Insurance pay out question
Discussion
My car has just been hit whilst parked which is a bummer
It was a car I was probably going to sell anyway and it's an object not a person so I'm not going to lose sleep over it
However the car was going up in price and I think I'm gonna have a fight on my hands to get the right money from insurance.
Its a z4 3.0si coupe manual 90k miles 2009 with the desirable 105 wheels etc
Any advice on how to make sure I get a fair price from the insurers as I'm going to be so annoyed if they try to offer me wbac money
It was a car I was probably going to sell anyway and it's an object not a person so I'm not going to lose sleep over it
However the car was going up in price and I think I'm gonna have a fight on my hands to get the right money from insurance.
Its a z4 3.0si coupe manual 90k miles 2009 with the desirable 105 wheels etc
Any advice on how to make sure I get a fair price from the insurers as I'm going to be so annoyed if they try to offer me wbac money
I got tapped in the rear in my 2005 BMW 330i earlier this year at a set of lights on an M3 slip road. My first thought was I was glad I wasn't in my Z4M Coupe as I was due to take that around the NC500 a couple of weeks later.
The only damage was a couple of gouges and 2 very faint cracks in the rear bumper cover available from BMW for about £650 in primer. But the repairer recommended by the insurer of the car that hit me managed to pad out their estimate to over £2000!
The insurer made it a Cat N before even telling me and made a very low offer which I disputed and I sent them several adverts for similar cars, but they were all M-Sport models as I couldn't find another SE like mine. I got a small increase but after that they wouldn't budge. I always intended to keep the car so the upside was I got it for less as their salvage valuation was 22% of their offer - presumably that's what they would get from CoPart.
So expect to have to fight to get a sensible valuation, and good luck.
The only damage was a couple of gouges and 2 very faint cracks in the rear bumper cover available from BMW for about £650 in primer. But the repairer recommended by the insurer of the car that hit me managed to pad out their estimate to over £2000!
The insurer made it a Cat N before even telling me and made a very low offer which I disputed and I sent them several adverts for similar cars, but they were all M-Sport models as I couldn't find another SE like mine. I got a small increase but after that they wouldn't budge. I always intended to keep the car so the upside was I got it for less as their salvage valuation was 22% of their offer - presumably that's what they would get from CoPart.
So expect to have to fight to get a sensible valuation, and good luck.
For those who don't need to read this look away as it is a long one for which I will apologise, but for the OP, take heed.
I was subject to exactly this accident just over a year ago, you will have a fight on your hands but you need to be well prepared & willing to put up a fight.
I was up against Admiral, which is never a good start, and after telling my own ins. co. they said just to deal with the other company unless I had issues.
In the first instance they told me to get quotes for repair, which I couldn't even get a quote for over 2 weeks, so when I got a call from them & said that the car was also pushed into the next one down the road they said it is very rare that a front & rear won't be written off.
I had a look behind both bumper covers & realised that there was damage underneath so agreed to the car being a write off and then the problems started.
They said I could get a hire car replacement but that if I didn't need one the (maximum) £400 for that would be added to the settlement, we have another car, and I was off work for another 3 weeks, so decided to go this way.
They asked for pictures & replacement costs via a specific email address, so I took them found some similar cars to back up the claim of £5500 I was asking for and sent them off.
3 days later I had still heard nothing so spent the next 3 days trying every email address & phone number I could find and even raised a complaint via their website, but still nothing.
Then randomly on the next day the person I had spoken to & asked for the info phoned me & asked why I was delaying? Obviously I said I wasn't delaying & had actually done exactly what she asked for, so she said she will get back to me later that day.
By this time I was already looking for a replacement & went for a couple of test drives on a different car as what I previously had was a very rare spec (although not rare as in valuable) when I had a call back to say that they had agreed the write off and the pick up for my car was happening the next day & I needed to remove my personal plate, which I did.
On the way to seeing another car we stopped off for my wife to get some stuff from asda & while I was waiting inn the car they phoned back to agree a settlement.
