Admiral writing off a 3 month old car

Admiral writing off a 3 month old car

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Discussion

jon-

Original Poster:

16,496 posts

215 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
Quick question.

A friend of mine has a 3 month old Evoque. She is insured with Admiral.

While it was parked on the road, it was driven into and written off. The accident was witnessed, so it's a no contest 3rd party claim.

The 3rd party is ALSO insured with Admiral.

I know many insurance companies have a "new for new" policy if you write off your car in the first X months, usually 6 or 12 months. I also know that Admiral are one of the worst insurance companies and don't offer a "new for new" clause in their fully comp policies.

I understand that if my friend had written off the car herself, she would be getting market value on a first party claim.

Does the dynamics of this change as it's a third party claim?

The Evoque is financed and she doesn't have gap insurance. As it is a 3rd party claim I would hope that at very least, the finance owed on the car would be settled, or they get her a new car. Isn't that the point on non-fault claims, to put you back into the position you were before?

t400ble

1,804 posts

120 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
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No. They will pay what the car is worth

GAP insurance is a must

spookly

4,009 posts

94 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
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t400ble said:
No. They will pay what the car is worth

GAP insurance is a must
I'm not sure that is correct for a 3rd party claim. If it had been her fault then, yes, GAP would cover any shortfall.

In the case of claiming on someone else's insurance, even if it is the same insurer, they need to put you back in the position you were before and cover reasonable costs. That would mean either replacing the car like for like, or settling outstanding obligations. Of course, being insurers, they will try anything they can to worm out of paying any more than they can get away with.


Iva Barchetta

44,044 posts

162 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
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I'd like to go down the avenue of knowing what the damage is to such an expensive car to write it off.

How much is an Evoque 30 ?...40K ?

jon-

Original Poster:

16,496 posts

215 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
Iva Barchetta said:
I'd like to go down the avenue of knowing what the damage is to such an expensive car to write it off.

How much is an Evoque 30 ?...40K ?
Market value looks to be about 34k. They were going to repair it, but apparently they've found more damage and have decided to write it off.

They took the OSR wheel clean off, so I suspect they've found all the chassis mountings at the back are twisted.

CAPP0

19,530 posts

202 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
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Iva Barchetta said:
How much is an Evoque 30 ?...40K ?
This one's new, not secondhand....

KungFuPanda

4,324 posts

169 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
Putting the OP's friend back in her pre accident position would surely involve them sending her a cheque which adequately reflects the value of a 3 month old Evoque with xx miles on. They usually HPI the car, settle whatever outstanding finance there is and send the balance onto the owne. In this case, I'd expect there to be a shortfall.

Aretnap

1,643 posts

150 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
jon- said:
Does the dynamics of this change as it's a third party claim?
No. The third party's obligation is only to pay her the current market value of the car - which will inevitably be lower than than the price she paid for it new. This applies regardless of who the third party's insurer is and what perks (like new for old cover) they offer their own customers - third party claims are governed by tort law, rather than by the terms and conditions of an insurance policy.

The usual advice would be to put the claim through her own insurance policy and take advantage of the new replacement for a new car, but as she's with Admiral that isn't an option. frown

jon- said:
The Evoque is financed and she doesn't have gap insurance. As it is a 3rd party claim I would hope that at very least, the finance owed on the car would be settled, or they get her a new car.
Afraid not. She'll get the current market value of her car - which may well be less than the outstanding finance. That does make good her financial losses: before the accident she had a car which would sell for (say) £34K and a debt that needed paying off - after the accident she'll have £34K and a debt which still needs paying off. If they paid off the outstanding debt as well, they'd actually be improving her financial position on where she was beforehand.

It's not very helpful to be wise after the event, but this is a good advert for GAP insurance, or at least for using an insurer which offers new replacements for newish cars when you buy a new car.




Edited by Aretnap on Thursday 20th October 16:03

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
jon- said:
I know many insurance companies have a "new for new" policy if you write off your car in the first X months, usually 6 or 12 months.
Does her policy?
If so, claim off that.
If not, claim off the third party.

