Non fault accident - derisory offer from insurance

pettaw

As the title says really.

I got rear ended at a junction. The other party have admitted liability, which was surprisingly pleasing, although I suppose they didn't have much choice, the car was stationary when they hit me.

So all that happened rather quickly, offered hire car...asked if I was personally injured etc etc. said I don't need one and I haven't been.

I had the phone call from the 'engineer' and to say the offer is a bit low is an understatement.
I had a bodyshop estimate for the damage and they've estimated 544 labour + 130 paint and materials + parts + vat, very reasonable for a new rear bumper and new rear panel and painting to match

OK so its a very old car. 1986 Volvo 360 GLEi but its a rare model injection with air conditioning (all working and converted to R134a) and full leather and is in excellent structural condition, mainly because I spent out a lot of money a couple of years back to get all the structural rot put right and a few cosmetic things too....new front wings bumpers etc. but to put it mildly to not even want to come and look at the car and to offer me 200 gbp is frankly derisory. There are similar cars on the autotrader for 900 gbp. OK so they won't actually sell for that price, but if they'd offered me 500-600 quid then I would have accepted the offer and put it towards the cost of repair.

Now I'm tempted to not accept anything at all and demand they repair the car. I've sourced a second hand bumper for 40 quid and a new pattern rear valence for 55. The question is how much leverage do I have with the 'engineer?'

When we had our phonecall I said to him that I'm entitled to be put back into the position I was in prior to the accident. He said no that's not the case and that I only have to be financially at no loss and that he found adverts for 3 cars all selling at 150, 120 160 quid etc. The strange thing was he didn't want to give me his written address, although I managed to prise an e-mail out of him. He also said he wouldn't write to confirm the offer before I accept. Apparently you simply talk about it over the phone and then you agree and he confirms in writing...all very strange.

Its not like I ran into something...this accident wasn't my fault....what powers do I have to force them to repair the car for me or at least raise their derisory offer to something more reasonable?

raskazz

I don't think you'll be able to 'force' a repair. On the figures you give, the cost of repair is around £800 minimum, even on a £900 car this is deemed uneconomical.

You are right in saying that the third party insurer should put you back into the position you were in prior to the accident - however, you cannot choose by which method they acheive this - they can repair the car or pay you the pre-accident value if they wish.

I'd take the approach of negotiating a better settlement. Of course, everyone wants as high a settlement as they can get, so there's only one way to actually get more which is to prove that the pre-accident value of the vehicle is more than they are offering.

Have you got a service history for the vehicle? Do you know which guide they are using to value the vehicle (eg Glass', Parker's, CAP's)? Have they even referred to a guide? It might be worth asking him to provide details of these prices that have supposedly been found.