She initially said (after some pre-amble) that they were willing to offer £2600, which I obviously declined in the strongest possible terms.
I then told her what to look for in autotrader & she said she had found one for £2850, and I told her to read the ad to me.
Wrong model, wrong age, wrong engine, wrong spec!
I reiterated that the closest ones in spec that I had found (not identical) were all £5500 to £5800 and that as I was the innocent third party who was legally parked on the side of the road before their clint decided to use my car instead of his brakes that I wanted to be in the same position as beforehand.
She swiftly upped the offer to a random £3800.
I then asked her where this valuation came from, to which she said "Glass's Guide" so I then asked her what the word "guide" meant and did it mean that it was a complete pricing quotation device for all exact cars or just a guide to aid valuation? Did it list my precise spec & did it give a price for my car? Which obviously it didn't.
I repeated the above about my personal valuation & insisted that I would not settle for under £5500 and was willing to enlist the Insurance Ombudsman and my own insurance company & legal assistance if needed to do so.
She then upped the offer to £4850 & added the £400 mentioned above for a hire car, then £250 for allowing just them to deal rather than accident management/my ins.co. etc £80 for transferring my personal plate which came to £5580 and I accepted.
This all took about 30 min on the phone & whilst I was VERY firm & insistant & would not be talked over no matter how many times she tried I never lost my cool & never used any obtuse language.
This is the only way to deal with them, you need to be FULLY armed & prepared to do battle, because it WILL happen.
ETA. I forgot to say that just over a week after the payout, I got an letter from Admiral saying that the complaint I raised had been found in my favour and here is a £100 cheque to compensate you, which was a nice little bonus.
I was subject to exactly this accident just over a year ago, you will have a fight on your hands but you need to be well prepared & willing to put up a fight.
I was up against Admiral, which is never a good start, and after telling my own ins. co. they said just to deal with the other company unless I had issues.
In the first instance they told me to get quotes for repair, which I couldn't even get a quote for over 2 weeks, so when I got a call from them & said that the car was also pushed into the next one down the road they said it is very rare that a front & rear won't be written off.
I had a look behind both bumper covers & realised that there was damage underneath so agreed to the car being a write off and then the problems started.
They said I could get a hire car replacement but that if I didn't need one the (maximum) £400 for that would be added to the settlement, we have another car, and I was off work for another 3 weeks, so decided to go this way.
They asked for pictures & replacement costs via a specific email address, so I took them found some similar cars to back up the claim of £5500 I was asking for and sent them off.
3 days later I had still heard nothing so spent the next 3 days trying every email address & phone number I could find and even raised a complaint via their website, but still nothing.
Then randomly on the next day the person I had spoken to & asked for the info phoned me & asked why I was delaying? Obviously I said I wasn't delaying & had actually done exactly what she asked for, so she said she will get back to me later that day.
By this time I was already looking for a replacement & went for a couple of test drives on a different car as what I previously had was a very rare spec (although not rare as in valuable) when I had a call back to say that they had agreed the write off and the pick up for my car was happening the next day & I needed to remove my personal plate, which I did.
On the way to seeing another car we stopped off for my wife to get some stuff from asda & while I was waiting inn the car they phoned back to agree a settlement.
She initially said (after some pre-amble) that they were willing to offer £2600, which I obviously declined in the strongest possible terms.
I then told her what to look for in autotrader & she said she had found one for £2850, and I told her to read the ad to me.
Wrong model, wrong age, wrong engine, wrong spec!
I reiterated that the closest ones in spec that I had found (not identical) were all £5500 to £5800 and that as I was the innocent third party who was legally parked on the side of the road before their clint decided to use my car instead of his brakes that I wanted to be in the same position as beforehand.
She swiftly upped the offer to a random £3800.
