This is my first post so please bear with me if this has been covered somewhere else. I have read through the FAQs which answered most of my questions but I need some advice.
Long story short, i was rear ended at a roundabout nearly 2 weeks ago. The 3rd party has admitted liability and i have been supplied with courtesy car as my car has been written off.
Now the 3rd party insurers rang yesterday and made an offer of £600 which i found unacceptable so have taken the steps to try and get this increased. In the meantime they have sent me a letter saying that within 72 hours of the engineers visit which was on Tuesday I can expect to have my car removed by their "salvage agents" and i should post them my V%, MOT certificate, Service history etc. Surely if i do send them these documents then they will be the legal owners of my vehicle and I wouldn't have a leg to stand on?
I would have thought that the car would not be collected until a settlement figure had been agreed, are they just trying to pull a fast one?
Many Thanks and again sorry if this has been asked before.
Mez
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Do you have anywhere you can store the car?
I would recommend NOT sending them YOUR documents, or allowing them the car... once that has happen you have lost most of your bargaining power.
the last accident I had was the same kind, rearended on a roundabout, my car stayed in my drive until the claim was sorted, but I am lucky in the respect I have a large drive!
It is a balancing act, making sure you dont run up storage charges the 3rd party arent willing to pay, but I think you are right to worry.......
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I have taken the car to my parents house so its being stored on their drive at the moment.
The letter mentions removing the car to avoid storage costs, but the car was parked outside my flat and so no storage costs have or would be incurred.
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Spot on.... DONT allow the 3rd party insurance access until you are happy, I think, in fact although your not having to pay charges, you may be able to put a claim in for storage charges... I'd have a word around to check on that for you.....
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There is no need for the third party's insurer ever to have ownership/control of the vehicle.
Your legal right is to be put back in the position you were in immediately before the crash. No more.
They offer £xx - you negotiate it up to £yy, and then either fix the car (if you think it's worth it) or scrap/sell it, and do what you like with the cash. If they don't pay up you have the right to take them to court to achieve the value, but that's lengthy and potentially expensive, if you lose.
When I claimed from a third party's insurers they sent an "engineer" to assess/value my wreck, offered me an amount 48 hrs later, which I pushed up by 25%, and sent a cheque. No attempt at all to remove/take ownership of the car, which I sold on Ebay for spares.
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I was starting to wonder if the settlement from the insurers counts as a transaction i.e. they effectively buy the car from me.
So they have no legal or other right to take the car after all I own it regardless of the settlement meaning I can repair or sell it on at my leisure?
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Please bear in mind their offer and any subsequent offers will normally be on the basis of them retaining the salvage so please check with them to make sure.
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Please bear in mind their offer and any subsequent offers will normally be on the basis of them retaining the salvage so please check with them to make sure.
True - but the salvage doesnt become theirs until settlement has been agreed...
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> They offer £xx - you negotiate it up to £yy
That's fine, but when you have agreed the car's 'value' with the ins.co., they are entitled to recover any value they can from the wreck, unless you agree differently with them that you prefer to have it repaired yourself. This would normally be when the co.'s repair cost would exceed the car's market value, while yours might not - or you like the car enough to keep it.
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£7,305was £7,422Details
£16,857was £17,157Details
£24,849was £24,999Details
£13,499was £13,999Details
