Holiday write off

[jeffeRS]

So, Took the family to Hampshire for a week mainly to take my two young daughters to Peppa pig world. Off for a little drive to take inthe New Forest. Pull up to turn right, next thing I know a huge impact from behind. My kids are screaming and the Mrs is hysterical. Get out of my mint 1.4 Gta Metro to find a little Matiz in my boot. Young girl gets out laughing. Wtf. I'm livid. Next day taken up talking to iinsurers, recovery and courtesy car. So my question is, my car was immaculate, 56k, 5dr, 3 owners. How do I get what my car is worth and not book value. Many thanks. Jeff...

[Ryannn]

If you don't have agreed value, people in the past have increased their payouts by collecting for sale ads of similar cars. This gives an indication of the value needed to replace.

Have a look for my old metro GTa, it's been on auto trader at 4 grand for months!

[stefan]

We had our 54 plate vivaro van smashed up, they offered £2500 on it. I refused every offer they gave me pointed out other with similar mileage and condition and managed to drive them up to £3500 before I would Take the money and give the hire van back to them

[Deleted]

Apr 16, 2014 3:15:04 GMT jeffeRS said:

So, Took the family to Hampshire for a week mainly to take my two young daughters to Peppa pig world. Off for a little drive to take inthe New Forest. Pull up to turn right, next thing I know a huge impact from behind. My kids are screaming and the Mrs is hysterical. Get out of my mint 1.4 Gta Metro to find a little Matiz in my boot. Young girl gets out laughing. Wtf. I'm livid. Next day taken up talking to iinsurers, recovery and courtesy car. So my question is, my car was immaculate, 56k, 5dr, 3 owners. How do I get what my car is worth and not book value. Many thanks. Jeff...

Damn that sucks,  Got to admit the drivers in the forest are awefull, They usually just drive from village to village and never deal with any real traffic, Hence total lack of awareness.

Where abouts did this happen?  I'm on the Edge of the new forest, Just outside ringwood..

[omega]

from what you say you have given up the car which is a bad thing so think you going to have a fight on your hands.
good luck and hope the whip lash dosnt hurt to much.

[taurus]

Bad news. Sadly this is one time you might need to take the hint above, you will struggle to get a fair payout on the car, so balance that up with not holding back on claiming compensation for your inconvenience and whiplash. I hate the victim culture with a vengeance, but in this kind of situation it's the only way to get anything like the real value of your car back.

My mum was involved in a minor shunt last year, she was passenger in a car that was hit by someone reversing out of a drive. She didn't make any kind of claim but the driver's insurance put in on her behalf (without her knowledge) and she got a cheque for £2k through the post last week. It's all wrong of course, but so is losing a good car through someone else's carelessness.

[qwerty]

Its definitely worth trying to find adverts for similar cars. Look for the same age and mileage.

I had to do that when my Starlet was written off.

[loudandproud205]

As long as you can prove the value of what it would cost to replace it then the price will always remain flexible. I backed up my Zafira with as many as I could find that far exceeded the value of what mine was, as they will always counter offer with the lower priced ones and quotes from glasses guide.

Don't give in and stand your ground you will win, my original offer from the insurance was £2100 (I paid £5000 9 months earlier) so I did my digging, stood my ground and backed up my side and finally settled on £5200.

You do have the bonus of it not being your insurance as mine was, so its a bit easier and they move alot easier.

[olduns]

Dig out as many Bills,invoices , pictures etc for work done,parts replaced, all helps to prove you look after the car rather than it being 'just' a car to you.
Going through it at moment with the Life, import, none in UK AFAIK, told them what we paid and had spent, all gone quiet.

Good luck.

[PistonBroker]

The principle is 'Indemnity' - you need to be put back in the position you were in before the crash occurred. Mentioning that word alone often does the trick - a mate's settlement offer on a VW T5 increased by £1k when I told him to mention that to the guys with the little red phone.

So you need a settlement that enables you to go out and buy another immaculate Metro GTA. As posted already, find as many ads as you can to provide evidence of the car's value. Doesn't matter what you paid - I got hit 10 years ago in a Fiesta I'd paid £1100 for at auction. Evidence from Auto Trader proved it was worth £1900 and that's what I was paid.

I'm afraid sentimental value isn't really catered for olduns! ;-)

Feel free to give me a call on 07772633123 if you want any more help - I'm a Chartered Insurance Broker so this is what I do!

[ejenner]

Agree with all those saying collect the adverts for similar cars. It worked for me. I was offered £500 for a mint Saab 9000 Aero which was hit by a truck. Took a while but evenutally got it up to a more realistic value of £2750. If I remember rightly.

[fred]

What a sh itter, indeed as above comments say, get adverts,and if you have any history folders, pics, or owt like that of its resto, repairs, invoices etc..send copies of those too

and (I don't like the compo stuff either)
but needs must, you got yourself, your good wife, and 2 kiddies at the docs complaining of neck pain
you someimes have to do as the system does as they say, hope your kin are all ok

[mylittletony]

firstly, that sucks but I'm glad to hear the family are ok. As most of the sensible comments above say, provide as much evidence as you can of condition and similar cars and fight your corner. DO NOT take the first offer, think of it as haggling.

And for the people who suggest fraudulently claiming for whiplash etc, thanks for increasing everyone's insurance costs!

[jeffeRS]

Thanks so much everyone. It happened on Sway rd. Straight road with junctions to each side. 3pm perfect weather. Can't believe the curse word didn't see me. Make up probably being applied or sexual act on her bf.

[jammin]

At work we value vehicles on there market value, so we research auto trader, ebay, gumtree for market examples within 60 miles of the address (if none can be found we look further), and take the condition and mileage into account of both the examples and the vehicle that was damaged,

[mashedpot8er]

Hi there. I've sent you a message.