Dad's car written off by insurer
Discussion
My dad had a prang when someone drove into the back of his car when he was at a set of traffic lights. From a blame point of view it was straightforward - the third party was to blame and their insurer has accepted liability. There was damage to the rear bumper, rear offside quarter-panel and the hatch wouldn't close fully after the accident.
The repair costs exceed 50% of the value of his car so the insurer has written off his car.
His car is a 10-year old Megane and garaged daily so it was in excellent condition. My parents are OAPs and my mum is disabled so is reliant on my dad to drive her around.
His car would be worth around £1400 at current market value. My dad is really stressed now - my parents don't have any spare cash and I help them out as much as I can financially afford to do so. I know the car wasn't anything great but it was his pride and joy and he had owned it from new.
What are the options in this situation? Or are there any but to accept the payout from the insurer? It's unlikely he'd find another 10-year old car in similar condition quickly. He's got a courtesy car for now but that will have to go back this week I imagine.
The repair costs exceed 50% of the value of his car so the insurer has written off his car.
His car is a 10-year old Megane and garaged daily so it was in excellent condition. My parents are OAPs and my mum is disabled so is reliant on my dad to drive her around.
His car would be worth around £1400 at current market value. My dad is really stressed now - my parents don't have any spare cash and I help them out as much as I can financially afford to do so. I know the car wasn't anything great but it was his pride and joy and he had owned it from new.
What are the options in this situation? Or are there any but to accept the payout from the insurer? It's unlikely he'd find another 10-year old car in similar condition quickly. He's got a courtesy car for now but that will have to go back this week I imagine.
Doesn't sound like a cheap repair if the hatch/rear quarter need attention. Unless you can wield the tools to cut the costs?
Or if the damage is superficial (not structural) buy it back and live with it? Mate of mine did this with his, just had cracked bumpers and a dented wing.
See what the insurance offer is and go from there. Plenty of decent motors in the £1500 price bracket.
Or if the damage is superficial (not structural) buy it back and live with it? Mate of mine did this with his, just had cracked bumpers and a dented wing.
See what the insurance offer is and go from there. Plenty of decent motors in the £1500 price bracket.
When I got a rear-end shunt from someone in a similar situation, which wrote off my old car, I didn't even need to buy the car back from the third party insurers, they just let me keep it and never came to collect it, it just went down as a cat c or cat D (I forget which)
I wasn't prepared to put it back on the road as the chassis had been bent and it was a (at the time) 10 year old Cavalier, but I made enough money breaking it for parts.
I wasn't prepared to put it back on the road as the chassis had been bent and it was a (at the time) 10 year old Cavalier, but I made enough money breaking it for parts.
TazLondon said:
There was damage to the rear bumper, rear offside quarter-panel and the hatch wouldn't close fully after the accident.
The repair costs exceed 50% of the value of his car so the insurer has written off his car.
His car is a 10-year old Megane
The repair cost MASSIVELY exceeded 100% of the value. It's dead, as far as the insurers are concerned. CatC. You should be able to buy it back for a percentage of the payout, and fix it privately or just live with it, but that would then be on his pocket, not theirs.The repair costs exceed 50% of the value of his car so the insurer has written off his car.
His car is a 10-year old Megane
TazLondon said:
His car would be worth around £1400 at current market value.
And that's what he'll get. Market value.http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications...
TazLondon said:
I know the car wasn't anything great but it was his pride and joy and he had owned it from new.
If he'd insured it for a higher figure through his own policy, he could claim off that. But, as it is, sentimental value is not taken into account.TazLondon said:
It's unlikely he'd find another 10-year old car in similar condition quickly.
That's beside the point. It's what his car would have been worth immediately before the crash that's important, not whether there's something similar available for sale.TazLondon said:
He's got a courtesy car for now but that will have to go back this week I imagine.
Yep - as soon as the payout's accepted, the hire car goes back.If he's seen as acting unreasonably in rejecting a fair payout, and delaying the car's return, the cost could be taken from the payout.
TazLondon said:
My parents are OAPs and my mum is disabled so is reliant on my dad to drive her around.
