Hi All,

Just before Christmas someone lost control of their car on a bend and drove head on it me. My car has been written off and I've been offered half the value of what I paid for it ... I only had teh car 5 weeks! I intend to show my insurance company the receipts for my car and how much it would cost for a replacement car in the same condition as mine was.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to anything else I can do or what my rights are on the value of the car I only had for 5 weeks?

Many thanks,

James.

Hi James and welcome to CAG. Have you asked the insurance company where they got their valuation from? Has anyone from the insurance company come out and seen the vehicle? I don't think that you have to take the amount offered by the insurance company as gospel. If poss, get an independant valuation of your car from Parkers or someone like that and submit this to your insurance company.

Hi jowalshy,

Thanks for your reply. The insurances companies assessor has been to look at the car and he has spoken to me about how much I paid for it and how long I'd had it. I'm awaiting a call from said assessor to discuss the valuation again as I feel it is unrealistic. I've looked through adverts for similar vechicle and they are about the same as what I paid for mine. They have got their price from the part exchange value of the vechicle. What gets me is that when you start your insurance they ask you the value of the car and are happy to take your money but as soon as it comes to a claim it's much less! I think I'm in this situation becuase the driver who crashed into me is with the same insurers so either way they have to pay twice!

James.

Unfortunately this is what most people belive. They take out insurance and are asked the value of their car thinking that if it gets written off, that will be the amount they will receive from the insurance company. Here is a link that may explain:-

Insurance, Home Insurance, Life Insurance, Health Insurance » Why Is The Payout Value On Your Car Less Than The Insured Value?

Tell them that if they think it is possible to replace your car with similar at the price they are offering then they can do so.

This sort of thing happened to me some years ago and that is what my broker told my insurance company to do. I then got the full amount.

Also it is not a vey good policy to accept what an insurance company offers. They always try and pay you less.

This is where a broker comes in handy

A few things you need to check before you do anything. Do you pay by Direct Debit Installments? Some companies will dedcuct any remaining premium from a settlement for a total loss (e.g the cars worth £2000, you pay £50 a month and you have 6 months left, they would take the £300 you owe them from the £2000 they owe you for the car and you'd get £1700.

Also, does the settlement include deduction of your XS? As this would appear to be a non-fault claim then this shouldn't be the case but its always worth checking just in case someone in the claims team has made an error.

Failing that, the insurance companies use "the black book" which is what the motor trade use. Its essentially the Glasses guide. You can go to the website and get a valuation for your car on there, at least then you'll have an idea as to what they're thinking.

Hope this Helps

DA

darkangelsdelite - re: XS - the XS is only ever waived by the insurance company if the third party insurance company accept liability for the incident, otherwise the XS is payable regardless if the accident was not the "claimant's fault".

I know.

Thats why i said it would APPEAR to be a non fault claim and this SHOULDN'T be the case. Rather than saying it IS a non fault claim and this ISN'T the case.

That said, if the TP lost control of their car and hit him then i cant see how his insurance company would deny liability anyway.

DA

JHoulston, The insurance company should put you in the same condition as you were in, within reason, the fact that the vehicle was only purchased 5 weeks ago, should mean that upon receiving teh receipt they should be paying in full really. Also, the insurer I work for advise people the dispute procedure is to provide Like for Like Examples, PRIVATE SALE, as these are usually cheaper, however, If you purchased the car from a garage, they must pay trade price.

Ask them where they got the Valuation, it is more than likely to be the Glasses Guide, or Parkers Used Vehicle Guide, visit their sites online and have a look, they are perfectly good examples of like for like vehicles, if the vehicle has a high mileage, poor condition, etc, then this would obviously afffect the valuation placed on the vehicle.

If you purchased your policy through a Broker, contact them to see if you Have GAP insurance on your police (they will try to get the offer raised!) or if not, adv the broker you are unhappy and see if they will dispute with you.

Also, if you;ve sent all your documents in, ask for an Interim Payment of the offered amount, so at least youve got something.