mega help needed car insurance claim

[sidvicious]

my car was wrote off in a non fault accident.the other party accepted blame at the scene.my insurance company valued my car at 2500 then deducted money off for market differences ,condition(fair)and offered £1905 as i had fianance still owing on the car they paid this to the finance company.i had thought the valuation was under valued so i had not accepted the offer and had sent proof and was unhappy about what they were saying about the condition has it was exellent the only problem with it was a cigerette burn on the rear passenger seat which was there when i bought the car,they ignoredthe proof and paid the fiance company.i only found out when they came to take the hire car back.so now iam left with no car and no money to get another,can any one give me advise on what if anything i can do.

[Mossycat]

Lets just clarify something here

Are you saying that your insurance company settled this claim and paid out money to the finance company WITHOUT you accepting in writing and confirming that you agreed the valuation??????????

Mossy

PS I can understand them taking the hire car back since they have made you an offer, but have they really paid out the settlement figure?

[raydetinu]

I would complain to the insurance company and the insurance ombudsman!
I take it you were paying the insurance premium independantly of the car loan!
If it was not your faullt then the third parties insurance would be paying and you would have been entitled to get the retail cost of replacing your car with one of similar condition. The money should have been paid to you!
you would then have to pay the HP company, which is sometimes more than you recieved due to the interest etc. unless you had insurance to cover the short fall.

[Chesterexpress]

The insurance company are legally obliged to pay any monies owed to the finance company.

[Mossycat]

Originally Posted by Chesterexpress

The insurance company are legally obliged to pay any monies owed to the finance company.

That depends on what type of finance agreement it was, if HP or Contract Lease then yes since they own the car until full payment has been made, if it was a personal loan then No, but it any event they must obtain acceptance from the policyholder for the agreed settlement figure.

Mossy

[raydetinu]

Agree if the car was declared as being on hp when the insurance was taken out; Policy holder has to agree settlement figure with insurance co. Would get better deal if persued tp insurers direct, but may take longer.
I did this and got all the recent work done on the car included as well; new tyres, exhaust etc + top retail price so could get same again + loan car for 4 weeks. until sum agreed. Just kept saying no and sending them adds for equivalent car etc.
As innocent party you should not be left out of pocket

[Marciamac]

No insurance company ever gives you the full market value of an older car when it is declared a write-off. I had an accident nearly three years ago and Direct Line tried to tell me it wasn't worth repairing. My mechanic managed to get the repairs done for what the insurance company was prepared to give me, but if he hadn't, I would have been car-less, too, as I could not afford another one.

I also know from other people that the insurance companies always undervalue cars they wish to write off.

[Mossycat]

Originally Posted by Marciamac

I also know from other people that the insurance companies always undervalue cars they wish to write off.

I'd take issue with that.

Insurance Companies are not car dealers and therefore are not experts on the current retail value of every car, so they rely on a 'trusted' source, in most cases Glass's Guide, the same guide that car most car retailers use.

Once a car has been declared a write off they get the value from Glass's Guide and adjust it accordingly for mileage, condition and any extras (in exactly the same way as a garage would do) and they offer that to the policyholder.

In some cases Glass's Guide is wide of the mark and policyholders can write in and provide their own valuation together with proof (auto trader or other publicatiuon showing a car like their own on sale at a higher value).

The major probelm is people's perception and what they think their car is worth, coupled with the fact that most garages quote a forecourt price to allow for a trade in, go along with cash and most garages will sell you the car for less than it is up at.

Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying that all insurance companies play fair, those I have worked for operate along the lines I have stated above. I personally am a car fan so if someone comes back to me and has a reasonable argument I will up my value if I can justify it.

Mossy

[Marciamac]

You may be right, but when I had an accident (Jan, 2006), the insurers (Direct Line) seemed to take little notice of my low mileage and good condition of the car. They just looked at the 'book' value from the guide book. My mechanic had to really argue with them before they upped the payment at all, and even then it wasn't much.

[raydetinu]

That is when you are claiming off your own insurance you can turned over as the co. will only give you the market i.e. trade value; Now if you claim off the third party you must not be in a worse financial situation than before the accident etc. hence get equivalent full retail price for replacement car, that is why I claim againsnt the third parties insurers and often use the free legal bit supplied by my insurance even if fully comp.
And never, never accept the first offer, you will be surprised how much you can get out of them.

[Disgruntled Biker]

Not sure if this is relevant but I had a similar problem when my motorcycle was written off after being hit by an uninsured driver.
My insurance company had the vehicle assessed, decided it was a write off and told me it was worth £600 though I had paid £1500 for 10 months previously.
As I had a restricted licence at the time I had spent a great deal of time trying to find a "full size" motorcycle, in this case a 400cc, rather than a little 125cc.
I turned out there are very few of these on the market as to be in accordance with the licence requirements the vehicle must produce a factory power output of under 33BHP.
This in turn keeps the prices up and, as suggested above, I sent in dozens of examples from both dealers and private sellers showing motorcycles identical to mine, and in several cases almost identical mileage, age and condition selling for between £1200-1700 with £1200 being the cheapest I could find at the time.
Finally after 6 months arguing I managed to increase the original estimate to £950 but was still left out of pocket.

Colin

[raydetinu]

It is different if you are claimimg of your insurance company or the third parties insurance. if third party at fault you should not be worse off; they have to reinstate you the position before the accident, i.e. you should suufer no loss. If you are claiming on your insurance as your fault then yes negotiate like mad and dont accept the first, second offer.