Hi All,

Just looking for some advice about the wife's car (unfortunately not a Skoda)

She was involved in a RTC last week when a stationary car in the opposite lane waiting to turn right pulled out across her and she went into the NSF of the other drivers car.

The insurers (Sheila's Wheels) have just come back and have advised it's a complete loss and have offered her £5300 for it. Personally I think this is too low. Does anyone have much experience of haggling with insurance companies?

The car is a 2005 1.6 Beetle Cabriolet Dark Flint (Special Edition) with a personalised reg plate (valued itself at £1000).

It's done approx 65K miles and until last week was in excellent condition with good straight bodywork and the red leather interior in perfect condition. It has all the extras added (heated seats, multi mp3 cd in armrest, parking sensors)

I've had a look on Autotrader and the same model goes for anything from £5k for a high miler to £7k for one with lesser miles (~40k).

Aren't Insurance companies obliged to offer a fair price to replace the car like for like? If so then I would have thought that £6K + another £1k for the plate would have been nearer?

I know that Insurance companies are out there to try to give you as little as possible, but in situations when it wasn't your fault I feel that we're the one's being seriously disadvantaged by the whole system.

I'd also like to explore the possibilities of buying back and repairing. Should we be able to get access the engineers report and see if we can get it repaired for lesser cost elsewhere? After all we're having to take their word for it.

Thanks

Dean

I had a vectra GSI that was drove into and wrote off by insurance company's years ago, they tried to offer me what I thought was a far too low offer.

I went on autotrader, eBay, and piston heads, found about 20 adverts for similar age, model, miles, spec cars and sent them to them.

They agreed and amended the offer to a much more realistic one.

I also had loads and loads of pictures of the car showing pre accident condition, which helped prove its value.

Also yeah you can have access to engineers report, I've always asked for them.

Some have been sent through the post, others ive had via email

The vectra had a personal plate on it, and I bought the whole car including plate back from the insurance company after they settled the write off price for £80 lol

I then sold the plate separately :-)

Edited 7 December, 201213 yr by JohnSTV6

You can get Your Own 'Loss Adjuster' & have an examination & Valuation done on the Vehicle.

The £120 plus VAT or what ever can be worth it, in the fair Settlement you receive.

(Doing this might have the Insurance Companies come up with a better settlement rather quicker.)

The Personal Registration is not part of the Vehicles Value,

& i would not raise that as part of the settlement at this point.

(You need to later, before completing the settlement).

The cost of the Registration number could mean a loss of settlement, (if your putting Value on keeping it, 'How much to buy another off the DVLA site, Compared to just knocking something off what you accept for the car & let them change the Number to you on Retention.)

so save that till you get a figure to settle.

Then ask for your Cherished Number.

(Its not worth much to anyone Buying the Car that is going to do the Repair, Unless a very high value Cherrished Plate.

that is, if the car is a repairable Written Off.

** You need to see if you can pay to have Repairs Done Cheap enough if 'you want to Buy back the Vehicle'.**

First you need to look at 'Market Values of a 'Like For Like Vehicle'.

Not 'Asking Prices',

Because with 'Cash' you should be able to purchase a 'Replacement Vehicle', for less than Advertised 'asking Prices'.

So if you want to do your own Work to get the Best Settlement.

Go see how much you can get a replacement vehicle for.

Get that Quote with other evidence of how much it will cost for you to be where you were before the Accident.

My Advice is to Reach a Settlement Figure before talking about,' Keeping or Buying back your own car'.

Ten you can start again talking about the Lesser Amount you are Going to allow them not to Pay & give you the Car.

You may have to then 'Settle on Keeping your Personal Registration', Retention

if you do not Buy it back..

(Its a bit difficult if the Insurance Company Sell to certain Salvage Companies.)

You need to see if you can 'Repair the vehicle economically' if your settlement is to include a Buy Back of the vehicle.

*I would get in touch with your own 'Loss Adjuster & see about your own Vehicle Inspection & Engineers report'.

Yes Ask the Broker to get you the Estimate or Vehicle Inspection Report on your vehicle,

Its down to you to make sure you do not lose out.

Did you have 'Legal Protection.'?

Use it if you have, & get Legal Advice.

The Insurers do not always look out for you. You need to look out for you.

good luck.

george

Hi, sorry to hear mate.

In my pretty extensive experience I would say most engineers/insurance companies pretty much always offer the lowest they dare to start with, I know "my" engineers are targeted on the amount they have to shell out

If you think you've been given a rubbish offer, look at autotrader, pistonheads etc and find your EXACT make and model print off a few examples and send it to the insurance company and use that as your basis of argument. If you can show them they've been harsh they will make another offer.

Failing that and they still offer what you consider to be undervalued, you can take your case to the financial ombudsman service and let them hear your complaint and they will take a look to see if its fair, but could take some time!

You can buy the car back from them assuming its not a cat a or b write off? Call your insurance company to discuss this as although not all that common, does happen and they will best advise you of the full process

Hope that helps

Jay

Thanks for the replies!

I think we'd probably accept £6k if we can prove it's worth.and get the insurance company to agree.

George - your reply was very detailed and I understood most of it apart from the plate retention bit. Are you saying that I should try to get the best offer for it then talk to them about the plate? If we agree to their offer then does the vehicle become their property (and therefore owners of the reg?)

Sorry, bit confused having not really dealt with car insurance like this before.

