Non fault accident, help needed

[aveton-gifford]

Hello everyone,

Last week my wife's Volvo C70 was hit from behind by another motorist whilst stationary. The lady got out and admitted fault immediately, and we also have dashcam footage, so liability is not a problem. I have taken the C70 to our local Volvo dealership and the only damage is a small scratch above the rear exhaust, nothing structural and no other damage.

 

Her insurance company however seem to be being very unhelpful. They have decided that my wife's car is damaged beyond uneconomical repair, without even seeing it, and have offered us 2 options:

 

A/ They take our car and give us £1190

Or

B/ They give us £1007 and declare the car a total loss.

 

I have been told that "total loss" and "written off" are fully interchangeable in the insurance world, and if we go with option B the car would have a Cat N placed on it, is this correct?

 

I also find it hard to belive a respray of the rear bumper will cost 70% of the cars value!

 

My wife has also been asked for a copy of the V5, which seems strange, is this normal?

 

My wife has asked for a cash in lieu settlement and the insurance company said they will consider it only if she goes and gets estimates, surely this is there job.

 

We are pulling our hair out about this so any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

[BazzaS]

If they settle your claim your years insurance will end.

 

Ask them to quote you got a renewal for the same vehicle with the Cat N marker on it, as the future cost of insurance must be a factor in the decision you make.

 

[aveton-gifford]

 

Thanks for the reply, the claim is with her insurance company, not ours. Whatever happens we are not going to accept the Total Loss.

[dx100uk]

very rare for an ins co to not send an assessor from a 3rd party co to assess the damage before write off without them already having photo's etc to make that decision - did you send any?

 

who are they?

 

dx

 

[unclebulgaria67]

Do not be stitched up here and end up financially worse off.  If the car is still roadworthy, then I expect the third party company wants the car to make a profit out of it. (They will sell to parts salvage company)

 

Even though this will be a non fault accident, it will be recorded on a central Insurers database, so will have to be declared when arranging any car insurance renewals or new policy purchases for up to 5 years. So be prepared to pay more for Insurance, as a loading will be applied.

 

Personally I would not bother with any claim. I would ask the third party driver to avoid Insurance as the claim will increase their Insurance by at least 20%, even if they have protected no claims discount. Ask the driver for a small a amount, say £100 to go towards a tube of filler and a can of paint and repair the scratch yourself. The car with that kind of value, is not worth less with a scratch.

[aveton-gifford]

Nope, no pictures sent, her insurance is through the CoOp

Edited December 2, 2022 by dx100uk
unnecessary previous post quote removed

[aveton-gifford]

Well today I went to an approved Volvo bodyshop, and it looks like it is a stich up as unclebulgaria67 said!

 

Firstly, they were amazed the car had been classed a total loss without any pictures or an engineers report, apparently the current trick used by some insurance companies, when it comes to older cars, is to get a value from WeBuyAnyCar.com and use that, and because most people don't know any better they take the valuation as gospel!

 

The assessor at the Volvo bodyshop looked the car over very thoroughly and estimated the repairs were going to cost £300 to £400 to repaint the bumper, so nowhere near the 60% total loss threshold, and they are now dealing with the claim, so that's a weight off our minds.

 

I'm still appalled that insurance companies act this way though.

 

Thanks for the replies and help, we appreciate it