Car written off, insurance offering too little to replace - anyone knowledgeable aronud?

[PacificState]

DP and I were in a collision a week ago -- thankfully everyone concerned was fine but our lovely car was written off.

The other party has admitted fault.

We're now at the stage of looking at the cost for replacing our car - and our insurer, Admiral, is offering around £2k below the price of the exact replacements we can find on AutoTrader. Even more confusingly, Admiral says (and has sent us the PDF to prove it) that the £2k-under price is one they've gotten from Admiral's 'market value' tool.

I just don't know where this number comes from -- it doesn't bear any relation to what we're seeing on AutoTrader.

Admiral is also saying there's 'no haggling' about the amount they're offering us, because 'the regulations have changed' and 'we don't do that any more'.

If anyone knows more about car insurance than I do I'd be really grateful for some insight - basically, is it worth pushing for more or do we just take it on the chin (and never go with Admiral again, obviously).

Thank you!

Can you do a FOI request to see how they came to that calculation? May not change it but might give you something to take to the small claims court for the difference?

They don't go by what is in auto trader they use specialist valuation books such as Parkers or Glass's Guide which sets out values of vehicles and rate of depreciation.

it will be more about what you said the value of the car was when you insured

FOI doesn't apply to private sector.

@PacificState Ask Admiral to identify like for like replacements at the amount they are offering. Check your policy details carefully and quote any relevant sections.

Thanks both. Yes @Spirallingdownwards they say they're also using two other trade valuation services that they can't show us. Which seems convenient, but as you've corroborated that maybe it's true!

@SlayPantaloonsSlay I don't know tbh - can you FOI a private company? I'll see whether I can find out

@DrSpartacular that sounds like a good approach, thank you

what on earth are you on about? a FOI of a private company?

@thanksicloud we put the cost price (we've only had the car a year 😰) which was £2k higher than what we're seeing on AutoTrader now and £4k more than they're offering us

massive devalue in first year op

@thanksicloud FWIW it wasn't a new car - it was 5 years old when we bought it. I'm totally fine with them offering less than we initially paid -- what I'm confused about is how they've come up with a valuation than is £2k less than all the available cars we can find.

give us the details and we can look!

either way…. if you think your claim has been unfairly handled, there will be a very transparent written complaints process to follow

My bad - what is it where you can access your name and info about you?

As the accident wasn't your fault their insurer should pay enough to put you back in the position you were in beforehand. Find 3 current sale examples of the same make, model, condition & milage yours is and use the middle amount to argue they need to pay you that as compensation. Reject whatever you are currently being offered as it is not enough to put you back in the position you were before. Insurers are lazy and will try and frame what they are offering as reasonable. You may need to speak to their claim adjuster and argue but I have had good results doing this previously. It makes me cross they try and fob people off any many don't know they should be given enough to buy the same condition car as before if it wasn't their fault

This is why gap insurance is a life saver.
It is a very common issue unfortunately

However, is it your insurance or the other party refusing to pay out at the higher amount?

Very happy to have Mumsnet source my new car for me! (or save me the headache of wrangling if I don't have a good case)

It was a Volvo V60 T4 SE Nav, not particularly high-spec, 60k miles (I'm a car dunce so let me know if you need more info).

AIBU to think it should be within 100 or so miles of me (or come from a garage that delivers?) We're in SW London and we bought our old one from a garage 60 miles away. I don't really want to have to go to Edinburgh or anything (nothing against Edinburgh but YKWIM)

@SlayPantaloonsSlay I think that's Subject Access Request

er

key info missing

the figures

@FamilyStrifeIsHard2Bear thank you, that's the advice everyone gave us (but it's good to have it confirmed). They're saying 'regulations have changed' and that they 'can't' haggle with us - but maybe asking to speak to the claims adjuster would be useful...

@thanksicloud ha sorry. We bought it for about £16.5k. The average of the four I found yesterday was £14.5k. They're offering £12.5k

OH AND IMPORTANT -- it was an automatic! (Don't blame me. DP doesn't like clutches)

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/insurance/types-of-insurance/vehicle-insurance/vehicle-insurance-making-a-claim-if-you-re-in-an-accident/

Section here about a write off - sounds like what the insurer are saying is rubbish. As you're their customer they are meant to be on your side too!

I'm missing something? If the other party is at fault, why are your insurance company only offering you a fixed amount? They should be acting as the go-between for you and the other insurance company. Or are they also the insurance company of the at-fault driver?

@Ihatelittlefriendsusan Haven't heard of gap insurance but I guess it's going to be a part of my life now... is that an entirely separate policy? So we have to take out policies now because our first insurance company won't do the commensensical interpretation of the policy they appear to be offering? AAARGH

I don't actually know who is refusing to do what - maybe we should ask that too. Admiral says they'll be recovering the cost from the other insurer, but we haven't asked who that is or where this refusal is coming from

@PacificState the value you get from insurance is never for like-for-like replacement. What you get is essentially the trade-in-value - if you hadn't had the accident and had taken the car to a Dealer to buy a new car, offering them the old car in lieu of deposit, what would they knock off the price of a new car for it.

The difference between a Dealer's "buy" price and "sell" price - essentially each traded vehicle's contribution to the Dealer's operating costs and profit margin - is not usually covered by insurance.

Thanks @FamilyStrifeIsHard2Bear will have a read

@TheCompactPussycat nope, you're not missing anything. This is why I want to dig my heels in, even though I'm really quite tired of politely asking service providers to provide the damned service I'm paying them for

They can be on your side but they can still only pay the value of what the car is worth if it is beyond economical repair.

Are the ones in Autotrader also automatics because automatics do not hold their value as much as manual cars.

Remember too the market demand grew for second hand cars over the pandemic period due to production issues with new cars. So demand inflated sale prices but not necessarily values. They are different. You will be offered the value by insurance companies because that is what they base premiums on.