Options with insurance and no fault claim
Discussion
So the other night I was parked out a friend's house when an old woman with advanced dementia and driving with a cat on her lap swerved into my vehicle and shoved the front passenger side wheel back in the wheelarch.
family member spoke to me and said I was best contacting them as the old dear didn't know what day it was!
They have sinced claimed full responsibility.
my car is an 06 Volvo v50 and although nothing special, it has a great deal of sentimentality to me.
I'm guessing the insurance company will want to write it off. I would happily buy it back if this was the case but can I press to have it repaired under the insurance as the accident wasn't my fault?
Secondly can I request the repair shop report from my insurance so I can get a quote for repairs at a local garage.
It feels like I am going to be worse of both sentimentally and financially and this feel unfair given the nature of the accident.
I've read a little about tort law but I've been driving 22 years and have zero experience of making a claim.
Any help would be immensely appreciated
family member spoke to me and said I was best contacting them as the old dear didn't know what day it was!
They have sinced claimed full responsibility.
my car is an 06 Volvo v50 and although nothing special, it has a great deal of sentimentality to me.
I'm guessing the insurance company will want to write it off. I would happily buy it back if this was the case but can I press to have it repaired under the insurance as the accident wasn't my fault?
Secondly can I request the repair shop report from my insurance so I can get a quote for repairs at a local garage.
It feels like I am going to be worse of both sentimentally and financially and this feel unfair given the nature of the accident.
I've read a little about tort law but I've been driving 22 years and have zero experience of making a claim.
Any help would be immensely appreciated
The insurance company will have a view of the car's market value and won't want to pay out more than that.
You might convince them to increase their estimate of the car's value, but they won't pay more than that to have it fixed.
If the estimated repair costs are more than say 75% of the value, they would probably prefer to write it off, as it's a quicker solution and less risk of a cost over-run.
You can probably negotiate with them, agree a settlement where you keep the remains and they pay you its former value less scrap value or similar, but then you carry the risk of it costing more to fix than the estimates. You will also end up with a car that will 'never be the same again' in various ways. It will have flaws from being mended and compromised resale value.
My advice would be to get as much cash as possible out of them, and move on. It wasn't going to last forever anyway, look back fondly if you must and be pleased you've avoided the end of its life where loads of things start going wrong. It could have been worse, nobody died etc.
You might get a bit more out of them to settle quickly instead of knobbing about with hire cars while it's mended.
You might convince them to increase their estimate of the car's value, but they won't pay more than that to have it fixed.
If the estimated repair costs are more than say 75% of the value, they would probably prefer to write it off, as it's a quicker solution and less risk of a cost over-run.
You can probably negotiate with them, agree a settlement where you keep the remains and they pay you its former value less scrap value or similar, but then you carry the risk of it costing more to fix than the estimates. You will also end up with a car that will 'never be the same again' in various ways. It will have flaws from being mended and compromised resale value.
My advice would be to get as much cash as possible out of them, and move on. It wasn't going to last forever anyway, look back fondly if you must and be pleased you've avoided the end of its life where loads of things start going wrong. It could have been worse, nobody died etc.
You might get a bit more out of them to settle quickly instead of knobbing about with hire cars while it's mended.
The insurance company will have a view of the car's market value and won't want to pay out more than that.
You might convince them to increase their estimate of the car's value, but they won't pay more than that to have it fixed.
If the estimated repair costs are more than say 75% of the value, they would probably prefer to write it off, as it's a quicker solution and less risk of a cost over-run.
You can probably negotiate with them, agree a settlement where you keep the remains and they pay you its former value less scrap value or similar, but then you carry the risk of it costing more to fix than the estimates. You will also end up with a car that will 'never be the same again' in various ways. It will have flaws from being mended and compromised resale value.
My advice would be to get as much cash as possible out of them, and move on. It wasn't going to last forever anyway, look back fondly if you must and be pleased you've avoided the end of its life where loads of things start going wrong. It could have been worse, nobody died etc.
