A driver changed lane and drove in to the side of my December 2006 Avensis 2.0D4D Estate 37500 miles, yesterday, accepting full responsibility. All the offside panels will need replacing. Insurers have been advised.
Although my insurer has arranged an assessment of repairs, I wonder whether I would be better off asking my insurer to reimburse me for my loss (if I am entitled to do so) and trading the car in against an identical Avensis. My reason for thinking this is I assume the claim will be flagged on the HPI system so, in the event I want to trade the car in after repair, I may then receive less for it than if there had been no damage even though it would have been professionally repaired.
If a dealer were interested in my car however, as it is this morning, then I would be able to establish my loss, by comparison with other similar cars for sale.
I had not intended to replace the car, and appreciate if I keep it another 10 years say, the difference in value due to the accident will become negligible. You never know what might happen in your life however, and I would not like to end up losing money due to this accident if I decided to let it be repaired and then wanted to change it soon after.
Any advice anyone can give me on this would be greatly appreciated.
Edited by Pugugly on 11/08/2009 at 10:59
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Only write offs are recorded, so your car will not be entered on the HPI register (assuming it isn't written off!).
However, even with a professional repair, the value could yet be affected. You need to talk to your insurer to pursue legal action for uninsured losses such as these, if you have legal cover. They should be doing this to recover your excess in any case, assuming you're using your own insurer to perform the repair work.
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I can't see how this would work, and nor can I see how, if you keep the car for ten years, how you can forecast a loss, unless the work is not to standard.
I really can't see the point of having it repaired, and then PXing it for an identical age/model, either, as there has to be a loss once you sell the car to the dealer at trade and buy at retail.
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1. You should be dealing directly with the other party's insurers, not with your own. The latter will cost you money.
2. If the repaired car is worth less than the unrepaired car, claim the difference from the other party's insurers. Easy to establish.
3. If you will suffer higher premiums in future years (you will), then don't forget to claim for that from the other party.
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I did exactly this with an accident damaged Clio a few years ago. I'd got quotes from a couple of body shops and the damage would have cost about £600 to repair. I had been planningon selling the car as a trade-in before the accident, and didn't want to delay.
The whole thing was a bit complicated as the driver that had hit me when parked had driven off without leaving details, and I'd only got his as a witness left his details. I'd found him the next day, and he'd admitted to police that it must have been him.
Anyway, turns out that there was a problem with his insurance (I never really found out what), and my insurance wouldn't play ball if I was selling the car as then there was no dmage to repair as far as they were concerned. I ended up trading the car with the £600 taken off it's value, and then engaging a legal service to recoup my loss.
I didn't have this on my insurance, so I paid £30 up front to them to go after the guy. It took about 6 months, and I had to send all sorts of information plus stump up another £40 fee for the police to release details to my lawyers, but I got my £600, plus all the fees, plus another £100 for my time from the guy. I have no idea what happened to him, but I hope he got well and truly stiffed by his insurers after he tried to wriggle at every opportunity.
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