coneybiller
Active Member
Hi all,
I bought a W211 E320 CDI on the 24th of April this year. I waited a little while until I found one I liked and had the spec I wanted and negotiated the price down to £3400. It’s a late registered 3.2l straight 6 on an 06 plate with 1 previous owner and has now got 85k on the clock. It is in pretty good condition cosmetically and very good mechanically.
Now, a couple of weeks ago (18th of August) I had to stop quick due to a silly van driver that was making a ridiculous manoeuvre just round a semi blind bend. The range rover behind me didn’t stop and rear ended me! It was only a low speed accident (sub 15mph), but enough to push my bumper downwards off of its mounts and stretch it slightly. No other damage, boot lid and rear lights unaffected and my foldaway tow bar still operates fine.
The insurance sorted out the claim relatively quickly (I phoned them 10mins after it happened) and within 1hr the other party had accepted liability. He was insured with the same company as me (Esure) and it’s all been fairly smooth up until now.
Due to Covid, the accident repair company they selected to asses the damage, wouldn’t send an engineer to me and instead asked me to send pictures. I did so without quibbling. A week later I awoke to a text message notifying me that my car has been declared a total loss Cat N and that they have “valued” my car at £2800. I attempted to phone them that afternoon (after many tries) and managed to speak to their 3rd party department who said that I can keep the car if I so wish and that they will take £960 salvage off of the valuation and pay me £1840.
Now, I’m not happy with the valuation, since I’ve owned the car for just over 4months and I’m now potentially out of pocket at least £600 + the hundreds I’ve spent on preventative maintenance. Ive insisted that it’s not enough, but they have refused to budge on their valuation figure!
Apparently, they have used the ombudsman’s guidelines in their valuation and believe this to be a fair price. I’ve spoken to the ombudsmen who state that I should make a complaint to esure (which I did yesterday) and that if it’s not resolved within 8 weeks then they can help with the complaint but are not able to take over the claim due to me being the 3rd party!
It’s all sounding like I don’t have a leg to stand on and I just have to swallow the pill that they’ve dealt me!
They’ve wrote my car off without even seeing it or showing me an engineers report (which I requested btw, but still haven’t seen) and are now dictating to me what my cars value is without me even having a say in the matter! I feel like they could of just plucked a figure out of nowhere and said take it or leave it, either way tough luck!
Does anyone have any suggestions or experience with this situation? It’s driving me crazy!
Regards
Ben
I bought a W211 E320 CDI on the 24th of April this year. I waited a little while until I found one I liked and had the spec I wanted and negotiated the price down to £3400. It’s a late registered 3.2l straight 6 on an 06 plate with 1 previous owner and has now got 85k on the clock. It is in pretty good condition cosmetically and very good mechanically.
Now, a couple of weeks ago (18th of August) I had to stop quick due to a silly van driver that was making a ridiculous manoeuvre just round a semi blind bend. The range rover behind me didn’t stop and rear ended me! It was only a low speed accident (sub 15mph), but enough to push my bumper downwards off of its mounts and stretch it slightly. No other damage, boot lid and rear lights unaffected and my foldaway tow bar still operates fine.
The insurance sorted out the claim relatively quickly (I phoned them 10mins after it happened) and within 1hr the other party had accepted liability. He was insured with the same company as me (Esure) and it’s all been fairly smooth up until now.
Due to Covid, the accident repair company they selected to asses the damage, wouldn’t send an engineer to me and instead asked me to send pictures. I did so without quibbling. A week later I awoke to a text message notifying me that my car has been declared a total loss Cat N and that they have “valued” my car at £2800. I attempted to phone them that afternoon (after many tries) and managed to speak to their 3rd party department who said that I can keep the car if I so wish and that they will take £960 salvage off of the valuation and pay me £1840.
Now, I’m not happy with the valuation, since I’ve owned the car for just over 4months and I’m now potentially out of pocket at least £600 + the hundreds I’ve spent on preventative maintenance. Ive insisted that it’s not enough, but they have refused to budge on their valuation figure!
Apparently, they have used the ombudsman’s guidelines in their valuation and believe this to be a fair price. I’ve spoken to the ombudsmen who state that I should make a complaint to esure (which I did yesterday) and that if it’s not resolved within 8 weeks then they can help with the complaint but are not able to take over the claim due to me being the 3rd party!
It’s all sounding like I don’t have a leg to stand on and I just have to swallow the pill that they’ve dealt me!
They’ve wrote my car off without even seeing it or showing me an engineers report (which I requested btw, but still haven’t seen) and are now dictating to me what my cars value is without me even having a say in the matter! I feel like they could of just plucked a figure out of nowhere and said take it or leave it, either way tough luck!
Does anyone have any suggestions or experience with this situation? It’s driving me crazy!
Regards
Ben