Low Valuation - Insurance write off

[MarkGolf]

Morning everyone.

My reply has been sent which included some invaluable info from a member here.

Thanks all for advising and helping in the Battle of Hastings... (See what I did there..)

Will update as and when I hear back and hope all of this can help anyone in similar situations.

[m3xgx]

Hi

Had similar last year with Hastings and went back and forwards with them re market value, was like pulling teeth, albeit they were the third-parties insurer who wrote off our car.

Got to the point where i advised that i would go and buy a replacement vehicle as close to ours as possible, and look to recover our losses against their policy holder via Money Claim Online.

Anyway, aware different scenario to yours but at the time i did come across the following which may be of some use.

https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/insuran...

Andy

[FWIW]

m3xgx said:

Hi

Had similar last year with Hastings and went back and forwards with them re market value, was like pulling teeth, albeit they were the third-parties insurer who wrote off our car.

Got to the point where i advised that i would go and buy a replacement vehicle as close to ours as possible, and look to recover our losses against their policy holder via Money Claim Online.

Anyway, aware different scenario to yours but at the time i did come across the following which may be of some use.

https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/insuran...

Andy

Very useful!

[Tribal Chestnut]

All a great con.

The shysters wanted to write-off my daughter’s car last year.

When we phoned them up they couldn’t give a cost for the repair or a value for the vehicle, which they had not yet looked at.

They’re scum and prove themselves to be so time and time again.

[GasEngineer]

If you have GAP insurance; does the GAP insurer haggle with the insurance company on your behalf to reduce the GAP amount they have to pay out?

[m3xgx]

FWIW said:

Very useful!

[Ryyy]

I got my intial offer raised by 3k in the end after 3 offers. Same argument of i couldnt replace it with the valuation they were offering.

[MarkGolf]

So looks like it's about to be settled for me now.

Final update (Hopefully)

I had replied to the email from the insurance where they valued the GTS at £8.5k. With the input gathered from here and some extra info from Sidekick, I ended up receiving a call from the insurance, I answered the call ready for a fight but, that emotion was quickly extinguished.

I can't give enough credit to the guy who called, representing Hastings, a top guy, totally straight, down to earth and really pleasant to talk to.

He quickly addressed the situation, having explained that on his system, the car is classed as a total loss as the repair quotation is circa £9k and based on the value taken from the guides, along with my examples aiming for 11-13k, there's no chance of it getting a repair through them based on a £9k bill.

He went on to say, he went on to take a look at the items being quoted for and seeing items such as steering arms, wishbones, airbag, strut etc, made him question how damaged the car really is.

I said it's purely cosmetic, it's still driving perfectly fine and aside from a headlight warning, you would never know of any damage from inside the car.

He replied with, "I thought so, the damage doesn't look that bad at all so I was surprised to see those items on there"

He asked me questions along the lines of, is the tracking out, even if it's not, it's well worth getting a GEO done before you have any repairs done, just in case, any noises, any vibrations etc etc etc.

I explained that it's fine and without trying to sound like a know it all, I'm pretty experienced and handy with cars, there is no chance that there is any damage to suspension components etc.

OK, so, with that, he said he thinks the value is more like £11k, not a total loss and having gone through the evidence, what he thinks the car requires to be put right, they would like to offer a cash settlement.

So I just needed to submit the 2 quotes I had and he would check them over.

Today, I've received confirmation that this is going ahead, I don't know the settlement figure as yet but should find out shortly, 1 quote was £5.2k inc VAT and the other just over £6k.

I thought I would just update for all that have helped and anyone in the future who finds themselves in a similar position.

I will update once the settlement actually happens..

Thanks again all. Good result (I hope) and great help from here.

[Sheepshanks]

So the point of this is to get the car fixed without a marker on it? Otherwise forcing the value up seems to work against you.

If it can be fixed for the sort of money suggested, why won't the insurer do it? Isn't that what insurance is for?

[BertBert]

Sheepshanks said:

So the point of this is to get the car fixed without a marker on it? Otherwise forcing the value up seems to work against you.

If it can be fixed for the sort of money suggested, why won't the insurer do it? Isn't that what insurance is for?

The insurer is essentially doing it. They have agreed how much they will pay the OP for his loss.
ETA and not trying to write the car off

[Sheepshanks]

BertBert said:

The insurer is essentially doing it. They have agreed how much they will pay the OP for his loss.

Well, not really. They're avoiding any risk that the repairs might be more involved than it appears, and isolating themselves from any snagging / warranty etc.

[Alex Z]

It makes me wonder why they don’t do this more often, as you’ve just talked them into paying out less on a claim rather than more.