Finance car written off
Discussion
So I'm stuck in a pretty s
tty position at the moment...
Yesterday morning while I was still snoozing in bed, I got a phone call telling me to come outside because someone has hit my car while it was parked outside of my house. I run down and see that a woman in a Honda Jazz has just crashed straight into the front of my VW Golf. Front end smashed and coolant leaking all over the road. Her car barely grazed (obviously).
She's admitted fault, her insurers (Tesco) have said she's admitted fault and supplied me with a courtesy car and arranged to take my car away to be assessed. I got a phone call later in the day saying that my car is a write off (I'm getting the full details of which later on this morning).
The situation I'm in is that I was 15 months into a 36 month finance agreement. I'm going to assume that the value of the car is less than the outstanding balance but I have GAP for the difference. I've been given the impression that I walk away from this entirely empty handed. No car and no money back because it was still on finance, so I don't even have a deposit to put on a new car.
Am I seriously being shafted on this? Is there any advice you can give me so I'll at least walk away from this in the same position I was in before this woman totalled my car?
tty position at the moment...Yesterday morning while I was still snoozing in bed, I got a phone call telling me to come outside because someone has hit my car while it was parked outside of my house. I run down and see that a woman in a Honda Jazz has just crashed straight into the front of my VW Golf. Front end smashed and coolant leaking all over the road. Her car barely grazed (obviously).
She's admitted fault, her insurers (Tesco) have said she's admitted fault and supplied me with a courtesy car and arranged to take my car away to be assessed. I got a phone call later in the day saying that my car is a write off (I'm getting the full details of which later on this morning).
The situation I'm in is that I was 15 months into a 36 month finance agreement. I'm going to assume that the value of the car is less than the outstanding balance but I have GAP for the difference. I've been given the impression that I walk away from this entirely empty handed. No car and no money back because it was still on finance, so I don't even have a deposit to put on a new car.
Am I seriously being shafted on this? Is there any advice you can give me so I'll at least walk away from this in the same position I was in before this woman totalled my car?
As said above, a 'Return To Invoice' gap policy will pay the finance difference and you'll get an additional amount up to the cars invoice value. Because you'll have paid 15 months, you'll actually get a cash lump some much greater than your initial deposit.
If you have 'Finance' gap, it just pays the finance difference so you lose any deposit you've paid, and any value in the 15 months payments to date. Not as good and it does leave you without a deposit, but at least you're not left standing with no gap product at all!
The type of policy should be pretty clear in your paperwork.
If you have 'Finance' gap, it just pays the finance difference so you lose any deposit you've paid, and any value in the 15 months payments to date. Not as good and it does leave you without a deposit, but at least you're not left standing with no gap product at all!
The type of policy should be pretty clear in your paperwork.
Palmball said:
As said above, a 'Return To Invoice' gap policy will pay the finance difference and you'll get an additional amount up to the cars invoice value. Because you'll have paid 15 months, you'll actually get a cash lump some much greater than your initial deposit.
If you have 'Finance' gap, it just pays the finance difference so you lose any deposit you've paid, and any value in the 15 months payments to date. Not as good and it does leave you without a deposit, but at least you're not left standing with no gap product at all!
The type of policy should be pretty clear in your paperwork.
Understand that the gap policy will sort the finance out, but in a non fault claim should the op not be returned to the position he was in before the accident by the TP insurers ?If you have 'Finance' gap, it just pays the finance difference so you lose any deposit you've paid, and any value in the 15 months payments to date. Not as good and it does leave you without a deposit, but at least you're not left standing with no gap product at all!
The type of policy should be pretty clear in your paperwork.
Quoting a verse from my policy:
"If, within the period of cover, the vehicle is classed as a total loss we will pay the difference, up to the claim limit, between the settlement you receive from the comprehensive motor insurance policy and the early settlement figure of your finance agreement."
I can't see RTI written anywhere.
"If, within the period of cover, the vehicle is classed as a total loss we will pay the difference, up to the claim limit, between the settlement you receive from the comprehensive motor insurance policy and the early settlement figure of your finance agreement."
