insurance settlement help ( been to court)

[mr lobitos 0]

couple of weeks ago me, my wife and two girls were involved in a serious crash, to cut a long story short, two saxo boyracers overtook a van on a bend, we were coming the other way, i managed to swerve out of the way of the first but the second (which was in his slipstream) hit us side on , luckily for us we were in the wives bmw, all the airbags were deployed, thank god we all managed to walk away, the girls were hysterical and i suffered cracked ribs and wrist ( think i made that worst when i decked the chav ), the car is totalled

 

this leads to my question, the car was a 56 plate bmw 320i se touring which we had owed since new was fully loaded , leather, glass roof, larger alloys etc, had only done 49000 miles and was in excellent condition , we had no intention of selling as we knew we would get next to nothing for it

the insurance company have today come back to me with a figure of £9000 ( if i was selling i would be chuffed with that ), but have trawled all the usual used car sites and i can't find a car with the same spec and mileage for £9000 , what is my best plan of action to get the extra to get a car like what we already had

 

we have been given a hire car by his insurance company which is cost them £350 a week, can i use this to blackmail them to get us the extra i think we rightly deserve

 

thanks for any input at this very stressful time

Edited January 3, 2014 by mr lobitos

[Wesleyvr6 10]

I had a similar scenario where there payout wouldn't cover a like for like replacement, I kicked off with them and asked them to find a car the same spec for the money otherwise I wanted the extra, I sent them various adverts for like for like cars to prove how much extra it would be to replace. They upped the figure in the end! Took a few months though. HTH

[Billzeebub 1]

Sorry to hear that, hope you get it sorted with the settlement. Like has been said just keep on at them and send them proof through adverts that show a comparable spec/condition car, that's how I got my Insurers to move to an acceptable level last time I had a prang

[Rams 0]

Firstly Nigel very sorry to hear that news. Obviously glad nobody is seriously hurt.

 

Your best bet is to get as much comparable evidence together so you can prove your claim. If you can send these details with brief description of differences and don't accept their first offer till they come back to you with a higher figure.

 

Your likely to get compensation for all sorts I would imagine so either way, this should bump it higher than what the original cost of the car was so I wouldn't be too chancing but equally stick to your guns.

 

Did you have an agreed value? Otherwise insurance companies will give you a kind of book value. If you can find out what that is you should be able to work out how far you can or can't push them.

 

Bearing in mind insurance companies when backed into a corner will look for ways out so treat it calmly but positively and I'm sure you will get what you want.

 

Keep us updated with your progress

[mr lobitos 0]

thanks for the support, have got together a file of similar spec cars and they are not for sale @ £9000

does the year of the car come into it ?

 

finding it hard to keep my cool with these people at the moment, were the victims and were not being treated fairly :mad2:

[Critical_Mass 10]

Wow. Glad you and your family are reasonably ok.

 

What happened to the chav - hope he got done for dangerous and careless driving. Boils my pee!

[mr lobitos 0]

he had only passed his test 2 weeks previous, just my luck I'll end up with a charge of assault against me, knowing the justice system in this country

 

am now have disputes over the hire car, all good fun

[dragon green 5]

The main thing is you are all right !

Turn the first offer down,explaining not enough,that's the first offer what most people will take,

If you hold out,gather evidence of other similar models,you will get offered more !

Be ready for all "where there's an accident there's a claim" phone calls,and I don't think there's one person on here who wouldn't blame every one in your car having a "stiff" neck

Good luck

[VR6 Gar 10]

General rule of thumb is turn down the first 2 offers.

Make sure you send them loads of adds from pistonheads and autotrader showing how much comparable cars are or even ones that are not as good and explain why to get your price upped.

Then rinse them for whiplash claims because they tried to feck you with stupid low offers and wasted a lot of your time, they deserve it.

[Supercharged 2]

Mate - glad you are ok (and your family)

 

Good advice above, stick to your guns and take them to the cleaners - you shouldn't be out of pocket in any way!

[James. 9]

Don't forget the for sale ads on the BM owners club forums. Better condition cars/higher prices etc etc.

 

Hope it all works out.

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

Then rinse them for whiplash claims because they tried to feck you with stupid low offers and wasted a lot of your time, they deserve it.

 

I can see why people get angry with insurers and want as much as possible out of them, but that is the reason why everybodys insurance is high! Take what you are owed by all means but the claim culture in this country that everyone seems to be jumping into is costing us all dearly in the long run!

[VR6 Gar 10]

Having suffered cracked ribs and wrist, not to mention the mental trauma it caused his family I think Nigel deserves everything he can get from them. It's the muppets who claim whiplash for car park bumps that drive up insurance premiums, not claims from serious accidents.

