Can a third party's insurer write off my car

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Thu 6 Aug 2009 15:04
Can a third party's insurer write off my car - thegoldfisherkeeper
Hi, hope someone can help.

My husbands car was reversed into by someone who then drove off without leaving their details, we have managed to trace him and came to an agreement that they would pay for the repairs and we would not involve insurance. Being the honest people they are they have now gone back on this and have involved their insurance company.

The real fear for us is that we do not want the car to be written off as the value of the repairs will outweigh the value of the car. There are therefore a few questions:

1.If we do not involve our insurance company but allow theirs to inspect the vehicle do they have the power to write off our car?

2. Do we have to correspond with their insurance company at all, are we legal obliged to give them information?

3. If they can and decide to write off our car can we accept a cheque instead, and will this prevent the category being changed on DVLA.

4.If the value of the cheque does not cover the repairs I assume we could sue for the rest?

5. Do we have to inform our insurance company? I assume not

6. Is there anything stopping us from issuing a small claims for the repairs and they can then claim this themselves against their own insurance?

Any other thoughts on how we should best proceed would be appreciated?

Thanks

Caroline
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Thu 6 Aug 2009 15:20
Can a third party's insurer write off my car - commerdriver
You need to inform your insurance company, not just because of the usual policy rule but also because since his insurance company has been notified the accident is on the MI database so your insurance company will find out.
You can tell them that you will deal with it yourself and will not be making a claim, but if the other party is already proving himself untrustworthy (driving off, telling his insurance company when he said he wouldn't) I would get your insurance company involved for your protection.
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Thu 6 Aug 2009 16:19
Can a third party's insurer write off my car - Mapmaker
>>would get your insurance company involved for your protection.

Under no circumstances whatsoever; that is very bad advice indeed. It will cost you (1) your excess; (2) they WILL write your car off; (3) significantly increased premiums over the following years.

(You obviously have to TELL them, but tell them you do not (at this stage) want them to be involved.)

You're much better off now his ins. co is involved, they are reputable and forced to deal with you. Don't forget to claim for loading of your premium over the next 3 years as a result of having a bump on your record.


Talk to the other party's insurance co. They will send a man round who will value the damage. Then ring them up and point out that they will have to provide a hire car. So you would like the cash for the repairs and the cash for the hire car and the loading on your own premium. You will probably have to speak to a supervisor and push hard in order to achieve all this.

But it can be done.

Edited by Mapmaker on 06/08/2009 at 16:22

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Thu 6 Aug 2009 16:41
Can a third party's insurer write off my car - commerdriver
>>would get your insurance company involved for your protection.
Under no circumstances whatsoever; that is very bad advice indeed. It will cost you (1)
your excess; (2) they WILL write your car off; (3) significantly increased premiums over the
following years.


Lovely jump to conclusion there mapmaker, involving your insurance company does not mean making a claim, when someone backed into my son and then got stroppy about the cost of his repair, we called my son's insurance company who passed us on to the legal cover people who sorted it out.
No loss of no claim - why should there be it was the other guy's fault.
No loading of the premium (OK some insurance companies are funny that way)
No claim on his own insurance they have no opportunity to write the car off

Getting the insurance company solicitor involved meant my son got everything back including his excess.

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Thu 6 Aug 2009 16:24
Can a third party's insurer write off my car - Altea Ego
1/If we do not involve our insurance company but allow theirs to inspect the vehicle do they have the power to write off our car?

You have to inform your insurance company this has happened . This is written in your policy.

2. Do we have to correspond with their insurance company at all, are we legal obliged to give them information?

Yes, they could counter claim and say you were to blame

3. If they can and decide to write off our car can we accept a cheque instead, and will this prevent the category being changed on DVLA.

they wil pay you fair market value of the car, or repair it - whichever costs less.

4.If the value of the cheque does not cover the repairs I assume we could sue for the rest?

Nope, you would have been offered fair market value. You dont have to accept their first offer tho

5. Do we have to inform our insurance company? I assume not

Yes you do. This is a material fact that your policy says you have to inform them about.

6. Is there anything stopping us from issuing a small claims for the repairs and they can then claim this themselves against their own insurance?

No but they would counter claim or defend saying the repairs are more than the fair value of the car,

Any other thoughts on how we should best proceed would be appreciated?

You cant get them to repair your car just because you are attached to it or like it or its special to you in some way. You are entitled to get it repaired or written off where they will pay you the value of the car. Note your idea of the value will not be the same as theirs, so dont accept first offer. Also your idea of its value may be way off the mark anyway.