You might get a bit more out of them to settle quickly instead of knobbing about with hire cars while it's mended.
You might convince them to increase their estimate of the car's value, but they won't pay more than that to have it fixed.
If the estimated repair costs are more than say 75% of the value, they would probably prefer to write it off, as it's a quicker solution and less risk of a cost over-run.
You can probably negotiate with them, agree a settlement where you keep the remains and they pay you its former value less scrap value or similar, but then you carry the risk of it costing more to fix than the estimates. You will also end up with a car that will 'never be the same again' in various ways. It will have flaws from being mended and compromised resale value.
My advice would be to get as much cash as possible out of them, and move on. It wasn't going to last forever anyway, look back fondly if you must and be pleased you've avoided the end of its life where loads of things start going wrong. It could have been worse, nobody died etc.
You might get a bit more out of them to settle quickly instead of knobbing about with hire cars while it's mended.
allegro said:
I'm guessing the insurance company will want to write it off. I would happily buy it back if this was the case but can I press to have it repaired under the insurance as the accident wasn't my fault?
No, you can't. As said, they will pay to repair it, or pay the market value, whichever is the lower. Sentimental value is a non monetary value, is unquantifiable and is therefore uninsurable. And to be honest, it's largely made up anyway.
A: This is my late mother's ring. It's only worth a couple of hundred quid but it has enormous sentimental value. I could never part with it.
B: I'll give you £20K.
A: Done!!
I understand the workings of insurance claims and why it is like it is but in instances like this are will not be back where you started.
Similar happened to me, at the time I had an old but high spec Zafira. It was electric twin sunroofs and all sorts of spec but cloth interior as I hate leather in a car so it had taken me ages to find this car when I bought it many years prior and had spared no expense on maintenance in the years of ownership. It was parked in daylight at the side of a residential road and a neighbour reversed out their driveway hitting the OSF corner causing a lot of damage for the relatively minor speed because of the point where the contact was made. They obviously wanted to go through insurance but I knew I'd get relatively nothing back for my car and manged to get them to pay for the cost of repairs. The husband was not happy but I explained the money I would receive would not put me back to where I was due to the car I had and eventually he agreed despite much displeasure on his part.
So I agree how you feel, insurance is not always fair to the innocent party in these circumstances and does not put you back to where you were
Similar happened to me, at the time I had an old but high spec Zafira. It was electric twin sunroofs and all sorts of spec but cloth interior as I hate leather in a car so it had taken me ages to find this car when I bought it many years prior and had spared no expense on maintenance in the years of ownership. It was parked in daylight at the side of a residential road and a neighbour reversed out their driveway hitting the OSF corner causing a lot of damage for the relatively minor speed because of the point where the contact was made. They obviously wanted to go through insurance but I knew I'd get relatively nothing back for my car and manged to get them to pay for the cost of repairs. The husband was not happy but I explained the money I would receive would not put me back to where I was due to the car I had and eventually he agreed despite much displeasure on his part.
So I agree how you feel, insurance is not always fair to the innocent party in these circumstances and does not put you back to where you were
solo2 said:
I understand the workings of insurance claims and why it is like it is but in instances like this are will not be back where you started.
Similar happened to me, at the time I had an old but high spec Zafira. It was electric twin sunroofs and all sorts of spec but cloth interior as I hate leather in a car so it had taken me ages to find this car when I bought it many years prior and had spared no expense on maintenance in the years of ownership. It was parked in daylight at the side of a residential road and a neighbour reversed out their driveway hitting the OSF corner causing a lot of damage for the relatively minor speed because of the point where the contact was made. They obviously wanted to go through insurance but I knew I'd get relatively nothing back for my car and manged to get them to pay for the cost of repairs. The husband was not happy but I explained the money I would receive would not put me back to where I was due to the car I had and eventually he agreed despite much displeasure on his part.