I then asked her where this valuation came from, to which she said "Glass's Guide" so I then asked her what the word "guide" meant and did it mean that it was a complete pricing quotation device for all exact cars or just a guide to aid valuation? Did it list my precise spec & did it give a price for my car? Which obviously it didn't.
I repeated the above about my personal valuation & insisted that I would not settle for under £5500 and was willing to enlist the Insurance Ombudsman and my own insurance company & legal assistance if needed to do so.
She then upped the offer to £4850 & added the £400 mentioned above for a hire car, then £250 for allowing just them to deal rather than accident management/my ins.co. etc £80 for transferring my personal plate which came to £5580 and I accepted.
This all took about 30 min on the phone & whilst I was VERY firm & insistant & would not be talked over no matter how many times she tried I never lost my cool & never used any obtuse language.
This is the only way to deal with them, you need to be FULLY armed & prepared to do battle, because it WILL happen.
ETA. I forgot to say that just over a week after the payout, I got an letter from Admiral saying that the complaint I raised had been found in my favour and here is a £100 cheque to compensate you, which was a nice little bonus.
Edited by E-bmw on Sunday 31st December 11:36
E-bmw said:
For those who don't need to read this look away as it is a long one for which I will apologise, but for the OP, take heed.
I was subject to exactly this accident just over a year ago, you will have a fight on your hands but you need to be well prepared & willing to put up a fight.
I was up against Admiral, which is never a good start, and after telling my own ins. co. they said just to deal with the other company unless I had issues.
In the first instance they told me to get quotes for repair, which I couldn't even get a quote for over 2 weeks, so when I got a call from them & said that the car was also pushed into the next one down the road they said it is very rare that a front & rear won't be written off.
I had a look behind both bumper covers & realised that there was damage underneath so agreed to the car being a write off and then the problems started.
They said I could get a hire car replacement but that if I didn't need one the (maximum) £400 for that would be added to the settlement, we have another car, and I was off work for another 3 weeks, so decided to go this way.
They asked for pictures & replacement costs via a specific email address, so I took them found some similar cars to back up the claim of £5500 I was asking for and sent them off.
3 days later I had still heard nothing so spent the next 3 days trying every email address & phone number I could find and even raised a complaint via their website, but still nothing.
Then randomly on the next day the person I had spoken to & asked for the info phoned me & asked why I was delaying? Obviously I said I wasn't delaying & had actually done exactly what she asked for, so she said she will get back to me later that day.
By this time I was already looking for a replacement & went for a couple of test drives on a different car as what I previously had was a very rare spec (although not rare as in valuable) when I had a call back to say that they had agreed the write off and the pick up for my car was happening the next day & I needed to remove my personal plate, which I did.
On the way to seeing another car we stopped off for my wife to get some stuff from asda & while I was waiting inn the car they phoned back to agree a settlement.
She initially said (after some pre-amble) that they were willing to offer £2600, which I obviously declined in the strongest possible terms.
I then told her what to look for in autotrader & she said she had found one for £2850, and I told her to read the ad to me.
Wrong model, wrong age, wrong engine, wrong spec!
I reiterated that the closest ones in spec that I had found (not identical) were all £5500 to £5800 and that as I was the innocent third party who was legally parked on the side of the road before their clint decided to use my car instead of his brakes that I wanted to be in the same position as beforehand.
She swiftly upped the offer to a random £3800.
I then asked her where this valuation came from, to which she said "Glass's Guide" so I then asked her what the word "guide" meant and did it mean that it was a complete pricing quotation device for all exact cars or just a guide to aid valuation? Did it list my precise spec & did it give a price for my car? Which obviously it didn't.
I repeated the above about my personal valuation & insisted that I would not settle for under £5500 and was willing to enlist the Insurance Ombudsman and my own insurance company & legal assistance if needed to do so.
She then upped the offer to £4850 & added the £400 mentioned above for a hire car, then £250 for allowing just them to deal rather than accident management/my ins.co. etc £80 for transferring my personal plate which came to £5580 and I accepted.
