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Financial crunch

My wife was involved in a collision in January, a no fault claim where the other driver admitted liability and there was a witness to confirm this. We value the car at about £1,000, the damage is cosmetic and costs about £1,100 to repair. Our insurer is refusing to repair the car and is offering a token £700 pounds for the value of the car, even though it is unable to provide examples of similar cars at that price.
Different cars that it has provided prices for are between 300 - 500 miles round trip from home, which incurs extra costs just to view to see if they are acceptable replacements even prior to purchasing and collecting the vehicle (after all, what is in the advert is not always what is on sale). Is there anyway we can force them to pay for repairs? They say not as the cost of repair was more than 60% of the value of the vehicle, and they will not replace my vehicle, only give me a token sum. My understanding is that as it is a no fault claim, we are entitled to be reinstated to the position that we were in immediately before the incident, and at no cost.

Asked on 29 August 2009 by

Answered by Honest John
Small Claims Track at the County Court. You are entitled to be put back into the position you were in immediately before the damage was done to you, at no cost or stress to you. The 60% mentioned is just part of that particular insurer's internal rules for its own convenience, not yours. If the other driver's insurer is prepared to bring the cars it says you can buy for £700 to you, maybe okay, but it isn't. And I think a small claims judge would find it "reasonable" for you to want to spend £1,100 repairing a £1,000 car. You will need supporting evidence of its value and a couple of competitive quotations for the repairs, which you may be able to get for much less than an insurance company could.
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