Third party repair on rear ended car
Discussion
Hello,
I wanted to get some insight on this situation. I will keep it as brief as I can to best get the facts across.
Car was rear ended. Third party admitted liability and their insurer has accepted fault and accepted my requested to have the car estimated at my choice of repairer.
a) Car has been valued at £10500 by an independent appointed valuation agent paid for by the third party insurer.
b) Bodyshop has provided a quotation of £7000 to repair the car.
c) The third parties insurer is refusing this quote and insisting on writing off. They say this is because the repair costs are higher than their margins based on their book value of the car and what the cost of the repair is in relation to the age of the car which is now 10 years old.
With point C, they said they are also accumulating the total project cost which includes paying for the independent valuation firm, the costs for the hire car to date and going forward to the point of a settlement but from what I now understand, hire car costs shouldn't factor into this anyway?
I'm looking to see if what they're telling me is reasonable and if I have grounds to contest their insistence on writing the car off.
Many thanks.
I wanted to get some insight on this situation. I will keep it as brief as I can to best get the facts across.
Car was rear ended. Third party admitted liability and their insurer has accepted fault and accepted my requested to have the car estimated at my choice of repairer.
a) Car has been valued at £10500 by an independent appointed valuation agent paid for by the third party insurer.
b) Bodyshop has provided a quotation of £7000 to repair the car.
c) The third parties insurer is refusing this quote and insisting on writing off. They say this is because the repair costs are higher than their margins based on their book value of the car and what the cost of the repair is in relation to the age of the car which is now 10 years old.
With point C, they said they are also accumulating the total project cost which includes paying for the independent valuation firm, the costs for the hire car to date and going forward to the point of a settlement but from what I now understand, hire car costs shouldn't factor into this anyway?
I'm looking to see if what they're telling me is reasonable and if I have grounds to contest their insistence on writing the car off.
Many thanks.
LoonR1 said:
Totally reasonable, you have a duty to mitigate your losses and racking up a silly hire bill isn't part of that. The insurer is well within their rights to write your car off.
Would this be different if the repair quote includes the provision of a courtesy vehicle? If it does then there is no future silly hire car bill surely. Hire car costs to date are surely sunk costs and payable irrespective of whether it's written off or not.So if that was the case, does the request to repair the car become reasonable?
Im in the opposite situation as the op.
The front of my Elise was damaged with the other party being at fault. Car worth around £12k and the repairs are estimated to be around £7.5k. I want it wrote off as im planning to move out soon and the car is basically half my house deposit. Repairs are looking at taking a while but the insurers are insisting that it will be repaired
.
The front of my Elise was damaged with the other party being at fault. Car worth around £12k and the repairs are estimated to be around £7.5k. I want it wrote off as im planning to move out soon and the car is basically half my house deposit. Repairs are looking at taking a while but the insurers are insisting that it will be repaired
. Fox- said:
Would this be different if the repair quote includes the provision of a courtesy vehicle? If it does then there is no future silly hire car bill surely. Hire car costs to date are surely sunk costs and payable irrespective of whether it's written off or not.
So if that was the case, does the request to repair the car become reasonable?
It's sitting at as good as 70% repair bill vs pre accident value as it stands with or without hire. That is the threshold for writing a vehicle off. So if that was the case, does the request to repair the car become reasonable?
The hire is just compounding it, although I could do with clarity as to whether it's a credit hire car or not.
WonkeyDonkey said:
Im in the opposite situation as the op.
The front of my Elise was damaged with the other party being at fault. Car worth around £12k and the repairs are estimated to be around £7.5k. I want it wrote off as im planning to move out soon and the car is basically half my house deposit. Repairs are looking at taking a while but the insurers are insisting that it will be repaired.
No chance. The front of my Elise was damaged with the other party being at fault. Car worth around £12k and the repairs are estimated to be around £7.5k. I want it wrote off as im planning to move out soon and the car is basically half my house deposit. Repairs are looking at taking a while but the insurers are insisting that it will be repaired
. velocefica said:
You'll find that a lot of the time the appointed body shop and crash management company are in the same league of inflating the costs of everything.
Have you read the thread? The OP is dealing directly with the TP insurer, so no accident management company. All repairers inflate the cost of repair, since it was legitimised via the Coles ruling.
LoonR1 said:
WonkeyDonkey said:
Im in the opposite situation as the op.
The front of my Elise was damaged with the other party being at fault. Car worth around £12k and the repairs are estimated to be around £7.5k. I want it wrote off as im planning to move out soon and the car is basically half my house deposit. Repairs are looking at taking a while but the insurers are insisting that it will be repaired.
No chance. The front of my Elise was damaged with the other party being at fault. Car worth around £12k and the repairs are estimated to be around £7.5k. I want it wrote off as im planning to move out soon and the car is basically half my house deposit. Repairs are looking at taking a while but the insurers are insisting that it will be repaired
. LoonR1 said:
Ok, well the cost will be peanuts then for that. Sadly you can't insist on them repairing, any more than the other guy can insist on his being written off.
Why can you not insist on a repair?For example on a car that has sentimental value? Surely it's cheaper to pay £7k to get it repaired than £11k to write it off? (example figures as clearly some insurers' thresholds vary)
Jim1556 said:
Why can you not insist on a repair?
For example on a car that has sentimental value? Surely it's cheaper to pay £7k to get it repaired than £11k to write it off? (example figures as clearly some insurers' thresholds vary)
Because you can't force an insurer to do anything. The principle is one of mitigation and you must take the route that costs the least under that principle (although it's now compromised by Coles). For example on a car that has sentimental value? Surely it's cheaper to pay £7k to get it repaired than £11k to write it off? (example figures as clearly some insurers' thresholds vary)
An insurer writes off a car when repair costs exceed 70% of the pre accident value as a general rule. The balance is made up from salvage returns.
In the above case on this post the 70% hasn't been breached, but if the insurer could get more than £4K in salvage then it would write it off.
Jim1556 said:
Thanks Loon! 
Just out of interest, do you get first refusal on buying the car back from the insurer if they've written it off, or can they just say 'tough titty' and sell it on?
No hard and fast rule. Just out of interest, do you get first refusal on buying the car back from the insurer if they've written it off, or can they just say 'tough titty' and sell it on?
Most insurers will let you buy it back, but the price will vary by insurer. However, in the OP's case he is using the TP insurer and they will always let you keep salvage. Interesting AMCs tend to be less keen for that to happen as they like to use it as a tool to drag hire out even more without letting you know that the option is there.
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