Just Been Rear Ended...

[SweetBadger 94]

If they do write it off stick at them for a decent payout. When our first GTi, a 1989 1.6 with the Mi16 was written off Equity Red Star offered me £110! Then they told me I could'nt have it back as the assessor said it was a Cat B, to which I pointed out to them its till my car and if you take it away I will report it as stolen. To make a long story into a short one after a bit of solicitor action I accepted £1200 and I got to keep the remains of the car.

 

Arses, that's who I'm with now - £110 they were really trying it on!

 

I've had a look at the damage it's really not that bad - I reckon I could get it looking fine with a new Tailgate and rear valance. The boot floor is kinked but only a couple of inches in, which I think is from the spare wheel carrier bolt pulling on it...

 

Hopefully if they write it off it'll be Cat D, at worse a Cat C

[Toddy 7]

Hopefully if they write it off it'll be Cat D, at worse a Cat C

 

 

iirc if you don't agree with the category, you can challenge it and have it re-assessed, maybe worth £60ish in another assessment if you get to keep the car if it has some fancy bits on it.

 

My 205 MI16 was initially valued at £393, I wrote a letter of complaint stating the assessment/valuation was bollox, received a phone call from the valuation company, five minute chat and they now valued my scabby 205 at £2000, result. Had to pay £500 for the salvage, but still!

 

Similar with my mates Golf mk2 16v, they initially offered £300, then £500, then £600, the claim was then passed to someone with more authority and he received £1350, again for a battle scarred Golf.

 

You should really push and be prepared to wait a while to get the best price, otherwise you aren't doing justice to yourself or this forum!

[Batfink 201]

I have just been hit by a lorry and this is what my dad has told me to do.

basically get the car assessed, then use your Legal protection to claim the money off the other driver insisting that the accident was their fault so they are liable for the costs.

Do not go through as a claim as your insurance company with rap you with your excess, offer 50:50 and then hike up your premium next year.

No doubt your car will still be written off but its still a better situation than the other.

 

Kev

[SurGie 54]

Very good advice there, whom would decide who was at fault though for it to work ?

 

I have the legal protection and never thought you could use it to do that.

 

I hope things work out well for you, this is the reason why i will only go for sunny day

drives and use my 1.4 for a daily run about and insure my recon 205 GTI with classic insure and have guaranteed valuation.

[ALEX 98 1 Cars]

I have just been hit by a lorry and this is what my dad has told me to do.

basically get the car assessed, then use your Legal protection to claim the money off the other driver insisting that the accident was their fault so they are liable for the costs.

Do not go through as a claim as your insurance company with rap you with your excess, offer 50:50 and then hike up your premium next year.

No doubt your car will still be written off but its still a better situation than the other.

 

Kev

 

 

That's what I had to do with my first no fault Accident in mine because I was only TPTF anyway.

If your not fully comp. your Insurance company does sod all to help you in a no fault claim, you have to phone their insurance and it's like getting blood from a stone if their client doesn't admit liability.

I ended up phoning back my insurance company after spotting Legal protection cover on my insurance cert.

Worked out OK in the end, but changed my insurance to fully Comp when it was due for renewal.

[mr_exe 1]

Arses, that's who I'm with now - £110 they were really trying it on!

 

I've had a look at the damage it's really not that bad - I reckon I could get it looking fine with a new Tailgate and rear valance. The boot floor is kinked but only a couple of inches in, which I think is from the spare wheel carrier bolt pulling on it...

 

Hopefully if they write it off it'll be Cat D, at worse a Cat C

 

My car was rolled after avoiding a foreign motorist who thought he was back home so the damage was far worse than yours.

 

I think the insult to injury had to be Mr Wyatt of Equity Red Star reminding me that the policy had a £250 excess and that I technically owed them £140

[Batfink 201]

Very good advice there, whom would decide who was at fault though for it to work ?

 

I have the legal protection and never thought you could use it to do that.

