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Ouch! CLS likely to be written off

LisleR

New Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2009
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19
Last week my CLS was struck by another vehicle on an otherwise deserted motorway. The other driver drove off in his badly damaged vehicle but fortunately for me he was found by traffic police a few hours later and subsequently admitted liability. I'm told that the damage to my vehicle is so severe it will probably be uneconomic to repair. Luckily I wasn't badly injured, a few aches and pains.

The issue now is how I can replace the vehicle. Market value is around £21-23k, trade value is probably around £16 - £18k. My CLS was quite a high spec with airmatic, ventilated seats and a few other toys. Mileage was low at 17k. I've been looking at the classifieds and have yet to see one with the same spec although there are a few with similar mileage.

Do I have to accept market value or can I argue/negotiate for a higher value based on condition and specification? Alternatively would it be possible to arrange for the insurer to pay for the cost of swapping the heated and ventilated seats into a replacement I purchased?

If only I had been persuaded by the salesman to purchase the invoice GAP policy he tried to sell me. C'est la vie.
 
If it was a two-car accident on a deserted motorway, police were involved and the other driver has admitted liability, I'd be looking to the other driver to make good your loss. In theory, in a no-fault accident, you don't need to involve your insurers - just contact the other driver direct and let him decide how he will deal with it

If market value for your exact spec is £21-23k then that is what you should be looking for

There is some info on this on the Honest John website

Nick Froome
 
Sorry to hear this, I hope your aches & pains go away soon.

Good Luck with finding a replacement. :)
 
The insurer will come back to you with a figure. You then need to get a datacard print out and get them to add all the options on, CAP have a system which adds value for optional equipment. If they say they cant do that, they are telling you porkies.

I had a claim on a 2002 w211 e320 a few years ago, they came back with £2100. When I explained it was a w211 not a w210, they said it made no difference. It took them to call CAP and confrim I was right, came back with £5700. Then I went onto the options it had, and resulted in a £6800 pay out. They wont add value for every item, but most the big stuff is on there.
 
What a hassle with market value

Vehicle assessor has confirmed that my car is damaged beyond economic repair. I am now negotiating with the insurance companies assessor to establish the market value of my vehicle.

Some of the arguments they've used to justify a lower value than my opinion:

  • It was an ex demo vehicle so you never paid the new price.
  • You never declared the factory fitted options when you insured the vehicle so we'll have to back date an increase in premiums.
  • Because its an expensive vehicle a dealer will reduce the price to sell it quickly, the asking price is not the market value
  • It will be cheaper to source a replacement outside the MB dealer network
  • The sample list of similar vehicles you supplied is too small to be representative
I've tried "well find one in a similar spec and let me know how much it is", that doesn't have any affect. The issue I have is that my vehicle was fitted with airmatic suspension, so it's not that common an option and filters out the vast majority of those available for sale. I've come up with two similar spec vehicles about the same age, both have at least 10k more miles.
So the sample of two vehicles I'm using represents about 70% of the three that are currently being advertised with airmatic. Does anyone know what the next step is if I can't get my insurers assessor to agree a figure closer to my opinion of my vehicles pre-accident market value.
 
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I think it's ultimately the ombudsman.

It was an ex demo vehicle so you never paid the new price. What does that have to do with the value now (could be argued that it's worth less as a 2 owner car)
You never declared the factory fitted options when you insured the vehicle so we'll have to back date an increase in premiums. Let em. Some insurers include extras fitted when new - check
Because its an expensive vehicle a dealer will reduce the price to sell it quicklyThat's not expensive to a dealer!
It will be cheaper to source a replacement outside the MB dealer networkOnly if available outside the dealer network. Query warranty?
The sample list of similar vehicles you supplied is too small to be representativeAsk them to supply a larger sample.
 
Don't take any BS from them. That entire list is utterly pants and makes them out to be desperate cowboys. Straight to the Ombudsman with them.
 
Is this your insurer or theirs?
 
Its my insurer at the moment. It's not completely clear who their insurer is at the moment. I'm being provided with a hire car, a new model CLS, so the costs are racking up. I'm thinking that if I can get in touch with someone who has some commercial sense at the third party's insurer they might be inclined to accept my opinion of the market value to reach a quicker settlement than prolonged negotiation might entail. This could result in a lower total cost for the insurer that ultimately has to pay.
 
ouch - it sounds like the other party might not have any insurance - hence the hit and run.

Are you using some kind of claims handling company? You need to be a little careful with the loaner CLS costs as it could be conidered that you are not mitigating your loss if you keep it too long. A new one could be a grand a week rental (or more) and if you have it for 3-4 months, the cost is close to the replacement car value and could potentially be used against you to reduce the final payout.