But it's unlikely she'll get new-for-old off the third party, especially if she didn't buy it new. She'll get market value immediately before the impact.

I hope she gets gap insurance next time.

Sheepshanks

32,519 posts

118 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
CAPP0 said:
Iva Barchetta said:
How much is an Evoque 30 ?...40K ?
This one's new, not secondhand....
confused

No it's not, it's 3 months old.

CAPP0

19,530 posts

202 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
CAPP0 said:
Iva Barchetta said:
How much is an Evoque 30 ?...40K ?
This one's new, not secondhand....
confused

No it's not, it's 3 months old.
Was being obtuse, missed off the smiley. My point was, Evoques are expensive, what I was trying to say was that 30-40k will only buy a secondhand one. The one the OP mentioned is practically new.

I'm not making myself any clearer! Ignore me...

Markbarry1977

4,027 posts

102 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
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I am currently insured with admiral. Originally as part of a multi car policy 3 cars, we sold one and moved the other on to a dedicated modified car policy. Admiral then proceeded to put the insurance price up because it was no longer a multi car policy. Having done more research and recently started reading speed, plod and law section admiral always seem to come off as a difficult, conniving, downright difficult company. I will be leaving them as soon as it's due for renewal.

TwigtheWonderkid

43,246 posts

149 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
jon- said:
I know many insurance companies have a "new for new" policy if you write off your car in the first X months, usually 6 or 12 months. I also know that Admiral are one of the worst insurance companies and don't offer a "new for new" clause in their fully comp policies.
The Admiral policy is lacking in many ways over an insurance policy from a proper company like Aviva, Allianz or suchlike. But you get what you pay for.

davepoth

29,395 posts

198 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
Sue the crasher for the difference possibly? There's no reason she should be out of pocket if it wasn't her fault.

Hamster

136 posts

236 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
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Me and Mrs H are insured with Admiral, luckily we've only needed them once, clear helpful advice and all sorted in one phone call and a couple of emails.

They are cheap, I know that and yes, we do have GAP on both cars.

H

speedking31

3,543 posts

135 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
What difference ? confused

Dave Hedgehog

14,541 posts

203 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
TwigtheWonderkid said:
jon- said:
I know many insurance companies have a "new for new" policy if you write off your car in the first X months, usually 6 or 12 months. I also know that Admiral are one of the worst insurance companies and don't offer a "new for new" clause in their fully comp policies.
The Admiral policy is lacking in many ways over an insurance policy from a proper company like Aviva, Allianz or suchlike. But you get what you pay for.
but would the avg punter be able to notice these differences? i have used admiral several times over the last few years and this is the first i have heard they dont do new for new

but i am also not silly enough to finance a car without ALA gap insurance wink

Sheepshanks

32,519 posts

118 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
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Dave Hedgehog said:
but would the avg punter be able to notice these differences?
Probably not until they had an issue, unless they were an avid reader of forums.

They are legendary for passing out non-fault claims to Albany Assistance who, let's say, don't have a great reputation.

I've no idea if this is true or not, but I've read they disregard the options value on cars - likely to significant if you write off a nearly-new BMW, Merc, Porsche etc.


Having said all that, I used them for both my kids cars from when they left uni until age 25. Admiral were the cheapest recognisable name. The annual battle with stupidly high renewal quotes was annoying, and I was glad to be able to ditch them as each daughter reached 25.

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
Dave Hedgehog said:
i have used admiral several times over the last few years and this is the first i have heard they dont do new for new
It's not a case of "they don't do".
It's a case of others DO do.

The default is not that it's included, but some sneakily omit it. It's something you need to be looking for if you want it.

Buy on price alone, don't be surprised you get a shonky product.

speedking31

3,543 posts

135 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
Dave Hedgehog said:
but i am also not silly enough to finance a car without ALA gap insurance wink
... but you are silly enough to pay for GAP insurance that may be useless if your standard car insurance offers new for old cover anyway confused Either way, you should know the cover you're getting for the price you pay.