Help, Uninsured driver. Concerned of write off....

[diquitee]

Coming over from Benzworld.org from request. Told you guys really know your stuff.

I had a crash last week, uninsured driver went into my '81 230CE.

The repairs will cost around £3000-£3500, and I don't really fancy it being written off, because it'll be difficult to sell later on down the line. The write off value percentage for my insurer is 60%

It's been sitting in a garage for the past 15 years of its life so it's only got 22,000 miles on the clock - guaranteed with full MOT history I have. No rust on it (I know the pictures show a bit of rust on the front, but these are all I have on me and have since been dealt with) and everything on it works perfectly after a bit of work. (Drivers window, petrol gauge - all now repaired) And it's recently been serviced (new filters, pumps etc)

I am with classic car insurance, so they're not going to value it at market price, but at it's classic value, however I've no idea what that might be. I've varied estimates from friends and mechanics at around £4000 - £8000.

How much would you guys value it at, or how much would you guys pay for it?


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[steve333]

Hi,sorry to hear of your bad luck(it's frightening how many uninsured drivers are on our roads these days,about time the governmenrt got it sorted ).Have you asked your insurer how much they will let you buy the car back if it's a write off?

 

[Gareth]

Sorry to hear that

The only advice I can give, is that the Golden Rule is to NEVER accept the insurance companies first settlement figure.

 

[Druk]

Bad luck on your misfortune. Do you have prior 'Agreed Value' with your classic insurer cos usually that's a stipulation of them paying out more than the base value of the car.

ie. You both have had to 'agree' a value beforehand.

From the annals of the Owners Club there are two experts in the field of W123s who are probably best placed to give you advice.

Steve Marrocco, Malton, North Yorks 01653 692309

Mark Cosovich, swansea. 01792 846888

The Mercedes-Benz Club

 

[pipmk]

There is a simple and quite effective answer to the no insurance problem, as they do in France make it compulsory to have a insurance sticker (vignette) on the windscreen so anyone can check. It's not foolproof but would go a long way.

 

[diquitee]

I know, it really sucks, the car's my pride and joy as well.

Does anyone have an idea of the value then? It's simply to put my mind at ease, and to see how much I'm gonna have to put on top of the 60% write off value to prevent that from happening.

Browsing the internet I'm seeing 230ce's selling for £1000-£2000 as well. This really concerns me!

 

[d w124]

Hi and welcome to the forum.Sorry to hear about this,your car does sound like a nice example
The ones you`re loking on ebay are not low milers and might be rustbuckets
Rustfree good condition low mileage 230ce w123,I would say anywhre above 5k

 

[diquitee]

Thanks for that, put my mind at rest a little bit.

I did find this - Mercedes 230 CE 123-Series for sale, classic cars for sale uk (Car: 106297)

I know it's trade and mine isn't really as perfect as that, but it's not far off, plus mine is 2 years older and has 11,000 miles less on the clock.

But it just puts my mind at ease, because I want it back to continue polishing it!

 

[nick mercedes]

Coming over from Benzworld.org from request. Told you guys really know your stuff.

I had a crash last week, uninsured driver went into my '81 230CE.

The repairs will cost around £3000-£3500, and I don't really fancy it being written off, because it'll be difficult to sell later on down the line. The write off value percentage for my insurer is 60%

Where's it damaged?

 

[diquitee]

Where's it damaged?

The front drivers side. Oncoming.

 

[nick mercedes]

The front drivers side. Oncoming.

Have you got any photos?

£3.5k seems like a lot, perhaps a realistic contract repair would save the day?

 

[diquitee]

Have you got any photos?

£3.5k seems like a lot, perhaps a realistic contract repair would save the day?

Not on me at the moment, but when I get home I will do. To be fair, he was estimating from the top of his head and did say not to take that as gospel. He's soon to do the proper estimate by the end of the day.

 

[bolide]

Does the other driver have any assets? If so, sue him for £3500

Nick Froome

 

[jaymanek]

I would say your car is worth circa 10K with that mileage.

You just wont find comparable cars out there as they just dont come up in perfect condition, they have all rotted away.

If your car was in perfect condition, It would sell very quickly at around the 10K mark.

 

[steve333]

Does the other driver have any assets? If so, sue him for £3500

Nick Froome

Don't mean to sound negative but some years back i had the misfortune to be hit by an uninsured driver(police on seen even confirmed this & warned me i might have problems)to cut a long story short after weeks of phone calls/letters/running around my insurance companys legal assistance dept. contacted me to advise that the uninsured driver had no fixed abode,was unemployed & had no possesions of value in there name so there was nothing they could do,hope you have more luck than i did,cost me £2k out of my own pocket in the endIf any government officials are reading,sort it out!

 

[nick mercedes]

Not on me at the moment, but when I get home I will do. To be fair, he was estimating from the top of his head and did say not to take that as gospel. He's soon to do the proper estimate by the end of the day.

If you struggle to get it repaired or to get a decent quote, speak to Andy at

Andys auto barn a personal & polite service repairing bodywork for a variety of top marque motorcars.

He's a time served MB body man who knows the older models inside out.

 

[GP801]

Might be worth asking your insurer to contact the specialist dealers. 2 Years ago my son had a 300e-24 that was written off by a drunk driver in Spain. The insurers - Directline -asked Charles Ironside for a valuation and thats what they paid out

 

[bolide]

Might be worth asking your insurer to contact the specialist dealers. 2 Years ago my son had a 300e-24 that was written off by a drunk driver in Spain. The insurers - Directline -asked Charles Ironside for a valuation and thats what they paid out

I get these calls about every 2 weeks

Nick Froome

 

[312 Sprinter]

You need to try and persuade the police to take the uninsured driver to court. It'll make it much easier to get the MID to pay out. If they do you'll get your no claims bonus back. (once you've hasseled your insurance Co)

I got hit a few years back by an unisured driver. Eventually the MID paid out.

I negotiated with the insurance company and the paid me out direct without writing the car off or putting a marker against it. One of the reasons they like to just write the car off is that it avoids the possibility that the owner of the car refuses to accept the repaired car. If it is your responsibility to repair it that can't happen.

 

[Tan]

My car is in the bodyshop at the moment and they were telling me how they have worked with Mercedes on a scheme called Saviour (i think), if there a Mercedes that is special as your is and the insurance company will write it off on the basis of cost, then they can apply to Mercedes to see if they will pay the difference to save the car.

The garage that my car is at is: Ashford Accident Repair Centre

May be worth dropping them a call and speaking to John to see if he can help.