Also a threat of an email to the insurance ombudsman for unfair practices.

When I had the same problem I told the insurer to find and supply me with an identical car for the same value they were offering and I'd insure with them for five years.

As you can guess, they just upped their offer to the average of the 3 similar cars within 20 miles of my area - so when you send them evidence, use the higher value ones on sale.

Edited by Gibbo_Wirral on 19/01/2024 at 12:15

Insurance will use a mix of trade guides and adverts to value the car.

£3k isn't a huge amount. An advertised price won't be sold price as buyers usualllu negotate a discount. An approved main dealer car will have dealer warranty which would cost a buyer a few hundred pounds. Argue for another £1500 and see how it goes.

The first principle of insurance is that it should put the claimant back into a position that he enjoyed before an insurable incident.

Exactly. When this happened to me 7 years ago, and the third party had admitted fault, within days their insurer had searched the used-car market and arrived at a fair average purchase price for a like-for-like replacement. I chose to keep the car and pay for repair, but that's another tale. Insurer was Aviva BTW.

"If your vehicle’s been written off, your insurer will usually pay out its market value. This is the amount your vehicle would have been worth just before it was stolen or damaged."

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/complaint...s

If the other party's insurance is paying, their liability is only to compensate for the damage caused.