Car Write Off, Insurance Payout - Refusing First Offer

[muchlovex]

Further to my thread about my car being written off, I had a few replies from other Aber's about refusing first offer from insurance company for car.

Well, how long does it normally take them to reply to a decline, as I have taken some ABer's advice on refusing first offer. The insurance company has offered me considerably lower than my car was actually worth.

They said they check the value of cars on the Glass's website. I checked this and indeed they offered me £700 lower than the actual worth.

Any advice on this matter would be gratefully received.

muchlovex

[hc4361]

Have you gathered evidence of how much it is going to cost you to replace your car?
You must find examples of the exact same model, same year, similar mileage and history to back your claim.
Look at autotrader, local paper etc.

[redcrx]

its not a case of ALWAYS refusing first offer. My ex was offered a lot more than his car was worth and took it without question. Just that some insurance companies do offer lower payments at first. You do need to give proof of what it would cost you to replace like for like.

Dont forget that their offer may also include any deductions such as excess or perhaps insurance cost to end of year if you are not continuing to cover.
And finally, if you are paying for anything out of your own pocket, such as car hire whilst waiting for settlement, then you need to factor that in as well. ie if its going to cost you £500 for a further months rental and you are waiting a month for a £200 better offer then its pointless.

[factor-fiction]

From what I remember, Glass's Guide gives values depending on the condition of the car- trade, good, excellent, etc. Which values are you and they using?

[muchlovex]

They used Glass's and so did I.

My car had very low mileage for it's age and was in excellent condition. it has just been resprayed as well :-(

[factor-fiction]

I'd be surprised if your insurer considered it as falling into the Excellent category.
If you used the Glass's Guide valuation for next classification down would that match the insurer's figure?

[muchlovex]

Insurance company knew that car had been resprayed as i claimed through them. It had a dent in panel. Whole panel had been replaced and resprayed.

I have written to them and have got comparable evidence.

[factor-fiction]

I was just explaining why they won't have offered you the Glass's Guide valuation for an Excellent condition, but if you can get evidence and get them to push the offer up, good luck- it's definite worth a try, but I doubt they'd go beyond the next level down in Glass's Guide

[ABerrant]

Here is some relevant text from the Glass's website in regard of their dealer trade-in valuation service...

"...Values are not cash values, replacement prices or insurance settlements and therefore must not be used for any other valuation purposes whatsoever."

http://www.glass.co.uk/various/help.php

Here is the FOS explanation of approved vehicle valuation...

http://www.financial-.../motor-valuation.html

[chas2008]

if it had been resprayed due to a claim im not sure how that increases the value...its not actually cost you anything..
looking at your post though you put panel replaced an resprayed, wrong terminology...resprayed usually means a complete vehice repaint.Even if it was just a panel painted theres no way it increases the value...
When we value vehicles we just look on the autrader website and come up with a comparable vehicle...many insurance companies are quite happy with this.

[ladybirder]

chas doesn't that mean you are valuing against an asking price rather than the actual sold price?