I can't see RTI written anywhere.
ianrb said:
The woman who drove into your car is responsible for covering all the costs, well her insurers are. So they should put you back in the position you were in before the crash. You may have to play hard ball with them though.
Which was, owing more on a car than it was worth. Being empty handed is better than that.
I had a similarly worrying experience when my Boxster was involved in a crash.
I'd paid top money for it as it was low miles and a great spec.
The insurer of the other car involved refused to do anything until the police report into the fatal rta was completed - this took over 3 months.
Luckily, or so I thought, I had taken out GAP insurance and was prepared to top up any low offer with this.
In the end I was taken away by how decent the offer from the other party's insurers was - greatly exceeding my expectations - no need to use the GAP insurance - phew!
I also got a decent contribution towards other expenses, and free physiotherapy. I could have claimed for all sorts, but refused to use an accident claims company, or to put in a whiplash claim.
The other party's insurers settled initially 'without prejudice' to speed things up, and it was only after they'd done this that I had a formal letter admitting full liability. Obviously designed to reduce costs and minimise legal wrangling.
I'd paid top money for it as it was low miles and a great spec.
The insurer of the other car involved refused to do anything until the police report into the fatal rta was completed - this took over 3 months.
Luckily, or so I thought, I had taken out GAP insurance and was prepared to top up any low offer with this.
In the end I was taken away by how decent the offer from the other party's insurers was - greatly exceeding my expectations - no need to use the GAP insurance - phew!
I also got a decent contribution towards other expenses, and free physiotherapy. I could have claimed for all sorts, but refused to use an accident claims company, or to put in a whiplash claim.
The other party's insurers settled initially 'without prejudice' to speed things up, and it was only after they'd done this that I had a formal letter admitting full liability. Obviously designed to reduce costs and minimise legal wrangling.
At least your story has a happy ending 
I've just spoken to my finance company and got a settlement figure. £3835.50. According to Glass Guide my car is valued at:
Trade: £2090.00 - £3210.00
Private: £3790.00 - £4810.00
Dealer: £4650.00 - £5640.00
These are free estimates so are not taking the mileage (120k) into consideration. If Tesco (their insurer) pay out top whack of £5640.00 then happy days I guess, not as much as the £2700 I've already paid but at least it's something.
The GAP insurers obviously have Saturdays off so I can't speak to them until Monday, and the company that took my car away are still refusing to give me the details of the write off.
I've just spoken to my finance company and got a settlement figure. £3835.50. According to Glass Guide my car is valued at:
Trade: £2090.00 - £3210.00
Private: £3790.00 - £4810.00
Dealer: £4650.00 - £5640.00
These are free estimates so are not taking the mileage (120k) into consideration. If Tesco (their insurer) pay out top whack of £5640.00 then happy days I guess, not as much as the £2700 I've already paid but at least it's something.
The GAP insurers obviously have Saturdays off so I can't speak to them until Monday, and the company that took my car away are still refusing to give me the details of the write off.
CasuallyDressed said:
At least your story has a happy ending
Not totally happy as someone died 
What I did was get values off the usual sites and put them into a spreadsheet, as I was expecting a battle. I also gathered together recent pictures and the original ad for the car. One of the key points in my favour was they like to settle for the average selling price within a reasonably local area, and my location on a remote Scottish island group obviously helped here!
Although my car was only slightly exotic, values had begun to plummet, but if you are well-armed with facts and values then you may just be pleasantly surprised. I dealt with Aviva, who were absolute 5h**s until the police report was finished, then they moved very quickly and fairly - but it was a very tough and anxious wait...
CasuallyDressed said:
At least your story has a happy ending
I've just spoken to my finance company and got a settlement figure. £3835.50. According to Glass Guide my car is valued at:
Trade: £2090.00 - £3210.00
Private: £3790.00 - £4810.00
Dealer: £4650.00 - £5640.00
These are free estimates so are not taking the mileage (120k) into consideration. If Tesco (their insurer) pay out top whack of £5640.00 then happy days I guess, not as much as the £2700 I've already paid but at least it's something.
