Lexus GS300 - Victim of hit and run

Honest John Back Room » Legal matters
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Tue 30 Nov 2010 14:50
Lexus GS300 - Victim of hit and run - crazycrabbe

Our Lexus (1998) was side swiped while it was parked on the road in front of our house about 2 weeks ago. The driver didn't stop, but a neighbor who had been out walking her dog, witnessed it and got a partial registration. The police have not been able to find this other vehicle with only the first 4 digits of the registration and no make/model (witness only knew it was a maroon 4x4). The car is perfectly drivable but the damage estimate was £3300. The wing mirror was broken off, there is a dent in the front passenger door where the hinge is, so the door doesn't open all the way, there is a thin paint scratch starting from the front side bumper all the way to the rear passenger door, and the front passenger window is scratched along the bottom edge. We are fully comp with Aviva and they have told us that the car will be written off as a Cat D and they'll give us £1500 minus our £400 excess. Well they may as well have slapped us in the face and it would've had the same effect. Our car was previously owned by my in-laws from new. It was in mint condition, had been well looked after, full service history, etc. And I'm supposed to walk away with £1100 when it wasn't even our fault? We told the assessor that from the for sale ads we've been seeing, to get a car with full service history and excellent condition like ours, they cost from £2000 - 2500. He said he absolutely would not be giving us that amount and raised his offer to 1700. We're still not happy.

What are our options here? Since we don't have the other insurance company in the equation, what are our rights? Can we insist they repair the car? What about buying the car back? When all is said and done, we don't want to give the car up because we know the service history and that it is in perfect running condition. Do they have to sell the car back to us? How much would we expect to pay? Can they refuse to sell it back to us? Or can we just drop the whole claim altogether and remain insured as before and just do the repairs ourselves?

Please advise us on what you would do in this situation. Also, if anyone has any tips on how we might locate this other car with what little info we have, it would be greatly appreciated. My husband and I have had a couple of "stakeouts" around the immediate area, but no luck.

Thanks

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 1 Dec 2010 07:31
Lexus GS300 - Victim of hit and run - LucyBC
People often travel the same route at about the same time on the same day so that is probably the best hope of finding them without a witness.

You cannot force them to repair the car and the value will be based on the age, mileage and condition.

They almost certainly will let you keep the car for self repair with an adjustment for the salvage made in the settlement cheque. The trick in the procedure is for them to make a financial settlement. If they list the vehicle as an economic write-off it will be listed with HPI and others and will show as a Cat D affecting the value if you ever decide to sell it.

It's obviously perfectly repairable and for not very much money if you can find a decent bodyshop.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 1 Dec 2010 13:42
Lexus GS300 - Victim of hit and run - bonzo dog

Hi crazycrabbe (I would be too, in your shoes!), sorry to hear of the low-life that smacked your car; it's the world we live in. A few points if I may:

  1. You don't mention the model & derivertive but either way there ain't going to be many 1998 Lexus of your type knocking around for sale, which (unlike the popular cars - Focus, Astra etc) means yours will hold it's value once it reaches a certain age. I had an uncommon vehicle which plummeted like a stone in value from new but I got 20% of its initial price after 11 years. If someone wants one, they have to pay
  2. Look around the used car ads (incl Autotrader) & get some actual examples of your make, model, derivertive & mileage. Send these in to Aviva as proof of how much they should be giving you. Remember they should be paying you what it would cost for you to replace the car with a like for like
  3. Ask them for a reason in writing why they are valuing your car at £1700. If this is Glasses Guide Retail value, all you can do is adjust for mileage & a couple of hundred for condition & FSH
  4. On the other hand, the big problem is you have a large XS in relation to your car's worth. They are saying your car is worth £1700 NOT £1100. You chose the XS, not them
  5. If you can get them up to a figure you are happy with, then offer to buy the car back for £1500 & use the balance to fund some of the repairs.

Good luck

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

We give you the low down on how to save on insurance, little-known tricks and tips, what insurance groups mean and how to use insurance aggregators to beat insurers.

Insurance group finder and how to save on insurance