Totally gutted as my lovely 2000 A4 B5 TQS project car was rear shunted at the weekend and is very probably dead. The tow bar took the brunt of the shunt and now both rear doors are now very difficult to open and shut so it looks like the whole back end of the car has been twisted. Just waiting on the insurance inspection to clarify the way forward.

I know I’m jumping the gun here but is there an easy way to determine what kind of value the insurers put on a car?

As little as possible. You shouldn’t be out of pocket as it not your fault, however after my non fault claim I was probably £1k down once it was all settled. Bastids!

Start looking for adverts for similar vehicle/mileage/age and that will give you a good idea.

As bruneep says, they will likely go in for a low offer so if you keep the adverts/screen prints as evidence at least you’ll have a bargaining chip. The more the better.

Had you told them it was modified?

Start now, go collect adverts (save them off on the web, as they disappear quickly) for comparable cars, and this is the ammunition you need to present them with, to ask for more money, when they come to you with their 1st offer (obviously if they offer you that value, you take it). Ignore book values, unless it higher than you expect, as it real world sales that count. I couldn’t find exactly the same age car as mine, so collect adverts of cars a year newer and used them (with the proviso, that mine would be obviously worth slightly less).
This doesn’t help when you’ve a great car, with lots of service history & no issues, a tank full of fuel, new winter tyres and a life expectancy of still many years to come.. I was more than a little pissed when that idiot drove into my W reg focus, with a resale value of bugger all.

This is the only bit of information you’ll need:
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html

Wait for them to send silly offers, then show them this and tell them you are quite happy to refer the valuation to the Ombudsman.

My insurer (Equity Red Star) were playing silly buggers when my car was written of in February, down to offering half the value of the car. The person I spoke to even went as far as suggesting that they really ought to only pay me what the car was worth after it had been written off! Went on for nearly 3 months, until I found the above Ombudsman guidance. A cheque for the amount I was asking for was in the post the same day.

If you do start collecting adverts, look for dealer ads only. The Ombudmsan states, “In most cases, we assess the market value as the retail price which the consumer would have had to pay for a comparable vehicle at a reputable dealer, immediately before the date of the damage or theft.”

Thanks Flying Ox….just what the Doctor ordered