insurance write off....

edmundli

my 51 reg polo 1.4 has just been written off and im awaiting a offer from norwich union for it, but having a look at parkers, it says its only worth 4000£ private, but if you look on autotrader, etc everything priced at that range is on 40k + mileage and in poor condition, whislt mine was immaculate and only 29k mileage.

If they only offer me a measly 4k can i do anythign about it?

flea72

you need to find cars of a similar age, mileage and condition as your own, and then you can use this as a bargaining tool with the insurers - however i wouldnt expect any 51 plate polo, to be in a poor condition, and 40k+ mileage is about average for a car that age - also low mileage, doesnt really increase the value of a car by that much, and your mileage isnt low enough, to make any real difference to the price

if you bought the car from a dealership, then you can argue for retail valuations rather than trade prices, as you want to have the dealership warranty backup, but other than that theres not much you can do about their offer, they wont increase it dramatically

if your car was well looked after, and regularly serviced, the garage you used, should be able to give you an honest valuation for it, as they should know its history - or visit a local VW dealership, and ask them what figure they think is realistic

hth flea

flea72

just had a quick look at the VW used stock locator, and they have several Polo 1.4 going for about £5.5k with similar mileage to yours - so that should be a starting point for discussions with your insurer

Bandit

Don't accept the first offer they give you. Say your not happy with it and they will give you more. flea72 is right get an Autotrader or some free car buyer magazine (some super markets have these) and fight it out with them.

Good Luck - they might even supprise you!

edmundli

the engineer is going to look at it coming friday, hopefully i'll get a decent offer, i'll keep you updated, thanks for the help guys.
Ed

Bossyboots

edmundli wrote:

the engineer is going to look at it coming friday, hopefully i'll get a decent offer, i'll keep you updated, thanks for the help guys.
Ed

We squeezed and extra £300 out of the insurance company for our car because of the low mileage and immaculate condition of the car. We did basically what flea72 suggested and presented a spread sheet to them with the figures on it. They paid out the day they received it.