I think a difference has to be made between an accident caused by yourself and a third party.
If your car has been damaged as a result of someone else being 100% to blame, you claim is against the other driver (not always his insurance company) and then things like new tyres/engine could be relevant to an award made - in extreme cases a set of new tyres could double the value of the vehicle ;-) Why should you lose in any way for a 3rd party error.
If it's your fault, then yes, you have to follow your insurance companies rules as to valuations.
Martin
|
This theead has me thinking now. If a third party were to crash into my own car and accept full responsibility and wmy car was then classed as a write off what would my payout be (its a 52reg). Would they pay me the the full value I paid for the car less than a few months ago or would they pay out the value of my own car at present. If the later is true then what happens with regards the years free insurance that I have, I don't imagine that the free insurance is transferable to another second hand car, would they take this into consideration and pay me the value of my car at present + the cost of insuring it. As I belive that by law you have to be put into the same situation that you were before the crash in my case having a years insurance (being young means the insurance would be expensive).
Many thanks and soory to steal the tread
|
Your insurance would be transferrable if it were written off, however you probably wouldn't get the full value of the car. That said, some free (and other) insurance schemes guarantee you a new car during the first year of the car's life. It all depends on what's written in the contract.
Realistically, I'm sure your insurer would continue to insure you if your car were written off, though you might have to pay a fee if the car you bought were more expensive. Also, you wouldn't normally get the value of the car when new unless you could show that you couldn't get one for less than new price. That shouldn't be a problem though because the car you'd be driving wouldn't be any worse than the one you crashed was, immediately before its accident.
|
DavidHM
I believe when a car is written off then the insurance policy will not be transferable - it 'dies' with the car. This I think stems from the fact that the policy is linked to the car insured at the time. So, following a write-off you would probably have to pay another year up front.
Regards
John S
|
|
|
|
Thanks for the advice people.
It seems that the bodyshop put him onto a firm called Accident Legal to handle the claim, arrange a hire car (been 18 it's a bit of a problem) etc. etc.
They were meant to have a car for today, by 3:30pm they didn't so my mate has had to drive to Bristol in the Mondeo.
He is intending claiming on the other driver's insurance, but the guy called him today and said that it looked like they would be best off going 50/50. I told my mate that he should have uttered two words, the last one being "OFF!" :) Unfortunately, whilst he didn't agree that they should go 50/50, he hasn't from what I can tell been very firm in telling the guy that the accident was down to him. So he couldn't get the hire car because CIS (the van driver's insurance company) wouldn't authorise it.
Looks like some wrangling to come on this one, especially as my mate is TPFT so his company won't get involved. I can't see how he can lose this one though, it's a fairly stratightforward accident, with clear blame. I have however told him that he shouldn't speak to this guy again other than through the insurance company. I think Accident Legal should fight it for him, after all, they probably want to be able to claim compensation for him (they would get more fees then) and they can't do that unless the other driver takes all the blame.
Does anyone know anything about them?
Blue
|
It should be pretty clear cut and he should be ok fighting it legally - he was rear-ended which is pretty conclusive. At 18 the last thing he wants is a claim that goes even partly against him.
Personally I would go for the write-off and buy the car from the insurance company very cheaply if I could get a 'good enough' repair done. In other words, not your usual insurance claim with every last detail brought back to new, but with pattern & secondhand bits to get it looking good enough for an L reg Mondeo. Years ago my brother got £700 for his car, bought it back for £50 and fixed 90% of the damage for the cost of a secondhand wing and a couple of other small bits. So he had some very cheap motoring. If the accident wasn't too bad, and given the car's history, it is worth *much* more to your mate than it is to the insurance company who can only sell it trade at face value.
I wish him good luck.
PB.
|
Well, the repair bill has came in at £1200. But, the bodyshop reckons his car is only worth £800. Now I don't think that's a good price for a *mint* condition 94 1.8 LX Auto, and neither does Parkers who value it at over £1400 in A1 condition.
Looks like his problem now is getting them to agree to the repair, and if they don't, getting them to pay out more than £800 which siumply won't be enough to replace the car. :(
On the plus side, he's been told that the car won't be written off, but be classed as "uneconomical to repair" due to the damage been mainly cosmetic rather than major structural. So at least buying it back may be an option.
Blue
|
I find it stupid that insurance companies dig their heels in as they do, still if you give up without a fight they win all ends up.
Just to relate a short story (I promise I'll try to keep it short!), my brothers Astramax was written off opposite his home one morning on a quiet back road by a Ford Maverick rolling backwards down the hill, the driver had put her kids in the back, then when she slammed the tailgate shut (to put pram away, no not the kids!) it started to roll... Anyway after around 20 yards it impacted the Astramax on the OSR. So the Astramax is insured for business use (my brother's a self employed sparky) so he calls the other drivers insurance company explains the situation and asks if they will be willing to provide a hire vehicle, they initially refuse and advise him to hire through his own insurance. However in the next 30 minutes the other drivers insurance company call him back and tell him that they have arranged for vehicle for him as they have been advised to do so by their legal dept. I wouldn't have believed it could happen, I wonder if that insurance company has been bought out by the others and shut down?
Steve.
|
|
|
If the insurance company only offers £800, it would be worth getting a valuation from Parkers and showing that to them. That will probably cause them to increase their offer. The bodyshop is right in valuing the car at £800 - that would be more than a fair trade price for the car and, if your friend is willing to take a risk at auction, you'd be surprised what he could get. Of course, no one expects you to pay trade, so I'd expect the insurance company to offer more than £800 but quote Parkers and see what happens.
It's more important, by the way, that your friend manages to pass all blame on to the van driver. That will protect his own NCD and keep his premiums much lower (there might be a *small* weighting because of this accident) - if he loses NCD and has a fault claim, he'll be paying out more than the value of his car over the next few years because of it.
|
Parker's is certainly one thing;
However, I would suggest taking the latest copy of Auotrader, find every car for sale similar to the damaged car, and compile a list of their prices. Make sure all the evidence is included and send that to the Insurance Company.
Their argument is current value. So, if you have the current value of every car for sale, and its more than their offer, then you should start to see movement.
|
Well, my mate has told me that he has finally received the offer from CIS.
They offered £1400 for the car which has been declared "uneconomical to repair".
He has accepted this offer. but in a form where they give him £1250 and his car back, as they have valued the car at £150 scrap.
*If* he decides to get the car fixed properly, what can he expect to happen to it's value? I expect it will be recorded on a register but haven't got a clue how big a difference this would make to it's value. bearing in mind that the damage is almost all cosmetic, the car is totally safe and in above average mechanical condition.
Of course he doesn't have to get it fixed properly, and could no doubt get away with driving it as it is. But, if he ends up keeping the car long term (which there is a good chance of) he wants it fixing properly.
Our main questions:
1) What can he expect value wise if he tries to sell? (current value is around £1400)
2) What can he expect if he is involved in another accident or the car is stolen? Will the insurance company only give him £150?
Blue
|
Hi Blue - someone posted this some time ago (sorry, can't remember who)
www.theiob.org.uk/digest/v/valuation_of_motor_vehi...l
I'd guess it would go on the register as a class D writeoff - sounds bad, but thats life. From what I've seen of these, very roughly, I'd say you'd have to knock 25% off the price after it's been fixed.
The link above gives hints as to 'value' of a repaired writeoff.
Sometime soon I think the law changes and the car has to be inspected before it can go back on the road and this is recorded on the V5. (not sure when, but I saw it on a leaflet that came with my road fund renewal.
Martin
|
|
|
|
|
|