So I agree how you feel, insurance is not always fair to the innocent party in these circumstances and does not put you back to where you were
Insurance companies don't have any magic powers to undo accidents.Similar happened to me, at the time I had an old but high spec Zafira. It was electric twin sunroofs and all sorts of spec but cloth interior as I hate leather in a car so it had taken me ages to find this car when I bought it many years prior and had spared no expense on maintenance in the years of ownership. It was parked in daylight at the side of a residential road and a neighbour reversed out their driveway hitting the OSF corner causing a lot of damage for the relatively minor speed because of the point where the contact was made. They obviously wanted to go through insurance but I knew I'd get relatively nothing back for my car and manged to get them to pay for the cost of repairs. The husband was not happy but I explained the money I would receive would not put me back to where I was due to the car I had and eventually he agreed despite much displeasure on his part.
So I agree how you feel, insurance is not always fair to the innocent party in these circumstances and does not put you back to where you were
They can never put people back exactly where they were.
If people want insurance to cover uneconomic repairs to ancient cheap bangers, it's going to cost a lot more.
If you have something which is of great value to you, you should insure it yourself with an agreed value.
And maybe keep it out of the way of others.
Coercing your neighbour to not go through insurance is dodgy in my view.
On a similar note, if you have a car that's of great sentimental value and it's worth £1,000, and it sustains £1,000 worth of damage, and the insurer's threshold is 75%, and as such the insurer wants to write it off, could you ask them to pay you £750 to avoid it being written off and you then put that towards getting it repaired yourself?
MitchT said:
On a similar note, if you have a car that's of great sentimental value and it's worth £1,000, and it sustains £1,000 worth of damage, and the insurer's threshold is 75%, and as such the insurer wants to write it off, could you ask them to pay you £750 to avoid it being written off and you then put that towards getting it repaired yourself?
Cash in lieu of repairs, popular with some insurers as its a quick low cost solution that sorts it out fast.Not sure about write of status change though, that another person will have to comment on.
OP: sorry to hear this has happened. I get how you feel - when my mum died I kind if "inherited" her Micra which my wife went on to use for many years afterwards. When we finally traded it in for her current Fiesta I realised how much sentimental value it had. If only that was matched by its fiscal value...
If I was you I'd start looking for comparable cars on AutoTrader / eBay etc, to build up an evidence base for when the insurance company inevitably bids you in the balls.
If I was you I'd start looking for comparable cars on AutoTrader / eBay etc, to build up an evidence base for when the insurance company inevitably bids you in the balls.
Thanks for the input guys. I get that insurance companies are only concerned about their bottom line and all thatq but it just seems so damn unfair.
Once I have bought a new car (even if I amazingly found the same car at the same price) I still need to insure it so however I look at it I'm financially worse off.
I've thought about contacting the daughter of the old dear and suggesting I may look into a civil claim for my losses but It feels a bit a*** holey.
at the same time I'm fuming but are they likely to offer to settle my financial costs without involving solicitors and all that comes with it?
I fear this is going to end up being one of those life kicks you in the nuts moments :/
Once I have bought a new car (even if I amazingly found the same car at the same price) I still need to insure it so however I look at it I'm financially worse off.
I've thought about contacting the daughter of the old dear and suggesting I may look into a civil claim for my losses but It feels a bit a*** holey.
at the same time I'm fuming but are they likely to offer to settle my financial costs without involving solicitors and all that comes with it?
I fear this is going to end up being one of those life kicks you in the nuts moments :/
allegro said:
Thanks for the input guys. I get that insurance companies are only concerned about their bottom line and all thatq but it just seems so damn unfair.
Once I have bought a new car (even if I amazingly found the same car at the same price) I still need to insure it so however I look at it I'm financially worse off.
I've thought about contacting the daughter of the old dear and suggesting I may look into a civil claim for my losses but It feels a bit a*** holey.
at the same time I'm fuming but are they likely to offer to settle my financial costs without involving solicitors and all that comes with it?
