INSURANCE WARNING!!!

[sinclair 0]

Has anyone had a similar experience, if so what did they do?

THEN... :-d

Paid £2600 for A1 condition Vento VR6 last May. FSH, K+N, S/S Sebring exhaust. Fair price I thought. Insured it with Liverpool Victoria, fully comp, Full NCD protected, £400, on a car valued at above price.

NOW... :-(

Minor accident (rear ended, so not my fault) Not a massive amount of damage, deformed bumper, bent exhaust, creased boot floor.

Insurance company write of car as uneconomical to repair, and offer me £600!!!!! :@ Apparently this is the valuation in the Glasses guide. How can I persuade them that VR6's hold their value, and a good one sells for no less than £2000, some are £3500+ *-) . I have 2 days before they take my car!!!

[ingham 5]

get on the phone and tell them that you think that its worth more and get adds for other ventos to show the price to replace it..

[garfy 0]

I believe that you can question their valuation by providing evidence of similar condition cars up for sale etc.

Have you got details of the estimate for repairs?

If so, how much?

Where did this estimate come from, their approved shop?

You are entitled to get alternative estimates and DON'T have to use the repairers they suggest...

However, on the insurance front, they will deem any repair un-economical if it comes to 60% of the value. On your purchase price that would be about £1500 worth of repairs and if it includes bumber, exhaust AND a new floor, I suspect that this will easily exceed that.

Final note, think how much YOU would pay for the car in its current condition, then add the cost of repairs.

It stinks to high heaven but remember, a friendly insurance co. is like rocking horse doo doo...

[Russ_vr6 12]

u can reject there offer mate,phone them and say u believe the car is worth more,u may have to provide proof of this,a good mate did this once and provided details of cars like his and showed what they going for and they upped the money they gave him

u gotta remember that insurance company wanna give out as least amount of money as possible and argue that urs was in spotless condition with fsh and that ups the resale value

hope that hepls mate

[sinclair 0]

Estimate was £1600, from approved repair shop. I know it can be done for less, but if they got the value of the car correct it is still within the 80% that they allow for repairs. Already got some adds for ventos, all £2000 and over which I am going to send to them. Cheers for the advice guys.

[Earwig 89]

Yep don't stand for it.

Especially if like you said you had an "Agread" value on the car !

Not even the biggest pile of shite on Flea bay goes for as little as £600 they are trying to take the piss. In any case they will auction the car and it will be back on the road before you know it and they have made out of you AND the trader who buys/repairs it !

Make sure you get lots of quotes for repairs off your own back and always make sure that the next guy you ask Knows the price he has to beat ! This way you can get it as low as possible and hopefully get it back on the road. Even if they agrea to give you more than £600 to take it away it is still going to be a long way off what it will cost you to get another.........

Repair in my eyes would be the best option to chase after !

Mark.

[antera309 3]

I've seen VR6s with blown engines sell for more than £600. Their offer is waaay too low. Remember, it is in their interests to "try it on" at first, since Claims Handlers are under HUGE pressure from their bosses to keep payouts to a minimum. Simply reject their offer and ask them to come back with a better one. If they ask for evidence of value, send them copies of adverts for similar cars as Ingham says.

Not sure what reg your VR is, but Parkers Guide shows a P-plate (1997) Vento VR6 with 80k on the clock to have a Trade value of £780. This is about what you would get in P/X if you went and bought a new motor.

[goonersteve 0]

All this is true. My mate just rolled his Audi A4 and they offered him £3400. He said no, sent them some ad's of examples which were blatantly better than his, but how the f*ck are they to know??!.....ended up getting £4500!!

To be honest he got pretty lucky there, but they will budge if you stand your ground. Remember they don't want a long, drawn-out affair any more than you do, so it's in their interests to get it sorted asap and the only way of that happening is if they up their offer! Stick with it mate.

[vr6matt 0]

Insurance companies are wankers, sometimes i seriously consider whether it is actually worth having insurance.

It is an insult that they offered you £600, but bare in mind these people know nothing about your car mate, they are just geeks sitting behind a desk. As said before, I think you have to prove how much your car is worth, get some ads from the trader of nice examples and send them to the fools. "Doctor" the ads in photoshop if neccessary..

[vr6highline28 0]

if you have pictures of your car (ie interior, exterior, engine bay, evidence of its condition) that should help your case - a friend of mine had a scooby which was stolen and they tried it on but he had a full set of detailed pics which helped his case

[andy 0]

Never accept the first offer, or the second come to that, you're doing the right thing finding adverts for similar cars. The same thing happened to my sister recently but we stuck it out to the third offer and she got slightly more money than she was hoping for.

[sinclair 0]

Nice one guys, thanks for all the support, and advice. Lets hope it works. I'm not giving up my VR without a fight!! (6)

[golf on 20s 1]

as well as all that if your still not happy you can contact the insurance ombudsman, as soon as you contact them it will cost your insurers 500quid as an investigation has began, if you tell them that youre doing this then they will shit bricks and automatically bend over backwards, i had my mk3 colour concept stolen last year and they offered me 900quid, when they sent out the examples hey had compared it against they were all standard gti's, when i contacted them they told me it was only insured as a gti even tho i had a certificate of insurance from them that said "gti colour concept" i had to prove that it was a colour concept and i was really persistant, i sent them pics ect service history and all that, i eventually got 3100 which was a big difference from th original 900quid,

sorry for the long post mate, hope this helps

[goonersteve 0]

as well as all that if your still not happy you can contact the insurance ombudsman' date=' as soon as you contact them it will cost your insurers 500quid as an investigation has began, if you tell them that youre doing this then they will shit bricks and automatically bend over backwards

[/quote']

Spot on. Make note as well, this fee is irrelevant of who the investigation rules in favour of. So you can pretty much guaruntee that if you threaten to report this, you'll get your way :-p

[golf on 20s 1]

any update on the situation yet fella?

[sinclair 0]

Spoke to my insurers, and they upped the offer from £600 to £1100, still not happy so sent examples of VR's for sale etc..now at £1400!!! getting closer, but still written car off. Just gonna phone them now. Thanks again for all the support and good advice guys.

[goonersteve 0]

That's a bit more like it....shows how badly they were takin the piss at the start!