I was involved in an accident 7 weeks ago when an old lady drove into the side of me on a roundabout. She admitted full responsibilty and within 2 days I had received a courtesy car. Fast forward 6 weeks and I finally receive an offer for my car (after harrasing the insurance company (I won't mention the name of the company until someone tells me I can) everyday for 2 weeks). The offer I received was £500 for a L reg Renault 5 with 62 000 miles which is probably the market value but not nearly enough to replace the car given the prices in my local Autotrader.
I've complained to the insurance company and the solicitors appointed by my insurance company to handle the claim (who seems totally uninterested in helping) and have been told that this is a fair offer and what I am entitled to.
I read a letter in the Honest John letters section of the Telegraph dated 10th May (3 days after my accident) that in an accident that is not my fault "it is your common-law entitlement to be put back in the position you were in immediately before the other party damaged your property".
As before the accident I had a low mileage Renault 5 in perfect working order and with the £500 I can buy a Renault 5 a year older with twice the mileage I do not see this as a fair offer.
It is not worth me taking independant legal advice for the sake of a few £100 but if anyone out there has any experience or knowledge in how to procede I would love to hear it.
Cheers
PB
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if you can spare an afternoon to attend court
i) get evidence of what it would really cost to replace
ii) issue a small claims summons for the amount, local court will be able to give you leaflet, name lady not the insurere
iii) the insurer will almost certainly pay up before court date
iv) judge presented with evidence will give you a good hearing, evidence of price maybe car mags showing price etc
who is paying for courtesy car ?
worth a little investigation on how to do this, many books etc available
good luck
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Her insurance company were paying for the courtesy car. I had it for 6 weeks and I estimate it cost them around £2000. As I have now received a cheque from them (I'm not gonna cash it until I'm happy the situation has been rectified) the courtesy car was picked up this morning meaning that I am now carless and VERY annoyed.
As I'm currently job hunting (just graduated from Uni) and can spare some time I may pop down to my local court tomorrow.
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Small Claims Court is easy and relatively cheap - you get your expenses back if you win anyway. The staff at the court offices are invariably efficient and helpful, in my experience, so give it a try and good luck
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I'd heard that insurance cos will often reconsider if sent a bundle of ads from a current mag showing the error of their price. Might be quicker/easier/cheaper than the court option, which I'd regard as last resort.
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I'd agree with Smokie. Just crashed my 1991 Alfa 75 and was offered £950 for it based on Glass's. Spoke to Insurance Co engineer, disagreeing with valuation. Sent him recent ads from Alfa Owners club magazine showing similar cars being advertised for between £1200 and £1800. Also suggested he look on Autotrader website. My valuation was around £1500.
Got a call from him last night offering £1500. Of course, my argument was based on the fact that Alfa 75 not a mainstream car, very much a niche market these days.
Same argument won't apply to yours, but worth smoking out a few ads all the same.
Good luck.
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be careful the 2 grand may knock it over the small claims limit, forget what the amount is these days, in which case you take a much bigger risk re costs if you loose
if youre still under the limit maybe worth a go
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£5k limit unless injury (£1k)
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1. Quite in order to name the insurance company provided that what you say is truthful.
2. Also perfectly OK to cash the cheque - just make sure you inform the insurers that you are accepting the payment ONLY for the car hire and NOT as any part payment for other items claimed.
3. Follow the advice given above and provide the insurers with evidence of thje real cost of replacing the car. You could suggest to them that you will accept an identical car to yours in lieu of cash - if it comes to court a judge would find this a perfectly reasonable suggestion in view of the insurer's disputing the valuation. If they can find you an identical car for the amount they think is fair ( and it must be as nearly identical as makes no difference) then good luck to them. You will not have lost out and they will be satisfied!
4. Advice given above that they will probably settle if litigation looms is probably correct. If what you say is factually correct they will not wish to risk a huge increase in expense.
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1. Quite in order to name the insurance company provided that what you say is truthful.
HH: I trust you have been told this by HJ or Mark(RLBS). I was under the impression that the policy of this site was NOT to name if there was a possible court action pending? Has this changed?
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Just finishing a claim with my company, where it was MY FAULT as I hit another car, I had a Mondeo LX TD L reg (1993) with 158k on the clock but with a recon engine and turbo at 100k.
My Insurance decided it was a "Write-Off" (beyond economical repair for its age) and they tried to offer me £1300.00 this was the first offer which I refused on the phone and confirmed in writing, suppling them with copies of a FULL SERVICE HISTORY & all receipts I had, even down to tyre changes, they came back with a revised offer of £1500.00 which I accepted, considering other mondeo's in the papers / auto trader etc etc
My advise to you is phone & write to the insurance company (it normally has to be within 14 days of the date on the letter with the first chq) and refuse the offer on the grounds that you can not get a like-for-like car for this money, also offer them the chance to find one for you, matching exactly including mileage, history etc etc. Dont forget to keep all receipts for "out of pocket expenses" incurred due to this accident, so as to claim them back, bus/train tickets etc.
Keep EVERY receipt for EVERY penny you spend on a car, you may need them one day.
(I store them in a plastic folder and owned the mondeo for 7 1/2 years, that was a lot of receipts I sent!)
Also did you suffer from any injury? (ie whiplash?) that could be another avenue to go down IF you were injured.
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>> 1. Quite in order to name the insurance company provided that >> what you say is truthful. HH: I trust you have been told this by HJ or Mark(RLBS). I was under the impression that the policy of this site was NOT to name if there was a possible court action pending? Has this changed?
Ah! I was merely commenting on the legal aspect. If that is the policy of those who run the web site that is an entirely different matter.
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1. Quite in order to name the insurance company provided that what you say is truthful.
Regardless of whether it is truthful or not, we operate a no naming and shaming policy in this forum.
--
Dynamic Dave
Back Room Moderator
mailto:dave_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk
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>>Quite in order to name the insurance company provided that what you say is truthful.
Even if truthfulness was an absolute defense it wouldn't solve the main issue.....
"How would Dave or I know whether or not it was truthful ?"
No naming and shaming. Thank you.
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