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Thu 6 Aug 2009 16:53
Can a third party's insurer write off my car - martint123
In the old days you used to be able to require to be placed back in the position you were before an accident.
Nowadays you are required to mitigate your losses and this may involve having to accept a value to replace with a similar car.

You can, if you feel skilled and lucky, try to sue the other driver for what you think you deserve, but you will have to justify values to a court.
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Thu 6 Aug 2009 17:28
Can a third party's insurer write off my car - nortones2
It's still the case that you can require the person who damaged your car to place you back in the position you were in before. Or it seems to say so here: www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=33 with case law to boot.
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Thu 16 Sep 2021 15:58
Can a third party's insurer write off my car - John Sorsby
The third party insurers have a duty to put you in the same FINANCIAL position as you were before the accident assuming that their driver was 100% at fault. If it is not economic to repair the vehicle they will settle on the basis of the vehicles pre-accident market value. The value of the salvage should be factored in.

You have a legal duty to keep expenses to a minimum. As a guide you should ask yourself “would I pay for this if I was picking up the bill?”

Contrary to popular opinion Insurance companies do not want to get into protracted arguments on value and will very often make you a fair offer first time around.
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Thu 6 Aug 2009 17:35
Can a third party's insurer write off my car - jbif
Caroline the goldfisherkeeper:
Any other thoughts on how we should best proceed would be appreciated? >>


in addition to the good points made by other above, look up these pages by Honestjohn:

1. www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=4&t=33...5
2. www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=126
3. www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=139
4. www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=33

and these recent threads
5. regarding claiming an allowance for the future increase in premiums:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=77014&...f
6. write-off valuations
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=77...2

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Thu 6 Aug 2009 21:43
Can a third party's insurer write off my car - bell boy
op should have informed their own insurer pronto
they were lucky to find driver who drove off
was this reported to police?
anyway your car was damaged so you are entitled to have it repaired to your satisfaction or take proper market price to put you in a position you were in prior to the crash
you need to know for sure what this is and if its rare or a special model you need to quote examples from say autotrader to back you up
the insurer works from glasses guide and always start with a miserly offer

be aware if you are with a decent insurer it may be possible to get a payment to suit you from the other insurer then give 10% back to buy your old car,it will usually need a vic check and you can have repairs carried out at a non approved bodyshop to keep your costs down

protected insurance cover is a must these days to cover you,i wont leave home without it
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Thu 16 Sep 2021 18:05
Can a third party's insurer write off my car - Miniman777
you are entitled to have it repaired to your satisfaction or take proper market price to put you in a position you were in prior to the crash you need to know for sure what this is and if its rare or a special model you need to quote examples from say autotrader to back you up

Also bear in mind used car values are, unusually, 12-20% higher than this time last year, so bang in a We Buy Any Car valuation to get a ball park figure and then compare with listings on Autotrader, so you have figures to negotiate with.

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Fri 17 Sep 2021 14:25
Can a third party's insurer write off my car - madf
you are entitled to have it repaired to your satisfaction or take proper market price to put you in a position you were in prior to the crash you need to know for sure what this is and if its rare or a special model you need to quote examples from say autotrader to back you up

Also bear in mind used car values are, unusually, 12-20% higher than this time last year, so bang in a We Buy Any Car valuation to get a ball park figure and then compare with listings on Autotrader, so you have figures to negotiate with.

WBAC valuation is for selling.to them.

You want a price for buying - which will be c 20% more.

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Fri 17 Sep 2021 18:09
Can a third party's insurer write off my car - Hugh Watt

I don't think WBAC was in business when this question was posted. Strange how these threads get resurrected.

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Fri 17 Sep 2021 18:47
Can a third party's insurer write off my car - Xileno

Usually old threads are resurrected by spammers but that's not the case here. Probably found by a search engine and perhaps didn't realise it was so old. Although the content of some threads doesn't date compared to other subjects, this being a good example.

I suggested to Avant a few years ago it might be wise to lock old threads (people could still link to them) but he wasn't enthusiastic. It would have to be done by the IT Team, it's not something Moderators can do, we can only lock individual threads.

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Sat 18 Sep 2021 09:59
Can a third party's insurer write off my car - Theophilus

I suggested to Avant a few years ago it might be wise to lock old threads (people could still link to them) but he wasn't enthusiastic. It would have to be done by the IT Team, it's not something Moderators can do, we can only lock individual threads.

Another option for the IT Team to consider (if they ever do review the format of the site) would be for the index of threads on the landing page to detail the date a thread was first posted in addition to the date of the last posting - we would then have the option of ignoring ancient topics, at present it isn't clear unless one actually opens the thread.

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