Car likely a write off... market value?
Discussion
Hello all...
I've never been in this position before so just trying to get my head round what to expect. My wife was in an accident which we believe to be the fault of the third party. (She was on a mini roundabout which the third party didn't even slow down for never mind realise she was already on right in front of them! Anyway...) Front end of the car (2010 Fiesta) taken off and early guessing would suggest it's going to be written off.
If the car is written off and the offer from our insurer is significantly different to the cost of a similar replacement, is that just tough? I expect there is haggling to be done but should we be expecting to get stung either way? If it goes down as a no-fault claim and the third party accept liability can I somehow claim for any sum we are out of pocket? The price of second hand cars is an potential added problem I suppose, even at that age. Similar cars seem more expensive than when we bought this one a couple of years ago.
It's a shame as the car was a good one, well looked after and has had money spent on it by us as it will be, or would have been, a keeper. It's worth more than average to us on that basis alone.
If anyone has any useful advice I'd be grateful.
Thank you.
I've never been in this position before so just trying to get my head round what to expect. My wife was in an accident which we believe to be the fault of the third party. (She was on a mini roundabout which the third party didn't even slow down for never mind realise she was already on right in front of them! Anyway...) Front end of the car (2010 Fiesta) taken off and early guessing would suggest it's going to be written off.
If the car is written off and the offer from our insurer is significantly different to the cost of a similar replacement, is that just tough? I expect there is haggling to be done but should we be expecting to get stung either way? If it goes down as a no-fault claim and the third party accept liability can I somehow claim for any sum we are out of pocket? The price of second hand cars is an potential added problem I suppose, even at that age. Similar cars seem more expensive than when we bought this one a couple of years ago.
It's a shame as the car was a good one, well looked after and has had money spent on it by us as it will be, or would have been, a keeper. It's worth more than average to us on that basis alone.
If anyone has any useful advice I'd be grateful.
Thank you.
I can only say that accidents on roundabouts are never cut and dried when it comes to apportioning blame. If the third party doesn't admit liability and you don't have video evidence or a good witness it will likely go 50/50. On the settlement you can expect fair market value but don't accept the first offer and have evidence of cars currently for sale to back up your case.
Start collecting ads from autotrader etc showing as far as possible in all respects identical cars.
Private ads often have unrealistic ideas of what their cars are worth so stick with the traders.
You will then have something as evidence to support your claim - should it be necessary - that the insurance company offers are unrealistic.
If you cannot come to an acceptable settlement then, after exhausting the insurance company's complaints procedure, you could go to the Ombudsman.
They may or may not rule in your favour and it is the long game - in my case with one of my son's cars 9 months - but we did get an acceptable offer.
In the interim Bank of Dad had been able to replace the written off car.
Private ads often have unrealistic ideas of what their cars are worth so stick with the traders.
You will then have something as evidence to support your claim - should it be necessary - that the insurance company offers are unrealistic.
If you cannot come to an acceptable settlement then, after exhausting the insurance company's complaints procedure, you could go to the Ombudsman.
They may or may not rule in your favour and it is the long game - in my case with one of my son's cars 9 months - but we did get an acceptable offer.
In the interim Bank of Dad had been able to replace the written off car.
Sy1441 said:
An insurance policy for any product must put you back to the position you were in prior to the incident. If they're offering £3k and there isn't another 2010 Fiesta on sale for less than £4500 then they need to give you £4500.
I'm wondering where you got that from? An insurance policy is a commercial agreement. It does whatever is in the agreement. Some give market value. Some replace with new. Some fill a gap.The driver of the car behind stopped to give her details as a witness, and has agreed to complete statements for our insurer. She believes the third party to be at fault, and that they didn't seem to have paid attention to the fact there was even a roundabout there and drove straight through it, along with the front of our car. Even appeared to accelerate just prior to impact. My wife slowed, indicated, and was established on the roundabout when they tried to fly past. It's a mini roundabout which is less obvious, but it was still completely ignored.
I will start on the adverts, certainly.
I will start on the adverts, certainly.
paintman said:
Start collecting ads from autotrader etc showing as far as possible in all respects identical cars.
Private ads often have unrealistic ideas of what their cars are worth so stick with the traders.
