Total Write Off - valuation will not buy comparable car

Bubbly13579

We were recently driving along a main road when a car pulled straight out from a side road into the side of our car.  Our car has been declared a total loss. The initial valuation was about £3000 lower than what it would cost to replace with a comparable vehicle.  We asked the valuers to pass the case back to our insurance company, who have today increased the offer by  about £1000.  I spoke to the insurance company's valuation engineer today and, because there isn't an exact replacement available on sites such as Autotrader, they have found a lower spec car, then adjusted the value downwards because it has lower mileage.  My argument to the valuer is that, while I agree with an adjustment being made for lower mileage, I believe it should be increased by an equivalent amount because the car they are basing the valuation on is six months older than ours, and has a much lower spec.   We paid a higher price for our car originally because it was not a base model: it had electric rear windows, park assist, and particular alloy wheels.

I have asked for a few days to consider whether we will accept this offer or raise a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.  While I understand the valuer can't, as he said, 'check the spec of every car', I feel we should not be financially disadvantaged to want the equivalent of what we have lost through absolutely no fault of our own.

What frustrates me is that I asked the insurance company whether what they called 'market value' actually meant what we could buy a similar replacement for and they confirmed that was exactly what it meant.  Their offer certainly does not equate to 'market value',

Can anyone offer any advice please about whether we should just accept that we will have to buy an older, lower spec car, or whether we should pursue our claim with the Financial Ombudsman?  Or also, whether there is any other way to recoup our losses.

pramsay13

You need to do the work for them. Compare your car spec with the car spec they are basing their valuation on and point out the differences.
Find sold prices (not for sale prices) of similar cars that have sold recently and provide that as evidence.

Bubbly13579

pramsay13, apologies if this is a stupid question, but how would I find what cars sold for?

DullGreyGuy

Bubbly13579 said:

pramsay13, apologies if this is a stupid question, but how would I find what cars sold for?

Insurers dont use autotrader listed items to value cars they use the commercially available guides like Glass, CAP etc  who gather the sale prices of thousands of cars every day and update their valuations monthly. The guides are very complete and can say that upgraded alloys may add £50 to the car after 5 years (many optional extras lose almost all their value, some even devalue the vehicle). 

Occasionally they will sense check against adverts but have to remember those are asking prices and most will sell below that. They are also unvetted and so anyone can list their car for £50,000 even if it's only worth £3,000. Our engineers occasionally would even phone advertisers posing as a potential buyer stating they're out of town so want to discuss prices first to see if it's worth coming to see the car. 

The ombudsman states what they expect insurers to do https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/businesses/complaints-deal/insurance/motor-insurance/vehicle-valuations-write-offs