Highway Insurance and their pathetic offer.

[TomB 0]

Ladies and Gentlemen, your assistance please. I've just rung Highway for the umpteenth time, and finally got a quote out of them for the write-off value of my car. I need your advice on whether I'm being unreasonable in my reaction. If I am, please tell me, because I readily accept that I'm going to be biased.

My car was a 2.0l 16v, 1995 M reg, with 161, 000 miles on the clock. I purchased the car for £2,100 from eBay, and immediately spent £500 on replacing the exhaust, and getting it serviced (including having the cam cover gasket fixed).

The interior was in good condition, the engine despite it's high mileage was running extremely well (having just sorted out the lumpy idle).

There were 2 small dents, one in each of the doors, there was some rust above the rear wheel arch on the drivers side. The rear quarter panel on the drivers side had been replaced at some point in its history (unbenknowst to me until the accident).

The Highway engineer has described the condition of the car as 'fair' although how he told that after the car had been rolled I don't know), and the offer is £2000, minus my excess of course. So realistically, £1750.

I'm going to send them photos, and adverts from Autotrader to try and get more money, but am I being unreasonable in asking for £3K? Any advice greatly appreciated.

Incidentally, if anyone spots any 2.0l 16 valvers going for silly money, please let me know so I can pass it onto them.

Cheers,

Tom

[pablo_vr6 0]

3k seems a bit optimistic. 2200-2500 perhaps?

 

whats the going rate on these cars of similar age/miles on ebay/autotrader?

[dr_mat 0]

I'd agree with pablo. It's a lot of miles, and the rust and stuff isn't going to help your case.

£2.5k would be the absolute max, and I'll bet they won't swing for that.

Unfortunately the money you spent on maintenance can never be reflected in the value of the car.. :(

[Scott 0]

Sounds like a sensible offer to me... 2.0 16V never go for much anyway and irrespective of what you have spent on it - its still a 160k mile motor... therefore the price offered is based on this...

 

Try and get them up to £2250 so you walk with £2k.

[TomB 0]

Bugger. It just seemed rude that I had the car insured for £3000 (not agreed value), and that the cheapest one I found on Autotrader a couple of weeks ago was £2800... I shall try and bargin them up.

Thanks for the the advice gents, I shall try and bargin my way up to 2.5K but accept £2250

Cheers,

Tom

[tonytiger 0]

2.0 16V never go for much anyway and irrespective of what you have spent on it

 

That's not what I found when I was looking last year - I didn't find much under 3 grand (though admittedly I wasn't prepared to travel up and down the country).

 

As for mileage, it's generally difficult to get a low mileage Corrado of any age these days, and the ones that are are usually a very high price. The price really comes down to condition, and perhaps age, and what the market is for them at the time. For a late plate, even in only fair condition the offer does seem a little low to me. The price offered is supposed to cover the cost of an equivalent car - spec, age, condition, etc - and shouldn't just be trade value either. A service history could be helpful to show that the car has been looked after. I'd be looking for a minimum of £2.5k though if it was my car (depending upon how bad the rust was) - and you're probably right to push for close to £3k. Remember, the engineer is employed/contracted by the insurance company to provide a valuation on the car, and as such it's not independent and almost certainly on the low side.

 

Looking at previous posts, it looks like it's been some months since this happened, so I'm sure you're sick of the hassle by now, but be persistent - I'm sure you'll be able to get them to offer. Have you asked them how they've arrived at that figure?

[Stormin Dave 0]

I had the car insured for £3000 (not agreed value), and that the cheapest one I found on Autotrader a couple of weeks ago was £2800

 

Don't forget that the insurance company won't be paying out a retail price, and anything you can acheive over trade price is a bonus. :(

 

Of course we all know how good these cars are and what value they have in our own minds so keep pushing them because if they get fed up of you it might just tip the balance your way. :wink:

[Storm 0]

From the yahoo board

 

My mate's Corrado, stolen a month or two back, never turned up. It was a 93L VR6 in Storm Grey, with 80,000 miles, grey electric leather Recaros.

 

Insurance company offered £3,700, which he didn't accept. They told him they needed 4 adverts showing the price he thought it was worth.

 

He sent them 12 adverts, they've now offered him £6000, which he's accepted.

[TomB 0]

:) :) :) I shall get searching... I also have about 15 photos of the car just after I'd spent 3 hours washing and polishing it which I shall send to them. I never had the chance to post them up on here, as they were taken about a week before the crash.

If anyone sees any ads for a similar spec Corrado, do let me know. I found 18 2.0l Valvers on Autrader, ranging from £1,300 - £4000, although none with as high a mileage. As to the rust, it was not visible through the paint, but there was a bobbling above the rear arch.

Thanks again,

Tom