Dear All,

This is probabaly an old favourite, BUT please read.

The insurance company of the third party that hit my car has offered me £330 for my car which was written off as the repairs are estimated at £900. (I have TPL insurance only)

All I want is the correct money to buy myself a run around to replace the car that I used for the same purposes.

£330 will not cover it, as I cant buy a car with 6 months mot and tax for less than £450. If they offer me £330, I am £120 out of pocket as I will then have to buy a car for £450 to replace the one damaged by the TP.

As I am currently receiving a hired car which is being paid for by the TP's insurance at £50 a day they are not blessed with brains in trying to resolve this issue quickly. As i have had the hire car for 12 days already.

What rights do I have to request that I am "put back" to the same postion that I was in before the crash occured and who should I approach if the TP's insurance company is not interested in increasing the offer.

I just dont want to be left out of pocket through the negligence of the TP.

Any help would be apprecisted.

You can only claim for the value of your own car. You can argue that it is worth more than £330 if you can find similar ones advertised at a higher price and send a selection to the insurer. Try Auto-trader, eBay (Buy it now) etc. for examples. Send in the higher priced ones. You don't have to accept their first offer. Also be careful re the hire car; if the insurer thinks the hire car cost is excessive, you can possibly get left with the bill if it is one of the so-called 'credit hire' agreements. Check out other threads on here and check the small print of the hire agreement to see if it says something like '...if we cannot recover the costs from the insurer then I agree to pay.....'

Pud,

definitely find some examples for yourself and send them in- be as quick as you can to avoid being accused of delaying the claim and increasing the hire though.

You can claim your tax back, you need to go to your local post office for a form, cant remember the name but they will know. It doesnt matter if the vehicle has already gone to salvage- you will be able to recover it just using your vehicle details.

What did you value your car at when you took out the insurance ?

For details of the refund of Tax look here;

How to apply for a refund of vehicle tax | NIDirect

What did you value your car at when you took out the insurance ?

That is totally irrelevent

The reason insurers ask that is NOT because they are agreeing a value, but simply because it highlights if there is anything unusual about the car. For example if the policy holder says the car is worth £30000 and it's a 3 year old ford focus then they know that something isn't right and will look deeper into it, the only other use for that question is when cars get above a specific value or if it's a classic car and the policy holder is wanted an 'agreed' value before taking the policy out.

So in this case it wouldn't matter if the OP had valued the car at £1000 or £100, they would still offer what GG advises the car is worth.

Mossy

I disagree with the last post. If you tell your insurer the car is only worth £100 then that is the most you will ever get out of them as they will have used that figure to influence the insurance quote they give you. They will argue that you told them it's worth so why are you quibbling. Never underestimate the value of your car when getting your car insured !

I disagree with the last post. If you tell your insurer the car is only worth £100 then that is the most you will ever get out of them as they will have used that figure to influence the insurance quote they give you. They will argue that you told them it's worth so why are you quibbling. Never underestimate the value of your car when getting your car insured !

You are absolutely and totally 100% wrong.

When a vehicle is declared a total loss or stolen not recovered the claims handler will get the current market value from a recognised source, usually Glass's Guide, and that what is offered to the policy holder.

The basic principle or insurance is to put you back in the position you were in prior to the loss/damage, so if a policyholder picked up a real bargain and managed to find a car for £2000 that had a market value of £3000, and declared its value as £2000 they would still get £3000 (or whatever GG states it is worth) , otherwise they would be penalised because the chances of them finding another such bargain are slim, likewise if they overpaid and bought a car worth £3000 but paid £4000 for it, they wouldn't get £4000 back.

It really is an urban myth that when you tell your insurer what your car is worth that that is the maximum you will get, or that that is the sum you are insuring it for. I do however accept that some smaller unscrupulous firms may have a clause that states that the value you put down may be the most you will get, but in the main all insurers work as I have explained.

Insurers DO NOT USE the figure you give them when calculating premiums, unless it is for an agreed value policy on a classic, rare or specialist vehicle.

If you give your insurer a value that is too high for the make and model you are insuring it will flag it up because it usually means that it is non standard or has high value extras fitted to it and that will lead to more questions about why the value is so high.

Mossy

+1 for Mossycat