Insurance and shed query

Vampyre

Vampyre

Vampyre

Associate
Joined
12 Sep 2009
Posts
857
Location
Edinburgh
Yesterday afternoon I was shunted from behind at a roundabout (twice - by the same woman!!) and my insurers have adjudged it a 'Total Loss' situation. The other party and their insurers have admitted complete liability.

My insurer's have told me that they'll base the valuation on Glass's and on Autotrader. I have had a quick look at Glass's today and the only free valuation they will give is the Dealer Trade in Value which they are suggesting is £230-£330 (W reg Fiesta Zetec 1.25). I've also looked at Autotrader and Pistonheads and to replace the car is going to be in the region of £650 to £850 or thereabouts.

I'll need to find a replacement car pretty quickly (other party's insurance is paying for hire car until settlement received plus a few days) and, as I doubt I'll be able to add much more than a £200 to whatever the payout is, I'll just need to buy a shed that will not cost me a fortune in repairs or fuel and that I can run for at least 6 moths until I can afford something better.

So, two questions;

1) Am I right in assuming that the payout will be somewhere between the Dealer Trade In value and the approximate replacement value?

2) Should I just get another Fiesta around the same age or is there a better alternative shed?

Thanks very much for reading - I've been driving both car and motorcycle for 25 years (:eek:) and never had an accident so all this stuff is new to me!
 
You can argue to the insurer that they're not offering you enough, they always under quote at first apparently. Get a few links with similar age/condition/mileage to yours and give them these examples.

My mate was offered £4000 for his car, managed to get it up to £7000 by just being a pain in the butt pestering them
 
bledd. said:
You can argue to the insurer that they're not offering you enough, they always under quote at first apparently. Get a few links with similar age/condition/mileage to yours and give them these examples.

My mate was offered £4000 for his car, managed to get it up to £7000 by just being a pain in the butt pestering them
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kenmare said:
Might as well try, it's not like they're going to offer you the highest first off?
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Good advice Thanks. @kenmare - This is the bit I don't understand surely my insurers will recoup their costs from the other party's insurance and therefore it shouldn't matter to them what they offer me as long as its reasonable?
 
Is it still in a fit state to drive?

Use all and every advert you can to show that you need the £850 to replace the car as at the end of the day you should not end up out of pocket. They WILL try and get you to cave in at a low price as you are already finding out.

Take the offer when it gets to a sensible figure, keep the car, bash out the dent as necessary and pocket the £850 is what I'd be aiming to do.
 
Hmm my mrs had an N reg diesel fiesta worth about £200 stolen last year and direct line paid out £800 less excess - so £550 overall - almost three times the actual value of the car.
 
To be honest I think your first mistake was going through your insurers at all - in a case like this where a 3rd party has admitted completely liability my only call to my insurers would have been to let them know that I'd been in an accident and I'll be pursueing the claim myself through the third parties insurance. However since I'm assuming that you don't have a functioning time machine, there is nothing that can be done about that at this point.

Strictly speaking the whole point of insurance is to place you in the same position you were in before the accident (I work for an insurance company as the correct term has gone completely out of my head!). It is up to you now to effectively argue what the replacement cost of your car is, if nessessary provide them evidence that this is the case, and keep turning down the payments they offer until it is something reasonable.
 
Vampyre said:
they will give is the Dealer Trade in Value which they are suggesting is £230-£330 (W reg Fiesta Zetec 1.25). I've also looked at Autotrader and Pistonheads and to replace the car is going to be in the region of £650 to £850 or thereabouts.
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Stick to your guns.

My insurer wanted to give me the Glasses valuation for my Scorp which was £600 and write the car off as uneconomical to repair. I emailed them adverts from Autotrader showing that I'd need to spend £1300 to get a car of a similiar age/mileage/condition (I have the last Scorpio Cosworth as it happens).

I got a cheque for £1300 and I wouldn't let them write it off - they just classed it as "payment in lieu of repair" and I repaired it myself for £750 (rear wing replacement/back bumper).
 
Thanks for all your input guys, it's been very helpful, I'm still waiting for the valuation from the insurers but I know they are based here so I would imagine their offices shut early today because it's a bit breezy!!

I'll update as and when I get the initial offer.
 
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