 

I hope things work out well for you, this is the reason why i will only go for sunny day

drives and use my 1.4 for a daily run about and insure my recon 205 GTI with classic insure and have guaranteed valuation.

 

 

the idea is to be so strong in your view they back down on any disagreement as thats the easy option. The benefit for me is I was hit right at the back, and for sweetbadger it was in the rear. Its going to be harder in different accidents....

I'll tell you if it works for me

Edited January 7, 2010 by Batfink

[SweetBadger 94]

I have just been hit by a lorry and this is what my dad has told me to do.

basically get the car assessed, then use your Legal protection to claim the money off the other driver insisting that the accident was their fault so they are liable for the costs.

Do not go through as a claim as your insurance company with rap you with your excess, offer 50:50 and then hike up your premium next year.

No doubt your car will still be written off but its still a better situation than the other.

 

Kev

 

Cheers for the advice- that seems to be what's hapenning at the mo anyway. When I told HIC what happened they referred it straight to the company providing the legal protection as they deemed me not liable, so I won't have to pay any excess and should get a free courtsey car too if everything works out - Top marks to HIC there.

 

Then later on this afternoon the legal protection company phoned me asking about my injuries, lady on the phone couldn't believe it when I told her I was fine - they obviously expect at least the whiplash claim when someone's gone into the back of you...

 

Anyway, I wont be taking any insulting offers - I've know every new part that gone into the damn thing and probably have most of the reciepts somewhere, have spent a small fortune! Shouldn't be hard to argue my case for a decent valuation...

Edited January 7, 2010 by SweetBadger

[chocolate_o_brian 0]

Cheers for the advice- that seems to be what's hapenning at the mo anyway. When I told HIC what happened they referred it straight to the company providing the legal protection as they deemed me not liable, so I won't have to pay any excess and should get a free courtsey car too if everything works out - Top marks to HIC there.

 

Then later on this afternoon the legal protection company phoned me asking about my injuries, lady on the phone couldn't believe it when I told her I was fine - they obviously expect at least the whiplash claim when someone's gone into the back of you...

 

Anyway, I wont be taking any insulting offers - I've know every new part that gone into the damn thing and probably have most of the reciepts somewhere, have spent a small fortune! Shouldn't be hard to argue my case for a decent valuation...

 

When some pillock pulled out a juntion into my old Scoob, I panicked a little. Was with Ecar and when I rang them up to explain the situation they put me through to their claims people who were pretty helpful. The car was ok to drive, so the same day I went through to the garage who did all my servicing etc and the owner came up with all the damage/repair costs (as they were MY preferred repairers). Insurers didn't like this as it wasn't theirs but I was insistant and knew my rights. They said they could offer me a courtesy car and gave me a number for an independant company called Angel Assistance. Basically they offered a courtesy car in relation to the "prestige" of your car regardless of liability, but their fees would be paid by the liable party. They had discussed my claim with my insurers and agreed it was 99% in my favour in fairness. They said I had a presitge car (obviously this was pre chavs getting all the knackered Wrx imports and ruining the Scoob reputation) but couldn;t quite justify me having a brand new M3/Jag/Merc so offered me a brand new £27k Passat diesel, an auto Golf GTi or a Mazda 3 sport LOL. I was expecting some diarhhoea brown 1.0 asthmatic Micra in all fairness so took the Passat as it was a deisel luxo barge and uber comfy.

 

As the Scoob was good to drive, I took it to my chosen garage (after the assessor had come round and agreed £2200 of damage was caused - Scoob genuine parts are NOT cheap LOL) and the Passat was there waiting (with 1,100 miles ). All happy I took it and used it for about 7 days I think, then blew the turbo up on the way to work one night Dunno how! So a phonecall to Angel Assistance got me the RAC out in 20 mins, a lift home and the car towed that night. By the time I was up the next day, another lorry with the previously offered Mazda was just pulling up outside Ran that for the other couple weeks whilst the car was away.

