My cars just been written off (Cat D) following anon-fault accident. Other party admitted liability, all fine so far.

The insurers have valued the car and made me an offer significantly below what it would cost to replace the car like-for-like (I’m using autotrader to find a replacement). I’ve told them I won’t accept this, and what I think I need. They are quoting Glass’s guide valuation but this doesnt reflect local market cost which I can prove through Autotrader.

However, they’ve told me they are sending me the cheque for their valuation, that it doesn’t affect my position, and that I have 7 days left on the hire car they provided from receipt of cheque to source a new car (even if I haven’t got enough money to get a like-for-like replacement).

Is this normal practice? They seem to have me over a barrel – I’ll have to cash the cheque and buy a car super quick or be stuck without once the hire car goes, and then have nothing to argue against them with / no reason for them to settle the issue quickly.

(The difference we are talking about is £1,000 so a fair chunk)

I definitely wouldn’t cash the cheque – that will demonstrate acceptance of their offer in any later dispute. Send the cheque back with a letter outlining why you don’t accept it. Also don’t give the hire car back…

Is a haggling process.. Keep putting your required amount up. Be persistent… You’ll get there

Everything in writing (letter). Return the cheque (signed for).

When this happened to me a few years ago I gathered all the ads off of Autotrader for equivalent cars at higher prices than their offer & sent them to the insurance company,a higher offer was then made (although still a little shy of what I wanted but I needed the money as I’d already had to buy a new car)

It’s normal, submit evidence to support your requested increase (private sales only)

In my case after having my car stolen we went to the main dealer to get quotes on replacing our car like for like. Being as we were going to buy a newer version the salesman got prices at the top end of the pricing scale for our model and year which the insurance accepted as the dealers were assessors for the insurance companies.

and that I have 7 days left on the hire car they provided from receipt of cheque to source a new car (even if I haven’t got enough money to get a like-for-like replacement).

Then don’t receive the cheque.

Chances are it will be sent normal post, but if it’s sent signed for, don’t sign for it. It will get returned.

They can’t start the 7 days until they can prove the cheque has been received.

Meanwhile, Keep on at them regarding the value of the car, written proof and examples. They use glasses guide because it’s easy. Some people benefit and some people lose out (unless they stand their ground)

the insurance company have a legal obligation to restore you the same situation without any loss.

They can only get away with not doing this if you let them.

When this happened to me a few years ago I gathered all the ads off of Autotrader for equivalent cars at higher prices than their offer & sent them to the insurance company,a higher offer was then made (although still a little shy of what I wanted but I needed the money as I’d already had to buy a new car)

Similar story with me. I think it took 3 or 4 exchanges before I got an offer that I accepted. Each time I would reply back with examples from Auto Trader and Exchange and Mart to back up my claim that should be offered more. It wasn’t particularly stressful just a bit tedious having to go back and forth a few times.

They sent me a cheque for the initial offer and then a cheque for each increment. In the end I actually got more than what I paid for the car. The terms and conditions stated I get fair market value which was higher than the bargain price I got my car for.

I didn’t have a hire car so no threats of having to return it and leaving me with no car.

“the insurance company have a legal obligation to restore you the same situation without any loss.

They can only get away with not doing this if you let them.”

i thought this – until i had to deal with insurance recently ……

the above is not the case – point being – whos going to enforce it …. the omsbudsman dont give a toss and in our case actually made it worse…..we still dont have enough cash to replace the (motor)bike that was written off by a third party – that is not enough to buy ANY milage / age of the bike as it was a first model year of the bike – there are none on the market for less than 3 grand more than the “book price” – the insurance accept this but still refuse to budge.

insurance accept this but still refuse to budge.

Sounds a shit situation; sympathies. Small claims court maybe? Dunno, just thinking out loud. Bunch of crooks.

was there much damage to the car, see if you can buy it back as part of the payout and get it repaired may be worth looking into as will probably end up back on the road any way

had mine written off same 4 weeks ago, the pay out was spot on with auto trader for mine. I had gatheerd the adds like you guys. Didnt need to use them in the end it was a fair deal.

Maybe insurance companys vary. I know they use third party assessors

“doof factor” as my colleague called it – copies – the more the better – of for sale ads, service records, log book – anything you can find and think of that demonstrates why their offer is too low.

Has worked for me in a couple of cases, law of demising returns eventually but you should significant uplift in the amount, I did…

I had a similar situation some years ago – though they were saying that 7 days on the hire car was running from first offer rather than 7 days from receiving the cheque. I provided ads from Autotrader (etc.) as proof of real world fair market value of similar cars to show likely replacement cost. They upped their offer. As it turned out, the revised valuation was high enough that the car went from being an economic write off to being viable as a repair job. So they asked if I’d rather have the cheque or have my car put right. I had them repair the car and drove it for another 5 years.

the insurance company have a legal obligation to restore you the same situation without any loss.
They can only get away with not doing this if you let them.”
i thought this – until i had to deal with insurance recently ……

It’s still true. They have agreed to it in a contract.

If they haven’t fulfilled that legal obligation then they are in breach of contract.

I’m not saying it’s a good situation, but legally speaking you have the upper hand.

Neil Glover – They can’t start the 7 days until they can prove the cheque has been received.

It goes from the date the cheque’s issued rather than received unfortunately

As before, you need to prove the private sale value of the vehicle to have the offer increased, get those autotrader ads sent in. Same age, model, and spec (or as close as possible).