You will then have something as evidence to support your claim - should it be necessary - that the insurance company offers are unrealistic.
If you cannot come to an acceptable settlement then, after exhausting the insurance company's complaints procedure, you could go to the Ombudsman.
They may or may not rule in your favour and it is the long game - in my case with one of my son's cars 9 months - but we did get an acceptable offer.
In the interim Bank of Dad had been able to replace the written off car.
+1 to the above when doing this find the same model/spec (this should be easy to do with a Fiesta as they're popular) mileage & in most cases (find 3-5) the insurance company will come to a sensible number.Private ads often have unrealistic ideas of what their cars are worth so stick with the traders.
You will then have something as evidence to support your claim - should it be necessary - that the insurance company offers are unrealistic.
If you cannot come to an acceptable settlement then, after exhausting the insurance company's complaints procedure, you could go to the Ombudsman.
They may or may not rule in your favour and it is the long game - in my case with one of my son's cars 9 months - but we did get an acceptable offer.
In the interim Bank of Dad had been able to replace the written off car.
AndyDefault said:
I've always thought you can expect to be paid less than the price of a replacement. Isn't that the value proposition for gap insurance?
I think gap insurance exists more for new cars, where they immediately lose value as soon as they are driven away due to the VAT and the heavy first year depreciation. A used car, particularly an older one, just needs a similar replacement and there is no real element of depreciation.alabbasi said:
Threaten to take them to court, it will cost them more money to send a lawyer even to small claims court then it would to pay you out. If they call your bluff, follow through
Who are you suggesting threatening court action against? Think you might be jumping the gun a bit. Give your insurers the chance to make an offer, prepare similar examples to yours and prepare to negotiate.
Initial offer is likely to be low but if you provide the right evidence they should increase it.
Went through a similar process a couple of months back.
First offer was rejected, explained to them it would cost significantly more to replace like for like than what was offered. Called me back the next day (they did all the checks i.e. Autotrader, CAP value...) and the offer was increased by just under £1500.
First offer was rejected, explained to them it would cost significantly more to replace like for like than what was offered. Called me back the next day (they did all the checks i.e. Autotrader, CAP value...) and the offer was increased by just under £1500.
Thanks for the replies so far. Hopefully it will all be that simple. It's inevitable we will lose out on the maintenance/condition of the car I think but if I can swap it for no loss that would be something.
It's had a cambelt/water pump, and I've had the rear end apart to fix the common fiesta leaks, and it's only just had a set of uniroyals!
It's had a cambelt/water pump, and I've had the rear end apart to fix the common fiesta leaks, and it's only just had a set of uniroyals!
r44flyer said:
Thanks for the replies so far. Hopefully it will all be that simple. It's inevitable we will lose out on the maintenance/condition of the car I think but if I can swap it for no loss that would be something.
It's had a cambelt/water pump, and I've had the rear end apart to fix the common fiesta leaks, and it's only just had a set of uniroyals!
That all helps in arguing a higher market value. Good luck! It's had a cambelt/water pump, and I've had the rear end apart to fix the common fiesta leaks, and it's only just had a set of uniroyals!
r44flyer said:
Thanks for the replies so far. Hopefully it will all be that simple. It's inevitable we will lose out on the maintenance/condition of the car I think but if I can swap it for no loss that would be something.
It's had a cambelt/water pump, and I've had the rear end apart to fix the common fiesta leaks, and it's only just had a set of uniroyals!
Daughter's car had not long had well over a grand spent on it when it was written off by being rear ended. She went through her own insurance and they used Autotrader to find a similar car - easy as it was a Golf Twist and VW sold loads of them over a fairly short time period. However they picked the cheapest of 35 that were for sale at the time and it had obviously been deliberately mis-priced so it would be top of the search - the picture had a screen price a grand higher and I called the garage and they wouldn't give a straight answer on the price of the car.It's had a cambelt/water pump, and I've had the rear end apart to fix the common fiesta leaks, and it's only just had a set of uniroyals!
Got another £500 but I still felt £500 short changed. Annoying to lose the money spend on maintenance, but on the other hand hers was highish mileage and had a number of car park dings etc and the insurer never mentioned those things.
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