Insurance write off

[speedeight]

My brother crashed my Chimaera a couple of weeks
ago and I've just heard that its been assessed
as 'beyond economical repair'.

I was just wondering about the market value of TVR's
in terms of insurance pay outs. Am I going to be
shocked on how low it'll be or will I be pleasantly
surprised?

It is a 1994 4.0L car with 60,000 miles and until
the accident was in very good condition.

I'm preparing myself for a haggling battle over its
value, any tips for doing this? Is it ok to quote
dealer prices for a similar aged & mileage cars?
Or as I bought it privately would they only take
private sales as an indication of market value?

I was really hoping they were going to repair it
because I think I'd really found a good one.
Ah well, at least it gives me the chance to get a 4.5
or 5.0L one this time

If anyone wants to see what warrants a write off
check out these pics:

www.gamesinsider.co.uk/hosted/car_damage


>>> Edited by SpeedEight on Thursday 2nd September 10:39

[RAW-SEWedge]

Well I looked at the first pic and thought that don't look so bad.

Saw the 2nd one and thought still not too bad.
Saw the 3rd one and well yep that's pretty bad.
Saw the 4th one and

Sorry to see/hear your car is beyond repair.

My insurance offer a garenteed figure if I provide a valuation from the TVRCC. Think I'll get round to doing this asap.

Is this the case with yours ?

Does seem unfair to write it off if there is no chassis damage because I'd guess it's worth £11K without the body damage.

[salty-nlv]

How did he get it into that state by crashing as there is damage to both front and back?

[mrmaggit]

Do what the Harley lads do if the offer is too low. Tell the insurance to come up with an equivalent car.

[RAW-SEWedge]

salty-nlv said:

How did he get it into that state by crashing as there is damage to both front and back?

Looks like it spun to me.

[rev-erend]

That's one way to steal the golf clubs I suppose ...

My mate did a similar thing a few years ago .. spun his Chimaera on a wet dual carriage way .. and somehow every car managed to miss him but he hit the barriers - his PC in the boot was left of the road and several cars colided trying to miss that !!

[speedeight]

RAW-SEWedge said:

salty-nlv said: How did he get it into that state by crashing as there is damage to both front and back? Looks like it spun to me.

Yeah, he spun it on a roundabout, it was absolutely
pouring down. He said it must have been oil or
something because he wasn't going that fast and
the tyres aren't worn at all. An off duty copper
was following him and stopped to give his details.
He said it wasn't my brother's fault and said he
wasn't doing anything wrong. Its just one of those
things I guess. Its not like he isn't used to the
cars, he's had 2 Chimaeras and a Tuscan Red Rose.

[speedeight]

RAW-SEWedge said:

Sorry to see/hear your car is beyond repair.

Thanks man, I can do with all the moral support
I can get. I'm definitely going to get another one
though.

RAW-SEWedge said:

My insurance offer a garenteed figure if I provide a valuation from the TVRCC. Think I'll get round to doing this asap. Is this the case with yours ?

No, unfortunately not, it'll be classed as market value.

[RUSSELLM]

Repair it ?

I'm having a cerb fixed at Blackpool, rear quater £5000, full respray £3000.

Unless that's a 30k chim, your getting cash.

[RichardR]

Sorry to hear about your woes - always very upsetting!

Your best bet is to find some other Chimaera's advertised for the sort of price that you're after, and also make a detailed list of anything that's been done to push the price up and differentiate it from the other Chims out there e.g. chassis refurb, new interior etc. rather than shiny bits. You can then use ads for an equivalent condition car, or add the necessary costs to an advertised price to support your argument.

I think that most assessors won't really know quite how to value it which should make it easier for you to argue the toss, although this may apply more to the S Series than the Chimaera.

Good luck!

[pies]

Remember replacement price should be compared to a dealers car

[shnozz]

pies said:

Remember replacement price should be compared to a dealers car

rubbish. The insurers wont be interested in paying a dealers profit in your pay out. The comparative adverts will have to be private for them to use as a comparison in order to increase any proposals they make for the pre-accident value.

