3rd party insurance write off

[keeper96]

Hi all, I was involved in a no fault accident and and the 3rd party are trying to write my car off. 
I’ve definitely seen somewhere that a 3rd party’s insurers can’t force me to write my car off, and that it has to be repaired if I request it.
 

does anyone know if this true? 

thanks 

[Rupert]

Its an economic not emotive desision.Its all about the monies and seemingly small amounts of damage can write off even quite new cars.The TP insurers or any insurers dont have to repair on your say so. If you are so insistant they will let you keep the salvage and offer some monies for you to repair.

[enfieldspares]

As this is a tort what they have to do is to restore you to the position that you were in before the damage was done. Which is usually held to be what the vehicle was worth. Therefore restoring to you the money that the thing was worth. Especially say if it was the last running example of an XYZ and the parts to repair it (let alone an identical such model) are just no longer in existence.

So much may also depend on the condition that your car was in before the accident notwithstanding what Glass's Guide may or may not say. So for example the mileage, the general condition of the bodywork, if the vehicle has a full service history or if it was a neglected hack with no service history, the "clock" showing 140,000 miles and the bodyworok so perforated with rust it looked like the doilie from a Death By Chocolate cake.

So my immediate question would be can you prove its condition and notwithstanding that has the third party insurer's assessor been out to see your vehicle? If they haven't been out then I'd guess they've valued it at the lowest estimate and so it is up to you, even if they have, to show it was worth more. That can be done for example by searching the same make, model, year on internet auction sites or internet car dealer sites. Hope it helps.

Edited September 22, 2023 by enfieldspares

[Dave-G]

Depending on the damage, if minimal I say buy it back if its a decent motor, particularly if you declared its value fairly high. Also decline the first offer and find high priced equivalents on sale and quote them as that is what it would cost to replace it - and be selective about wanting the same colour and spec etc. If yours has undeclared modifications expect them to mark it down for that, non standard wheels, window tints or stripes etc can count as mods.

I recently bought a year 2000 cat C Shogun Pinin that was written off and repaired that was off the road for several years and consequently has only done 34K miles and with only minimal underbody rust - unusual for a Mitsi that doesn't get factory undersealed.

Edited September 22, 2023 by Dave-G

[keeper96]

It’s only a ‘57 plate 320d touring with 146000 miles so not an expensive car at all.

it’s been valued by them at £2250 which would replace it but not the same spec, mines leather and all the examples they provided where cloth. 
 

I sent about 10 examples of cars from 56 to 08 plates in the region of £3-4k which where all dismissed as they where on around 130,000 miles and apparently that extra 15,000 miles looses 1/3 of the cars value 😡 

I’ve spent the majority of this week going back and forwards and they will not move from £2250 as that’s what caps says the car is worth despite the adverts saying otherwise. 
 

I brought up the “restore me to the position I was in before the damage” but the claims handling company point blank refused to even bring that up with the 3rd parties insurer as the assessor quoted £7k repair bills. 
 

I don’t actually want the car back but I’m annoyed at them under valuing it in my eyes so was trying to stand my ground and cost them as much as possible. 

[Dave-G]

2 hours ago, keeper96 said:

It’s only a ‘57 plate 320d touring with 146000 miles so not an expensive car at all.

it’s been valued by them at £2250 which would replace it but not the same spec, mines leather and all the examples they provided where cloth. 
 

I sent about 10 examples of cars from 56 to 08 plates in the region of £3-4k which where all dismissed as they where on around 130,000 miles and apparently that extra 15,000 miles looses 1/3 of the cars value 😡 

I’ve spent the majority of this week going back and forwards and they will not move from £2250 as that’s what caps says the car is worth despite the adverts saying otherwise. 
 

I brought up the “restore me to the position I was in before the damage” but the claims handling company point blank refused to even bring that up with the 3rd parties insurer as the assessor quoted £7k repair bills. 
 

I don’t actually want the car back but I’m annoyed at them under valuing it in my eyes so was trying to stand my ground and cost them as much as possible. 

Refuse the settlement and stick to your right to reimbursement for what it would cost to replace it with another with leather seats spec is my thinking. If the only one you or they can find has less miles then so be it. You are entitled to not be any worse off, Maybe threaten to contact the ombudsman. I've won an argument for higher payments in the past.

Edited September 22, 2023 by Dave-G

[ph5172]

I would bat back and ask them to locate you a car with the same level of equipment and roughly the same miles and you will consider that vehicle. 
 

failing that I would be declining their offer and going to the ombudsman. What have you got to lose. You certainly won’t be in a worse position. Also if you have a hire car that will also be costing them 

[keeper96]

7 hours ago, ph5172 said:

I would bat back and ask them to locate you a car with the same level of equipment and roughly the same miles and you will consider that vehicle. 
 

failing that I would be declining their offer and going to the ombudsman. What have you got to lose. You certainly won’t be in a worse position. Also if you have a hire car that will also be costing them 

Their response was that because there’s no manuals with leather it’s hard for them to value it but I’ve just found a 56 plate manual, exact same spec as mine but slightly lower mileage for £3995 so I’ve sent that and asked them to contact me again today 

[Dave-G]

There's a compromise there somewhere, maybe 3K+. Hopefully they'll raise their offer when they see you are not going to be beaten down to a bad settlement. Dragging it out will be costing them money in staff wages and possible car hire fees too.

