advise after accident

mrwillow

i have been involved in a non fault accident the insurance company paid out however it has left my out of pocket. i had only just bought the car 5 day prior on finance and the insurance company's payout had a short fall  of approx £600 short to put me back to where i was before the accident. i was under the impression that if you are involved in a non fault accident then i should be put back in the same position that i was before the accident. is this the case ? if so how can i go about getting my money back ? any advise would be a appreciated.      

DullGreyGuy

mrwillow said:

i have been involved in a non fault accident the insurance company paid out however it has left my out of pocket. i had only just bought the car 5 day prior on finance and the insurance company's payout had a short fall  of approx £600 short to put me back to where i was before the accident. i was under the impression that if you are involved in a non fault accident then i should be put back in the same position that i was before the accident. is this the case ? if so how can i go about getting my money back ? any advise would be a appreciated.      

Who is "the insurance company"? Yours? 

Is the £600 your excess? If not then where is it coming from? Was the total loss settlement the same as the invoice price? Was it a brand new car or not?

mrwillow

The insurance company was the other party's who admitted responsibility it was a 2nd hand car and the £600 was from the finance company to settle the agreement before i can get another car i have a hire car from the insurance company but it needs to go back.    

DullGreyGuy

mrwillow said:

The insurance company was the other party's who admitted responsibility it was a 2nd hand car and the £600 was from the finance company to settle the agreement before i can get another car i have a hire car from the insurance company but it needs to go back.    

Have you raised it with them? You are required to raise the different things you want to claim from them with them rather than expect them to ask you if you damaged any personal artifacts or had to take time off work etc

If you were a policyholder then I'd expect them to have settled it at invoice value but they wouldnt be liable, as your insurers, to cover any finance fee. As a third party however I would have expected them to have independently valued the car so unless you got a stonking good price on it the fact they've settled at invoice price is generous. 

How long is it now since you entered into the finance agreement? Presumably over 14 days so you can't simply cancel the finance agreement?

Do you have GAP insurance?

mrwillow

yes i have raised it with them but they said that was the maximum amount they would pay out. i only have had the agreement for 5 days. and i was going to buy GAP insurance on the day of accident but did not get round to it (stupid i know)  i have a separate claim for loss on earnings.   

facade

mrwillow said:

I was under the impression that if you are involved in a non fault accident then i should be put back in the same position that i was before the accident. is this the case ?

Broadly speaking, yes, but it only applies to the car, not any finance fees associated with how you bought it.

Immediately prior to the accident someone owned a car with a market value of £X.

The other party pays £X to the owner.

Any contractual agreements that you had with a finance company are not their problem I'm afraid.

If you had paid off the finance by by paying that fee, then you would have owned a car worth £X and would have been paid £X  for it, not £X + the fee as the car's market value, and hence the value of you asset is not affected by the fee.

You haven't said, but I guess with such a small shortfall that it was a brand new car, and your insurer has paid the full list price to the insurer due to the "Replacement car in the first year" element of your policy.

If this is the case then you need to take up with the finance company why there is a £500 fee in the first 5 days of the agreement, no doubt they can charge some administration fee, and a small amount of interest.

jimjames

mrwillow said:

yes i have raised it with them but they said that was the maximum amount they would pay out. i only have had the agreement for 5 days. and i was going to buy GAP insurance on the day of accident but did not get round to it (stupid i know)  i have a separate claim for loss on earnings.   

Have you contacted finance company to see if you can cancel in the 14 day window?

DullGreyGuy

mrwillow said:

yes i have raised it with them but they said that was the maximum amount they would pay out. i only have had the agreement for 5 days. and i was going to buy GAP insurance on the day of accident but did not get round to it (stupid i know)  i have a separate claim for loss on earnings.   

You need to speak to them about it as a "separate head of claim" not as an increase in the valuation of the vehicle.