Car Insurance, payment in Lieu of repair, what are the chances?

bobsa1

Dh has his car insured with direct line. Someone drove into the car whilst it was parked and has done some damage to it.

We have details of the van involved & insurance is all sorted. The problem is that the car is a Ford Mondeo with very high mileage. We were going to sell the car in the next couple of months are were hopeful of about £1,000.

The repair has been priced at £1,100 and insurers plan to go ahead with the repair!!

We have been in contact and the engineer is ringing on Monday to discuss. How should we proceed?

Should we ask for £1100 or less. Is it likely they will agree to us foregoing the repair and getting money instead?

Any advice appreciated.

maclean2

Hi - I deal with motor claims at work and this situation comes up time after time on low value and/or high mileage cars.The normal approach to a cash settlement rather than paying for repairs is to pay the full price of repairs but not the vat.The rationale for this is that no vat will be paid out if the repairs are not actually carried out.

In other words get the job priced by adding together labour + parts + paint/sundries but do not include vat.If the full price of repairs is £1100.00 including vat aim to settle at £1100 less the vat which is about £925.00.

jonesMUFCforever

Be careful in that someone at Direct Line might take the stance that this ''could'' have been a staged accident in order for you cash in on what you say is a high mileage car.
Not in any way inferring that this is the case but you know how cynical some Insurance companies can be!

bobsa1

Thanks for the advice. No way was accident staged and loads of witnesses so hopefully shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for the advice maclean 2. I would be more than happy with a figure like the one you quoted.

Should I ask for this or see what they offer?

maclean2

Don't forget that Direct Line will be deducting your excess from their pay out but that you can claim this from the van drivers insurance.If the damage to your car made it undriveable you can claim for "loss of use" from the van's insurance at around £60.00 per week starting with the date of the accident and finishing a week after you receive Direct Lines cheque.