This all took about 30 min on the phone & whilst I was VERY firm & insistant & would not be talked over no matter how many times she tried I never lost my cool & never used any obtuse language.
This is the only way to deal with them, you need to be FULLY armed & prepared to do battle, because it WILL happen.
ETA. I forgot to say that just over a week after the payout, I got an letter from Admiral saying that the complaint I raised had been found in my favour and here is a £100 cheque to compensate you, which was a nice little bonus.
You actually did quite well there. A friend had his immaculate E46 coupe written off by flood damage. The 'insurer' in question left the car by the side of the road for 3 weeks, by which point it had been vandalised so badly there was no chance of buying it back - it was possible that the engine wasn't toast as he hit the water at very low speed coming round a blind single track corner. He found out that the car had been left as the police showed up at his house on a Sunday morning to ask why it had been abandoned.I was subject to exactly this accident just over a year ago, you will have a fight on your hands but you need to be well prepared & willing to put up a fight.
I was up against Admiral, which is never a good start, and after telling my own ins. co. they said just to deal with the other company unless I had issues.
In the first instance they told me to get quotes for repair, which I couldn't even get a quote for over 2 weeks, so when I got a call from them & said that the car was also pushed into the next one down the road they said it is very rare that a front & rear won't be written off.
I had a look behind both bumper covers & realised that there was damage underneath so agreed to the car being a write off and then the problems started.
They said I could get a hire car replacement but that if I didn't need one the (maximum) £400 for that would be added to the settlement, we have another car, and I was off work for another 3 weeks, so decided to go this way.
They asked for pictures & replacement costs via a specific email address, so I took them found some similar cars to back up the claim of £5500 I was asking for and sent them off.
3 days later I had still heard nothing so spent the next 3 days trying every email address & phone number I could find and even raised a complaint via their website, but still nothing.
Then randomly on the next day the person I had spoken to & asked for the info phoned me & asked why I was delaying? Obviously I said I wasn't delaying & had actually done exactly what she asked for, so she said she will get back to me later that day.
By this time I was already looking for a replacement & went for a couple of test drives on a different car as what I previously had was a very rare spec (although not rare as in valuable) when I had a call back to say that they had agreed the write off and the pick up for my car was happening the next day & I needed to remove my personal plate, which I did.
On the way to seeing another car we stopped off for my wife to get some stuff from asda & while I was waiting inn the car they phoned back to agree a settlement.
She initially said (after some pre-amble) that they were willing to offer £2600, which I obviously declined in the strongest possible terms.
I then told her what to look for in autotrader & she said she had found one for £2850, and I told her to read the ad to me.
Wrong model, wrong age, wrong engine, wrong spec!
I reiterated that the closest ones in spec that I had found (not identical) were all £5500 to £5800 and that as I was the innocent third party who was legally parked on the side of the road before their clint decided to use my car instead of his brakes that I wanted to be in the same position as beforehand.
She swiftly upped the offer to a random £3800.
I then asked her where this valuation came from, to which she said "Glass's Guide" so I then asked her what the word "guide" meant and did it mean that it was a complete pricing quotation device for all exact cars or just a guide to aid valuation? Did it list my precise spec & did it give a price for my car? Which obviously it didn't.
I repeated the above about my personal valuation & insisted that I would not settle for under £5500 and was willing to enlist the Insurance Ombudsman and my own insurance company & legal assistance if needed to do so.
She then upped the offer to £4850 & added the £400 mentioned above for a hire car, then £250 for allowing just them to deal rather than accident management/my ins.co. etc £80 for transferring my personal plate which came to £5580 and I accepted.
This all took about 30 min on the phone & whilst I was VERY firm & insistant & would not be talked over no matter how many times she tried I never lost my cool & never used any obtuse language.
This is the only way to deal with them, you need to be FULLY armed & prepared to do battle, because it WILL happen.
