Hi I was involved in and accident last week (non fault) and want some advice on the valuation of my car I own a 1991 MK2 Golf GTi 8v Metallic black 5dr. First a description of my car: The car is in good condition and is totally std with no mods at all. I use it daily so it is roadworthy and everything in the car works (heaters, MFA elec windows etc) and nothing is broken or missing. There is (was) no damage/dents to the outside and no external signs of rust. A bit of history: in 2008 it was parked outside my house when a car ran into the it. At the time the ins. company Cat C'd the car based on the damage. Since the damage was not too bad I retained it, repaired it and VIC checked it and have used it ever since. It passed the MOT and runs fine. Now last week a car ran into the back of me at a roundabount. He has admitted responsibility and his ins.company has been dealing with me direct (Admiral). They have written of my car and valued it at 350. I find this a bit low. Admiral say they have to adjust the value based on it being a Cat C before. I cant find out what the value would be if it was not Cat C (so I cant tell how much adjustment is applied to the value). Is this a fair value of the car. Should I push for more. With my ins. company (Elephant) I insured the car for 900. I am waiting for their valuation. But in the meantime I just wanted to know what a fair value should be for such a car Thanks Bhupesh
To be honest, as te car is already flagged as a Cat C, then usually although the insurers will want you to pay top dollar to insure it, they will categorise it as low priced in the event of any claims. As its an old car already, they see it as worth little value in real world terms. (ive been in this arguement as Ive owned a cat C motor previously) Dig your heels in and get the best offer you can as its an *unwritten rule* in a sense that you never accept the first offer form an insurer on pay-out. Good luck.
This... I had a Mk2 nicked and written off once and the insurers said it was worth about 700 (less my 250 excess), since "that`s how much they are in Autotrader..." Told them to p*ss off and that the car was of a higher standard than those in Autotrader, and if it was ever sold it would be within the VW enthusiast community, and would easily command 2000. They came back 10 minutes later with an offer of 1900...
Never accept the first offer, although cat C would impact the value. If you have any evidence that the car was repaired to a good standard (pics, receipts?) then include that. A tidy and original black GTI with a good spec (as yours seems to have) could go for around 1500 - you see people asking more than that, but asking's one thing, and it's never clear what they actually sell for, so 900 as a Cat C isn't a bad valuation, IMO, if it's as tidy as you suggest. Can't really tell from a no-pics description. You could ask a local VAG specialist for a valuation, but they might want to charge you for doing that.
The insurance company have no right to write off the car. You can demand that it is fixed. As it was non fault you have a right to not be left out of pocket.
Hi Thanks for the responses. I will upload a pic tonight. I tried a few time but for some reason it did not work (even when I reduced the size). Two points. Firstly I am dealing with the third party insurer - does all the above still apply (ie pushing for a better deal etc) Secondly - Andy947 I have never heard that one has the right to have the car fixed even if the cost of repair outweighs the car value. I never knew that. Is this part of some ins company regulations etc. Or are you simply saying I should try this line or argument. Also forgot to mention that Admiral sent their approved bodyshop company round who estimated 1500 for the repair. I took it to a local person whom I know and he quoted 600. Pics would help to assess these costs so hopefully tonight I will get one loaded. Many thanks
His insurance has no claim over the car, they cannot decide to write it off., you are under no obligation to accept their offer. They ate clearly trying to end it as cheap as possible. I had an 1800 repair on a 1200 car due to it being the other party at fault. Stop dealing with his insurance company direct, gets yours to assist, that's why you pay them!
You need to upload pics to photobucket.com, or another free hosting service , and then copy-paste the links across that look like. You can't upload pics direct to the forum.
During my recent claim for my TT, which was also Cat C as it was stolen/recovered prior to me buying it, I was told by the insurance company that they deduct 20% of the value as a result. My advice to you is do not accept any offer before 4th offer from them for the car, keep going back and provide examples of other equivalent cars for sale. This what I did and they increased the valutaion from 4200 initially to 5500! (both these figures were prior to the 20% deduction mentioned) HTH Tim
