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Original poster

advice about car write off, (and sympathy) please;)

70 replies

psychomum5 · 31/05/2006 15:15

I got squished in my car last week. Was not my fault, and am injured with severe whplash and entire body in bad muscle spasm, as is my 10yr old daughter:(.

Car is a write off!

Advice now needed (please) for car issues.

Car was an M reg toyota previa. We have been offered £2000 for it, as the insurance co. say that is what it is worth.

Looking on the internet previa's of the same age and milage can't be found for less than £2995.
I don't therefore think we should accept the insurance offer, but DH is being soft and does. (altho he is fuming about lack of decent offer!)

I would like to know if we can challenge the offer, and whether if we do they will then with draw their offer completely.

Do insurance co. expect people to challenge them, and if they do would they be likely to listen to us if we provide proof of not being able to replace our car with what they are offering us.

sorry if I am rambling, but on many strong painkillers and feeling rather odd!

Thankyou in advance.

OP posts:
Original poster
psychomum5 · 31/05/2006 15:44

thankyou for that foxinsocks. have printed it out to give to DH for more prrof to send off.

He is the one dealing with the insurance co. for now cos the last two times i cried on them and now too embarrasedBlush. also keep mixing words up too, so i not the best on a phone anyhow right now!!

OP posts:
foxinsocks · 31/05/2006 15:45

you are prob still in shock you poor thing!

would keep this in active convos for those with car mad dhs

serenity · 31/05/2006 15:45

\link{http://www.parkers.co.uk/pricing/older_cars/\Parker's} is here but you have to pay £2.99 for cars before 1997.

Original poster
psychomum5 · 31/05/2006 15:46

many hugs serenity. me thinks that maybe you also got 'hit me' written on tooGrin

agree that maybe you should avoid all cars in jan and feb!!

OP posts:
biglips · 31/05/2006 15:50

i used to work for the motor claims dept and dealt with Total losses....

you will HAVE to get proof to prove your car is worth that price - the insurance co will keep the file open for a month on average. Once you send in the proof to the claims dept, they will contact the engineer and to see if the engineer agreed the price of your car that you are looking for. IF you challenge it then it may takes weeks before the engineer agreed or not.

if any more help pls let me know Smile

serenity · 31/05/2006 15:50

Hugs back, but at least we get to change our cars on a regular basis Wink

Hope everything works out - don't worry about pressuring the IC, they're used to it!

Original poster
psychomum5 · 31/05/2006 15:51

have llooked on autotrader and they also seem to agree with me, appart from one!

printed that too!

OP posts:
foxinsocks · 31/05/2006 15:51

would use that one then Wink

biglips · 31/05/2006 15:52

its cant be a L reg, N reg or a P reg its a got to be exact M reg, same everything as your previous car

Original poster
psychomum5 · 31/05/2006 15:55

here's the odd thing....we still at the moment have the car as they won't take it away. Was brought back to us after accident, insurance guy came to check it, and that was all they did! no engineer, even tho the insurance guy said it is clearly written off cos 1 -damage to extensive to repair, and 2- got hit on my side (drivers), yet all the doors on passenger side clunk and don't open properly cos the damage 'ricochet' (sp?) thro!

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Original poster
psychomum5 · 31/05/2006 15:57

biglips....so far haven't found many M regs the same. Altho I do have lots of J, K, L and N regs all worth more than £2000. was kind of hoping that would be enough!

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Lilymaid · 31/05/2006 15:57

Psychomum. I hope your whiplash doesn't include tingling down the arms and/or finding it difficult to walk. I was in a car crash and had these symptoms (as well as whiplash) and ended up in hospital on traction as my neck needed straightening out. Not nice, but better than ending up quadriplegic.
If you have a hospital referral, make sure you go.
Apologies for being prophet of gloom.

Original poster
psychomum5 · 31/05/2006 15:59

Also, another advice Q. would the car seats be ok? I know that they say to change car seats after accidents, but I didn't have any of my kiddies that use them in the car at the time and so they weren't technically in use. Does this make a difference?

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Original poster
psychomum5 · 31/05/2006 16:03

Lilymaid...yes. I am constantly getting pins and needles, and every morning am waking up with numb arms too:(. walking is a huge issue too. feel hunched and have yet to be able to put right leg completely flat on the floor. Have had xrays, and they were clear of breaks (thankfully), and the hosptail was wanting to admit me. problem was they hadn't enough beds so I got sent home in a taxi at 5.30amShock/ poor taxi driver looked terrified of me as I was a sobbing wreck by the time I got home!!

OP posts:
SaintofGeorgia · 31/05/2006 16:03

Have you got a decent service history for the car or very recent photos that you can prove the date of?

We had both for ours. They had originally offered only £2000 but bumped it up to £2800 when we provided the details.

Original poster
psychomum5 · 31/05/2006 16:04

the only thing keeping me going is many many lovely pain free drugs. also now been put on diazapam too which i hate but it is helping!

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Original poster
psychomum5 · 31/05/2006 16:07

Car had MOT just last month which it sailed thro without even any recomendations:). the only pictures of the car are ones we took while in luxembourg at xmas when it was covered in snow! not sure that would help muchWink

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aravinda · 31/05/2006 16:21

Challenge them! Check Glass's (this is what most ins. co. use) and also check autotrader for similar cars - then you can print off and prove the amount you need to replace your car. We were offered £3200 for a car which we had had for only six months, we had paid £3995 - I told them we would not accept less than £3800 thinking they would barter me down. They didn't! Sent cheque out that day for £3800!

You and your dd must have had somone looking down on you. I still feel pain nearly three months on although like you I had no breaks, luckily it was the lower half of my body that was worse off as the car was crushed at the front. Airbag saved me from whiplash I think. Hugs to you.

Original poster
psychomum5 · 31/05/2006 16:26

aravinda thankyou for hugs, and for advice. gives me hope that we may get somewhere now:)

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Lilymaid · 31/05/2006 16:28

When it happened to me (I was pregnant at time, so ligaments were loose) I was discharged from A&E after accident (when my neck muscles were in spasm) with the referral a week later. The problem wasn't a break but a partial dislocation - when the muscles eased, hours after the accident, the bones (C3 and C4)came out of alignment. I hope you have discussed it again with your GP/ been back to the hospital.

Original poster
psychomum5 · 31/05/2006 16:34

lilymaid, no I haven't been back. Mainly because of the fact that I thought all this was normal!

My fisrt write off happened when i was 7mths pregnant with my DS1, who is now 6. was in hospital for 2wks following that.

altho this is bad, i have just been thinking that it is what i should be expecting, not that there might now be more problems coming out that may have been hidden last week!:(

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misdee · 31/05/2006 16:35

replace the car seats and bill it to insurence company.

poor you Sad

JanH · 31/05/2006 16:41

\link{http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/WWW/cars_search.asp?modelexact=1&lid=search_used_cars_full&make=TOYOTA&model=PREVIA&variant=2.4+gl&keywords=&min_pr=75&max_pr=&mileage=9&agerange=4&postcode=bb7+2ag&miles=1500&max_records=200&source=0&photo=1&sort=3&ukcarsearch_full=SEARCH\One actual 95 Previa 2.4,} mileage 109K, £2250.

Look at the one above though - 91, 160K, £2000 for trade clearance Shock

Original poster
psychomum5 · 31/05/2006 16:44

thankyou for that janh. one Q tho...do you know what 'trade clearance' means? feeling fuzzy and thickBlush

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JanH · 31/05/2006 16:45

Agree re challenging the offer, btw - sure I have read this in Which - they generally make a low offer to begin with.

Good luck. Hope you and DD will be feeling better soon Smile