Negotiating best write-off value

[dontlookdown]

So, my daily Mazda 3 is about to be written off after being sideswiped (quite gently thank goodness) by an artic starting to change lanes without looking on the A1 last week. Damage actually surprisingly light in nature but not in extent: it covers 3/4 of the N/S from the front door back and from the waistline to the sills, so the insurance engineer says it's prob going to exceed their max repair value for the car.

Does anyone have any tips on how best to negotiate with the assessor when he calls me in a day or two? I don't to buy the car back, just get the best price I can. Or is it just a take it or leave it situation? I generally try to haggle where possible...

Never had a car written off before in 35 yrs of driving so it is a new experience for me;)

[randlemarcus]

Gather as many adverts as you can for as close a set of comparable cars, from dealers and private adverts. You can use those to argue about being put back in the same position as you were in before you were crashed into. Also worth putting your car into WBAC to see roughly what they'll probably offer out the gate.

Always worth remembering your "I'd be happy with" figure to have as a touchpoint to stop haggling I once spent too long arguing value on a write-off, until the nice chap on the other end pointed out that I could take the cheque to the dealer I bought the bike off, and buy a brandnew, but prereg bike...

[simon_harris]

They will expect you to need to replace the car ASAP and will use that to their advantage in getting you to accept a lower figure. The more you can make it appear that is not the case the better negotiating position you will be in.

[dontlookdown]

Good points thanks both.

Have two other cars so don't 'need' it replacing asap.

[vikingaero]

Screenshot equivalent model/condition mileage from Autotrader within 50 miles. Then move out to 100 miles if there are no similar cars.

My Mums Nissan Note was written off in an accident - 4 years old, 8k. Couldn't find anything close. Insurer offered £7.5k and I couldn't find anything similar - the lowest miles was 25k. Settled for £9.7K after a few emails with the last one asking to invoke their complaints procedure so I could take it to the Ombudsman. That email got the offer of 9.7.

[Mr Tidy]

I went through this last year when my car got tapped in the rear at a set of traffic lights.

The first offer was insulting so like others suggested I found adverts for the nearest equivalents and managed to get another couple of hundred quid. My car was a manual 2005 BMW 330iSE and the only manual 330is I could find were M-Sports and over a grand dearer but the insurer argued they were much more desirable.

I only gave in because the damage was minimal (only a Cat N) and I got to keep it for only 22% of their valuation which meant I had 50% of what I paid for it in 2019, and still had a fully functional car!

Be prepared to be a nuisance, and good luck.