Insurance write-off - any suggestions
Discussion
I was sitting, stationary, in my 2005 111R two weeks ago, half a mile from home at the end of a Sunday drive, when a Toyota hit me at about 5mph and shunted me into the car in front. The car in front sustained no damage (I'd basically gone under him and then bounced out) and the Toyota had some scratches across his bumper, but the front and rear shells of the Lotus were visibly cracked. After exchanging insurance details, I got the car home without any difficulty - no tracking faults, no mechanical faults, nothing leaking etc. - and called the insurers, who came and collected it the following day. It was taken to a garage I'd selected from the list they'd offered me; Lotus-approved and 'specialists in glass and carbon fibre'.
The car has done 42k miles and is in excellent condition: fsh, tyres less than 1k miles old, garaged continually since purchased in 2011. In short, loved. It had, however, been a Cat-D write-off before I purchased it (from PistonHeads) from a professional restorer, who had replaced the front and rear clams with new after a similar incident! Again, no mechanical damage had been suffered.
My insurers have informed me that the car is now a Cat-C write-off; the Lotus-approved garage have quoted £12,500 to repair it but have valued the car at £11,450. They have agreed that it was in excellent condition and well looked-after, but make the following points:
- Parker's and Glass's valuations of the car at between £16k and £17k don't take into account the 'transactional value'; that cost might reflect the asking prices, but apparently the data suggests that 2005 111Rs with touring packs and 42k miles have actually changed hands for closer to £14k over the last few months.
- That the car had previously been written off for cosmetic reasons, albeit restored with newer OEM parts, makes it about 20% less desirable.
I have another car to use and thus some time before I need to make any sort of decision; I'd just like to ask the board if the figures being bandied around here by the insurers seem reasonable or on the low side, and if anyone else has had similar experiences? Thanks.
The car has done 42k miles and is in excellent condition: fsh, tyres less than 1k miles old, garaged continually since purchased in 2011. In short, loved. It had, however, been a Cat-D write-off before I purchased it (from PistonHeads) from a professional restorer, who had replaced the front and rear clams with new after a similar incident! Again, no mechanical damage had been suffered.
My insurers have informed me that the car is now a Cat-C write-off; the Lotus-approved garage have quoted £12,500 to repair it but have valued the car at £11,450. They have agreed that it was in excellent condition and well looked-after, but make the following points:
- Parker's and Glass's valuations of the car at between £16k and £17k don't take into account the 'transactional value'; that cost might reflect the asking prices, but apparently the data suggests that 2005 111Rs with touring packs and 42k miles have actually changed hands for closer to £14k over the last few months.
- That the car had previously been written off for cosmetic reasons, albeit restored with newer OEM parts, makes it about 20% less desirable.
I have another car to use and thus some time before I need to make any sort of decision; I'd just like to ask the board if the figures being bandied around here by the insurers seem reasonable or on the low side, and if anyone else has had similar experiences? Thanks.
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