[enfieldspares]

17 hours ago, Dave-G said:

Refuse the settlement and stick to your right to reimbursement for what it would cost to replace it with another with leather seats spec is my thinking. If the only one you or they can find has less miles then so be it. You are entitled to not be any worse off, Maybe threaten to contact the ombudsman. I've won an argument for higher payments in the past.

This. +1. Also but little known is that they but not you will have to pay the ombudsman £500 (or did when I worked for a motors insurers back pre-covid) for it being referred. So they may well decide to up the offer to avoid that and that £500 they have to pay up front may well now be more...I think now its £750?

Edited September 23, 2023 by enfieldspares

[enfieldspares]

8 hours ago, keeper96 said:

Their response was that because there’s no manuals with leather it’s hard for them to value it but I’ve just found a 56 plate manual, exact same spec as mine but slightly lower mileage for £3995 so I’ve sent that and asked them to contact me again today 

There will be a multiplier to adjust the mileage for that leather manual. So if you use their "15K = 1/3rd lost value" that's £3995 divided by three and then times by two equals £2600. So that's more than your offered amount. Maybe use their own arguments about 1/3 or whatever fraction off against them?

Edited September 23, 2023 by enfieldspares

[keeper96]

3 hours ago, enfieldspares said:

There will be a multiplier to adjust the mileage for that leather manual. So if you use their "15K = 1/3rd lost value" that's £3995 divided by three and then times by two equals £2600. So that's more than your offered amount. Maybe use their own arguments about 1/3 or whatever fraction off against them?

That £2600 is about the same as I calculated using some info from one of the online car buyers, every extra 20000 miles is 20% off which makes mine worth £2845 on that basis. 
 

but since sending that info in I’ve heard nothing from them at all. 

9 hours ago, Dave-G said:

There's a compromise there somewhere, maybe 3K+. Hopefully they'll raise their offer when they see you are not going to be beaten down to a bad settlement. Dragging it out will be costing them money in staff wages and possible car hire fees too.

To be honest mate I don’t think I’m going to get anywhere. 
All they keep regurgitating is that caps says it’s worth this and there’s bmw 320d estates available at that price and they don’t consider personal preference like spec, mechanical condition or interior condition in their values. only mileage and age 

[mattsccm]

Just a thought that worked for a mate. Twice! Theaten to put it in the hands of professional claims management companies.  If things go against them they will be liable for the proferssional costs as well. Worked just like this once for my mate and in the second case the insurance company backed down. Can't say this is definite in all case but maybe worth a look.

[Lloyd90]

Tell them you are going to withdraw from using them and ask your own insurance company to represent you.

Also are they paying for a hire car in the meantime? 
 

I had a nightmare as they tried to low ball me on my settlement, then whilst doing that they post you a cheque (despite you not accepting the offer) and they claim the case is settled, and cut off your hire car. 
 

They really ought to be ashamed of themselves, they are absolutely useless yet try and rip you off at every step. 

[clangerman]

take everything from insurance companies as lies had former owner come up to me outside a shop insurance company told her vehicle would be sold for spares she was so angry I repaired it for peanuts she rang them on the spot going ballistic 

[scouser]

When my surf was written off, I couldn’t agree with their valuation, ( k2.5. Against k3.5 ) so got my own insurance involved , they gave me a brand new top of the range shogun with 13 miles on the clock, used it for  10 weeks and returned it with just under k4 on the clock, finally settled on £3200.

[Downforce]

Interested to know how you ended up

 

Insurance companies and their loss adjusters are inherently stubborn and lazy and will always find the cheapest example but as a general thing if you’re losing out by their clients actions you should be able to get a loan vehicle provided at their expense.

 

You shouldn’t be forced to accept the value of a lower spec vehicle and I’d always ask for the exact reference they are using - like CAP is that the retail value or the auction value they’re quoting?
 

If you’ve got a loaner that’s (say) costing them £500 a week or whatever then just keep going back and forward as long as you have meaningful dialogue and reasonable response time you can make it become urgent for them to reach a conclusion quickly  - eg the reverse of what they want to do to you!!

D

 

[harkom]

You have to realise that there is a racket going on between insurance companies, adjusters and repair outfits.

I agree with matt - threaten to appoint your own assessor to value the car. Generally the insurance conpany does not like that.

[smits]

A third-party insurance write-off means your vehicle is deemed too damaged to repair economically by an insurer. While it ensures the other party is compensated, you may need to navigate the financial and logistical challenges of replacing your vehicle with limited assistance.