Accident Damage= Total Loss

[smiffy]

Hi all

I had an accident with a pratt that decided to pull out of a side road into the off side rear wheel arch of my Focus Black.

It is a 51 plate and the insurance loss adjuster has declared it a total loss.

I am waiting for further correspondence from them but i wondered if you guys on here could give me a rough idea of the value of my car before the accident.

It WAS in good condition and has 104,000m on the clock. 1600cc.

As you probably know it has heated front screen,heated seats, heated mirrors,electric mirrors,air con,parking sensors,power steering.

It is a very good car and don't want to be ripped off with an offer that is too low.

Thanks in advance.

Simon

[pisco]

I had my Mondeo (02) TDCI climate pack, 120K written off last year. I STRUGGLED to get £1000 for it from them.

That was with a MINOR knock to the front wing and some scraping on the bumper. ;-(

I tried to get it back as it was still usable, but when it returned from the "repairer" it's front bumper was hanging off and the OS headlight was smashed and the bonnet had had a knock. They claimed it "wasn't them" that did the damage. After lots of complaints to the insurance company I eventually got a little more from them.

[jeebowhite]

I feel for you, I am in a not too disimilar position!

I recon for your car your probably looking at about 1200 best price, but they will probably start with 800 or so....

[artscot79]

Well my old mans citroen c4 vtr with 70k on it full service history immaculate car was £1000 final offer so i think £600 is what youre going to be offered to get £800 isnt too bad

[Guest]

Hey.

Im a senior insurance consultant so I might be able to help.

Im just wondering what your excess is and what cover you have...e.g comp or tpft?

If its tpft the insurance wont pay out and will cover the third party.

Also, research your car on auto trader etc to see how much its worth and you can even get an independent repair cost for your vehicle.

With this information youll be able to go back to the insurance company to see what they say.. dont take no for an answer and ask as many questions as to why they think its a total loss.

If they still wont budge you can get back the car. Repair it with an authorised garage, get it MOT'd and serviced and you can do that.

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[Guest]

P.s which insurance company is it? Check reviews, check the documents and terms and conditions.

But I definitely suggest doing your own research on car value of the vehicle of independent sources... email the insurance consultant your dealing with ditectly to show evidence that its worth something. And if the repair costs are then less then you might be able to get them to repair it

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[swhite87]

my mondeo (2004 2.0 tdci 130) was written off just before christmas, they started by offering me £850, so i refused it and did some research of my own and within about a fortnight of me sending them all the info the offer had shot up to just under £1400. so its definitely worth persuing them for a better offer

[1stghia]

Am I missing something here guys? I thought if you insured your car for "X" amount then you get "X" amount for a write off?? :/

[nicg]

I had a friend that had a bump and he valued the car at 1200 and his insurance have Him 2000 and offerd him to buy his car back for 500 that was an Astra Bertone

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[artscot79]

You cant buy back a total loss now and you dont insure youre car for x amount its insured for the market value which goes down each time a new model comes out

[1stghia]

You cant buy back a total loss now and you dont insure youre car for x amount its insured for the market value which goes down each time a new model comes out

So even though it appears my car is insured for "X" amount, in the event of a total loss this is infact a scam and I would have to thrash it out with the insurance company?? actually never claimed so no idea how this works lol but if true why does the insurance company ask "what value you want to insure the car for?" In which case with my fully comp, if I get rear ended for instance and the car needs £1500 worth of repairs, but the insurer only values the car at £1000, would I be right in thinking they would rather write the car off and try and bung you say.. £800 ??

Hope that makes sense :)

[jeebowhite]

Thats the way it goes.

My car damage is minimum 1600 (that is if they dont repair the ding in the bootlid), otherwise its 1900 - 2300 for the full back end to be repaired.

I am estimating that they will in fact write the car off, and I expect a pitiful offer of around the £800 - £1100 mark. just because I know how they like to try and avoid the payout.

Having checked other vehicles of the similar mileage, age etc, I could buy a replacement for around £2100 - £2400, given that former write off's will lose up to 20% value, I expect that my car would be worth around the £1800 mark, so I would have to fight to get a similar payout.

[artscot79]

Its the market value cars down youre way are cheaper than here buy yes if its not economical to repair its written off .as above if they can find a car similar being sold at £600 thats the first offer it was a battle to get the £1000 final offer even though up here the same spec and mileage cant be bought for less than 1500 but since it can be bought for less in england thats what they based it on .when they ask the value its not to insure it for that its to rake more insurance money out of you thats why you could be 20yrs old with a £300 car and the insurance still cost £1200 a year

[1stghia]

Jesus you learn something new evey day, cheers for that extra info jeebowhite and artscot79, to say I am appalled is an understatement lol :o

[jeebowhite]

Thats the issue with the industry market, they play ball to save a few quid, because by all accounts, it seems they need it!

[smiffy]

Thanks for all your replies.

I will let you know the value of their first offer.

Simon

[smiffy]

Have had an offer today of £1240 less £310, i guess this is the scrap value?

So am i right in thinking i have been offered £930?

Do you think this is a good offer?

All replies and guidance appreciated.

Cheers

Simon

[jeebowhite]

Yeah they take off your excess when you make a claim on your policy.

I would say this is still low. I would be asking for the full £1240

[smiffy]

Thanks Jeebowhite

The accident was not my fault so why would they deduct my excess?

I think i will ask for the full £1240 and see what they say/offer.

My car was in no way mint condition but it was in good condition.

Is it good practice never to accept the first offer? I am guessing they always price it low to begin with so there is a margin for upping it.

Cheers

Simon

[Guest]

Never accept the first offer. Always do your research on your car and price and then you can back up why u want £1200

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[Stoney871]

If you have legal insurance as part of your policy then you will get excess back.

If you didn't take legal cover then you would have to pursue a personal claim against the other driver.

[Guest]

It also depends if the other driver has insurance also.

Some insurance companys will cover uninsured drivers and some dont.

They may also have an additional cover called excess protection

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[jeebowhite]

Basically, I argued completely with admiral over the last few days, they wanted me to pay my excess too! I argued that

a) they had dashcam footage showing not my issue

b) they had photographic evidence he went into the back of me

c) my statement confirms the evidence and proves that it was not my error

they continued to claim that until such a time as the other party had accepted liability, I would have to pay!

So I argued the point - they had all the evidence, they agree it should be open and shut, and the industry itself argues that if you are hit from behind, the driver behind is held responsible until such a time as counter evidence is provided.

She went off, and after a week or more of telling me I needed to pay my excess, she came back and wiped clean the excess - jobs done.

So I would argue the same point. Find a vehicle on auto trader as close to yours as possible. Take the average price of a 30 mile radius and argue that is the cost that you want to be reimbursed and argue that as you are not liable you are not paying the excess (dont make it optional)...

[artscot79]

if im honest ide be careful you can buy that car for as little as £395 with the same mileage and condition so really they can offer you that as a minimum price the most expensive was £485 and from the dealers book they qoute the cars value as only £600 so youre doing well to be offered that much they can reduce the offer as well and saying no to the first offer may get you max £1000 but youre lucky if they do that

[smiffy]

Spoke to insuarance co. today and they said because it was not my fault my excess is unaffected.

I then said why deduct £310? He said that was the salvage price. That seems high to me.

I know my car is a high spec focus but can they really expect to get that amount for it as salvage?

Tried to find similar cars on Auto trader but could only find zetecs with similar mileage/year. Will these be sufficient proof of value?

Also, surely an insurance co. cannot decrease their original offer, it is my right to try and get as much as possible for my car.