Insurance, value

[hardleydangerous]

My insurance company are offering me £300 for my XM as a right off.They say they can find one the same for £250,is this right ?,mine has 107000 on the clock ,everything works and it has just been serviced,the paint is good and there are the usual dinks but nothing major ,MOT till Sept and road taxed. Tyres only a couple off thousand miles on them.I was thinking £600-£700.

[rowanmoor]

Call their bluff and ask them to provide details of the one they can find. You will probably then be able to point out to them that it is one or more of the following: no-MOT/no service history/a xantia/different engine/300K on the click/something else different.

If you think I am joking about the xantia - I'm not.

You may be on for a battle trying to get more out of them though. Was the accident your fault? is the damage bad?

[hardleydangerous]

The insurance co. say I was at fault for the accident.The estimate for the damage is £2500 using all new parts[bonnet ,bumper ,grill, headlamp,paint labour and a few other bits] using used parts and my own labour £400-£500 if not less

[Peter.N.]

If they say they know of one, as rowanmoor says, ask them for the details. The idea of insurance is that it puts you back where you were before the accident. If it was your fault you are not in such a strong position as if it was someone else's, you should be, but thats how insurance companys work. I only have mine TPF&T plus windscreen insurance now for that reason. My quote ths year was £116.??. including protected no claims.

Peter.N.

[hardleydangerous]

I have sent them an email requesting details of the cars they used and am now awaiting a reply.If no reply after 24 hours will keep phoning until they give me the information.

This post has been edited by hardleydangerous on July 08, 2008 08:55 pm

[rowanmoor]

See if you can establish a higher value and then ask them to make you a cash offer to keep the car as it is (with no write off against it) - they can and should do that though they may be reluctant as insurance companies seem to see it as their purpose in life to remove any car from the road which is more than 7 years old.

A cash offer will be lower than the write off value as they can't sell the scrap, but if you can persuade them it is worth a fair bit more then the cash should go a fair way to fixing it.

Do your own research using Autotrader etc to see what price you would have to pay to replace it and send that to them - once they have provided their evidence.

Which insurance company is it BTW?

[hardleydangerous]

The insurance company is More Than but I am dealing with ETWB who are a valuation company who seem to have taken over.This is all new to me so who should I be dealing with??

[citroenxm]

Write it off, BUY IT BACK then with our help, re build her back up!! Then you still have your car .. I think, If im right, they are offering you £250 for her, you can legally buy her back then for about 110 quid or so... I might be wrong.. corrections... please??


I agree about the Xantia part above! MANY people here on anglesey, think my fleets are Xantias, and I get "A Xantia with a V6... nah never ...." my reply. Its NOT a xantia, they then stop stare, and say... "Isn't it?" ...

Rgds
Paul

This post has been edited by citroenxm on July 09, 2008 10:08 pm

[rowanmoor]

If you can get them to do it without writing it off then you are in a better position in terms of the cars history. I would have thought you could push the value up a bit from there though. Depends what cars they have spotted for sale.

[hardleydangerous]

I am still waiting for them to send details of the cars they used for valuing mine.Judging by the guys voice on the phone I think they may be panicing,I do hope so.

[DrTim]

My K prestige has more miles than yours and I just managed to get a nosecone etc done under the £800 value at the time, that was 5 years ago. Good luck!

Can you get insurance after a write off these days?

[neilp]

Insurance companies won't accept an estimate using used parts, and if the estimate is £2,500 they will write it off. They'll usually repair up to around 70% of the car's value, so you've not got much chance there! You might get a few more quid out of them for the write-off, but don't bet on it. If they pay you a write-off value they will write the car off. They have to, it's the law.
Don't worry though, from what you described it will either be a Cat D or C write-off. If it's Cat D it can go straight back on the road, so no worries. It's more likely to be Cat C, which means it has to have a Vehicle Identity Check done by VOSA after the repairs, and a new MOT test. Once that's done you will have to apply for a new V5C and tax it again. Insurance shouldn't be a problem as I don't think a Cat C is recorded on the V5C.

There's no way round any of this, when the insurance company write the car off they will require you to send them the V5C, MOT certificate and - I think - the tax disc

If it's a good car, and you can more-or-less cover what you have to spend with the insurance money, I'd say it's worth it.

Good luck, and if it doesn't work out I'll sell you a pretty decent 2.1TD manual S1.5 estate for £400!!

Neil

[rowanmoor]

As Niel said, a Cat C or D can go back on the road if the right process if followed. Mine was a Cat C a number of years back, and whilst a couple of insurance companies wont touch it any more, most will and don't care about it's history as long as it is legal and roadworthy. The ones that won't are not insurance companies I would actually have used anyway.

I did not have to hand over the V5 or tax disk at all, so did not have to reapply for it, but that may depend on the insurance company or may be subject to newer rules.

It will show on an HPI check in the future though.

You may have to drive a little way for the VIC as there are not as many VOSA stations as things like MOT stations, but it should not be too far unless you live in the middle of nowhere with no big towns nearby.

The only downside that I know of with a write-off is that a future insurance company may look at the £100 or whatever you 'paid' for the salvage - i.e. how much they knocked off the amount for you to keep it - and consider that the cars value for ever after. Even though it may be less than the weigh in value at the scrap yard. Given that we seem to have to battle with them for any value at the moment anyway, I would have thought that you could battle from that position just as well. Especially if you keep receipts for putting it back on the road as proof of it's value as a roadworthy car after the write-off.

[xmexclusive]

Hi HD

Who has the car currently. You need to keep possession. Insurance companies have to pay storage (£50 a day is common) so they usually get it picked up and moved to their tame disposal company within a few days. Getting any details of location or access to the car is then virtually impossible. They will then keep asking for the documents so they can settle the claim. Even if you claim the right to remove personal effects from the car they will only instruct the salvage company to search the wreck and dispatch to you all that is found.

Regards

XMexc

[hardleydangerous]

The car is in my possesion and I have received the details of the cars they used to value mine 1 from Autotrader and 2 from ebay,both the ebay ones were sent cropped so you could not see the item no. ,the description or the photos .I have a good mind to tell them to poke it and walk away and fix the car with my own money.