Insurance question about a crash.

[chris182008]

On the way into work today someone came onto my side of the road and hit my car. The roads were very icy so not blaming the person who did it as it's just one of them things. I have a couple of questions which I hope someone can clear up for me.

My insurance told me as I'm only third party fire and theft I would have to sort it out with his insurance to get a pay out and they wouldn't help. Is this normal for third party insurance or is it just a rubbish company?

His insurance rang me and gave me two options. Write off my car and they will pick it up and give me £350 or I keep the car and try and repair it and they will give me £348. I took the 2nd option and I'm hoping to sort the car out with that. Now if I took it to a garage I doubt I could get the car back to how it was with the money and I defiantly couldn't replace the car. So is it common to be in a non fault accident and end up worse of for it?

The car in question is a 1997 mx5 with the o/s front wing caved in, a small dent in the door, snapped off wing mirror and side indicator and a buckled alloy.

Any help or views on this are welcome.

 

[chris182008]

They value your car at £348??

Yeah that's what shocked me. If they know where to get road worth mx5's for £350 I want to know.

What? His insurance has stated it's a write off before they've even looked at it? That's a load of BS.

Do not accept ANY of these options as they are a load of crap.

Get them to come appraise the damage and go from there, it was the other parties fault so they've pretty much admitted liability it seems. Don't rest until it's perfect and you don't lose out.

I'm going through an accident at the minute too.

Think I might of messed up there as I've accepted the 2nd option already though I'm going to phone up tomorrow as didn't notice the buckled wheel until after the phone call. They have also asked me to take pictures but not given me anyway to send them.

 

[chris182008]

Sounds like he got a friend to call you to try to settle it immediately without touching insurance

Pretty sure it was his insurance as it was a 0800 number and I've got texts from them with claim numbers etc. He was very up front about being at fault and didn't hesitate about giving me his details.

 

[chris182008]

It's not one of those things at all and you should blame the person who did it! Just because it's icy doesn't mean you can go around crashing into people as if you cant help it.



Entirely normal.



It's only common if you cave in at the first offer! Why did you accept that offer if it puts you in a worse position?!

Tbh I was thinking if I have to try and chase this up I'd end up with nothing so when they offered me it I thought better than nothing. Suppose there's nothing I can do now I've accepted the offer. Would it be worth getting a quote from a garage to show them or is it all too late?

 

[chris182008]

Why on earth did you just "accept" the option. Surely if you didn't know which option to take, you'd tell his insurance company you'd need some time to think through the options. Then when you're away from the phone you could have done some research and realised they're ripping you off.

To answer your questions, you wouldn't want to go through your own insurance company even if you had fully comp, it's better all round to let the 3rd party insurance company deal with it. And secondly, you're right, if the accident wasn't your fault then they're supposed to repair your car/provide money for a new one to put you back in a very similar position before the accident.

I would suggest from the situation you're in now, do some research on the market value of your car (this'll give you a base line figure to aim for), if you can be bothered, take the car to a garage and get an estimate for a fix.

I'm going on the assumption here that your car is worth more than £350, so phone back his insurance company and reject their offer, based on your research push them towards the figure you've found. I imagine they'll put up some defence to say you'd already accepted the option of a payout of £350. Not sure how much a verbal contract would stand, but you could claim that you were in a state of shock after the accident and weren't thinking straight and have now had time to think properly. If they don't buy this you could also threaten complaint with the ombudsman, as i'm sure they'll love to hear how much they undervalued your car, and how it's been dealt with. Make sure you note down everything that has been said, and who you've spoken to (+ date/time).

Thank you for this. I'll get everything written out as I can remember the conversation pretty well and I still have the name of the person I spoke to. Can you record conversations if I phone them from my mobile or do you have to tell them etc. I'll phone them tomorrow morning unless they are open now.

edit. open until 9 tonight. So I'll have a look around for a road worth mx5 in a similar condition and get some prices.

 

[chris182008]

Just got off the phone with them. He said he would make a note for the handler to call me back first thing in the morning to re evaluate but he cannot guarantee there will be a change. He also said that it seemed low. Got the name of the operator and time noted as well. Will update tomorrow. It was defiantly his insurance as I called the number on their website and they had the details of the accident.

 

[chris182008]

Firstly thank you all for the advice. Just got off the phone with them again. They are now supplying a courtesy car while we get it sorted though they didnt seem to want to and offered me the 350 again and said they wouldnt supply one. I refused then it went to 400 as I mentioned on the phone that I paid that for it a year and a half ago. They are claiming that is the most they can offer otherwise I would be in a better financial situation. I've tried explaining that it was in an un road worthy condition when I bought it and I've spent the last year and a half restoring it but she claims that doesnt make a difference to the vehicles worth. She did look on auto trader while I was on the phone and admitted the cheapest one on there is £1000. She asked if I could list all the work that I have done to the car so I need to sort that out today and they will phone me back tonight but I feel like I'm going to struggle getting any more for the car.

I had similar when I crashed mine, was offered £500 on the phone then and there which I rejected. Held out for more and got £1200 in the end, MX5 as well. Bought the car back for £100 and so was quids in.

How did you go about buying the car back? Wouldnt mind doing that to salvage the wideband and a few other bits.

 

[chris182008]

Is it actually possible to cave in the wing, dent the door, buckle the wheel and more on an MX5 without it ending up Cat B?

Not being rude about the car but their hardly substantial, if the wings caved what's it like behind the wing?