ETA. I forgot to say that just over a week after the payout, I got an letter from Admiral saying that the complaint I raised had been found in my favour and here is a £100 cheque to compensate you, which was a nice little bonus.
Edited by E-bmw on Sunday 31st December 11:36
Fast forward to the 'offer' process and they wouldn't go more than £500 above their desultory initial offer, "...because Glass's guide, sir.", which didn't list a price because it was too old. "...oh, because we can see 3 or 4 at the price we've offered, sir". All at least double the mileage, some saloons, and in various states of disrepair.
Ombudsman procedure was invoked and found in their favour, at about £1.5k less than it would take to replace with similar. Unbelievable. He now won't go near E46's as the memories are too traumatic.
Edited by VSKeith on Sunday 31st December 17:22
When you say "hit while parked", do you mean a car park bump or someone hammering into at at 40 while it's parked on the street? In this day and age the former might be enough to trigger a write off, but may also amount to so little damage that it's easier to sort it yourself and suck up the cost to avoid the misery of dealing with insurance or the hit on your premiums.
VSKeith said:
E-bmw said:
For those who don't need to read this look away as it is a long one for which I will apologise, but for the OP, take heed.
I was subject to exactly this accident just over a year ago, you will have a fight on your hands but you need to be well prepared & willing to put up a fight.
I was up against Admiral, which is never a good start, and after telling my own ins. co. they said just to deal with the other company unless I had issues.
In the first instance they told me to get quotes for repair, which I couldn't even get a quote for over 2 weeks, so when I got a call from them & said that the car was also pushed into the next one down the road they said it is very rare that a front & rear won't be written off.
I had a look behind both bumper covers & realised that there was damage underneath so agreed to the car being a write off and then the problems started.
They said I could get a hire car replacement but that if I didn't need one the (maximum) £400 for that would be added to the settlement, we have another car, and I was off work for another 3 weeks, so decided to go this way.
They asked for pictures & replacement costs via a specific email address, so I took them found some similar cars to back up the claim of £5500 I was asking for and sent them off.
3 days later I had still heard nothing so spent the next 3 days trying every email address & phone number I could find and even raised a complaint via their website, but still nothing.
Then randomly on the next day the person I had spoken to & asked for the info phoned me & asked why I was delaying? Obviously I said I wasn't delaying & had actually done exactly what she asked for, so she said she will get back to me later that day.
By this time I was already looking for a replacement & went for a couple of test drives on a different car as what I previously had was a very rare spec (although not rare as in valuable) when I had a call back to say that they had agreed the write off and the pick up for my car was happening the next day & I needed to remove my personal plate, which I did.
On the way to seeing another car we stopped off for my wife to get some stuff from asda & while I was waiting inn the car they phoned back to agree a settlement.
She initially said (after some pre-amble) that they were willing to offer £2600, which I obviously declined in the strongest possible terms.
I then told her what to look for in autotrader & she said she had found one for £2850, and I told her to read the ad to me.
Wrong model, wrong age, wrong engine, wrong spec!
I reiterated that the closest ones in spec that I had found (not identical) were all £5500 to £5800 and that as I was the innocent third party who was legally parked on the side of the road before their clint decided to use my car instead of his brakes that I wanted to be in the same position as beforehand.
She swiftly upped the offer to a random £3800.
I then asked her where this valuation came from, to which she said "Glass's Guide" so I then asked her what the word "guide" meant and did it mean that it was a complete pricing quotation device for all exact cars or just a guide to aid valuation? Did it list my precise spec & did it give a price for my car? Which obviously it didn't.
I repeated the above about my personal valuation & insisted that I would not settle for under £5500 and was willing to enlist the Insurance Ombudsman and my own insurance company & legal assistance if needed to do so.
She then upped the offer to £4850 & added the £400 mentioned above for a hire car, then £250 for allowing just them to deal rather than accident management/my ins.co. etc £80 for transferring my personal plate which came to £5580 and I accepted.