Thanks

Dean

You really need to try and get the plate off the car before the insurance pays out and place a VIC marker on it. You'll be unable to transfer the plate off the car at this point. To transfer a plate, the vehicle must have a current tax and MOT, the MOT is revoked once declared a write off. Even if you buy the car back, unless you got a current MOT then the plate will die with the car.

Just spoke to a friend in the business and apparently at the moment insurers aren't using the usual car guides and are having to resort to market prices (ie those in the press, ad etc).. couldnt quite understand the reason why but it's something to do with the uneven parity and higher prices in the market right now..

He also said that generally assessors write off a vehicle if the cost is more than 2/3 of the current value (whatever that is). Panels aren't the main reason for the decision, and it's usually down to the cost of the airbags, airbag module, seat belt pretensioners etc which happen to be very pricey, and have to be bought new.. well you learn something new every day..

So looks like I'll have to go down the agreed sum, retention route after all.

Dean

Will cost you nothing to refuse their first offer and listen to their justification

Just throwing this in for info., when I bought my Roomster (Mulhollands of Randalstown) in July the dealer offered me the 'I pay for' option of receiving the full purchase price of the car should it be written off in an accident. I did take it. Too many unknowns out there.

That sounds like "gap insurance" to cover the cost of finance etc

I was also offered return to invoice insurance by the dealer when I purchased my 10 month old vRS. Checked online and got it for a lot less than the Skoda scheme.

Worth having to my mind.

Paul

You never accept the first offer chap. They will always try to fob you off with a low offer, its just the way they work.

I'd get in contact with the dvla asap and get the ball rolling to take the plate off the car if you want to keep it. It will cost £105 to put it on retention for a year and will be free to transfer to your new car. If you dont the insurers will simple give the plate back to the dvla as you are "selling" the car to the insurers.

Do this yesterday, the DVLA take ages about this (6 weeks is the estimated waiting time for a simple transfer atm) but the sooner its in the system the better

They will not include the plate as part of the value of the car either.

Just send them loads of examples of IDENTICAL spec cars with a higher asking price. They will back down eventually

The following Financial Ombudsman reference is very dated but the principles should still apply.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/22/issue-22-motorinsurance.htm

Just throwing this in for info., when I bought my Roomster (Mulhollands of Randalstown) in July the dealer offered me the 'I pay for' option of receiving the full purchase price of the car should it be written off in an accident. I did take it. Too many unknowns out there.

Recently traveled from Ayrshire to Campsie (just outside Londonderry), to buy my car from John Mulholland. Like you, was offered 3-year 'back to invoice' insurance, underwritten by Santander at a cost of £150 (12 payments of £12.50). I believe this was actually arranged through Hyundai ( a franchise Mulholland also has). Bottom line - If my car is declared a total loss in the 3 years after my purchase of it, the gap insurance will pay the difference between the insurance payout, and my original invoice price.

Felt it was worth having, at what struck me as very minimal cost for this sort of policy.

that depends if the car will loose a lot of value or not. imo its only good if you have a car which will de-value loads in the time you have it.

I know a guy who took it out with "the car shop" and still didnt get what he paid for the car back after it was hit by a lorry a couple months after buying it

I only have indirect experience. My Dad had his car declared total loss earler this year, and rang me with a similar queston. I had no idea, but told him that I'd seen a lot of posts on various forums that said he should argue the value. He did and without ANY justification he got an increase that made him happy. So argue the point, they are waiting for you to do it.

I had an accident last spring and luckily had another car to use.

Best advice is to get as many adverts showing the value of the car. And also try and wait as long as you can as they will want to settle asap

When one of my previous volvos was written off and i got offered stupid money from insurence i told them ok find me the same car with same spec, age mileage etc then ill take it

Strange how he came back and offered me a grand more the second time

I must have been extremely lucky a few years back when my first Civic VTI-S was written off. They offered me what I had valued the car at minus my excess

Hi Guys

Sorry to resurect an old thread but thought it was relevant to post. If you are insuring a modified car or a vehicle that is a rarer model/limited run its worth sourcing an agreed value policy.

This basically means you can set a guarenteed value at the start of the policy so that both you and the insurer know what to expect should a total loss occur. Its probably not something you will be able to get on a completely standard car but if you have mods then its well worth investigating.

This way you wont have to worry about negotiating a payout in the event of a total loss you just receive your cheque less the excess.

We offer this policy type free of charge so if you would like to receive a quote from you please dont hesitate to contact me directly on 01277 376000 or drop me a PM with your contact number and i'll come back to you personally.

I drive a modified Octavia VRS myself so understand the mods as well.

Best Regards

Neil

Greenlight Insurance

01277 376000

I only have indirect experience. My Dad had his car declared total loss earler this year, and rang me with a similar queston. I had no idea, but told him that I'd seen a lot of posts on various forums that said he should argue the value. He did and without ANY justification he got an increase that made him happy. So argue the point, they are waiting for you to do it.

Varies from company to company. When my dad had a collision that led to his car being declared a total loss (and him, mercifully giving up driving!), His insurers came straight out with an offer that was virtually retail value. When the person handling the claim asked if that was acceptable, I kind of said - "well, I've been told to hold out for the best settlement, but that seems very generous". He replied that their practice (Norwich Union, IIRC) was to make their best offer, and if anyone turned it down, it was then up to them to pay for an independent engineer's report to prove the car was worth more. He said it cost the company less to make a decent offer in the first place, than to argue over the valuation.