 
Am I right in thinking this is retail price? 
I've never had a car written off before and I'm not sure what to expect. Surely if a third party accepts responsibility I should be able to get like for like????? Or in reality am I going to have to buy an older cheaper car?

sjrichards405

Also just to add. I paid for a report from car analytics and these were the values. Is this just nonsense?

DullGreyGuy

sjrichards405 said:

Also just to add. I paid for a report from car analytics and these were the values. Is this just nonsense?

Doesn't say who's data they are using, or if it's their own. The screenshot doesn't give any details of the vehicle for anyone to have a thoughts about either. 

There are a few industry standard guides like Glass, CAP and, for older cars, Parkers. Inevitably there are probably many others including resellers but insurers almost certainly will be using the standard as does the Ombudsman. 

Goudy

They should offer you the fair market price that closely relates to the value of your car, pre accident as settlement.
They won't necessarily offer you the screen price of cars of similar make and model. 

As already written, they will use the trade guides to work out this price and as you have found, there's some variations in these prices.

It's often easy with a fairly new car but as cars get older their values fluctuate with condition.

No doubt their initial offer might be on the lower side of these guide prices, there is nothing stopping you going back to them and stating you think the offer isn't enough.

Obviously you aren't going to be successful at this if you over estimate the value yourself, but with a bit of evidence at hand, you might get an improved offer.

For instance, your car was a known quantity. It's was well serviced, with a long mot and in a decent enough condition (tyres, brakes etc) to give you lots more mileage (if it was).

On average, comparable cars for sale both private and from dealers are somewhat higher priced than the offer.

It's not your fault that you have been put in this position, their customer is and it's now their (the insurance company's) responsibility to make good on this matter.

They might um and arh, but you can ask them how they came to that valuation, what guides did they use, what consideration did they make in regards to the condition of your car.

They will probably use the term offer a lot,  if they write/say the word "offer" this does imply some negotiation is on the cards, that might be helpful to mention.

Be realistic but polite and even happy and eager to sort this out.
Be helpful and tell they you're being helpful in trying to settle this claim amicably.
No one wants to deal with a bad tempered git, certainly insurance claims departments but they might be more inclined to deal with someone happy and eager to come to a settlement.

sjrichards405

Goudy said:

They should offer you the fair market price that closely relates to the value of your car, pre accident as settlement.
They won't necessarily offer you the screen price of cars of similar make and model. 

As already written, they will use the trade guides to work out this price and as you have found, there's some variations in these prices.

It's often easy with a fairly new car but as cars get older their values fluctuate with condition.

No doubt their initial offer might be on the lower side of these guide prices, there is nothing stopping you going back to them and stating you think the offer isn't enough.

Obviously you aren't going to be successful at this if you over estimate the value yourself, but with a bit of evidence at hand, you might get an improved offer.

For instance, your car was a known quantity. It's was well serviced, with a long mot and in a decent enough condition (tyres, brakes etc) to give you lots more mileage (if it was).

On average, comparable cars for sale both private and from dealers are somewhat higher priced than the offer.

It's not your fault that you have been put in this position, their customer is and it's now their (the insurance company's) responsibility to make good on this matter.

They might um and arh, but you can ask them how they came to that valuation, what guides did they use, what consideration did they make in regards to the condition of your car.

They will probably use the term offer a lot,  if they write/say the word "offer" this does imply some negotiation is on the cards, that might be helpful to mention.

Be realistic but polite and even happy and eager to sort this out.
Be helpful and tell they you're being helpful in trying to settle this claim amicably.
No one wants to deal with a bad tempered git, certainly insurance claims departments but they might be more inclined to deal with someone happy and eager to come to a settlement.

Thank you. I do understand that both private and dealership prices include haggling room. Even with this in mind there's quite a huge gap among different valuations. I also accept that it's most likely I will have to make some sacrifice on the price, but I am hoping I can at least settle for close to the £3000 mark to enable to buy something as close to what I had. 
I'm not greedy or unrealistic......just don't want to fork out £1000 to replace my car with the cheapest equivalent. It wouldn't feel so bad if I was actually at fault. 
It's heartbreaking to know you've looked after a car and will have to just 'find' something 'cheaper' to replace it with. 
But thank you for the replies. It helps put things into perspective.

sjrichards405

DullGreyGuy said:

sjrichards405 said:

Also just to add. I paid for a report from car analytics and these were the values. Is this just nonsense?

Doesn't say who's data they are using, or if it's their own. The screenshot doesn't give any details of the vehicle for anyone to have a thoughts about either. 

There are a few industry standard guides like Glass, CAP and, for older cars, Parkers. Inevitably there are probably many others including resellers but insurers almost certainly will be using the standard as does the Ombudsman. 

Not sure if this is what you mean?

sjrichards405

Not Not sure if MoT history makes any difference or not?