Insurance Pay-Off going to rip me off.. Help! - Saxperience

kae · 28th January 2011, 19:38

Hi,

So 6 months after splashing out £1700 on a 02/51 1.6i vtr w/ 66k miles on the clock and just to make matter worse 2 week after fitting a customized ICE system someone has decided to have a crash next to my parked car and written it off in the process.

Its been taken away by the guys insurance company and I called today and they are getting an engineer out to 'value' the damages/car. She says its basically going to be a write off.

I've had a look at the Parker guide and it says the cars worth is 800-1600 private to independent. I know on Monday the guy is going to call up and offer me 800 quid... I'm absolutely devastated.

I mean I paid that much because it had 1 owner, female, perfect history MOT and Service and it's literally a beauty.

So my questions are..

How much can I push these guys up to?
How can I push them up?
What method should I use to kill myself?

Cheers,
A heartbroken and highly distraught Kyle.

MunkyBoy · 28th January 2011, 19:41

How is it broken? Worth taking the money and getting the car back and repairing it?

Never accept the first offer, tell them its worth more. I got £1100 for a 51 plate 1.1 from insurance. They offered £600 first off.

Ramigojag · 28th January 2011, 19:42

if they know the history they should give you a higher value, there usually not too bad and quite honest but like everyone they always like to try and pay as little as possible all i can say is fight it till the end...

slightly different but i bought my saxo from a garage and after only 5 days it blew a spark plug out of the cylinder and was off the road i just wanted to do whatever it took to just get it back on the road regardless of cost everyone kept saying make the garage pay for it...

as hard as it was i waited ended up getting 300 pound back to fix it and only cost me 80

so pays to be patient and fight it till the end

kae · 28th January 2011, 19:44

Sorry, Also what happens about my tax and current insurance?! Erghhh

kae · 28th January 2011, 19:46

Erm well, the whole drivers side is completely mashed... drivers door, wing mirror, front wing and back panel near petrol thing.. i've got a pic look.

kae · 28th January 2011, 19:50

Ramigojag · 28th January 2011, 19:51

Ouch

poor saxo

kae · 28th January 2011, 20:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by MunkyBoy

How is it broken? Worth taking the money and getting the car back and repairing it?

Never accept the first offer, tell them its worth more. I got £1100 for a 51 plate 1.1 from insurance. They offered £600 first off.

Was that 2nd or 3rd offer? Did you provide history? This absolutely sucks and is completely unfair, I have a receipt is that any good?!

(((((((((

swampy · 28th January 2011, 20:07

Ask for the tax disk back.
Also tell them you want the ice back if you dont already have it.

Insurance just swap it over to your new car.

jinx · 28th January 2011, 20:09

Im not expert but with a little TLC that will be back on the road, (as long as there is no structural damage)

kae · 28th January 2011, 20:11

You think I can get that back on the road?! Its going to need a new door... Im not really bothered about the front wing.. but the whole back section as well? I wouldnt know where to start!! I could get a pay out and buy it back as scrap...

Ill get the ICE back and all the wiring.. no probs.

MunkyBoy · 28th January 2011, 20:22

Tink it was 3rd or 4th offer. I told them I wanted what i insured the cars value at.. £1100! What have you set the value of your car at on your insurance?

That could get back on the road if you wanted to spend the time on it.

New wing
New drivers door
New rear quarter vt kit
Get the dent pulled out professionally.

Dent is the most expensive thing.

If you can get a decent payout, and get the car as well, id put that back on the road. (obviously, if there is more structural damage that i cant see from the photo... I wouldnt)

Depends on what you want mate. My insurance sent me a cheque within 5 days of accident, and I got the car back before the cheque arrived. Got more in the cheque than it cost to fix the car by a long way!

Or you can get a full payout, buy the car back and strip the bits that are good off it and make a tidy sum that way?

The options are endless! Well, there are a few at least

kae · 28th January 2011, 20:35

I insured it with my insurance for what I paid for it I think.. but its not my insurance thats dealing with it, its the guys who wrote it off. Some 'independent' engineer is coming to value it apparently.

I'm not bother really about the wing its only a small dent, its gonna need a new door, rear quarter vt kit (which i have no idea how to go about changing). I doubt there is structural damage though it was shunted up the kerb. Once the door and rear quarter is done then I think it would be OK.

I have no tools or anything.... hmm how hard is it to change the rear quarter? Any ideas?

darael · 28th January 2011, 20:47

That'll sort it.

Chris-VTR · 28th January 2011, 20:54

The vt' kit is basically held on with plastic clips, they pull strait out

Careful how it's done as they may snap if you're not!

loudandproud205 · 28th January 2011, 20:57

Provide the with similar examples of cars that are that value.

I had a massive battle with my Zafira but I ended up with an extra 1.5k over there first offer.

I provided examples exceeding 4k, but at the same time they were providing examples of the just over 2k so it was a long draw out battle to get where I wanted to be and lots of hassle over the phone, and many different idots on the other end till I finally just the head mans attention, and he dealt with it.

saxovtsmad · 28th January 2011, 21:09

just do not accept the first 2 offers unless you are happy

outrage_uk · 28th January 2011, 21:21

Was the 5th offer for my Vectra when some arse when in the back of that. Went from £2200 to £4100. I had to send them autotrader / ebay / piston head printouts to prove that it was worth ~£4500. + all the service history + all the receipts + the alarm installation certificate. Remember they are now paying for storage and they won't like that

As for getting it back and repairing it - remember it will most likely be a Cat D (or C) insurance write off so it will be harder to sell and cost more to insure.

Shame really, genuinely not your fault and I can tell you like your car

I dislike insurance companies.

tomburnley · 28th January 2011, 22:39

get 2 independant quotes for the damage one retardedly high and one really high. send a copy of them to the insurers then ask them to settle on the prices, also get a quote for the ICE and put that in to as this was damagedduring the incident. say this is what the value of the loss is and the cost of repair along with the price of the car, 3 or 4 high end prices from auto trader should do it. insurers dontwant to do the work they will give you a shit price. do the running for them and youll get a half decent settlement. also if you dont like it reject it they have to push higher cos they know there ripping you off. they will eventually tell you to fuck off but by supplying your own quotes youll find your first offers better than it wouldve been. p.s good luck!

kae · 29th January 2011, 14:20

Thanks for the advice, I've found about 12 examples from parker, autotrader and various other sources of cars that are 2002 with similar mileage listed between 2k and 3k so I have something to work with. Good idea about the ICE... hope I wont have to go that far though!!

There's no way im going to accept the first or second offer no matter what it is, I loved my car and I its sickening that we all have/had to go through so much ball ache to get a fair deal, ESPECIALLY when its no fault of our own.

Anyway rant over... lets wait and see!! I will probs just strip as much as I can off it.. anyway need any parts?

... on the plus side I might upgrade to a cheeky VTS