 

In the meantime a Solicitors firm from Cardiff had heard wind through my insurance (how the feck these ambulance chasers get this info I do not know) and called me to ask how severe my injuries were. All I had was a twinge to a previous whiplash injury and a little shock. Said I wasn't fussed about claiming as all I wanted was my beloved Scoob back. A few days later an offer of £1,000 full and final settlement compensation written from his insurers to my supposed solicitor came in the post. They wanted no medical records or interviews, just a quick end to any possible claim action. WTF I thought, so I simply said yes thats brilliant and got a cheque a week later It paid for some extra paintwork to be done, a wheel refurb and a decat downpipe so I was pretty happy when the car came back looking superb!

 

All in all my insurers were pretty good, the Angel Assistance company were fantastic (even with the courtesy car breakdown), the solicitors were, well solicitors and got me free money I didn't really want or deserve and the garage repairs were spot on. The courtesy car company got their fees through his insurers (something daft like £97 a day!) and rumour has it his insurers were keen to settle quickly and cough up repairs etc. on the basis his car wasn't particularly road worthy - brakes or something.

 

Hope you get it sorted asap anywho and find that guy who just happened to be walking past at the time.

[lemmingzappa 75 1 Cars]

You sound pretty lucky chocolate !

[chocolate_o_brian 0]

You sound pretty lucky chocolate !

 

LOL, if that were the case, I wouldn't have had the nob crash into me in the first place

[SweetBadger 94]

Update - Good news and bad news...

 

The Good - car passed it's mot after a bit of zip tie bodgery with the rear valance and fog light.

 

The Bad - after over 2 mts I have my first settlement offer and it's a cracker!

 

500 quid, minus 300 excess!

 

What a joke! So anyone recommend a counter offer?

Edited February 25, 2010 by SweetBadger

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

My counter offer would be along the lines of telling them to stick that up their ar$£...!

 

Let them make you a better offer, surely the onus is on them, not you?

[Guest lion_lady_lu]

SweetBadger, I hope it all works out ok for you - well, as ok as it can, under the circumstances. Looks like you've a lot of support and advice here, so all I can do is sympathise and wish you luck.

[steve@cornwall 100]

Update - Good news and bad news...

 

The Good - car passed it's mot after a bit of zip tie bodgery with the rear valance and fog light.

 

The Bad - after over 2 mts I have my first settlement offer and it's a cracker!

 

500 quid, minus 300 excess!

 

What a joke! So anyone recommend a counter offer?

 

Why are they deducting excess? Surely this is not from your company but theirs?

[dave_gti 0]

Last year i was in my saxo, parked at a car park and my car wasnt in a parking space because id just stopped to drop off some tools for a mate, and as i walked over to him i heard a crunch, and some pillock had revered out his space into my wing.

 

There was barely any damage, just a small dent in the wing and scratches on the plastic arch, but the pillock who reversed into me was being a right tit, and was later trying to say i caused more damage after to bump the cost of the repair up (why i would i dont know) so I'd have enough of him eventually and just went through insurance.

 

My solicitor said even though i wasnt in a parking space, they had no reason not to see my car, therefore its their fault and they have no valid argument, so i went ahead with it.

 

I ended up getting a courtesy car for 7 weeks while my car was being repaired etc, and the claim would of cost his insurers over £3000. During the claim i phoned them and asked if they just write the car off and id buy it back, which would of saved them money, and they said that its not the cost of the claim, its the cost of the damage lol.

 

Anyways i didnt have to pay an excess because i wasnt at fault, and it didnt affect my insurance at all.

 

I dont know if its of any use but i thought id share a similar experience

[hman205 1]

if your not at fault you should not be paying any excess I have had this a few time s now where the insurance company have told us we have to pay X ammount in excess then you can claim it back I have always refused to pay the excess because the way I see it is that if I was to pay the excess they wont work as hard to sort it out bacause they have already got there money and it also feels like an admission of fault.

[SweetBadger 94]

My legal protection is with Angel Assistance, when the claim was, in their opinion, not worth very much (book value of car £500, no injury claim), they said they'd not be taking it any further and passed me over to my insurers - Equity Red Star.