I don't know for sure I havn't looked behind it yet but the steering is defiantly not safe. I got a phone call from the handler saying they wont be able to phone me this evening to discuss what I've done to the car to make it worth more than 400 but she will ring me tomorrow. I'll ask them then if I got the car for free would they pay out at all.

 

[chris182008]

You don't need to ask that at all, you need to tell them to put you back into the position you were in before, either by repairing your current vehicle or if you'd rather a payout, then enough money to buy one of similar condition to it the instant prior to the accident.

I've tried to tell them that. I said you can get it into a repair shop and fix it or give me enough to get a car in a similar condition to mine before the accident and they insisted 400 is the max they will give me and its not worth repairing. She said her manager is sat next to her and he would say the same thing. I'll see how tomorrow goes. On the plus side I'm getting picked up for the courtesy car at 3 today so at least I'm back on the road.

 

[chris182008]

In which case, next time, repeat that they should be putting you back in the same situation as prior to the accident and that you'll be contacting the ombudsman ( http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-insurance.html ) which should rapidly change their take on it.



This situation you're in is a perfect example of what they are not meant to be doing.

E:

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org....an-news/66/66-vehicle_valuation_disputes.html



Whilst that says policyholder, the principle is the same for a third party claimant (ie you claiming off the person that crashed into you).

Thank you for this I'll tell them tomorrow. It is pretty much the situation I'm in. Hopefully they will change their mind about only offering 400 after the ombudsman is involved.

 

[chris182008]

You're divulging too much information, they don't need to know how much you paid for it, you need to find similar mX5's in the area and print off a bunch of them, this is the price you'll settle for/want your vehicle repaired.

Every phone call is recorded so seriously, stop and think about what you say, don't let them pressure you or bug you. Every phone call I get from all 4 insurance companies involved is "Are you injured?" you just have to ignore it and get your vehicle repaired, same for this, you won't accept 400 as it's pathetic, with print outs you can state it is worth this much.

I'll find some more cars similar to mine online but seeing as they have already looked at auto trader and seen all mx5s cost more than the 400 they are offering and they still wont offer more I can't see it helping. They have acknowledged a replacement mx5 costs more than 400 and I have the recording of them admitting that but they still wont offer more.

 

[chris182008]

The car is the one in my sig and they havn't even looked at the car so havn't seen the stickerbombing or martys signature on it lol. I'm picking up the rental car this afternoon and I will stop telling them things they dont need to know. It's a 1997 monza, 1.6 manual woth 116k on the clock. High I know but not the worse I've seen.

 

[chris182008]

Does that account for the % of the clock that was in KM? Worth considering (in case they don't).

It's a UK model so it's all in miles.

So somewhere between £910 - £1,280 I guess would be reasonable.

Thanks for the links I'll send them the mk1 ones tomorrow. I'd be happy with that kind of figure.

Oh I agree, but he'll need to prove what this is actually going to be. Threatening the ombudsman is ok, but you cannot go directly to them without raising a complaint through the third party insurer first and exhausting that avenue although I'm sure they'd give you some advice so it will prologue the process.

Out of interest, how much did you put down for the cars value on your own insurance?

I think I put it down for £1000, also I'm not after more than I am losing no matter what happens I've lost the hours I've put into the car and best case scenario I'm going to end up with a fairly stock mx5 which I will need to buy things for to return it to what I had before. Just glad I didn't get my turbo fitted before it happened.

 

[chris182008]

Okay bit of bad news I phoned the FOS for some advice and its not looking good. I cant complain through them as it is a third party insurance. They are allowed to write my car off under un economical terms. He cannot suggest where to go if I am still unhappy with the settlement. So thats put me on a bit of a downer.

Edit.
Just got off the phone with them and have reached a settlement after sending them adverts you lot suggested for me. I'm getting £1160 and I'm keeping my car so I can swap parts over. So I'm happy with that. Thank you to everyone who helped me with this I would have been stuck trying to repair my car with their initial offer if it wasnt for you lot.

 

[chris182008]

Yeah very happy with how it turned out. I finish work on the 14th so can get both cars on the drive and start swapping parts. They are categorizing the write off of my car from the pictures which doesn't seem right though.

 

[chris182008]

Well done

You just need to stick to your guns, which you did, and it worked out ok

Out of interest, did you get them to agree to not put a write off marker on your old car? I.e a "payment in payment in lieu of repair". That's what I did with my Cossie - £1500 cheque from the third parties insurer and I got the car repaired myself - it didn't get a cat/write off marker applied to it either.

I didn't ask about the write off marker I just sent in pictures and I'm still awaiting a response. I'm only going to swap parts from it then send it for scrap I think.

yay great news!
just got an mot fail mk1 mx5 too, amazing little car that got fixed for less than 3 tanks of fuel.

learn from this, fight harder from the off next time.

happy sideways driving

Hopefully I won't have to go through it again but I have defiantly learned my lesson and won't just unnecessarily give out information to them.

If they are playing the " we cant give you more than you paid" which I believe elephant tried with me...

Say to them OK, I paid nothing for the car.. it was a gift.

The bloke ont he phone instantly back tracked lol

During the last phone call with them they said it doesn't make a difference what I paid for the car and she doesn't know why the other employee said that. I was just glad to get it settled so didn't ask any more about it though.

I've got a new mx5 now and will start swapping parts over tomorrow. The paintwork isn't great on it though so need to look into fixing that but it's rust free as far as I can tell so it was worth it.