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Hi there
I was wondering if anyone would be able to help me. Ive never had to make an insurance claim before so im a bit lost on what to do.
On christmas day my car was parked up outside my parents house on the pavement. Someone drove into the back of it and it has now been written off because of the amount of damage that was done. The mans insurance has admitted that they are at fault
The price of the car when I bought it in August was £4295. I paid an £850 deposit and the rest was agreed on finance which I have been paying for since August.
Tesco insurance have offered me £4000 for the car. The remaining finance settlement is £3600 so this would be covered. However tesco also claim that I have to pay the remaining insurance policy money for the year (as I was paying for it monthly). I understand this is standard practice. However I owe tesco around £600.
This would leave me with a £195 surcharge that I have to pay. (Although the accident was not my fault!)
Should I decline the offer? What would happen next it I declined it.
Also, what about my £850 deposit, and the £120 a month on the finance that I have been paying? It feels like money that has just gone down the drain with nothing to show for it. If the man had not driven into my car, at least one day I would actually own it! Now I have no car and no money towards a new car. Is there any chance of being able to get any of that money back?
Insurance can be a minefield, especially when it's your first claim.
First off what you owe on your car and what your car is worth are two seperate things, just because you have outstanding finance (which includes an element of interest) does not make your car worth anymore. The price you paid for your car (unless it's a specialist rarity model insured on an agreed value policy) again is not relevent. It's unfortunate you were hit by another driver but if your insurers have offered you a fair market price then that's the limit of their obligations. Look through Auto trader and other places that sell cars and find out how much one like yours with roughly the same mileage and in the same condition is selling for and compare that with what you are been offered by your insurers.
On the point of paying your full years car insurance, your insurers are correct. You agreed to buy a 1 year insurance policy, even if they allow you to pay it monthly it's still a 1 year policy and if you make a claim for a total loss that is the maximum they would ever have to pay out, however, it's a condition of all insurance policies that in total loss cases the full years premium must be paid and no refunds or cancellations allowed, which is fair when you think about it.
As Mossycat says look for adverts showing similar vehicles and condition and compare the prices. If it would cost you more than what they are offering to replace your car than the settlement figure then you reject that offer as too low and provide evidence (the adverts). As you have now been without your vehicle for over 30 days how are you getting about? Has a hire car been given to you? Have you kept receipts for out of pocket expenses due to the ongoing claim?
If the other driver admitted fault, why is your insurance paying you out? If he's at fault surely you claim off his insurance and if you don't want a replacement car you should be entitled to cancel your own insurance seeing as you haven't claimed on it
An as said above, if you can talk up the settlement figure then go for it. I talked mine up by £500 iirc.
Car insurance claim help
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