Not at fault claim - can I claim for alloy wheel damage?

[RevNuts]

- Car recently written off by another driver
- Driver admitted full liability
- Currently negotiating with insurance company over car's valuation
- Allow wheel severly damaged in accident (remaing three seem fine)

Can I claim for the damage to the alloy wheel(s)? Or in other words, should it be included in the car's valuation?

[davepoth]

RevNuts said:

- Car recently written off by another driver
- Driver admitted full liability
- Currently negotiating with insurance company over car's valuation
- Allow wheel severly damaged in accident (remaing three seem fine)

Can I claim for the damage to the alloy wheel(s)? Or in other words, should it be included in the car's valuation?

Are they non standard alloys? Were they declared? If the answers are "yes" and "no" in that order then STFU and hope that the other people's insurers don't notice.

[AndrewW-G]

davepoth said:

RevNuts said:

- Car recently written off by another driver
- Driver admitted full liability
- Currently negotiating with insurance company over car's valuation
- Allow wheel severly damaged in accident (remaing three seem fine)

Can I claim for the damage to the alloy wheel(s)? Or in other words, should it be included in the car's valuation?

Are they non standard alloys? Were they declared? If the answers are "yes" and "no" in that order then STFU and hope that the other people's insurers don't notice.

If the other parties insurance are settling the claim, the valuation of the car is as it was damaged, irrespective of whether or not the OP had declared the wheels to his insurance co.

In answer to the OP, the cars valuation includes everything on and in the car at the time of the accident, with the exception of your personal belongings

[RevNuts]

AndrewW-G said:

If the other parties insurance are settling the claim, the valuation of the car is as it was damaged, irrespective of whether or not the OP had declared the wheels to his insurance co.

In answer to the OP, the cars valuation includes everything on and in the car at the time of the accident, with the exception of your personal belongings

In that case, I'll be calling the 3rd parties insurers tomorrow to notify them of the damaged alloys. Thanks.

[esvcg]

I took a chunk out of my tyre when somone hit my car and pushed it against the kerb. The repair garage didn't replace the tyre (low profile). After I complained they did, but I had to pay a "betterment" charge of 65 quid as the damaged tyre only had half of it's thread depth left.

[AndrewW-G]

RevNuts said:

In that case, I'll be calling the 3rd parties insurers tomorrow to notify them of the damaged alloys. Thanks.

if the car is being written off, the valuation that the engineers report places on the car will take into account the equipment fitted to the car at the time it was inspected. . . .

[johnpeat]

This could be a bit tricky - if they're non-standard alloys and weren't declared then the OP has arguably invalidated his insurance (that doesn't affect the third-party insurer's liability but it could become an issue for the OP as his insurer could void his cover leaving him uninsured at the time of the accident).

If the OP DID declare them - then he should have declared their value - if he suddenly decides now that they're worth more, his declaration to his insurer could catch him out.

Negotiating a value for a write-off with an insurer is a pain-in-the-arse - the most effective method I've found is to find comparable cars for-sale to show the likely real-world value of your car BUT the best you can do is squeeze 1 or 2 improved offers before insurers will dig-in and that's your lot...

[LeeMad]

if theyre non standard then you claim it as an uninsured loss.
it makes no difference if youve declared them or not, because youre claiming from the other company and not your own. you could still claim from them if you had no insurance at all and were getting charged/points for that because your property has been damaged and they have to replace it.

[RevNuts]

So, some mixed opinions. But I'll put in the claim and see what sticks.

[mmm-five]

johnpeat said:

This could be a bit tricky - if they're non-standard alloys and weren't declared then the OP has arguably invalidated his insurance (that doesn't affect the third-party insurer's liability but it could become an issue for the OP as his insurer could void his cover leaving him uninsured at the time of the accident).

Not declaring a modification doesn't instantly invalidate your insurance.

In most cases it simply means the insurance company will only pay out to the value of replacing the parts with standard items.

In my case that meant the insurance company would pay for the repair to the bumper & wing, but not pay for the Paintshield film I'd had fitted, as it was 'a modification from standard, sir'.