This all took about 30 min on the phone & whilst I was VERY firm & insistant & would not be talked over no matter how many times she tried I never lost my cool & never used any obtuse language.
This is the only way to deal with them, you need to be FULLY armed & prepared to do battle, because it WILL happen.
ETA. I forgot to say that just over a week after the payout, I got an letter from Admiral saying that the complaint I raised had been found in my favour and here is a £100 cheque to compensate you, which was a nice little bonus.
You actually did quite well there. I was subject to exactly this accident just over a year ago, you will have a fight on your hands but you need to be well prepared & willing to put up a fight.
I was up against Admiral, which is never a good start, and after telling my own ins. co. they said just to deal with the other company unless I had issues.
In the first instance they told me to get quotes for repair, which I couldn't even get a quote for over 2 weeks, so when I got a call from them & said that the car was also pushed into the next one down the road they said it is very rare that a front & rear won't be written off.
I had a look behind both bumper covers & realised that there was damage underneath so agreed to the car being a write off and then the problems started.
They said I could get a hire car replacement but that if I didn't need one the (maximum) £400 for that would be added to the settlement, we have another car, and I was off work for another 3 weeks, so decided to go this way.
They asked for pictures & replacement costs via a specific email address, so I took them found some similar cars to back up the claim of £5500 I was asking for and sent them off.
3 days later I had still heard nothing so spent the next 3 days trying every email address & phone number I could find and even raised a complaint via their website, but still nothing.
Then randomly on the next day the person I had spoken to & asked for the info phoned me & asked why I was delaying? Obviously I said I wasn't delaying & had actually done exactly what she asked for, so she said she will get back to me later that day.
By this time I was already looking for a replacement & went for a couple of test drives on a different car as what I previously had was a very rare spec (although not rare as in valuable) when I had a call back to say that they had agreed the write off and the pick up for my car was happening the next day & I needed to remove my personal plate, which I did.
On the way to seeing another car we stopped off for my wife to get some stuff from asda & while I was waiting inn the car they phoned back to agree a settlement.
She initially said (after some pre-amble) that they were willing to offer £2600, which I obviously declined in the strongest possible terms.
I then told her what to look for in autotrader & she said she had found one for £2850, and I told her to read the ad to me.
Wrong model, wrong age, wrong engine, wrong spec!
I reiterated that the closest ones in spec that I had found (not identical) were all £5500 to £5800 and that as I was the innocent third party who was legally parked on the side of the road before their clint decided to use my car instead of his brakes that I wanted to be in the same position as beforehand.
She swiftly upped the offer to a random £3800.
I then asked her where this valuation came from, to which she said "Glass's Guide" so I then asked her what the word "guide" meant and did it mean that it was a complete pricing quotation device for all exact cars or just a guide to aid valuation? Did it list my precise spec & did it give a price for my car? Which obviously it didn't.
I repeated the above about my personal valuation & insisted that I would not settle for under £5500 and was willing to enlist the Insurance Ombudsman and my own insurance company & legal assistance if needed to do so.
She then upped the offer to £4850 & added the £400 mentioned above for a hire car, then £250 for allowing just them to deal rather than accident management/my ins.co. etc £80 for transferring my personal plate which came to £5580 and I accepted.
This all took about 30 min on the phone & whilst I was VERY firm & insistant & would not be talked over no matter how many times she tried I never lost my cool & never used any obtuse language.
This is the only way to deal with them, you need to be FULLY armed & prepared to do battle, because it WILL happen.
ETA. I forgot to say that just over a week after the payout, I got an letter from Admiral saying that the complaint I raised had been found in my favour and here is a £100 cheque to compensate you, which was a nice little bonus.
Edited by E-bmw on Sunday 31st December 11:36
E-bmw said:
For those who don't need to read this look away as it is a long one for which I will apologise, but for the OP, take heed.
I was subject to exactly this accident just over a year ago, you will have a fight on your hands but you need to be well prepared & willing to put up a fight.