I assume this would have been thought about in the real world, but working on the info in this thread, is Motability not an option? If your mum is disabled does she not qualify for DLA?You don't have to accept the ins co's valuation. You will be surprised what they will offer for a used car, typically dealer price fro an equivalent model. If you beat up the loss adjuster and persuade him that it was an exceptional example, you'll get more for it.
Old people tend to imagine that owning a car from new gives you some sort of supernatural knowledge of it and that it increases its chances of survival in the future. It doesn't. A 10 yr old Megane can hand you a catastrophic electrical failure any day of the week regardless of who's owned it. Servicing won't make any difference to that.
I'd be inclined to appoint myself chief negotiator on their behalf (with permission) and make the loss adjuster's life difficult until he gives you enough money to get something decent as a replacement. In my case I had a beaten up 406 stolen/recovered, it was OK but the clutch was failing. Repaired it was a £500-600 car. After haggling the offer came in at £1800, which was within £500 of what I'd paid 2 years previously.
Old people tend to imagine that owning a car from new gives you some sort of supernatural knowledge of it and that it increases its chances of survival in the future. It doesn't. A 10 yr old Megane can hand you a catastrophic electrical failure any day of the week regardless of who's owned it. Servicing won't make any difference to that.
I'd be inclined to appoint myself chief negotiator on their behalf (with permission) and make the loss adjuster's life difficult until he gives you enough money to get something decent as a replacement. In my case I had a beaten up 406 stolen/recovered, it was OK but the clutch was failing. Repaired it was a £500-600 car. After haggling the offer came in at £1800, which was within £500 of what I'd paid 2 years previously.
Surprised to see so many people saying 'accept what the ins. co deems to be market value'.
A number of people I know have been in this situation, I have given all of them the same advice- if you have the grounds to, request a higher payout and be prepared to justify it when asked.
The insurance company will just look up the reg number and will produce an average market value for a car of that make, model and year.
If your car is in exceptional condition, below average miles, benefits from any unusual options or is otherwise a rare spec, you should of course decline the first offer. It's even worth mentioning if you've just spent £400 on a cambelt service or a set of tyres.
Everybody I know who has done this have achieved a noticeably higher payout on 2nd or 3rd offer.
A number of people I know have been in this situation, I have given all of them the same advice- if you have the grounds to, request a higher payout and be prepared to justify it when asked.
The insurance company will just look up the reg number and will produce an average market value for a car of that make, model and year.
If your car is in exceptional condition, below average miles, benefits from any unusual options or is otherwise a rare spec, you should of course decline the first offer. It's even worth mentioning if you've just spent £400 on a cambelt service or a set of tyres.
Everybody I know who has done this have achieved a noticeably higher payout on 2nd or 3rd offer.
HustleRussell said:
Surprised to see so many people saying 'accept what the ins. co deems to be market value'.
A number of people I know have been in this situation, I have given all of them the same advice- if you have the grounds to, request a higher payout and be prepared to justify it when asked.
The insurance company will just look up the reg number and will produce an average market value for a car of that make, model and year.
If your car is in exceptional condition, below average miles, benefits from any unusual options or is otherwise a rare spec, you should of course decline the first offer. It's even worth mentioning if you've just spent £400 on a cambelt service or a set of tyres.
Everybody I know who has done this have achieved a noticeably higher payout on 2nd or 3rd offer.
This. When I first started driving, a daft bint drove out of a T junction at 30mph and straight into the side of my immaculate 70k mile Peugeot 405 estate. Insurance offered £700 and wouldn't budge, until I rejected the offer and submitted its FSH, proof of it being less than half the mileage of anything else currently on the market, and bills for all the recent work. They replied the day after with an offer more than 50% greater than the initial one. I got £1,100 in the end. Always worth pushing!A number of people I know have been in this situation, I have given all of them the same advice- if you have the grounds to, request a higher payout and be prepared to justify it when asked.
The insurance company will just look up the reg number and will produce an average market value for a car of that make, model and year.
If your car is in exceptional condition, below average miles, benefits from any unusual options or is otherwise a rare spec, you should of course decline the first offer. It's even worth mentioning if you've just spent £400 on a cambelt service or a set of tyres.
Everybody I know who has done this have achieved a noticeably higher payout on 2nd or 3rd offer.
As someone else said, is Motability not an option?
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff