LV Write off valuation

[Laney65]

I was involved in a no fault accident and car written off.

 

I have been offered £4700 minus excess £4300 which according to glass guide is below the book value. I did not accept and they have offered another £200 needless to say I have turned that down as well.

 

I have researched and sent details to them of comparable cars ranging between £5600 and £6200

Plus Parker and Glass guides of £6200 and £6720 retail price.

 

I have been told by LV today that I am only entitled to market value not retail value and are now going to look at it again has they had my milage at 41000 even though I told them it was 33000. Well below average for year.

 

If they get what they want this will leave me having to find around 22% of the market value of a similar car (the lower value £5600 one) for a no fault accident. Surely this isn't right and what can I do next when they come back with another offer?

 

Cheers for reading.

[Mwynci]

Market Value is retail value, Glass's is based on the market, for the trade to know what the market value is to sell to you the punter. Unless there is good reason for your car to be worth less ( poor condiition, pre accident damage etc) LV are having a laugh. Make a complaint.

[Laney65]

Yes that's exactly what I thought I was entitled to. I spoke to someone at FOS today and he even said market value of car at time of accident, but also added that this doesn't have to be a forecourt retail price. So it looks like even the FOS phoneline don't know what they are on about either, he seemed to be under the impression that market value includes trade in values.

[unclebulgaria67]

The value LV need to pay, is the amount it would cost you to replace the car with one similar.

 

This may not be the advertised prices, as it is viewed by the FOS, that most people would negotiate a reasonable reduction. So if you saw a car advertised for say £6000, you could probably get the car for say £5500.

 

Best thing to do, is get as much information as you can to support a realistic 'market value' and ask LV to look at this, as you don't want to delay the claim too much, by asking the FOS to review.

[Laney65]

To be honest I would be happy with £5500 but they seem to be playing hard ball with me at the moment. I have already found a replacement that was at £6300 and negotiated it to £6000, and told LV of this and sent all the details, just a waiting game now I guess. It took them over a week to contact the TP insurer and still no answer from them as to accepting liability. I have police reports and independant witnesses as to me being at no fault, so again I guess it will take ages to be able to claim excess and other uncovered losse's back as well. I've had no replacement or courtesy car so will claim loss of use from TP insurers along with the cost of premium phone number charges so far about £60 to sort this crap out. LOL

 

Should I also claim for my time spent on all this chasing around, researching evidence etc?

[raydetinu]

yes if your insurers have accepted that it is all the tp fault, you should be put back in a position before the incident; i.e. the cost to get a car in a similar condition etc. at no cost to yourselves.

Also you would be entitled to alternative transport and all out of pocket expenses.

LV should get all this back from the TP insurers. If for nay reason they dont or wont then you can take the TP to court for any shortfall which again should be met by their insurers.

Do you have legal cover as part of your policy, get them to do that for you.

[Laney65]

No didn't take legal cover out but am more than happy and confident to deal with it myself to be honest. Just waiting for the TP to accept liability or could be a long process of police and witness evidence coming into play.

 

TP turned into oncoming taffice to turn right just has I went through the lights and boom!!!

 

Apparently because my policy was through M&S underwritten by LV I'm not entitled to a replacement car even though my policy states that I am, they say because it was through M&S and not direct with LV I don't get one. And to date I have not had one for 16 days now, and counting looks like a nice claim for loss of use as well.

[Mwynci]

The FOS frontline are not the best, they will almost always go in at retail, always have, even the IOB (their precursor) used to. Adverts are pants, i have no idea why insurers still ask, other than due to poor trained staff dealing with claims like the did years ago. The internet killed the idea of local market.

Take an interim payment and dsipute, don't listen to LV about if they can't make a recovery and will affect your ncd (they will try this), if they play this game go to the FOS. If you accept an offer from your insurers, contrary to the above good advice, you will have a nightmare getting this through the courts, plus you won't be able to claim lou past a reasonable period if you could have taken an offer.

[Laney65]

Thanks for all the advice guys LV have come back to me with a very fair offer and we have now settled. NCD is protected so no worries on that score and loss of use will be 16 days from claim to settling so can't see that being a problem either. Got another £1000 out of thenm which means I can replace like for like already found the car all in all not a bad experience just went on a few days more than it needed to really.

[Mwynci]

good news.

[Laney65]

Well if you know your rights you get there I suppose have to say I found out what I was entitled to on here otherwise I would have thought I was only entitled to trade value. The whole process was quite civilised.

[raydetinu]

Thats what we are here for.

Glad you got it sorted.

[Laney65]

Well the saga is continuing.

 

Total loss claim setttled and new car on road again now.

 

It's now 8 weeks since my accident , LV have so far not confirmed with TP insurer liability for accident, and therefore no payment of my £300 excess back.

 

I only have registration details for other vehicle would it be worth me chasing this myself with TP (AVIVA) over the phone? Any ideas how long something like this can take? I desperately need that excess paying back sooner rather than later.

[raydetinu]

IMO You will not get excess back as you claimed on your policy.

What LV agree with the TP insurers has nothing to do with you.

[Laney65]

Well according to LV they are going to claim the excess back for me, but if what you say is correct then I will just add it to the losses on my PI claim.

[unclebulgaria67]

Yes you could chase AVIVA up about this. Sometimes they just appear to leave it as long as possible to rebate excesses, where their Insured was at fault.

[Laney65]

Thanks Uncle. I thought I probably could.

[Ganymede]

Well according to LV they are going to claim the excess back for me, but if what you say is correct then I will just add it to the losses on my PI claim.

 

 

Your excess is an uninsured loss but it you include it as a special damage with your PI claim you have to wait until your claim settles which could be months.

 

Who is doing your PI claim for you?

[Laney65]

Hi guys,

 

advice needed.

 

Did not have legal cover when accident happend so am at a bit at a loose end. LV are supposedly chasing my uninsured loss of £300 excess for me, but to be honest are not doing a very good job, as they seem to be just sitting on their hands.

They have not even got any admission of liability from TP after 12 weeks of trying.

I have a schedule of other uninsured loses and have drafted a letter to TP insurer givng them 14 days to reply or I will persue in the County Court. I have no details of the TP other than registration number of vehicle. Both the police that attended and 2 independent witnesses state I was at no fault.

 

Should I go this route now or wait for LV?

 

Do I issue against AVIVA the third party insurer?

 

Thanks for reading.

[unclebulgaria67]

Think you have to allow 3 months to pass before you can issue a court claim. You have to issue a letter before action to the third party driver, saying that you will issue a court claim, if the relevant amount is not paid within 21 days. You then can issue the court claim against the third party driver, using the online small claims court process. Tell LV that you are doing this before you proceed, as they may not back you up if you lost. I.E you may have to pay relevant costs, if you lost.