The back end of my car has been severely dented by a lorry. I was stopped on the M4 and he ran into me.
The car is seven years old with 140K on the clock, I cannot think that the insurers will sanction a repair, I feel it is not economic. In 2001 I paid £4.5K for the car and after three years I feel I will be lucky to get more than £1.5K from the insurers. If the car is written off, that means I will have to find ~£3k to buy another similar car. Now I understand the insurers will only pay what the car is worth just prior to the crash. Do I, through my Uninsured Losses Policy have any redress ie ask for a sum of money extra to compensate me if I buy a car in a similar condition but costing more than the ~£1.5k.
I shal be claiming for the usual things such as the excess and damaged goods in the boot. Any other legal thoughts. I'm of to see the Dr. to check for whiplash and spinal injuries in the morning.
Many thanks.
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If you're claiming off the third party's insurance, and not through your own, it is a slow process, and for me, this took 9 months (which is OK if the car is still legal to drive) I was told, that they have to repair the car, if that's what you want, so that's what happened, I had a small amount of cosmetic damage on a 10 year old car, I got £1300 and sorted it myself with elbow grease and a touch-up stick. What's more, it was a cheque, so I spent it on other things. They asked me for 2 or 3 quotes, which I hot, but the others were for about 1/3rd as much as the dearest one, thankfully this was the only approved bodyshop for my make of car in my city, so I said this and so they accepted it. So just get one quote from the dealer of your car, and tell them you want it 100% perfect as you hope to restore the car as a classic.
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thats very intresting, i run 2 1989 vw golfs which i keep superb ,and i love em to bits
so your telling me if some causes bad damage ,i can insist it gets repaired?
the value of my cars is very low, but it would cost 1000s to find and make another car as good
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It took me 4 weeks to get the cost of the car back, then another 18 months or so to agree costs for injuries, losses etc.
My car was written off by the other side's insurers and the cheque arrived promptly. This is due in part to a very efficient young lady in the solicitor's office, who hounded them for it! The firm was Dawson Hart BTW.
If you have uninured loss cover on your insurence - CALL THEM - if you haven't a.lready done so.
It is considered resonable for the other side to decide whether or not to admit or contest liability within 2 or 3 months. If the liability issue is clear cut, as in this case, they will often agree quickly to keep costs down.
You need to do some homework. My guess is that an insurance assessor will look at prices of cars advertised privately similar to age and condition to yours, say with service history etc. You need to do the same and prepare a case to support a value of your car. I would err on the high side do there is room for manovre. I managed to get the assessor to up his valuation by £50 in this way.
If your car is written off by a third party a salvage value will be declared. The insurers would normally offset this against any award, and you get the salvage. In my case the salvage value was nill and the salvage was then my responsibility. I actually made £125 on the vehicle by selling wheels etc. and that was mine to keep. You need to try and get this as low as poss, unless the car is still OK to drive in every respect (eg will still pass MOT etc). You don't want to be stuck with a pile of scrap on your drive that you can't get rid of AND have to pay for it!
If your car is to be repaired, now is the time to get those niggly bits of bodywork done at the same time. How? substitute new tailgate and rear bumper for second hand, and get the bodyshop to spend the difference on the other areas. As long as you're happy with the work, the insureres have discharged their responsability effectively.
Injury? If you have been injured your GP will obviously treat/refer you but will probably not write a report on your injuries for insurance purposes. Your uninsured loss recovery people would organise for you to see a specialist, and pick up the bill.
Also, make sure you do the following;
Keep a record of ALL your costs, such as damage to property, without car expenses etc - your legal rep will need these to compile a schedule of losses and expenses.
Make sure that you are fully aware of when you may have to pay for something yourself (eg consultancy) I agreed with my solicitors that they would inform me should I ever have run the risk of incurring a cost I could not claim back.
Keep your costs to a minimum. Mark RLBS mentioned this a while back. If you need a car to get from A to B and a much smaller one is offered, unless you can demonstrate a practical reason for needing one the same size as yours, you have to bite the bullet.
NEVER communicate with the insurers or any party representing or being represented by the other side if you have a solicitor or legal "expert" acting on your behalf - that includes claim handlers.
Think laterally when considering costs;
If your car is written off, how much petrol is in it? is it half a tank? Do you have your last receipt of CC transaction to hand?
If your car is off the road, can you cash in the RFL, Would you effectlively have to tax both old and new cars at the same time, For example if your car was off the road now, any replacement you buy would have to be taxed from the beginning of the month, so you have 2 RFL to pay for August.
Any damage to property within the car, any damage to accessories not fitted as standard and not included in the valuation?
Postage and telephone costs associated with dealing with the claim- standard is oten around £25 depending on the duration - but NOT your time.
Travelling to see specialists etc to do with the claim, mileage, tickets etc??
I actually claimed for a premium adjustment, for insuring my temporary car, as I claimed I needed a car for the remainder of the policy duration - to tide me over, and I claimed the difference between the purchase price and the eventual sale price of said car - successfully I might add.
I'm not advocating attracting windfalls, just make sure you're not out of pocket.
Hugo
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If the car is written off, that means I will have to find ~£3k to buy another similar car. Now I understand the insurers will only pay what the car is worth just prior to the crash. ..
peter -
no, no, no.
assuming no fault on your part, you are entitled to be put back in the situation you were before the crash.
quoting from my previous reply earlier in the year:
"valuation of writtenoff cars
www.theiob.org.uk/digest/v/valuation_of_motor_vehi...l
"Usually the policy provides for payment of the ' market value' of the vehicle (or words to that effect). How do we establish that? So far as the Bureau is concerned, two points are now clear. First, that market value is not the second-hand value of the car (unless the policyholder was in fact intending to sell it before it was stolen or written off) but what a replacement of similar age, condition and so on would cost. Second, [See: VALUATION OF MOTOR VEHICLES para 2] there are different markets. The appropriate one is not, as insurers often assume, the market for private sale and purchase of vehicles, through newspaper ads and the like, unless there is evidence to suggest that that is the market in which the policyholder intends to buy a replacement. As a general rule, the appropriate market will be the public one, so the policyholder gets what it would cost to replace the vehicle through a motor dealer. How do we find out what that would be? All relevant evidence has to be considered, but in particular we have to rely on standard trade guides! "
may i refer you to at least two previous threads which may help:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=21...2
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=19...6
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If your vehicle is written off, you should get the amount of money required to buy a similar vehicle in similar condition.
Not a better one. Not one in the condition that yours was three years ago, but the condition of yours immed. prior to the accident.
Unless there's something special about the vehicle, I would avoid the salvage if I were you.
However, let us say the car is worth £1,500 and they estimate repairs at £1,000. It might be that you could have it done with secondhand parts, or living with some damage, for £300. In which case you would be wise to take the money from the insurer and spend it differently. You do not have to have the car repaired, people usually do, but you don't ahve to. Neither to you have to spend any or all of the money on the repair.
So look into the facts & figures before agreeing to anything.
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& somebody posted a few months ago that you should give your car a *good* valeting before they come to value it (if they come) as this will increase its value. So (if you believe this) polish those alloys, bumper black, tyre black, empty the ashtray, a new Magic Tree etc. etc.
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