Monday, not the best day ever.

[frank rabbets]

I've had a couple/three negotiations with insurers. That's what they are, start low if buying and high if claiming. Much cheaper buying directly off your insurers than a dealer. Really bad luck. Not just any old car.

 

[Towpack]

Going back nearly 30 years, when a myopic farmer wrote off my Fireblade, his insurer was eventually forced to accept full liability and they made me a cash offer which was actually more than I was expecting and was prepared ro accept. When I asked them about the damaged bike they just said keep it, we're not interested. I then sold it to a breaker for £2500! . I got the impression they had very little experience with motorcycle accident claims as the assessor they sent to view the damaged bike admitted that he'd never done one before!

 

[Bob]

This was similar to the situation a friend of mine was in 3 years ago when he managed to have a prang with his 1967 Mustang only 200 yards from his own gate. Assessor came out, said basically have no idea, they offered him 12 grand, and when he asked about the car, they said yeah we don't want it and can put it down as repairable if you want. He put a couple of grand with it and got a full respray and engine rebuild

 

[Howmanygoes]

Glad to hear you are ok. Gutting about the truck though I don't know if I could have kept my cool. Interested to see what the insurance company let it go for. Doubt many of us would get the insurance to repair.

 

[Jake the Peg]

I had a guy run into the side of my shogun a few years ago, damage was light but uneconomic to repair. When the 3rd party assesor came he told me they couldn’t force me to give them the salvage as the accident wasn’t my fault, I bought it back for £325 as part of the settlement. I guess you know to do your homework about how much a similar spec / condition LC will cost to replace and use this to fight for your reasonable settlement

 

[Higgy]

Do insurers follow the trends and watch rise and fall of expected value of vehicles.... Lets say my 80 gets written off, Do they just offer bottom book price... Or can i say No, One similar sold for 7grand the other day...... so its worth 7 grand... ......... I wonder what Bottom Book price is for a 1997 24v 80?

 

[Jake the Peg]

I think the insurance will always low ball you, and use book figures but it’s up to you to bring the fight and documentation of what it costs to replace with the same spec / age / mileage based on real world sales.

 

[Dave_S]

Had this a couple of times re insurance claims - most companies are much more reasonable than perhaps they were in the past and will offer the book value adjusted for mileage and condition - so in theory they should be close to what you would expect, rather than low-balling you. When my Lexus was written off they offered me a little more than I actually paid for the car, for example. That said, if the value offered is lower than you would expect, based on the current market, you can appeal using current live adverts (Autotrader, for example).

 

[frank rabbets]

They have to give you current market value = how much it would cost you to go out and buy another identical one.

 

[Tractionman]

In my experience, even based on low mileage and vgc, and non fault ( not lc) that has never happened.
What they pay does not put you in the same position as before the accident, regardless of the so called market value, and even though the other driver is at fault, always leaves me with the hassle and inconvenience. So, you pays yer money, and takes yer CHANCE.

 

[Shayne]

Include legal cover , suggest you need legal advice and the potential cost to them triples , better to shut you up with a reasonable offer .

 

[Tractionman]

This was MY insurance telling me. Legal cover has nothing to do with their valuation.
They don't budge on price, but after taking it to my preferred repairer, after theirs said it was so called uneconomical to repair, at ridiculous write off price, they coughed for repairs which were done to a high standard with perfect paint match at my preferred body shop.
Insurance then told me it would be listed as a cat c, as structural damage had occurred. After loads of shit and getting my bodyshop to confirm none, they backed down.
They were just miffed I think, that I had circumnavigated their little 'system'
There seems to be a hand in glove situation between insurers and their repairers, as they now levy a £200 extra cost to take it anywhere but their 'approved'. A common creeping practice now, according to my bodyshop owner.

 

[Juddian]

Over my motoring life i've had two written off motors.
1 was a mk 1 Diesel Golf, 2nd was my 70 series, 1st i was blameless when some plank in a pick up straightened a blind end out and rammed me head on, 2nd wifey took a set of armco out after being stung by something that possibly caused her a partial leg seizure, normally her driving is fast but efficient.
1st was insured by Coop when it was the old local rep method of insuring.
2nd by NFU which i believe is the best insurer out there, but at a cost i can't justify any more.

In both cases, the engineers who examined the cars stated on their reports how good the pre accident conditions of the cars were, so paid out at near enough likelty forecourt prices at the time, no negotiation required, i'd expected £4k for the 70 and they paid out £5 purely because of its obvious high maintenance condition.
Of course, both cars couldn't be replaced like for like because few used cars would be overmaintained to the sort of standards well represented by folk on these very pages, but the generous valuations helped to soften the blow each time.

Interesting stuff Tractionman, i'll keep that in mind of anything happens to either of the present vehicles.
I use a handy little 2 chaps and their dog bodyshop, who have generally come away from insurance work and now specialise in classics and private jobs, anything happens and it'll be going to them regardless.

 

[RichC4]

I've only had one car written off and was given a low offer. Luckily I had gap insurance and they were happy with the offer which made the whole process a bit more straight forward.

 

[Tractionman]

You're right with the bodyshops Juddian. The one I use is a small 3rd generation family operation that does classic restorations too, and is well used to negotiations with 'awkward' insurance companies. He has since done excellent work for me underneath my lc.The boss shouldered a lot of the shit the L&V were coming up with, and he is slowly going away from insurance work because of this general attitude.
Insurance own 'approved' body shop assessor didnt even look underneath, (rear end shunt) just stood there making notes on his clipboard, wasn't interested in very low mileage and overall excellent condition for age. My question to them later, was how did they come up with their statement of structural damage, - no answer.
In conversation with my bodyshop man the general consensus seems to be , insurances companies are trying to put excellent small businesses out of the game, by their approach of effectively 'fining' customers the £200 for daring to interrupt any set ups they have with their own 'approved' body shops. Also nonsense about not guaranteeing any work done by others. The others have generally a better standard than their own, who they probably screw down on price of repairs.

 

[Trevor]

Insurance assessor has done his bit, salvage is 40% of value which is a kicker. It's classed as a Cat S as the inner wing has pulled out and up from the A pillar so classed as structural.

If I do the repair then an accredited ATA engineer has to inspect the job at various stages, was told this could cost thousands. Get the feeling they don't want me to either repair it or have it back.

Body/structural repairs is all new to me, not really sure what to do other than have it back and break it, keep engine and find another hundee.

 

[frank rabbets]

Back in the day my Mum would walk down the road to GA office to reinsure our Morris Minor. Then my brother crashed it and they wrote it off. My Mum walked down to the office and asked if she could have a word in private. She was taken to a back office whereupon she said she would not leave until they agreed to repair. My Mum won. That's what it was like. You could walk to the office of anyone you paid money to and create a fuss. Treating a woman "badly" was a nono whether she was right or wrong.

 

[chadr]

Regardless of the era and or gender, treating a "customer" badly should be a no-no in any service or industry.

Shamefully, it isn't.

 

[GeekOKent]

What does salvage is 40% of value mean ? If the 100 is valued at 10k, they want 4k for you to keep it ?

 

[Trevor]

Yes KB, exactly that.