08-11-2018, 10:43 AM | #1 |
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Negotiating Insurance Pay Out on a Total Loss
As subject, my missus and kids were involved in an RTC last week. The other driver has admitted full responsibility and it’s now being dealt with by his insurers.
I’m 90% certain that our car is going to be written off. It’s an old car and there’s very significant damage and I counted at least 3 panels that need replacing as well as a fair bit of welding. The car was collected by designated body shop yesterday and we are awaiting a decision. In the meantime, I want to get all our ducks in a row with a view to strongly negotiating a favourable settlement figure if and when it comes to it. Anyone been in a similar situation? To make matters worse, we spent £700 on it just last week to get it through its MOT. Any advice appreciated! Last edited by nordberg; 08-11-2018 at 11:06 AM.. |
08-11-2018, 11:11 AM | #2 |
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Just get a few examples of similar cars for sale and use those as the basis of the payout you need to leave you in a position where you could replace your car. The money you have spent will help you prove your car was properly maintained but may not do much
To enhance their offer. First step is to see what They offer and know what you need. |
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08-11-2018, 12:12 PM | #3 |
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Delay them - not unreasonably, but whatever their offers (and they will increase), say you want to seek independent verification.
My brother-in-law's car suffered a total loss when in the possession of purple parking and he knocked them back 3 times by saying 'I can't buy another similar car for that so I'm going to check with Mazda (his was a 5 which had been discontinued). Start to finish his offer was increased by a little over £2k on a £10k car. EDIT: sorry to read this btw - I hope everyone is recovering well from the shock.
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08-12-2018, 02:44 PM | #6 |
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I was in a similar situation last year, I was replacing the car through the same dealership, so my salesman offered to negotiate the payout on my behalf by searching higher priced but similar units in the nationwide sales pool. He was able to help me get an additional $1000 over the initial offer (about another 10% of the cars value)
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08-13-2018, 02:59 AM | #7 |
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Hope everyone is OK.
Dont back down. The loss adjusters job is to make sure the layouts are minimal. As said, get similar car adverts lined up - from dealers. You have evidence of its mechanical soundness to use I wasn't prepared when my E91 was written off (insurance company were far quicker than I anticipated) but in the course of one phone call I managed to increase the offer by several thousand pounds (it was a relatively new AUC car, with plenty of options that I used to lever the price up) You may well want to get a call blocker on your phone if you haven't already, as the ambulance chasers will be hot on your heels. |
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08-13-2018, 01:48 PM | #8 |
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Having been through this I found that they seem to stick to the glass valuation. My particular issue was you could buy a similar age and mileage car for the payout it would not get a car with the same or close spec.
I am currently escalating to the ombudsman as I don't think I got a fair payout, which is your last point of escalation. My sister had a total loss a while ago and direct line were a lot easier to deal with than Aviva so it also depends on the insurer |
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08-13-2018, 02:35 PM | #9 |
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Do bear in mind that their counter-argument against a dealer 'for sale' price is that such a price includes 6 months warranty as part of the CRA legislation. Your old car probably had no such warranty in place.
As such, if you were given enough money to buy such a car, then it would be 'betterment'. |
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08-15-2018, 12:50 PM | #11 |
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08-15-2018, 02:23 PM | #12 |
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Rear shunt approx 30mph.
Rear end crumpled on one side and hatch buckled. No chance it was ever going to be anything but a write off. Car was probably worth £1500 on a good day and the estimator put repair costs at £4K. |
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