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!

Brilliant, thanks everyone. Will re-gird myself and go again...

You are going to have to make a formal complaint. If they still won't budge, take the complaint to the FOS.

I'd be tempted to stress that if they string it out much longer, you will also be seeking recompense for all the additional stress and inconvenience you have suffered as a consequence.

In my experience, automatic cars are always more expensive than manual cars second hand.

How written off is it - we have a car which was wrote off due to panel damage in a collision that Admiral deemed to costly to fix - they paid out and then we negotiated to buy back the wrote off car (significantly lower price than what they paid out) and then arranged for a good independent garage to fix the car - overall it was cost effective, but obviously you need a decent garage that can cost the fix accurately and do the job. There was some additional damage when the panels were taken off- so build in a bit of contingency. Obviously doesn't apply if more significant damage - however the whole front of our car was took apart and fixed.

On a side note - we are currently taking Admiral to the Financial Ombudsman Service for their mishandling of our injury claim.

Glad everyone is ok!

they should have a few sources of valuation that they use, and one should look at auto trader / similar a data to triangulate it all. Unfortunately the used car market is all over the place and depending on what the week is may depend on the valuation. Although £2k less than last year’s price doesn’t seem unusual in this market even if an older car. I’d ask for copies of their valuation reports / sources and also go back to them with your own info, including a spread of cars which are in a reasonable distance for you. There is no point if they are using national valuation averages when anything that is close to you is a grand more because of location. If they don’t budge, make a formal complaint, then you can escalate to the FOS if needed - it costs an insurer money to have claims looked at by FOS so they may end up settling just to avoid this.

No, but SAR does.

Really cannot emphasise how much I would like to buy you all a large beverage of your choice - thank you

@May09Bump the other driver ripped the entire driver-side front wheel off. I'm not sure I want it back, honestly - having been in a head-on collision at combined 80mph velocity I've become super-invested in car safety! But glad you got yours sorted. What an absolute palaver. I'm so fed up with having to become an expert in every damned service I buy...

They do - but while I would happily buy a 9 year old petrol car if I was on a budget I wouldn't buy a 9 year old electric because generally their batteries are rated to last about 10 years (usually only guaranteed for 5) and the cost of a new battery would run to many thousands (can be anywhere from £5,000 to £20,000 depending on the car). Electric cars hold their value reasonably well when they are between 1 and 5 years old (they suffer the same penalty for driving-off-the-forecourt when brand-new) but then they start drop drastically. Obviously some 10yo electrics still run fine but they don't hold a lot of trade-in value. I have an electric car and will run it till it dies but I know getting a replacement would be very expensive.

Dunno if this is relevant but ours was petrol (albeit automatic)

I managed to get a few hundred pounds more from insurance when I wrote to the financial ombudsman. Son’s car was damaged, taken on insurers’s instructions to an accident centre to be assessed, car caught on fire by another car overnight. Car then assessed as way below what was paid for it a few months earlier. FOS very quick replying. Good luck.

Just keep saying no. And showing them the ads you've found. And say no and show them again. And say no......repeat.

They will low ball of course expecting you to take it and be grateful. And they'll come up with all sorts of carp about regulations and what they must do despite it being more carp. Just nod and say no and show them the ads.

Worked for me.

I've come across this recently.

If you can show like for like recent sales then you can present the evidence to your insurers.

They tend to be a bit out of touch right now as the second hand car market has increased in ££.

Look at similar sales on eBay and send in your evidence.

A friend of a friend did this and they matched a fair price in the end.

You need enough to cover the loss your incurred.

We had a write off in April and were with Admiral - I was actually really surprised when you mentioned it was them as we found them excellent and they paid out the market value of just over £33,000 in less than a week !!

Our vehicle was on finance and we had gap insurance as well which fully covered the shortfall between the insurance payout and the remaining finance.

We looked up the figures at the time and the figure of 33k was perfectly fair price.

I would definitely try going back to them to start with.

Exactly this. My last auto car (2011 petrol) sold for almost double than its exact manual model. The autos certainly hold their value longer.

I had a similar experience with Admiral a few years ago. The vehicle was not especially common and we were offered significantly less than the half a dozen examples for sale at the time. We ended up making a formal complaint which was rejected by them. The Financial Ombudsman found in our favour, we were paid an extra lump sum from Admiral and also compensation for distress caused. Bit of a long winded process but glad I stuck to my guns. Good luck, keep fighting for what you are entitled to

written off in that it cost more than they value at to fix it?or written off total fkt and undriveable?/unfixable
if the cost\valuer option ask if they will let you buy it back,get fixed,mot and reinstate insurance/

Insurance professional here - this is entirely wrong.

I had a Total Loss payout from Admiral in August - the valuation was pretty much spot on.

ok sorry-just caught damage -wouldnt touch it then...hope you find resolution

This is correct.

This is excellent advice.

@PacificState I have pm you

I'm afraid you always lose out with a write-off. The current market value of your car won't match what it's worth to you.

I am with Aviva and was told they would get 3 values, take the average, make me an offer. I then had a right to refuse the offer and re-evaluate. They told me the result would never result in a LOWER offer. | would have thought that was an insurance standard, but it seems not.

Of course you only find this stuff out when you need it because who actually reads the 79 page insurance document?

What caught me out was "we AIM to...." - basically carte blanche to not meet the timings for various steps (apart from the ones which favoured them).