I fear this is going to end up being one of those life kicks you in the nuts moments :/
I get your frustration but contacting the ladies daughter and threatening a civil claim is very a*** holey and honestly if you came at me with that it would not be well received at all, at the very least I would simply cut all communication and leave you with the insurers, but being honest that's what I'd do in any case, if you file a civil claim that would simply get passed to the insurer too so IMO you would be wasting your time starting with it. Once I have bought a new car (even if I amazingly found the same car at the same price) I still need to insure it so however I look at it I'm financially worse off.
I've thought about contacting the daughter of the old dear and suggesting I may look into a civil claim for my losses but It feels a bit a*** holey.
at the same time I'm fuming but are they likely to offer to settle my financial costs without involving solicitors and all that comes with it?
I fear this is going to end up being one of those life kicks you in the nuts moments :/
just claim DIRECTLY off the other driver's insurance and notify your own. If the car is fixable buy it back from the insurer and fix it. I did this with an old Subaru Forester. It had no effect on my premiums after that.
Civil claim!! What are you on?
What should happen though is that the police are notified as this dangerous driver needs to have their licence revoked on medical grounds if the story is as you've said.
Civil claim!! What are you on?
What should happen though is that the police are notified as this dangerous driver needs to have their licence revoked on medical grounds if the story is as you've said.
loskie said:
just claim DIRECTLY off the other driver's insurance and notify your own. If the car is fixable buy it back from the insurer and fix it. I did this with an old Subaru Forester. It had no effect on my premiums after that.
This. Claim direct from the third party insurers. Tell them you were considering involving an accident management company but thought it might be easier to go direct to them.They will likely bend over backwards to let you buy the salvage back as it makes way more sense for them to do that than get into hire car fees etc.
You will never get the “sentimental value” in any way shape or form regardless of what you do, so I’d give up on that right now. Agreed value insurance would be what you needed for that, but it’s too late now and honestly would you really have paid the extra premium?
charltjr said:
Agreed value insurance would be what you needed for that,
Agreed value policies will not cover sentimental value. All you're doing with agreed value is agreeing a market value in advance of a claim, usually on classic cars where the year of make and mileage isn't that relevant and condition is everything. E Type Jags can vary in value by over £100K depending on condition. You don't want to be having that row after it's caught fire. You do it before any claim, when you take out the policy.
solo2 said:
I understand the workings of insurance claims and why it is like it is but in instances like this are will not be back where you started.
Similar happened to me, at the time I had an old but high spec Zafira. It was electric twin sunroofs and all sorts of spec but cloth interior as I hate leather in a car so it had taken me ages to find this car when I bought it many years prior and had spared no expense on maintenance in the years of ownership. It was parked in daylight at the side of a residential road and a neighbour reversed out their driveway hitting the OSF corner causing a lot of damage for the relatively minor speed because of the point where the contact was made. They obviously wanted to go through insurance but I knew I'd get relatively nothing back for my car and manged to get them to pay for the cost of repairs. The husband was not happy but I explained the money I would receive would not put me back to where I was due to the car I had and eventually he agreed despite much displeasure on his part.
So I agree how you feel, insurance is not always fair to the innocent party in these circumstances and does not put you back to where you were
Sorry, but if I was your neighbour I’d have told you to F O.Similar happened to me, at the time I had an old but high spec Zafira. It was electric twin sunroofs and all sorts of spec but cloth interior as I hate leather in a car so it had taken me ages to find this car when I bought it many years prior and had spared no expense on maintenance in the years of ownership. It was parked in daylight at the side of a residential road and a neighbour reversed out their driveway hitting the OSF corner causing a lot of damage for the relatively minor speed because of the point where the contact was made. They obviously wanted to go through insurance but I knew I'd get relatively nothing back for my car and manged to get them to pay for the cost of repairs. The husband was not happy but I explained the money I would receive would not put me back to where I was due to the car I had and eventually he agreed despite much displeasure on his part.
So I agree how you feel, insurance is not always fair to the innocent party in these circumstances and does not put you back to where you were
If they want to use insurance that’s their right; it’s why they have it in the first place.
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