I was up against Admiral, which is never a good start, and after telling my own ins. co. they said just to deal with the other company unless I had issues.
In the first instance they told me to get quotes for repair, which I couldn't even get a quote for over 2 weeks, so when I got a call from them & said that the car was also pushed into the next one down the road they said it is very rare that a front & rear won't be written off.
I had a look behind both bumper covers & realised that there was damage underneath so agreed to the car being a write off and then the problems started.
They said I could get a hire car replacement but that if I didn't need one the (maximum) £400 for that would be added to the settlement, we have another car, and I was off work for another 3 weeks, so decided to go this way.
They asked for pictures & replacement costs via a specific email address, so I took them found some similar cars to back up the claim of £5500 I was asking for and sent them off.
3 days later I had still heard nothing so spent the next 3 days trying every email address & phone number I could find and even raised a complaint via their website, but still nothing.
Then randomly on the next day the person I had spoken to & asked for the info phoned me & asked why I was delaying? Obviously I said I wasn't delaying & had actually done exactly what she asked for, so she said she will get back to me later that day.
By this time I was already looking for a replacement & went for a couple of test drives on a different car as what I previously had was a very rare spec (although not rare as in valuable) when I had a call back to say that they had agreed the write off and the pick up for my car was happening the next day & I needed to remove my personal plate, which I did.
On the way to seeing another car we stopped off for my wife to get some stuff from asda & while I was waiting inn the car they phoned back to agree a settlement.
She initially said (after some pre-amble) that they were willing to offer £2600, which I obviously declined in the strongest possible terms.
I then told her what to look for in autotrader & she said she had found one for £2850, and I told her to read the ad to me.
Wrong model, wrong age, wrong engine, wrong spec!
I reiterated that the closest ones in spec that I had found (not identical) were all £5500 to £5800 and that as I was the innocent third party who was legally parked on the side of the road before their clint decided to use my car instead of his brakes that I wanted to be in the same position as beforehand.
She swiftly upped the offer to a random £3800.
I then asked her where this valuation came from, to which she said "Glass's Guide" so I then asked her what the word "guide" meant and did it mean that it was a complete pricing quotation device for all exact cars or just a guide to aid valuation? Did it list my precise spec & did it give a price for my car? Which obviously it didn't.
I repeated the above about my personal valuation & insisted that I would not settle for under £5500 and was willing to enlist the Insurance Ombudsman and my own insurance company & legal assistance if needed to do so.
She then upped the offer to £4850 & added the £400 mentioned above for a hire car, then £250 for allowing just them to deal rather than accident management/my ins.co. etc £80 for transferring my personal plate which came to £5580 and I accepted.
This all took about 30 min on the phone & whilst I was VERY firm & insistant & would not be talked over no matter how many times she tried I never lost my cool & never used any obtuse language.
This is the only way to deal with them, you need to be FULLY armed & prepared to do battle, because it WILL happen.
ETA. I forgot to say that just over a week after the payout, I got an letter from Admiral saying that the complaint I raised had been found in my favour and here is a £100 cheque to compensate you, which was a nice little bonus.
That was her bonus for the year gone and probably scored a "needs improvement" on her end of year review for giving into you I was subject to exactly this accident just over a year ago, you will have a fight on your hands but you need to be well prepared & willing to put up a fight.
I was up against Admiral, which is never a good start, and after telling my own ins. co. they said just to deal with the other company unless I had issues.
In the first instance they told me to get quotes for repair, which I couldn't even get a quote for over 2 weeks, so when I got a call from them & said that the car was also pushed into the next one down the road they said it is very rare that a front & rear won't be written off.
I had a look behind both bumper covers & realised that there was damage underneath so agreed to the car being a write off and then the problems started.
They said I could get a hire car replacement but that if I didn't need one the (maximum) £400 for that would be added to the settlement, we have another car, and I was off work for another 3 weeks, so decided to go this way.
They asked for pictures & replacement costs via a specific email address, so I took them found some similar cars to back up the claim of £5500 I was asking for and sent them off.
