Hi all

Long time again

(it's funny how you only seem to need these forums when something goes wrong! It's reassuring to know there's a place to turn in times of crisis!)

Situation is

on the 1st of this month I took delivery of a brand new mini, on PCP.

Today, I was in an RTC that wasn't my fault (police attended and are doing the other driver for driving without due care).

I am having the car repaired by the mini dealership, which means I have to pay my excess and recover it later. All standard.*

I spoke to the mini dealer today who have looked at the car and think it may be a write off.

My question is,

this is a car with over £5k of extras on top of the basic cooper price.

If they write it off and I suffer a shortfall between invoice price and the amount I get as a settlement,

can I claim the shortfall from the third party via the "uninsured losses" route alongside the excess etc.?

I don't have gap insurance.

Thanks for any pears of wisdom

Just to add,

the mini bodyshop haven't yet had chance to take the bonnet off to have a proper look and assess the damage costs,

this was just his guesstimate looking at the amount of work that will probably need doing

- all the airbags have gone off for example.

I'm surprised they managed to get the car from the compound in the same day as the accident to be honest!!

Thread moved to correct forum.

Surprised that you did not take out GAP Insurance as that is the norm these days with a new car. GAP Insurance covers the difference between write off value and what was paid.

Check your Car Insurance. Many will cover the new value of the car, if written off within the first 12 months of registration. This would be the new value that you paid for the car.

If you don't have Car Insurance that covers the new value, then if it is a write off you will be offered the market value to replace with a similar car. Insurers will normally look at the retail price shown in guides such as Glass.co.uk. If the offer they make is not acceptable, it would be up to you to gather evidence of what the car would cost to replace and Mini may be able to help you. They will have details of nearly new Minis of the same model that are in stock and can provide details.

If you can evidence a loss that is not insured, you can of course take the third party to court, but the claim may be disputed by the third parties Insurers.

I doubt that the car would be a write off. The repairs would need to be about 60% or more of the cars value and for a nearly new car, that would be a large bill. Your Insurers may not be happy with such a quote and will get an engineers inspection. The Insurers may want their own authorised repairers to quote for the work.

Just checked and esure will give me a new car, problem is, I realised having gone through my docs that I didn't declare the factory fit options!

so, they will probably give me a basic cooper! crap!

Ask the insurance company how much they will sell you the damaged one for. Don't let the bodyshop have it for pennies, do it up and make a fortune. Plus you get all those extras you paid for.

Ask the insurance company how much they will sell you the damaged one for. Don't let the bodyshop have it for pennies, do it up and make a fortune. Plus you get all those extras you paid for.

it will be a cat C write off. Worth about 50-60% of proper value as its so new. Unless the op can buy it for pennies, there is no 'fortune' to be made.

TBQH there are no fortunes in the car game if you do it properly, it was a decent living, no more, never will be more.

Just checked and esure will give me a new car, problem is, I realised having gone through my docs that I didn't declare the factory fit options!

 

 

so, they will probably give me a basic cooper! crap!

Be very careful with Esure. They have a bit of a reputation of finding ways to wriggle out paying a claim. These factory fitted options are modifications you failed to declare. Esure may try to void the policy and not pay out.

Now Esure should not void the policy, as the modifications should not be material as to whether you had an accident or not. Normally an Insurers is not allowed to void a policy to avoid a claim, if the non disclosure did not affect the claim event.

You may just not get the money for the modifications and they will only pay for a standard car.

So be careful when you talk to Esure. I just wonder whether you might get a better offer including the modifications from the third parties Insurers, than what you would get from Esure for a standard new car.

Thanks all - I am considering fessing up about the mods hoping the insurer will simply back-bill me for the increased premiums.

This is a non-fault accident surely there is no interest in them declaring my insurance void? The other party would still end up footing the bill surely?

Thanks all - I am considering fessing up about the mods hoping the insurer will simply back-bill me for the increased premiums.

 

 

This is a non-fault accident surely there is no interest in them declaring my insurance void? The other party would still end up footing the bill surely?

You don't have to make a confession. You thought:wink: that the Insurance would cover the car as delivered, because these were just factory fitted standard options that anyone could include when ordering the car. i.e they were not modifications you had personally done and they are not specialist. They are just Mini options.

The question I have is whether Esure would backdate the modifications, pay you more and then try to claim the full price back from the third party insurers. I don't know whether they would do this. That would be up to Esure how they handle it.

So probably unlikely to be a voidance situation, but Esure have been known to act in a way that seems silly. They don't like undeclared modifications.

Be very careful with Esure. They have a bit of a reputation of finding ways to wriggle out paying a claim. These factory fitted options are modifications you failed to declare. Esure may try to void the policy and not pay out.

 

Now Esure should not void the policy, as the modifications should not be material as to whether you had an accident or not. Normally an Insurers is not allowed to void a policy to avoid a claim, if the non disclosure did not affect the claim event.

 

You may just not get the money for the modifications and they will only pay for a standard car.

 

So be careful when you talk to Esure. I just wonder whether you might get a better offer including the modifications from the third parties Insurers, than what you would get from Esure for a standard new car.

An Insurer declining a claim for non disclosure of a fact that did not affect the claim is not uncommon and certainly something they're allowed to do if it fits the criteria

An Insurer declining a claim for non disclosure of a fact that did not affect the claim is not uncommon and certainly something they're allowed to do if it fits the criteria

As you are probably aware the FOS have issued notes on this before.

If the non disclosure has no bearing on the claim event and the Insurers would have covered the risk, then they can't really void the policy to avoid a claim.