Find as many autotrader cut-outs for comparative cars with similar mileage and spec. Colour isnt important so try and find those with the most desirable colour but same spec/mileage

oh, and next time think about printing off a few comparables when you first buy the car so that you can keep them safe and pull them out to send to insurers a few years later when your car is written off and worth a few k less

[pies]

shnozz said:

pies said: Remember replacement price should be compared to a dealers car rubbish. The insurers wont be interested in paying a dealers profit in your pay out. The comparative adverts will have to be private for them to use as a comparison in order to increase any proposals they make for the pre-accident value. Find as many autotrader cut-outs for comparative cars with similar mileage and spec. Colour isnt important so try and find those with the most desirable colour but same spec/mileage joust said: Two things. Loaf is, I think, incorrect (and my experience and the IOB website would seem to back it up) - insurance is based on the principle of idemnity - namely that they put you back in *exactly* the same financial position as you were before the event. Consequently, if you have to spend £1000 to purchase an exact same condition car then that is what they have to pay out. It's also NOT your issue to find the same car, it's actually their's. Try this. 1) Explain that you are aware of your rights, and that you cannot agree to the valuation. 2) Ask them to find you a similar condition car for the amount they are offering (this normally makes them see sense, as it takes huge amounts of work to do this and they probably will want to relent at this point) to prove that they are providing full idemnity for your claim 3) Wander around the IOB website (it's now been subsumed into teh FOB - but all the rulings are there). You'll find loads where the IOB told insurers to pay a correct market value - e.g. www.theiob.org.uk/digest/v/valuation_of_motor_vehicles.html - item 5 is very interesting and outlines the principle exactly) To quoet from the IOB Loaf... First, that market value is not the second-hand value of the car (unless the policyholder was in fact intending to sell it before it was stolen or written off) but what a replacement of similar age, condition and so on would cost. Second, [See: VALUATION OF MOTOR VEHICLES para 2] there are different markets. The appropriate one is not, as insurers often assume, the market for private sale and purchase of vehicles, through newspaper ads and the like, unless there is evidence to suggest that that is the market in which the policyholder intends to buy a replacement. As a general rule, the appropriate market will be the public one, so the policyholder gets what it would cost to replace the vehicle through a motor dealer. How do we find out what that would be? All relevant evidence has to be considered, but in particular we have to rely on standard trade guides! Finally - have you asked them if you can buy the car back off them? You may find that they are up for paying you a small amount and sell you the car, as long as that is less than the cost to fix it you could be quids in without having to resort to nasty letters! J oh, and next time think about printing off a few comparables when you first buy the car so that you can keep them safe and pull them out to send to insurers a few years later when your car is written off and worth a few k less

full thread here

www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=62966

[shnozz]

Dont believe all you read then Pies. 9 years in insurance litigation and I've never known an insurer accept a trade advert. It allows for a traders profit - all the insurer is required to do is put you back in the position you were in before the accident, not provide you with a warranty on your new car...

[mrmaggit]

I respectfully refer you to my earlier post.

[BigBazza]

I guess those photos mean that mine MUST be a write off..i'm on the opposite side of the fence though, I WANT her to be written off. Sad but I don't want her back and I don't think anyone else will either

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=114426&f=6&h=0

[speedeight]

BigBazza said:

I guess those photos mean that mine MUST be a write off..i'm on the opposite side of the fence though, I WANT her to be written off. Sad but I don't want her back and I don't think anyone else will either www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=114426&f=6&h=0

I've just looked at those pics, Jeez that's one messed up Cerbera. Glad you're ok though.

[julianhj]

speedeight, I was in a similar position in March, having spun on a wet dual carriageway. Damage on my Griff was very similar. I got £2k more that I'd agreed to sell her for the previous day. Whilst I think this was mainly down to the loss adjuster looking at the odometer (30k) rather than the service history (56k), I went to the trouble of neatly filing and cataloguing all of my maintainence costs (to prove how good a condition the car was in - £7k spent in 2 years, she was mint) and trawling PH, AutoTrader and the like for similar private and trade ads, which were also catalogued. The whole lot went into a file, with all the MOTs, Tax Discs, HPI cert, copy of bill of sale and a cover sheet. I think a similar methodical approach would stand you in good stead, as you'll have some firm ground from which to argue about 'market value'.

>> Edited by julianhj on Friday 30th July 20:32

[tahiti450]

That's a real P1553R, you must be gutted.

Looking at the photos, from what I can see (assuming theres no great gouges out of the chassis underneath etc) all the damage appears to be fibreglass, and 90% is the rear end. Really depends whether you WANT the car written off or not. If not i thought TVR could make up any panel / part panel to order and or that this could be sourced from a breaker - grafted on and finishes and bingo. Now I appreciate that that doesnt come cheap and that I know bu**er all about repairing fibre glass bodies, but, surely thats not going to cost over 10k ! So if its economical buy it back and repair it.

[mrmaggit]

How about a new body?

Nice project for winter.