Say £21k payout less £16k rental charges.... i.e. here's £5k difference and BTW we'll be picking up the rental this afternoon. :eek:
 
Went through the same recently when my insurer wrote my 202 off. They initially offered less than market because according to them, my car was considered the undesirable model in the range as it had a 1.8 engine, it was a manual and it had no options.

However I pointed out to them my car had been in the family since new, had full MB service history and it also had very low mileage ( 25,000!) and I asked them to find another example like mine.

They eventually came back with a much improved offer which I accepted, although I still would have preferred to have seen the car repaired as it was such an immaculate example.


As mentioned already stick to your guns and don't accept their first offer. Good luck.
 
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If only I had been persuaded by the salesman to purchase the invoice GAP policy he tried to sell me. C'est la vie.

Really saddened to hear of the incident with your CLS, I see this was back in May but have only just read your post.

What was the outcome?

Your car was much better equipped than mine, and it would have been difficult to find same spec for a replacement. Hope it worked out for you, and you are now in a new CLS. Surely an agreed write off value should not need too much negotiating until you are satisfied.

GAP insurance seems to bring on strong opinions of the 'ripped off' type when mentioned on this forum. When I bought my car, the premium was £300ish, seemed good value. Took a bit of stick on here for paying too much, apparently could have had non MB policy for less than £200 but still pleased that I bothered.

Would like to know how it ended .

Thanks
 
Coach drove into my 210 E320cdi in Nov 2008,

-Got a 211 courtesy car after much arguing and refusing the skoda fabia they initially offered me. Total cost for 3 months = £7500 and some pennies! (from enterprise rentals!)
-Initial valuation for my car was £3200, Eventually I got £5800 to buy a replacement vehicle.

I only just got my excess back last week after much legal work against the third party and their insurers.
For a time I was calling my insurer every day, sometimes multiple times to get things done.
If the third party and insurers hadn't messed about and battled the case every step of the way it could have potentially cost them around £6000 with the cost of car and a few days courtesy car. Instead, they got landed with a huge £15k+ bill after all the legal costs as well!
With 5 witnesses backing me up and all willing to go with me to court...surely they should have seen the light earlier.
 
If the third party and insurers hadn't messed about and battled the case every step of the way it could have potentially cost them around £6000 with the cost of car and a few days courtesy car. Instead, they got landed with a huge £15k+ bill after all the legal costs as well!

You hear of this so often, and sounds like it was happening in the OPs case.

Why did you struggle to get the excess back - where you dealing with the 3rd parties insurer yourself? If so, did they organise the hire car for you?
 
3rd parties insurer refused to do anything. Had to get my insurers involved to utilise my legal cover.
Once mine had received the documents describing / showing the accident, including witness details, they agreed to pay me out for my car and continued to chase the 3rd party on my behalf, to reclaim their costs.
I don't know if I would have got a replacement e-class courtesy car out of my insurers if they thought they were footing the bill ( was still quite the battle though).
They kept back the £450 excess until they got paid themselves.
Awful situation, glad it's over now. In hindsight I would have got the police involved from the start as the coach driver hit my car and drove off without stopping.
 
Really saddened to hear of the incident with your CLS, I see this was back in May but have only just read your post.

What was the outcome?

Your car was much better equipped than mine, and it would have been difficult to find same spec for a replacement. Hope it worked out for you, and you are now in a new CLS. Surely an agreed write off value should not need too much negotiating until you are satisfied.

GAP insurance seems to bring on strong opinions of the 'ripped off' type when mentioned on this forum. When I bought my car, the premium was £300ish, seemed good value. Took a bit of stick on here for paying too much, apparently could have had non MB policy for less than £200 but still pleased that I bothered.

Would like to know how it ended .

Thanks

Thanks for your interest.

No outcome yet.

My insurers have still not sent a written confirmation of the payment they are prepared to make for my vehicle. So silly of them on a commercial basis. They have incurred far more in hire charges than the difference in my opinion of the vehicle`s value and the figure their assessor suggested in a telephone conversation in June. I told them the figure they suggested was unacceptable, I was told they would get back to me. I`m still waiting.

Physiotherapy is helping with my back pain, PI claim is going to be another problem issue I guess.
 
Dear insurance company.

Can we cut the jargonspeak and get me sorted out please ?

Get me a car of the same spec and mileage from within the Mercedes Dealer network at whatever price you manage to secure, I'm not interested in trade prices as I'm a private buyer and not in the trade.

Stop trying to tell me my car is worth less than it is. It's knackered and apparently worthless.

Fix it or repair it properly to MB spec. Your call.

Yours
LisleR

PS: The hired CLS I am using is lovely. Probably costing you a fortune to keep me in it while you mess around trying new ways to try and mitigate your loss. Bet the hire charges are more than the wages of the person trying to save you money. Can I suggest you sort me out and fire the financial wizard who is dealing with the claim ? You'll save money ....
 
Remarkably similar to the letter I posted on Tuesday.

Thnx
 

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