Car written off for much less than value

[Hairydogmummy]

Hi All...my DH desperately upset. A lady drove in to him a few weeks ago. Completely her fault. His car was his pride and joy, he sourced it as the best example of its type in the country and did quite a bit to it. It's not posh or anything, an 11 year old Alfa Romeo. He bought for 8k 18 months ago and has spent about 3 on upgrades. The insurance have written it off and offered only £4,400. What can we do? We're in the process of moving to a more expensive house and have not a penny to spare and now down to one car. I have said to get all the evidence together of what he's spent, what it cost, what something similar would cost etc and email them insisting he won't settle and would be prepared to take legal action if necessary. Does that sound right thing? It's the last thing we need at the moment.

That’s fabulous news @Hairydogmummy

In case it’s helpful to anyone else, if your car is ‘written off’ but you want to repair it and get it back on the road, it’s much better to negotiate a ‘settlement in lieu’ with the insurer, especially for a older car, as this means it will not be listed as a write-off, which further devalues it.

Good news

That’s a very satisfactory offer, @Hairydogmummy
Well done for fighting your corner so well

@AnotherDelphinium

That’s fabulous news *@Hairydogmummy*

In case it’s helpful to anyone else, if your car is ‘written off’ but you want to repair it and get it back on the road, it’s much better to negotiate a ‘settlement in lieu’ with the insurer, especially for a older car, as this means it will not be listed as a write-off, which further devalues it.

@AnotherDelphinium is “settlement in lieu” something they’d offer upfront or would you have to ask for it? I have a very old (04 plate) but low mileage and well-maintained Zafira, which is only worth a couple of hundred on paper but would cost far more to replace with something that isn’t as good. If it was only slightly damaged it would be an automatic write-off so it’s very useful to know this stuff, thanks!

I recommend Gap insurance when you do replace the car as it fills the gap between what insurance companies give you and what you paid.

Late to the party, but for future reference for others, you could have done what I did and written to the financial ombudsman. She called me back and then facilitated my insurance paying out more money. Very simple to do.