Insurance Payout
Discussion
Hi All
Unfortunately someone decided to drive whilst unfit and drove into the back of my vehicle whilst I was in traffic, their insurance company admitted full liability.
My vehicle has £8k worth of damage so is a CAT C write off, the insurance company are offering £2k below what I can buy another vehicle of the same age and spec for. However their offer is at book price, we are now at final offer which leaves me unable to replace my car and the hire car having to be returned.
Where can I go from here? FOS won’t be interested as the insurance company are offering book price. Small claims court?
Thanks any help in advance, feeling snookered!
Unfortunately someone decided to drive whilst unfit and drove into the back of my vehicle whilst I was in traffic, their insurance company admitted full liability.
My vehicle has £8k worth of damage so is a CAT C write off, the insurance company are offering £2k below what I can buy another vehicle of the same age and spec for. However their offer is at book price, we are now at final offer which leaves me unable to replace my car and the hire car having to be returned.
Where can I go from here? FOS won’t be interested as the insurance company are offering book price. Small claims court?
Thanks any help in advance, feeling snookered!
Edited by lemonslap on Saturday 24th August 11:26
Get them to show you adverts of cars available locally in similar condition. I got my insurer to tell me they used Autotrader to benchmark their valuations, so I sat on the phone with them going through the adverts, one by one, until they agreed that the value they were offering would only get me a car older, with more miles, 200 miles away! After a few long phone calls I got ~40% more than their original offer 
Mave said:
Get them to show you adverts of cars available locally in similar condition. I got my insurer to tell me they used Autotrader to benchmark their valuations, so I sat on the phone with them going through the adverts, one by one, until they agreed that the value they were offering would only get me a car older, with more miles, 200 miles away! After a few long phone calls I got ~40% more than their original offer
This.....Had this with an Alfa GTV 3.0, went through every advert they used to price up and explained to them why my car was worth more, as soon as they realised I knew what I was talking about their offer went up to what I wanted..
When they say "final offer" they don't really mean "final offer". They mean "go away, we're busy".
Get on the phone and explain the situation to them. Remember that the person you are speaking to has very little authority, and very strict rules to work within. Ask to speak to their supervisor. If that doesn't work, Google a bit, find the name of the operations director, and ring them instead. You'd be amazed at how well that works.
Get on the phone and explain the situation to them. Remember that the person you are speaking to has very little authority, and very strict rules to work within. Ask to speak to their supervisor. If that doesn't work, Google a bit, find the name of the operations director, and ring them instead. You'd be amazed at how well that works.
waynedear said:
Mave said:
Get them to show you adverts of cars available locally in similar condition. I got my insurer to tell me they used Autotrader to benchmark their valuations, so I sat on the phone with them going through the adverts, one by one, until they agreed that the value they were offering would only get me a car older, with more miles, 200 miles away! After a few long phone calls I got ~40% more than their original offer
This.....Had this with an Alfa GTV 3.0, went through every advert they used to price up and explained to them why my car was worth more, as soon as they realised I knew what I was talking about their offer went up to what I wanted..
One of the problems I had was they used Auto trader prices for the valuation and there were none for sale on AT.
inman999 said:
Similar to my experience, Legacy GTB so quite difficult to value. They initially gave me book price, which was below any actual cars for sale. After several backwards and forwards emails with me giving examples they eventually sent me a tidy cheque for the difference.
One of the problems I had was they used Auto trader prices for the valuation and there were none for sale on AT.
This is the only vehicle the same as mine for sale: One of the problems I had was they used Auto trader prices for the valuation and there were none for sale on AT.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2013...
On the phone again, their view is that they don't need to put me back in the same postion as before the accident just compensate be for my loss? The have said it has had 2 engineer reviews and cannot be looked at again..
lemonslap said:
On the phone again, their view is that they don't need to put me back in the same postion as before the accident just compensate be for my loss? The have said it has had 2 engineer reviews and cannot be looked at again..
doesn't compensating for your loss mean that they have to put you back into the same position you were before the accident? if they don't put you back where you were, but slightly underneath it, then you have lost something...RealSquirrels said:
lemonslap said:
On the phone again, their view is that they don't need to put me back in the same postion as before the accident just compensate be for my loss? The have said it has had 2 engineer reviews and cannot be looked at again..
doesn't compensating for your loss mean that they have to put you back into the same position you were before the accident? if they don't put you back where you were, but slightly underneath it, then you have lost something...RealSquirrels said:
doesn't compensating for your loss mean that they have to put you back into the same position you were before the accident? if they don't put you back where you were, but slightly underneath it, then you have lost something...
Thanks RealSquirrels. I know, started to turn purple while on the phone! They can't get the supervisor to call me back until Tuesday, which means I am now going to have a great bank holiday...lemonslap said:
Thanks RealSquirrels. I know, started to turn purple while on the phone! They can't get the supervisor to call me back until Tuesday, which means I am now going to have a great bank holiday...
That's fair enough as it is bank holiday, however you should definitely stick to your guns come Tuesday. Giving you enough money to buy the same car is the minimum they should be giving you. To be truely back in the same position as you were prior to the accident should require compensation for you increased insurance premiums. Do you have legal cover through your own insurance company? I'd give them a call and ask them to sort it. I'm now sure how anyone with 'engineer' in their job title is more qualified than someone able to use Autotrader to fathom what a car is worth.
LouD86 said:
Insurance are to put you back in the same financial situation you were before, no gain.
i.e. you have an asset which you could liquidate and raise £x from. (i.e. the sale value)They therefore have to give you what you'd get for it if you were to sell it. (This is NOT the same as giving you enough to buy a replacement car from a dealer.)
Sucks, but that's the rules.
Thanks All,
They won't review their offer, They will allow me to buy back my car at £942.... I am fighting to get this back for a far price so I can repair myself. FOS is of no use as they only look at the book prices, accident management company doesn't want to know due to being so far dow the line. Really have no choice but to repair with second hand parts and sort the VIC check etc at my own time and cost.
My legal insurance are not interested as they only deal with injurys?
Really very upset, still suffering from memory loss and headaches plus movement issues (going through painful physio) sutained in the crash. Just wish I could turn back time... Woman who crashed into me didn't even say sorry, just said when I was suffering "oh don't say you are in pain". Charming considing I helped her out of her car after the crash.
They won't review their offer, They will allow me to buy back my car at £942.... I am fighting to get this back for a far price so I can repair myself. FOS is of no use as they only look at the book prices, accident management company doesn't want to know due to being so far dow the line. Really have no choice but to repair with second hand parts and sort the VIC check etc at my own time and cost.
My legal insurance are not interested as they only deal with injurys?
Really very upset, still suffering from memory loss and headaches plus movement issues (going through painful physio) sutained in the crash. Just wish I could turn back time... Woman who crashed into me didn't even say sorry, just said when I was suffering "oh don't say you are in pain". Charming considing I helped her out of her car after the crash.
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