The GAP insurers obviously have Saturdays off so I can't speak to them until Monday, and the company that took my car away are still refusing to give me the details of the write off.
You won't get top dealer price. A dealer price is the value of the car plus their profit and costs. I've just spoken to my finance company and got a settlement figure. £3835.50. According to Glass Guide my car is valued at:
Trade: £2090.00 - £3210.00
Private: £3790.00 - £4810.00
Dealer: £4650.00 - £5640.00
These are free estimates so are not taking the mileage (120k) into consideration. If Tesco (their insurer) pay out top whack of £5640.00 then happy days I guess, not as much as the £2700 I've already paid but at least it's something.
The GAP insurers obviously have Saturdays off so I can't speak to them until Monday, and the company that took my car away are still refusing to give me the details of the write off.
You need to look at the real value of the car.
Also you've paid £2700. That doesn't mean you've lost £2700. The car was always going to depreciate and you've had some value using it.
Best of luck though. Not a good position.
CasuallyDressed said:
If Tesco (their insurer) pay out top whack of £5640.00 then happy days I guess, not as much as the £2700 I've already paid but at least it's something.
The GAP insurers obviously have Saturdays off so I can't speak to them until Monday
OK... if you got the full £2,700 you've already paid (over and above your £3,500 settlement figure) you would be getting free motoring. The GAP insurers obviously have Saturdays off so I can't speak to them until Monday
That is kind of what RTI gap insurance would provide, but it looks as though you don't have it.
As it seems that you will probably get more than you owe for the car, there wouldn't be a GAP claim unless you are mistaken and do have RTI.
I realise that it's easy to think you will be shafted at every turn by the insurers, but it really doesn't look like that is the case here.
It's also unlikely that you would get top dealer price unless 120k would be low mileage for a car like this. The free valuation will probably assume a lower mileage. You are entitled to recover an element of the dealer's profit however; the car's value for insurance purposes is (I'm paraphrasing) the price you would actually pay for a car equivalent to yours, like-for-like, in the market you would usually buy from (i.e., if you usually buy new/main dealer then this would be the case, if from an auction, an auction price, etc.) allowing for haggling and possibly some betterment (e.g., a longer warranty).
So if top retail at an independent dealer is £5,650 with 70k miles then perhaps it would be £4,500 with 120k miles and you might get the car for £4,200, assuming you usually buy from a dealer (which is presumably the case if it's on finance).
Edited by CYMR0 on Saturday 31st May 11:19
Fort Jefferson said:
ianrb said:
The woman who drove into your car is responsible for covering all the costs, well her insurers are. So they should put you back in the position you were in before the crash. You may have to play hard ball with them though.
Which was, owing more on a car than it was worth. Being empty handed is better than that.
LoonR1 said:
Not forgetting that you nomlongerhave to pay £xx a month as the finance has ended. You aren't in a st place at all.
A bit of positive spin huh.t place at all. The finance has ended but the OP has no car!
The OP will need a replacement car presumably so will likely now have to effect a replacement finance agreement.
Yep and further to purplemoonlights post, if OP intended to make the 36 payments and keep the car and be free of finance, he will now have to serve another 36 months on finance to be in that situation.
Defo a crap situation and the GAP policy in place here doesn't appear to be a good one ie RTI GAP. Still, better than no gap I suppose!
Defo a crap situation and the GAP policy in place here doesn't appear to be a good one ie RTI GAP. Still, better than no gap I suppose!
That's why I feel I'm in a stty situation. I now have to start a new finance deal (and know to ask for RTI GAP) and start from scratch. Without any financial kickback from the dead Golf to put towards a deposit on a new car.
Yes, I'm free of the current finance deal, but I still need a car that wasn't budgeted for.
tty situation. I now have to start a new finance deal (and know to ask for RTI GAP) and start from scratch. Without any financial kickback from the dead Golf to put towards a deposit on a new car.Yes, I'm free of the current finance deal, but I still need a car that wasn't budgeted for.
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