[mr lobitos 0]

thanks vr6 gar, sean jaymo , i do not believe in the claim culture and am only trying to get back what i already had, i don't know if you've been in this situation but i can tell you it's not nice, knowing me , my wife and kids could be dead due to some brainless moron

 

forget to tell you this bit, the first car did not stop and the police caught him because he posted on facebook that he had been involved in a crash this led to 10 girls and lads turning up at the crash scene taking pics and laughing and joking while my wife and kids sat on the side of the road hysterical

 

do you understand now why i what to take him to the cleaners, rant over

 

---------- Post added at 7:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 7:35 PM ---------

[clumpy1 11]

You are totally in the right mate hope it all work's out for you.

[robrado974 1]

As above ,hope you get this sorted . Posting on face book !! what an idiot . Get your dough , leave it 6 months and give him a right hiding . People like that are the scum of the earth , thats all they deserve , he has the mentality that does not care for anyone else ,so he should get a slap , rest assured if it aint you ,it will be someone else .

[tonytiger 0]

Main thing is everybody could walk away. But now, take every penny you can get out of them. It's not your fault you're in this position, and I wouldn't be surprised if you get penalised in your future insurance renewals - even though it's not your fault.

The car value thing is difficult - as said you definitely need to give as much evidence as possible on suitable replacements - look everywhere you can for ads - but you might find it difficult to get them to stump up more than 'top book' price. Keep arguing though - and definitely try to use the cost of the hire car to barter with, as once they've settled they won't have to fork out for that anymore. So it's in their interests to settle quickly.

Also, depending who you're dealing with at the other insurance, if you're not getting anywhere then go to the top - my mam did that a couple of years ago and things got sorted out then, still not exactly to her satisfaction but much better than before.

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

thanks vr6 gar, sean jaymo , i do not believe in the claim culture and am only trying to get back what i already had, i don't know if you've been in this situation but i can tell you it's not nice, knowing me , my wife and kids could be dead due to some brainless moron

 

forget to tell you this bit, the first car did not stop and the police caught him because he posted on facebook that he had been involved in a crash this led to 10 girls and lads turning up at the crash scene taking pics and laughing and joking while my wife and kids sat on the side of the road hysterical

 

do you understand now why i what to take him to the cleaners, rant over

 

---------- Post added at 7:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 7:35 PM ---------

 

 

Rant all you want, what I actually said was that you should get what you are entitled too, not what you can get away with. I'm all for fair and compensation and all that jazz, but what i'm trying to get across is that people shouldn't claim for something they are not entitled too. You won't get any cash from him personally, you will just be shafting his insurance company which will pass on the cost to everyone else come renewal time.

 

I feel for your situation, I really do. I wouldn't wish on the situation on anyone. And yes, as you ask, I do have personal experience of your situation....

[Rams 0]

I'm not one to usually say things in these circumstances but I understand what you are both saying but bear in mind, this is a raw experience and one that probably makes you feel worse as it fully sinks in so from your wording it could be misconstrued because its so raw.

 

If you had this conversation a year down the line it would be clearer to read between the lines broadly speaking. All agree that you should claim what your entitled to but Nigel is saying he's entitled to more due to the mileage and condition etc etc. Nigel can obviously speak for himself but I feel he just wants support and is freaked out and reading things about' people over claiming' and affecting premiums is not something he wants to hear right now.

[mr lobitos 0]

finally got a figure i'm happy with after much argument, anybody know of a decent low mileage estate , max budget £17 grand, thanks again for everyones support it really helped cheers

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

You after suggestions or a physical car?

 

You should get a nice 520d for that.

 

Glad you got everything sorted!

[mr lobitos 0]

both really

[Rams 0]

Nice Bm or Merc, c or e class estate or a 525/530 d Touring. The 520 - not sure if its under powered. The wife needs to be able to get out of sticky situations with a squirt on the throttle. No puns intended....

 

Even the current shape 3 series Touring looks smart and not as bulky as the 5.

 

Result with the insurance, so a bit of persuasion and evidence did the trick. Good news.

 

Are you into the 4x4 scene? There's a few vehicles that would open up to you with that budget. Range or Disco? Good family wagons.

 

Best bet is to drive as many as poss and get a feel for what's nice and easy to live with.

[seanl82 23]

Does it have to be Diesel? Audi S4 estate?

 

 

Edit;

 

Scrub that, didn't realise how high the prices were! A4 Estate???

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201305216875907/sort/default/usedcars/price-from/16000/maximum-mileage/up_to_40000_miles/body-type/estate/price-to/18000/model/a4/make/audi/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/page/1/postcode/po143bn/radius/1500?logcode=p

 

Auto?

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201302215442887/sort/default/usedcars/price-from/16000/maximum-mileage/up_to_40000_miles/body-type/estate/price-to/18000/model/a4/make/audi/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/postcode/po143bn/radius/1500/page/2?logcode=p

Edited July 2, 2013 by seanl82

[mr lobitos 0]

hadn't thought of a4 to be honest, but that's nice, she fancies a c class which has got to be in black, our drive is quite tight for a 4x4, keep the suggestions coming