3 days later I had still heard nothing so spent the next 3 days trying every email address & phone number I could find and even raised a complaint via their website, but still nothing.
Then randomly on the next day the person I had spoken to & asked for the info phoned me & asked why I was delaying? Obviously I said I wasn't delaying & had actually done exactly what she asked for, so she said she will get back to me later that day.
By this time I was already looking for a replacement & went for a couple of test drives on a different car as what I previously had was a very rare spec (although not rare as in valuable) when I had a call back to say that they had agreed the write off and the pick up for my car was happening the next day & I needed to remove my personal plate, which I did.
On the way to seeing another car we stopped off for my wife to get some stuff from asda & while I was waiting inn the car they phoned back to agree a settlement.
She initially said (after some pre-amble) that they were willing to offer £2600, which I obviously declined in the strongest possible terms.
I then told her what to look for in autotrader & she said she had found one for £2850, and I told her to read the ad to me.
Wrong model, wrong age, wrong engine, wrong spec!
I reiterated that the closest ones in spec that I had found (not identical) were all £5500 to £5800 and that as I was the innocent third party who was legally parked on the side of the road before their clint decided to use my car instead of his brakes that I wanted to be in the same position as beforehand.
She swiftly upped the offer to a random £3800.
I then asked her where this valuation came from, to which she said "Glass's Guide" so I then asked her what the word "guide" meant and did it mean that it was a complete pricing quotation device for all exact cars or just a guide to aid valuation? Did it list my precise spec & did it give a price for my car? Which obviously it didn't.
I repeated the above about my personal valuation & insisted that I would not settle for under £5500 and was willing to enlist the Insurance Ombudsman and my own insurance company & legal assistance if needed to do so.
She then upped the offer to £4850 & added the £400 mentioned above for a hire car, then £250 for allowing just them to deal rather than accident management/my ins.co. etc £80 for transferring my personal plate which came to £5580 and I accepted.
This all took about 30 min on the phone & whilst I was VERY firm & insistant & would not be talked over no matter how many times she tried I never lost my cool & never used any obtuse language.
This is the only way to deal with them, you need to be FULLY armed & prepared to do battle, because it WILL happen.
ETA. I forgot to say that just over a week after the payout, I got an letter from Admiral saying that the complaint I raised had been found in my favour and here is a £100 cheque to compensate you, which was a nice little bonus.
Edited by E-bmw on Sunday 31st December 11:36
. Well done for sticking it out and getting what the vehicle was worth. Did Admiral screw you over come renewal time in order to try and claw some money back / try and get you off their books ?For write-offs, you will invariably get a better service from your own insurer (if the non-fault position is confirmed). Get them to pay out and recover costs from the other party/insurer.
My Mum was recently crashed into and made a claim with her own insurer, accompanied by police report and other parties insurance details. Her car was a write off, she had a week of a hire car before they settled at pretty much bang on market value (and £800 more than she paid for the car 2 years prior when she bought it off my partner).
Why gamble and battle? You have much more influence with your own insurer - and then they will pursue the recovery via their own solicitors.
My Mum was recently crashed into and made a claim with her own insurer, accompanied by police report and other parties insurance details. Her car was a write off, she had a week of a hire car before they settled at pretty much bang on market value (and £800 more than she paid for the car 2 years prior when she bought it off my partner).
Why gamble and battle? You have much more influence with your own insurer - and then they will pursue the recovery via their own solicitors.
NikBartlett said:
That was her bonus for the year gone and probably scored a "needs improvement" on her end of year review for giving into you . Well done for sticking it out and getting what the vehicle was worth. Did Admiral screw you over come renewal time in order to try and claw some money back / try and get you off their books ?
Admiral was their insurer not mine. . Well done for sticking it out and getting what the vehicle was worth. Did Admiral screw you over come renewal time in order to try and claw some money back / try and get you off their books ?Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff