Total Loss Car Offer - What do you think?

PishPosh

Hello, 

My Mazda CX-5 Homura Petrol 2024 has been written off. I had it for 10 months and only done just under 3500 miles. Accident completely not my fault and other side accepted full liability. 

Long story short the offer from my insurance provider is £29,367.

I mentioned that my car still has full manufacture warranty and had the front/rear bumper changed, aluminium pedals/footrest, installed, also bought better floor mats/trunk lining and steel plate added in the rear. 

These are all official Mazda parts fitted by Mazda. They make the car more valuable and better looking. Optionals can be found on the official website as well when buying the car. 

They do not consider optionals in the pricing as the wording on the policy is based on gross average, etc. That’s what they said. 

Disregarding the optionals, I still feel the offer should be closer to £30,000. They even sent me (maybe by accident) that my car is valued at £30,073, which I pointed out. They said that this is one index they used and there are 2 others so the average is £29,367. 

The cheapest car on Autotrader with my spec ignoring the optionals is £29,995 and that car has 4259 miles.

Insurance says this is the max they can do. I sent an email explaining why should I be over £600 out of pocket for something not my fault. I also listed all the optionals from my car. The case is being looked into by their management team. 

I wanted to get peoples opinion/thoughts on this. Thank you. 

facade

Were all the optional parts declared to your insurer? There would have been a question about modifications and when you answered yes you would have had to list them.

If not then they certainly don't have to pay for them, and they could even use them as a way to wheedle out of paying the full claim, or even at all.

If they were all listed then they ought to be considered in the valuation.

They should have a little flexibility in the valuation, and ought to make a slightly higher offer in response to your communication and evidence, especially given that it is the other side that are paying ultimately.

PishPosh

I did mention them in the beginning on the call when I took out the insurance. Whether they added or not is another thing. 

These are manufacturers parts. Some cars come with it and some don’t. They are not performance parts. So even if I didn’t mention them they can’t get out of paying the full claim. That’s silly. You telling me because I added floor mats to my car from Mazda they can not pay my claim because I didn’t declare it?

facade

I doubt if mats would make any difference, but different bumpers will- they may make the care more of a target for vandals or thieves and therefore a higher risk than an unmodified one.

So the policy price should be higher to reflect the higher risk, say it should be 10% higher, that means you only paid around 91% of the "correct" price and they could therefore only pay out 91% of the claim.

If you told them about the parts when you took out the policy then there shouldn't be a problem, calls are recorded nowadays so they can't say that you were making a false declaration.

Arunmor

Some insurers offer new for old in the first year.  Have you spoken to your insurer?  No GAP insurance?

Mildly_Miffed

Do you have return-to-invoice gap insurance? Does your policy have new-for-old in the first year?

A couple of hundred quid either way between the payout and the advertised price is irrelevant, as is a thousand miles on a very low mileage car. Most options add nothing to used sale value.

If you're seeing a car advertised, very similar mileage and age, for a few hundred quid above the offered payout, I'd say your chances of getting the payout improved are low.

This is why on a new car in the first year, going for an insurer that offers new-for-old is wise, or return-to-invoice gap insurance.

As it is, your insurance is doing exactly what you bought it to do - paying you the market value of your car immediately before it was hit.

sheslookinhot

Perhaps you can come to an arrangement with the insurer to remove the optional  items you fitted to your CX-5.

ontheroad1970

sheslookinhot said:

Perhaps you can come to an arrangement with the insurer to remove the optional  items you fitted to your CX-5.

What and be left without a bumper at all?

XRS200

PishPosh said:

Hello, 

My Mazda CX-5 Homura Petrol 2024 has been written off. I had it for 10 months and only done just under 3500 miles. Accident completely not my fault and other side accepted full liability. 

Long story short the offer from my insurance provider is £29,367.

I mentioned that my car still has full manufacture warranty and had the front/rear bumper changed, aluminium pedals/footrest, installed, also bought better floor mats/trunk lining and steel plate added in the rear. 

These are all official Mazda parts fitted by Mazda. They make the car more valuable and better looking. Optionals can be found on the official website as well when buying the car. 

They do not consider optionals in the pricing as the wording on the policy is based on gross average, etc. That’s what they said. 

Disregarding the optionals, I still feel the offer should be closer to £30,000. They even sent me (maybe by accident) that my car is valued at £30,073, which I pointed out. They said that this is one index they used and there are 2 others so the average is £29,367. 

The cheapest car on Autotrader with my spec ignoring the optionals is £29,995 and that car has 4259 miles.

Insurance says this is the max they can do. I sent an email explaining why should I be over £600 out of pocket for something not my fault. I also listed all the optionals from my car. The case is being looked into by their management team. 

I wanted to get peoples opinion/thoughts on this. Thank you. 

£600 less than an advertised price sounds good to me.

paul_c123

Regarding the mats, if they're not part of the payout, say you've left some personal items in the car and want to retrieve them before it goes to salvage or whatever. And go get the mats.

ButterCheese

PishPosh said:

I did mention them in the beginning on the call when I took out the insurance. Whether they added or not is another thing. 

These are manufacturers parts. Some cars come with it and some don’t. They are not performance parts. So even if I didn’t mention them they can’t get out of paying the full claim. That’s silly. You telling me because I added floor mats to my car from Mazda they can not pay my claim because I didn’t declare it?

Unfortunately you can't trust them at all. It is your responsibility to check the cover documents first, so you can raise anything they may have missed.  If you don't check or let them know, you are deeemd to have accepted the terms of cover.

Also - £600 less than book price is a fair offer if you ask me.  on a 30 grand car that is a 2% decrease.