Question folks

So if some hits your car and excepts liability, can their insurer write off my car if the damage is worth more that the car value ?

Where would I stand?
when it was not my fault and I could not afford to replace it

Speculation only, and therefore of little help to you, but I reckon they probably can.

I could not afford to replace it

if they write it off, surely you get the replacement value of the car?

They can offer. You don’t have to accept. Their first offer will be rubbish. Depends how hard you want to fight.

Yes, but it’s 20 years since I did vehicle claims, so procedures may have changed.

As above, they would pay you the market value of your car, less the value of the remains if you keep it. If their value does not cover the cost of a similar age/spec/condition car, they haven’t offered enough.

Short answer – no. If it was genuinely their insured’s fault (i.e. they were negligent) then you are entitled to be put back in the position you were in before the damage occurred. If that costs more than the value of the vehicle, tough.

The only potential issue is that they could argue that in insisting on repairing the vehicle rather than buying another one, you have failed in your duty to mitigate your losses.

Think they have to put you back in the same position as before, which means either repair or replace like for like.

So, if it’s a financial write off they give you what the car was worth so you can buy the same age/condition etc. They don’t have to fund an upgrade for you. But neither do you have to accept the first valuation.

edit – what all them up there said, but I got distracted by work while typing my reply.

Either way, be prepared to be dicked about. Their insurance company’s loss adjuster is there to reduce their costs as much as possible. Your insurance company should fight your case to get you back to a pre-accident situation, but that doesn’t appear to be how it works (in my experience) so you have to fight your own corner.

My advice? Wait for their settlement figure (which will be derisory) and then reject the offer. They’ll get back to you, referring to lots of adverts showing that their offer will buy you a replacement vehicle of the same make and model, maybe in the same colour, possibly of a similar spec, at some address 300-odd miles away. Get a valuation of your car from Glass’ Guide, inform them of this value and tell them you are of a mind to refer the case to the Financial Ombudsman. Make sure you let them know you are aware of section 2 of the Ombudsman’s guidelines on vehicle valuations.

They seem to play on the fact that 90% of people need a replacement vehicle ASAP and so are likely to settle for not quite as much as they ought to. My experience is that the above will get you to an acceptable insurance valuation/payout much quicker than to-ing and fro-ing with adverts and autotrader links.

Thanks all for your advise

What Ox said.
I was in the same situation a couple of years ago and came out the other side with what I wanted, not what they were offering.
Very frustrating 6/7 weeks though.