If you reject the offer and reject the cheque by returning it you’ve not entered into any agreement and they’ll have to either re-negotiate or repeat. I’d also do this in writing and say you’ll be taking advice from a legal representative and will be writing to Watchdog and the insurance ombudsman, if you give an inch they’ll take your £1k!

It goes from the date the cheque’s issued rather than received unfortunately

That’s not what the OP said in the first post.

I had the same “discussion” with my insurance company – so echoing all the advice of communicating in writing and not accepting any cheque they might send you.

I involved the ombudsman and in the end got exactly what I needed to replace the car with a like for like.

Funny enough, I am still with the same insurance company, and think my file may be marked “pesky customer” because I had excellent service and insurance quotes ever since… 🙂

A major part of this though is the hire car situation, did any of the people responding to the OP about how they provided evidence and got an increased offer have a hire car benefit and if so did the insurance co extend the hire car without charge until the pay out offer was accepted? I have a feeling they’ll have T&Cs about the hire car provision ending after an offer is made, whether that’s accepted or not, as otherwise they could get people haggling over the pay out for weeks and costing them a fortune.

I had a hire car.

I dont see its an issue because in a no blame case they are going to claim it back from the other parties insurance.

That’s not what the OP said in the first post.

I’d bet money what was said to him and what he heard differ in that slight detail 😉

ABI GTA dictate the length of hire, 8 days from date cheque issued.

*caveat being it’s 4 years since i’ve worked in the industry

The 1k difference in value expected to settlement offered could easily be the difference between a dealer price and private sale price as well.

did any of the people responding to the OP about how they provided evidence and got an increased offer have a hire car benefit

Yes I did.

Nothing in my terms and conditions about it stopping after an offer is made. I kept the hire car until the claim was settled fully and the queue was cleared.

…otherwise they could get people haggling over the pay out for weeks and costing them a fortune.

So they need to make a decent offer and get it sorted to save themselves money don’t they.

ABI GTA dictate the length of hire, 8 days from date cheque issued.

They dictate that the term is 8 days from a “final settlement cheque”

That is, an amount that has been offered by the insurer, and accepted by the insured.

Until that final settlement amount is agreed, any payments made are classed as “interim payments” and do not start the clock.

…did any of the people responding to the OP about how they provided evidence and got an increased offer have a hire car benefit…

yep, as stated above

…and if so did the insurance co extend the hire car without charge until the pay out offer was accepted?…

it never came up in my case as they repaired rather than paying out. Once I’d shown them quite how derisory their offer was (their offer ~£3k vs replacement cost ~£5k) and they upped their offer accordingly, it tipped the balance from uneconomic repair to economic repair and everything changed. I ended up keeping the hire car until the repairs were completed, and handed it back when I got my car back. And when my car subsequently went back to the repairers to have a variety of shoddy workmanship put right, the repairers provided a courtesy car.

Hello, I was in this position a few months ago. Someone drove into my car, they admitted liability, my car was written off.
My insurers Hastings were dealing with it so one day they ring me up and the guy gives me this low ball offer ( basically the cheapest car they can find on Autotrader than is the same year / model) I reject the offer. So then you have to scan all these ads of similar cars to yours from autotrader and send them to the insurers.
I believe what you are getting is called an ‘interim’ payment, if you send the evidence they will pay you the difference.
I ripped the cheque up that they sent me as an interim payment because i said I wanted it payed into my bank all at the same time.
I stayed in the hire car for over a month until they made the full payment into my bank account, I think you are entitled to do the same if you rejected their offer

OP – almost exactly the same situation as you last year, although I never had nor needed a hire car as I just used the wife’s instead.

Insurance co sent me a cheque for their valuation with a covering letter stating it didn’t affect my position. As long as you have this in writing you’re good. Cash the cheque, buy another car, keep asking for the value you think you should get.

I cashed the cheque and then sent them lots of info for similar cars, plus the following from the FO’s guidance on valuation of vehicles for insurance purposes:

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.

This may be lower than the price at which the vehicle is advertised, as the dealer may have built in a margin for negotiation. It is likely to be higher than the price payable in a private sale or at an auction and also higher than the trade value (which is the price a dealer would pay before adding its mark-up).
We are likely to award the consumer the full retail value – even if they inadvertently underestimated the value of the vehicle when filling in the proposal form or luckily bought the vehicle for less than it was worth…

…We do not usually find advertisements for similar vehicles very persuasive. A vehicle may often be sold for less than the advertised price – and differences in mileage, year of registration, model type etc can significantly affect the value.

More info can be found here. Give it a read and use it to your advantage.

In my case, once the FO were mentioned the insurance company sent me another cheque making up the difference between their original one and the amount I was requesting.

Not necessarily – it depends who’s insurance. In the case of the OP and trail_rat at least, the obligation to put them back in the position they were in before is with the other party’s insurance (strictly speaking it’s with the other party, but their insurance covers them for this), who they don’t have a contract with.

Ultimately the remedy is taking them to court either way, though I’d think that it may be slightly easier to take another party to court (or get them to pay up when threatened with legal action) for damages they are liable for than your own insurance company for breach of contract.

Its a contract, read what youve bought and make sure you get it. They will make sure they don’t give anything beyond that , less if possible and they have a lot more experience than you!