Advice Needed

[muddatrucker 125]

So, a couple weeks back I'd just parked the car at work when I was walking towards the office and heard a smash and some glass breaking - some tit had reversed into my STDT in his company (not the company I work for) Volvo 4X4.

 

Luckily there was no panel damage as such, just a smashed light and indicator and a scuff on the bumper - had he not tried to drive away, then blame it on the woman behind him being too close I would of probably gone outside of the insurance for a fix, but he was a tosser so I was happy to jot down his insurance details and claim for a nice ford focus 11 plate courtesy car which I've been hooning around for the last 2 weeks.

 

Today I had a call from Allianz (his insurers) informing me that the car has been deemed an uneconomical repair and offered a payout of £500, which I promptly refused (I said I wanted at least a grand for something it such good condition) he's calling me back tomorrow to chat about its value again.

 

Now I want to buy the car back, but at the same time I also want a decent pay-out, I was considering selling the car anyway (I have ideas of a VW Bora TDI).

 

Where do I go from here? obviously I need to make it known that I want to buy the car back ASAP (I understand allianz offer this at 25%) - I am going to search for adverts for STDTs for reference tomorrow - I have suspicions that since there aren't many up for sale, they are basing the valuation on 'close' alternatives, such as any old turbo diesel s*it wagon they can find.

 

So - just looking for advice really, I'm doing the right thing I think but any tactics that will ensure the maximum payout will be appreciated and any help with finding adverts to use against them would be welcomed!

 

Its an L Reg (1994), 107k miles, no rust at all, 1.9 GTI wheels and had a tenners worth of Diesel in it!

Edited February 22, 2011 by jackherer

[muddatrucker 125]

Oops, left the claim number in the topic header, jotted it down when I was on the phone and didn't have any paper, can someone remove it, cheers!

[richsmells 2]

I'm guessing you still have the car in your posession? If so, that's a good start. Has someone independently inspected the car?

 

Refusing the initial valuation is another good step to getting back what it would cost to replace with an identical vehicle. They usually give you the option to buy back, but prices are plucked out of the air (£50 - £300). I made it clear during my claim that I wanted to buy the salvage and paid about £80.

[muddatrucker 125]

The car is in a local garage and has been sat there for 2 weeks whilst the insurance company inspected it (and where I originally thought it would of been fixed no problem) - I have called to confirm my intentions of keeping it though, so it wont be in the hands of the insurer or the scrappy.

[allye 530 3 Cars]

From your description it sounds as though the damage is very small!? Not sure if your read my thread when the Rallye got quite badly rear ended, the boot was mashed up, rippled boot floot and of course bumper and valance was shot, no quarter damage though.

 

They tried to give me £375 and the car, to which I laughed at them. I emailed them links of other Rallyes (euro and actual Rally prepared ones, hehe) and after a lot of nagging they mended it at a cost of nearly £2000! Winner!

 

I really didn't want to accept a pay out and the car as it would then forever have a right off marker against it. I would suggest you keep on at them for as long as possible, also like I did drill into them that the STDT is a rare model.

[muddatrucker 125]

Hardly any damage, a new headlight and indicator, don't mind it written off just want a good payout.

[lagonda 42]

Allianz are a good (ie not dodgy) insurer, so they won't (in THEIR opinion) try to rip you off. But remember everyone says, or thinks, their car is worth loadsamoney, so they will naturally want to counteract that. Unfortunately saying it's a rare model probably won't persuade them. In their eyes it's probably just a banger...so you'll need to come up with copy adverts relevant to your model, that support a higher value.

At the end of the day, if they accept liability, they are obliged to put you back in the condition you were before the accident...either by repairing the car, or giving you it's FAIR replacement value, so that you can reasonably go out & buy one exactly like it.

Just keep plugging away. Yours will be a relatively small claim so they might be more generous just to stop you wasting more of their time...which, of course, costs money.

[omega 82]

just watch out you dont get a big storage charge from the garage

[muddatrucker 125]

£750 and the car back, just need to source a drivers side headlight and an indicator and I'm back! not bad, not bad.