Insurance: given me a rubbish offer: Finally resolved.

[Taggart 0]

Got the offer for my insurance yesterday, they have offered me 2.2k for a pristine 1993 VR with only 65k on the clock, and recently having a fully rebuilt engine (which cost 3.5k alone).

 

What's the best way to get nearer what the car is worth?

[KADVR6 0]

feel for ya mate, i had the same problem with mine. there is one golden rule allways reject the first 3 offers, also who you insured with?? take examples of here/autotrader of rados that are same age/condition/and value that yours was. and get loads of pics of your car so they can see the condition it was in before the smash. but you will be swearing/pulling hair out for a few weeks though. :wink:

[Taggart 0]

I'm with Bell Direct.

 

They've been fannying about for ages now as well, some guy at work crashed weeks after me, he's already had his cheque and bought a new car!

 

I've printed off the Auto ads already. The insurance sent me a cheque, should I send it back when I reject their first offer?

[greenbeltvr6 0]

Post them some clips of similar condition VR's from Autotrader to illustrate what sort of price they're going for. You might also have to send them photocopies of your service book and reciepts for the rebuild etc, as proof of it's good condition.

Also never accept your first offer - explain the situation and calmly explain that you can't accept. They'll be getting more reasonable by your third offer, but unfortunately I think it'll be hard to get the full value of your motor.

[KADVR6 0]

Mmmmmmm if you have the cheque, i think that means you accepted there offer, not saying you have at all mate. if i was you get off the pc and get on the phone, also if your not happy with Bell Direct they have a good complaints department, they do follow things through. now get on the phone hurry :wink:

[Taggart 0]

Reading again, it say's banking the cheque will not prejudice my position, and I still have to accept their offer (there is something for me to sign)

[Ronan 0]

Don't think you send the cheque back, because if you're disputing the price then either they're going to say no and you keep the cheque, or theyre going to send you more money and another cheque on top. That's what happened when some stupid bint crashed into my mate's Integra Turbo (which incidentally got repaired and is now on ebay).

[Jim 2]

Yeah - find similar examples and politely point out that you could not buy the same car in the same condition for anything like the money they've offered you. At the end of the day their offer should reflect the current market value and they are way, way off in that respect.. find pictures of similarly priced (and condition) VR's and they won't have a leg to stand on.

[Taggart 0]

How's this?

 

Thank you for the first offer, but I consider this figure to be unacceptable. I purchased this car in June 2005 for £4,000.00 and fail to see how it has halved in value, when I have fixed many of the little problems I encountered on the car (rust patches, poor idling, paint fading). If anything it would be worth have been more now than when I bought it. I even had people knocking on my front door asking to buy it!

 

The car was in pristine condition and only had 65,000 miles on the odometer. The engine was fully rebuilt in 2004, at a cost of £3,500 and there is no doubt in my mind that this car had one of the best VR6 engines around. A lot of the other examples have many done many more miles, and are in much worse condition, and are up for sale for more than that.

 

I have attached some examples off Autotrader of such cars. All have covered many more miles than my Corrado. I think my car would have fetched more than them, as low milage cars are sought after.

 

Please feel free to edit this for me :) my english is not good

[KADVR6 0]

not bad, but dont mention rust/paint fading though, its giving them an excuse to say it was in not very good condition. and we all no what insurance companies are like. :wink:

[Taggart 0]

I did say it was fixed! If you reckon so, I'll take it out.

[KADVR6 0]

yeh i saw you said the rust was fixed, but insurance companys are like women, they see what they want to, and as soon as they see the word rust, they will think shed, thats what they are like mate..

[Taggart 0]

They also say they used the Glass's Guide... but on the phone to me they said the Corrado wasn't in it!

[craigowl 0]

Yes, take it out.

You fixed it we know, but it is still something negative for them to latch onto.

[Taggart 0]

Thank you for the first offer, but I consider this figure to be unacceptable. I purchased this car in June 2005 for £4,000.00 and fail to see how it has halved in value, when I have fixed all of the minor problems I encountered on the car. If anything it would be worth have been more now than when I bought it. I even had people knocking on my front door asking to buy it!

[KADVR6 0]

much better mate :thumbleft:

[chaz g60 0]

Good luck with it, be a persistant and ring them reguarly, bother them.

the first offer is a joke, bastards.

[H8RRA 0]

you really need to go through autotrder and cars for sale on the forum and show what a corrado with 65k sells for - glasses just doesn't work for low mileage corrado's

[khurrado 0]

Defintely, if you paid £4000 for the car and then a further £xxxx on maintaining the car and £3500 on fully rebuilding the engine. Find a similar example online, im sure it would be closer to the £5000 mark.

 

Good luck, and be persistent.....Dont give in to the W*****s!!

[KADVR6 0]

yeh forgot, keep phoning, pester them every day. try and right down peoples names and a quick note of what they said. it will work, my first offer was £1500 minus excess, in the end got £3000 including the excess. wasnt 100% happy as i still was about £1000 out of pocket. but thats insurance for ya. modern highway robbery. :(

[Pickard1 0]

I have had to haggle with an insurance company in the past and I was supprised how easily they upped the offer. They must be expecting the first one to be rejected.

 

I would remove any mention of the car going wrong / needing to be repaired. Just state that the car was in pristine condition, fully serviced with none of the well known faults. Include auto trader ads of cars in similar condition, it may also be worth pointing out how difficult it will be to find one in this condition and the travelling that will be involved.

 

As for getting any money for the work on the engine I think the returns for this will be minimal. How many times do you see Corrado's, golfs, cossies etc. for sale that have had 5, 10, 15k spent on the engine only for the car to be sale for only a couple of grand above what a regular one would cost.....however by the same token it should be possible to pick up a corrado whose owner has already spent a load on the engine for less than buying the car then having the work done.

 

Make sure you take them for all they are worth.....in my opinion Insurance companies are the lowest of the low!!! :x

[Taggart 0]

Thanks for the advice

 

Just sent off a letter with examples now.

 

I just had to phone them to see what it's gonna cost to buy my Corrado carcass back off them, she reckoned around £400.

[greenbeltvr6 0]

In my experience the 'buy back' cost depends on the amount they're gonna pay out. I was offered £2200 for my 140K VR, with the option of £230 buy back.

I declined their kind offer :fist: , which they upped to £2700 with - you guessed it - a £450 buy back option...

[-Neil- 0]

always reject their rubbish offers, i was once offered £600 for a nova, i sent auto trader copies, internet copies, parkers.co.uk price guides and they up'd it to £1k for £170 buy back. and that was for a nova! Keep on at them!

[Taggart 0]

I'm getting really hacked off with this insurance now. It's been over 2 months since I crashed, and they still seem to be fannying about.

 

They received my letter on the 8th, but still haven't looked at it.

 

Seriously tempted by the complaints dept.