Insurance advice

[merc man]

Hi there all

As the tile suggests i need some advice, i had 2 non-fault accidents one with a car pulling out in front and another with a chavalier rear ending me.

The rear end damage was minimal, A bumper graze and my door being scratched (deep & leaving a crease), the garage are insisting on a new bumper, new door and the trims ect to all be new. Which is fine by me the toal for this repair is in the region of £2000,

The insurance assesor came out and is insting the car is a write-off,due to the front and rear damage as he is 'looking' at the whole picture

But these are 2 separate claims and the rear end has had the admission of liablity and i would like this reapaired and the front to be done when the admission of libility is admitted.

The repairs to the front end is only about £800 to the max the repairs come to is about £3000 total and the car is a 2001 w203 C-Class with full history and is 90% fully loaded and just had a set of new tyres put on costing £430.

What are my options and what can i do to ensure my car is repaired as i have alot of multimedia equipment in the car worth atleast £6000. plus a private plate which if its going to be written off i would like to remove

Thanks in advance sanjay

 

[crockers]

If they write it off - insist that they find you a car of commensurate value and quality ....and then give you that price --- in other words find a similar car advertised and use this as you bottom line price that you will accept -

who is at fault has no bearing on this - it is a financial decision by the insurer

 

[Dieselman]

Yes but they will want to give the reduced value for the other damage. The rest will have to be recouped from the other party involved in the other accident.

 

[Alps]

take the equiptment out, also you can still take the plate off even if it gets written off.

you could always buy the car back and get it repaired privately?

 

[IanA2]

Have I missed something here? If these are non-fault incidents I don't think the other parties Insurers have any right to "write you off". They have to put you in the position you were in prior to their client hitting your car.....regardless of cost.

That's my 2p worth.

 

[glojo]

If your vehicle has sustained heavy damage to the front and rear all be it on two seperate occassions, do you really want to keep the vehicle?

Making sure you end up with exactly the same type of vehicle should be what you go after. The registration number, hi-fi equipment are yours, make sure you remove them at the earliest oppurtunity otherwise they will grow legs. Tyres???? Not sure where you stand regarding those, the car must have legal tyres.

We are talking about insurance issues and from what your saying it appears you are the innocent party and has it been agreed by the other parties insurance that they were at fault? An admittance of guilt by the other driver is not the same thing and is probably in breach of the terms and conditions of the insurance policy.

It is quite common for the other parties insurance company to deal with your incident, but as has been discussed on a different thread, we must still declare any, or all accidents\incidents.

Just my personal thoughts
Good luck with the claim\s
Regards
John

 

[Benzowner]

You will probably find the loss adjuster who visited your car is employed by all insurance companies and he is looking at the overall picture not just each incident in turn. IMO, I think as you, each incident should be looked at seperately and the repair cost for each incident again taken seperately not lumped together, but, unfortunately that would not appear to be the way insurance companies work.

 

[crockers]

Have I missed something here? If these are non-fault incidents I don't think the other parties Insurers have any right to "write you off". They have to put you in the position you were in prior to their client hitting your car.....regardless of cost.

That's my 2p worth.

I think you're mistaken about the regardless of cost .... but I agree you should be put back to the position you were in before the accident...This can be achieved by a new 2nd hand car...of commensurate value and condition - this is all they have to match...sorry

 

[IanA2]

I think you're mistaken about the regardless of cost .... but I agree you should be put back to the position you were in before the accident...This can be achieved by a new 2nd hand car...of commensurate value and condition - this is all they have to match...sorry

That is the case if it is your car your insurance company and your fault, but if, for example, you have a car worth £2000 and someone causes £3000 damage, their company cannot say to you, sorry, not financially worth fixing...here's £2k. You would have the right to insist that it was put back to the condition it was in before their client damaged it. I am fairly sure I am right on this....perhaps there as some experts about.

 

[timskemp]

Try a claim management company. They can be a bit ruthless but they do tend to help you get what you want (my claim is now heading way beyond the value of the car, 12k of repairs, huge hire bill etc) but I'm in agreement with the two posts I've thanked - the other parties insurers are to put you back into the position you were in before the accident (s).

Sounds like you're going through your own insurer - not always the best thing they'll be looking at their interests, which are a smaller payout (which they will reclaim with costs from the 3rd partys) and getting you back on the road ASAP.

I used accident exchange as my dealer has a contract with them - check with your dealer and find if they have a similar arrangement.

 

[crockers]

That is the case if it is your car your insurance company and your fault, but if, for example, you have a car worth £2000 and someone causes £3000 damage, their company cannot say to you, sorry, not financially worth fixing...here's £2k. You would have the right to insist that it was put back to the condition it was in before their client damaged it. I am fairly sure I am right on this....perhaps there as some experts about.

I think if you can show via adverts that a commensurate car would cost £2000 to replace that is all you will get....coversely if it would cost £4000 to replace the car - you can demand that ....

 

[merc man]

Thanks for all the replies.

I have been to 'vist' the assesor and they are loking at the whole of the repair bill, i have told him that there is no way he could do that as one of the claims is still on the bench and one has the admittance of liability and i wanted that sorted before the other claim, the damage is not major in anyway, a replacement door and bumper is all it requires at the most, its a scuff on the bumper and a light indent on the door (could be skimmed with filler) and the front just requires a new bumper chrome moulding and the bumper compounded,or resprayed.

when i told him whatthe damage was and that i knew what i was taking about he changed his tune, and the car is now wotrh repairing, as i said if it was a write off i would be removing the system, the private plate and thw alloys along woth all the other bits i have added and replace then with the standard parts, therefore retuning it to its orginal condition which he has based his valuation on!

he has now granted the repairs which are now in excess of 4k taking in to account the hire car, due to my age the extra insurance premium levied.

The car was valued at 10.995 not includiong the extras,to buy it back i was told it would cost 3k but would be a cat D

so thanks to you guys i have a result.