 

I phoned them up about the excess, and they didn't want to know! Got through to a right mardy cow who wouldn't discuss the offer over the phone and just told me to refuse the offer in writing.

 

Said once the claim was settled it was my responsibility to contact the insursance company, and instruct them to instruct my legal cover to go after the excess from the 3rd party insurers .

 

Bloody pain in the backside!

 

 

Add insult to injury renewal is due March, and with an open claim the cheapest quote is £687 this year

 

 

So - definately worth going to the effort of getting an agreed value policy with a 205... Wish I'd done that.

[rescue dude 0]

If you have a bump thats not your fault any excess is claimed back from the party at fault.

[richsmells 2]

In a way I was lucky that I was only TPFT and it was left up to me to store the car, I already had a replacement vehicle and I wasn't injured, so I haven't incurred any charges which would have to be claimed for. So i'm only going after the value of my vehicle from his insurer.

 

The guy who hit me didn't admit liability at the scene, but the Police were in attendance so I have proof the incident occurred. It wasn't totally clear cut as he hit the front passenger wing, changing lanes without indicating whilst I was braking hard to avoid. The officer in attendance did give him a telling off though, but because nobody was injured his assessment doesn't go down on record and is left to the insurers to decide.

 

Basically he hasn't responded to any correspondence from my insurer, Europa or his own insurance company. His insurer have sent a letter giving him 50 days to respond, after which, Europa will push for them to pay out without prejudice for the value on the engineer's report.

 

Hopefully, because yours was a "rear-ender", it should swing in your favour. If they start talking about shared liability and you're confident you were not at fault, give Europa a call.

 

Following on from this...

 

Several months later after a "resonable period" for the other party to respond had elapsed, Europa negotiated a good amount for my car and they claimed their fee from the other party. I doubt he'd be able to insure his bimmer now!

 

I hope you manage to sort your's out. I got about £850 for mine in the end, after deducting the amount to keep the car. No excess either, but agree that you should claim that back from the other party's insurer.

 

My renewal has been affected this year, even though I was non fault. Gti6 doesn't help though

Edited February 26, 2010 by richsmells

[SweetBadger 94]

Another update:

 

Tight arses will offer me £650 as a settlement offer - if I accept this the car will not be written off and I will simply get the cheque in the post end of matter... My insurance then goes after the other partie's for the excess.

 

Most they will offer if the car is Cat C written off is £1000 ... I'm sure I could get this pushed up by negotiating with them but then add salavge fees, and the cost of a VIC check and the hassle involved with getting the car re-registered and back on the road and I don't think there's much in it...

 

I don't have anywhere to store the car if it runs out of tax before this is all sorted out and I need some form of powered transportation so I think I'm going to have to settle for the £650

[NeilGTi85 5]

I would take the money if they are not going to write it as Cat C.

 

I had the same problem not so long ago and I did not get a choice, My car is Cat C, currently waiting for the dvla VIC check to be done (£50).

[SweetBadger 94]

I would take the money if they are not going to write it as Cat C.

 

I had the same problem not so long ago and I did not get a choice, My car is Cat C, currently waiting for the dvla VIC check to be done (£50).

 

Yep then add the £25 for the DVLA to send out a new log book, plus whatever they charge for salvage...

 

I got it MOT'd after the incident but have a feeling that if it gets written off the MOT becomes invalid too so there's another possible £50

[Leet205 48]

Yep then add the £25 for the DVLA to send out a new log book, plus whatever they charge for salvage...

 

I got it MOT'd after the incident but have a feeling that if it gets written off the MOT becomes invalid too so there's another possible £50

 

wrong and wrong. on the log book application form there is a box you tick and get the book for free after the VIC. MOT Wont be invalidated.

[NeilGTi85 5]

I had just Mot'd my car then the acciedent happend, it invalidates it im afriad.

 

I have to get an MOT (agian) then go to the VOSA VIC check then tax it.

 

And I've still got my log book........insurers did not ask for it?!