Hi folks,

My wife has had her car written off following an accident (which wasn't her fault) and we believe our insurance company is trying to short change us on the current 'market value'. We would really be grateful for any advice to help obtain the 'market value' from them.

Brief facts:
- Insurance company is a leading national company in the car insurance market and the policy is a fully comprehensive one. We also have paid for legal cover with the policy.

- The Policy states "The most we will pay is the market value of your car at the time of the loss".

- Car purchased in a private sale in Nov 07 for £3300. In the past 2 months the car has done an additional 1000 miles.

- Insurance company is now offering £2700 as market value in full setllement. (£2450 after deduction of the policy excess)

- Insurance company is not willing to disclose how they arrived at the £2700.

- They want me to prove, by providing adverts from local papers, Auto trader etc. that the current market value is higher. They say they will only accept private sale adverts not trade adverts as I purchased the car in a private sale. As the car is a a rare model I am unable to find such adverts.

- According to www.parkers.co.uk, the current indicative values for this car with a similar mileage is as under (I paid £3 to obtain this):
Franchised dealer: £3255
Independent Dealer: £3030
Private - Good condition: £2905
Part Exchange: £2595
(Note: Our car was in pristine condition)

- I have asked them to offer £3,200 but they are refusing.

a. The Insurance co is refusing to accept Dealer based prices - they are insisting that since last time I purchased in a private sale they will will only offer a private sale based market value. Previously we had the old car and could wait until we found the new car at the right price in a private sale. Now the replacement courtesy car offered by the insurance company is for a maximum of 2 weeks after they have made the offer. So, we need to buy a replacement urgently, probably from a dealer, and can't wait for one from a private sale to come along.

b. The Insurance company is also refusing to accept Parkers price; they are insisting on me providing adverts of private sales. Since the car we lost is a rare model/combination there are none available currently. I have checked Autotrader, Exchange & Mart, Loot, local papers, ebay etc. (Car is a Nissan Micra 1.0 Auto 5 door, very low mileage (15,000), single owner, full service history, pristine condition, top end 'SE' model).

Some questions please:

1.In the above situation, is the insurance company justified in offering me only £2700 rather than the £3200 dealer price, per Parkers, I have asked for?

2. Are they correct in insisting in offering me the private sale based price rather than a dealer based price? (As stated previously we could wait to buy from a private sale but cant do so now)

3. Are they justified in not disclosing their basis / sources used for the value of £2700 offered?

4. Are they justified in not accepting Parker prices and insisting that I provide current adverts of private sale prices, even though practically I can't do so as this is a rare model?

5. As this model of a car is a rare one and it looks like we may need to buy another car / model rather than wait for a similar model to become available. Will the make or model we buy ,or the price we pay for the new one we buy, or the manner in which we buy it (dealer / private) have an influence on the settlement of the current claim?

6. We will probably be spending more than £3200 for the replacement car on a different make/model. But say if we find a suitable one for cheaper, i.e. if we end up buying a different model / an older car / higher mileage car for cheaper say £2500, does this mean we lose our argument to get more than the £2700 offered? i.e Do we need to spend more than £3200 for the replacement car to be able to seek to claim £3,200?

7. If we end up buying a different make/model replacement in a private sale, do we lose our argument that we should a dealer based value for the one lost?

Apologies for the number of the questions but a few hundred pounds does make a difference in our situation. Also, apologies for the length of this posting. Just wanted to make sure I mentioned all the facts which may be relevant. Further details are below, in case they are relevant too.

We would be immensely grateful for any advice offered.

Thanks a million.

Cheers,
Andy

Further details:
- Previous car was 15+ years old was due for retirment, so after a lot of searching for a replacement, in Nov 07 we purchased a 2001 Nissan Mirca 1.0 Auto SE 5 door (SE is the top of the range in the 1.0 litre Auto 5 door models and includes additional safety features like the passenger air bag etc.). This was a 1 owner car, with full dealer service history, only 15000 genuine miles and in pristine / perfect condition. This combination is rarely available. We paid £3300 in a private sale. Similar car with a dealer would have been around £3600.

- Value recorded with insurance company at the time of the purchase: £3000. (After our first inspection I obtained the quote from the insurance company and as I was expecting to negotiate the price down I told the insurance company I expected the value to be £3000. Subsequently I could only negotiate down the purchase company to £3300. I was told by the insurance company, that the value of £3000 recorded at the time of the initial quote didnt need to be amended. They told me this value did not affect the premium or the value at the time of settlment which wouldbe the market value at the time of the loss.)

- 10 days ago, whilst doing the school run my wife met with the accident. An 18 year old man drove straight out of his home driveway into the front of her car. Luckily there were no injuries. The man hasn't admitted fault but there it is very clear that the fault is his.

- The engineer of the insurance company rang last week to say that the car is a constructive write-off and offered £2700 as replacement market value. I refused as I believe the current 'market value' is much higher. I have accepted £2700 (less
excess) as an interim payment.

- In the past two months since purchase, the car has done an additional 1000 miles - other than than it was in the same perfect condition as when purchased in Nov 07.

- I have had a look at the financial ombudsman site:
www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombuds...n...

and the guidance there is:
"....In most cases, the firm should have assessed the market value as equivalent to the ?guide retail price? (the price that a member of the public might reasonably expect to pay at a dealership). ..."

- The free courtesy car for 2 weeks is via my insurance company's recommended external company "Drive Assist" and I understand Drive Assist only provide one if they are convinced it is a no fault claim. (Drive Assist have guaranteed not to charge me a penny and said they will claim their rental from the third party insurance company.) Don't wish to sound too optimistic but I am 99.99% certain that it is not my wife's fault.

- The insurance company engineer did indicate that they would be claiming from the other insurance company and said that he had to 'justify' them that they did were offering me the market value and not more. The other company is also a big player in the car insurance market. Just wondering if these big players have a deal amongst themselves to make low offers to customers for mutual benefit !

- I do have legal cover. Presumably its too late to claim directly from the other company directly as I have already accepted £2700 as an interim payment from my insurance company.
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