Prudential car insurance appeal

[kalahari]

Hi,

I'm currently claiming on my car insurance, its a write off.

I bought the car for £4600 4 months ago
A month ago it was petrol bombed, no one was caught but a witness saw someone do it.
Insurance are offering £3600 (fully comp)
Glasses valuation for sale at a dealer is £4250
The only car of this type and specification within 20 miles of my home address, on Auto trader, is £5000 (Traders only, there are one or two in private ads but I don't want to spend this much without any protection.)

I have a few questions.

Is it true the insurers have to return me to as close to the position I was in before the incident? For example similar car similar milage etc.

As I was not at fault is it likely I will keep my no claims?

The glasses valuation for my car is £4250, I've read in another post that this is the site the insurers use so is it likely they have sent me a low offer in case I accept no questions?

Bit of a specific one now, I'm with Prudential for this claim, can I appeal by phone, or at least start the process, as with the postal strike I know they won't get anything by post for the next week.

How far am I expected to go to find a similar car (This is quite a common car and there are plenty in a 30 mile radius.)

Do the insurers look at private sales for comparison or traders only.

Cheers in advance for any advice.

[GoldyR]

Hi Kalahari, I hope I can help you with this.

Re the settlement offer for your car, yes the insurers do need to put you back in the position you were in before the loss, but this does not mean they will find you a car. But they should pay you the 'current market value' of the vehicle in question. They can obtain the 'current market value' by looking at Glasses Guide, Parkers Guide & also by using tools such as Auto Trader on-line & the local press. It is likely the offer they have made you is based on Parkers Guide, which often shows lower values than Glasses. Most insurers will (sadly) start at a bottom line price & be open for negotiation, my advice to you would be to find examples of the same car selling for a higher price in your area, & forward these to the insurer - these vehicles must be like for like though, & this means with similar mileage & specifications.

If you are not at fault for the accident & liability is admitted by the person causing the dmg, you will not lose you no claims bonus - however, if the person hasn't been caught this is very unlikely & you will therefore lose your ncb (unless of course you are paying extra to protect it).

And lastly, if you bought the vehicle privately, then the settlement should be based on private sale figures. If you bought it from a garage, then it should be based on garage figures.

I hope this helps - let us know how you get on.

You should be able to appeal by phone, & if you confirm to them that you are 'unhappy' with their offer, they would need to treat this as a complaint & therefore would be obliged to either resolve it within 48 hours or acknowledge it in writing within 5 working days.

[kalahari]

Cheers for the advice, they've let me appeal by phone and the woman was more concered with passing it on to be looked at than my reasoning so maybe its just a standard event and I'll get a better offer almost automatically.

Will update as and when.

[Rob S]

Originally Posted by GoldyR

And lastly, if you bought the vehicle privately, then the settlement should be based on private sale figures. If you bought it from a garage, then it should be based on garage figures.

.

Goldy, whether or not the vehicle was bought privately or from a dealer makes no difference to the offer made by the insurance company. They will pay out based on its market value.

Kalahari, It might be worth doing a wider search than the 20 mile one that you did on Autotrader to see if you can find anymore examples of your car for sale.

[GoldyR]

Hi Rob, maybe things have changed since I handled Motor Claims then, but we always used to take this into consideration. Was a few years ago though! :o

[kalahari]

Originally Posted by Rob S

Kalahari, It might be worth doing a wider search than the 20 mile one that you did on Autotrader to see if you can find anymore examples of your car for sale.

Hi, I did, I went to 30 miles, none were close to mine in age or mileage other than the 2 I found within 20 miles.