To wonder how this is fair - car insurance

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We were driven into the back whilst stationary at a junction. Luckily, neither DH or I or were badly hurt and the other driver was very apologetic and admitted it was his fault. He was driving a company car.

The driver's boss has said he is going to put it through his insurance company. The damage is going to cost about £500 but because our car is 16 years old (albeit with low mileage and drives perfectly), we've been told by the garages that the insurance company won't give us any money, they'll write off the car and then give us @60% of its value.

The book value of the car is apparently £2,000 and so we'll get about £1,600 but having searched the Internet, the cheapest like-for-like we can find is £3,200.

So basically, we're going to be a minimum of £500 out of pocket for something that was in no way our fault. (I'm not angry with the driver/boss, it was an accident and they're not doing anything wrong, it's the system).

How can this be fair?

Go on Autotrader and see what the same car make/ model/ year is actually going for, get as many examples as you can. We had to haggle a lot but eventually the insurance company increased our payout because we argued that we couldn't actually find a similar car for the price they initially proposed.

As the previous poster said, they will write the car off if the damage is over 60% of the value of the car, but your payout from the insurance will be what they deem to be the market value of the car. This “market value” is definitely negotiable.

I had 2 cars written off within 12 months a few years back (must have had a magnet in the boot!) and haggled on both. Both were 10 year old cars and both my settlements put me in a comfortable position to replace like for like.

If it’s minor damage and only a financial write off I.e. category N (formerly cat d) the insurance company may let you buy back the car for a couple of hundred pounds.

I took up the offer on one car as I was offered £2,200 settlement or £2,000 and get the damaged car back to fix or sell on privately.

As they were both non fault claims I found, surprisingly, my insurance wasn’t really affected. At renewal I did a with and without comparison on one of the insurance sites and the quote was £10 more with both claims vs none.

Hope this reassures you a little.

I had a driver run into my car when it was stationary and it was agreed eventually that I was not at fault. However the repair quote was considered too high, so they wanted to write the car off. I explained that it had had lots of new parts, the engine redone recently and had low mileage and the insurance company agreed to have it repaired - it was absolutely brilliant! Still felt unfair that my premiums went up though!

My mum and dad had this, their car was written off by a stolen car in a police chase, luckily no one was in it but it was destroyed. Cheapest like for like car was £3500 even after haggling they only got £2000 and with the £500 excess it was £1500. Because it was a stolen car they had to claim on their own insurance, kept no claims bonus because of what happened but insurance still went up by £300 A year because they had made a claim. Police weren't interested just said oops that's shit. The car was stolen by teenagers with no jobs etc. So no way of recouping damages off them. All in all it cost my mum and dad over £2000 for an accident they weren't even in the car when it happened. It's a farce of a system.

It's also very annoying in that e.g. a 20yo car that you've owned since it was 6yo, whose foibles you know well but which you otherwise know to be reliable, in no way compares with an apparently identical 20yo car that you'd have to buy from a stranger.

Why are they only giving you 60% of the value?

Same thing happened to me - rear ended at red traffic lights whilst stationary.

I'm £3,000 out of pocket as insurance only gave me £2,000 and the replacement (same model, same year, same BHP, same everything) cost £5,000 to buy. Mega pissed off.

Thanks for all the info, will have a proper read in the morning.

Definitely haggle- my car caught fire (unpredictable fault) and was written off. Not only did I lose my NCB but they then tried to offer me 60% of the value I'd listed my car as being worth when I got insurance. I literally challenged them on the phone to find my spec of car, with the same age, 5 changer CD player I'd had installed by the manufacturer and even the same colour. They conceded that they couldn't and upped the offer by nearly a grand straight away. (My car was worth about the same as yours OP).

Ask them to prove where you can buy the same make model and condition car as you lost on the money they offer you (less the excess). Make sure you negotiate. You don't have to accept their first offer. Quote their policy wording back to them (market value of the car for example) ans ask them to demonstrate how what they're offering you is market value when your research shows you need £x to buy it. In your policy wording or overview there will be details of where to direct a complaint if you do not agree about the value of a claim payment so ask to make a formal complaint if they don't pay you enough then threaten to take it to whatever ombudsman

Sometimes insurance companies will let you buy back a written off car.
So in theory they would write it off, you would get the settlement then you can buy the car back. This is usually at a reasonable figure and less than the settlement and then you can pay to have it fixed and registered as Road legal again.

I am positive my FIL has done this when someone bumped in the back of him when he was at a set of lights.

I did everything suggested here - haggled (it's what I do for a living), had various examples of autotrader examples of exactly the same model / similar mileage / age etc and they still wouldn't give me the cost I needed to replace - in my case they knew I needed a car for work, strung it out till I'd had a courtesy car for the maximum of 20 days or whatever it was, then said it was either the sum they'd offered or I had to start paying for the courtesy car. B'tards

Sorry you have been dealt such a shitty hand, but life isn’t fair. That said we just bought a marvellous car, a Honda, low mileage, built in sat nav, leather seats and all the bells and whistles for two grand.
You should be able to find a reliable and decent car for the amount the insurance is paying out.

Dh is a vehicle damage assessor and said they would repair a 2k car with only £500 damage, they can repair up to 100% of the value if they want.

This has just happened to me!!
My car is old but reliable so really want to keep it.
Been offered £1300 with the option to buy it back at a small cost, which I’m doing. Will then save for newer car in future.

It’s so annoying as it’s such minimal damage, a scrape that happened whilst my vehicle was stationary and another was trying to park next to it.

Does anybody know if I’m obliged (legally) to get it repaired once I buy it back. Because I’m happy to just leave it and save the money. It really is minor damage.

Also worrying about the impact on my insurance. Can it really affect my premiums if I’m not at fault?

Also, will I have trouble insuring my car if it’s registered as a cat N write off? From what I’m reading it may be difficult or really expensive.

It’s so unfair. They’ve offered me a fair price but I just wish I hadn’t claimed at all.

I must be mad. If you don't repair the damage and have proof if you are in another accident the car will only be worth the scrap value. We had ours written off, bought it back for 100. Got told if we didn't fix or couldn't prove we had done the work then it would remain at scrap value. So we replaced the bumper, took pics etc. Got given 900 bought it back for 100 and spent 70 on bumper. Non fault accident so didn't affect renewal . We gained money from that accident

WE were with a big insurance company and spoke to them before buying back. They had no issues with it being a cat n so long as it was repaired. Didn't affect premium

I’ve been quoted £300 as it’s a scratched wheel arch I guess that whole panel needs doing. I don’t mind paying it and just keeping the car for years to come as long as I’m not going to struggle to insure it as a car N

If it’s going to be expensive or difficult to ensure, I won’t bother with the repair and just save the money towards a new car before insurance renewal is due.

Dh's vehicle was hit from the side, and he was told it was a write off (it's a rare vehicle), and they'd only offer a fraction of its value - yet due to rarity there isn't actually another secondhand to buy. He got the insurance engineer out who agreed that since the rest of the vehicle was pristine (honestly if you'd not seen the reg plate you'd think it was brand new) & that the value of the vehicle was what he'd insured it for and they agreed to spend more on the repair than they actually said the vehicle was worth.

So definitely worth a haggle