Car write-off

[Evanski]

Someone hit our parked car last week and we’ve just been informed by the garage that it’s a write-off (the damage isn’t huge but apparently it’d cost more to fix than its value - it’s a 2010 Vauxhall Zafira). We stand to lose a significant amount of cash through no fault of our own as we need to replace with the same or similar model having two kids and a third on the way.

Does anyone know if we have any recourse to sue the driver for the loss we stand to make? We have a highly credible witness who saw the whole thingand even took a photo herself, photos of both cars that we took soon after the incident and a note from the driver admitting she caused the damage (including her name and (correct) contact details) - although she’s now denying she hit our car and that she wrote the note (staggering, I know - judging by her landline code she lives about 60 miles away so we’re presumably to believe a random passer by wrote the note and just happened to know her name and her contact details!!). Any advice gratefully received.

 

[Squarebear]

(the damage isn’t huge but apparently it’d cost more to fix than its value - it’s a 2010 Vauxhall Zafira).

Just on this bit.

I had a similar experience. I had to take my car to a specific dealership to be assessed, they quoted me an outlandish figure, my insurance company wrote it off.

I opted to get it repaired at my regular garage, who didn't replace every damned thing (as the money-grabbing dealership planned to do). My local garage sourced a couple of second hand panels too, I paid them a few hundred quid and banked the remainder of the insurance payout. Quids in.

N.B. My insurance company demanded I put my car through its MOT following the repair.

 

[Evanski]

Thanks mate. Yeah, the mrs has been on the phone to Admiral pretty much all afternoon and I sense our situation is exactly the same. However, the buggers are trying to get us to make a quick decision on whether to take the write-off value or the amount they’re offering for the repairs. I’ve told her to tell them to do one until we’ve had a professional give it a proper once-over. The driver must’ve smashed into it (but just in one corner) judging by the distance some of the debris travelled so for all we know the chassis may be damaged. You’re right, it’s not inconceivable that we may end up making some money from the situation though.

 

[Itchysphincter]

It could be that it is damaged beyond economical repair even if you can’t necessarily see it, especially if it’s been hit hard, but I have heard that you can buy back an insurance write-off from the insurance company and repair it yourself if you think it’s worth it. Not sure how you’d go about that, someone here will know…. It be categorised as Cat D or or something like that in future.

 

[CygnusX1]

They should be offering the value of replacing the car (the policy will state what they are obliged to pay out). Try and see how much the same car of the same age and condition is current on sale for on sites like autotrader.
I know this is quite different, but I’ve had a couple of cars stolen and written off. I haggled what they were offering to a better value, by given them examples of what my car would cost me to replace.

 

[jack123]

Someone hit our parked car last week and we’ve just been informed by the garage that it’s a write-off (the damage isn’t huge but apparently it’d cost more to fix than its value - it’s a 2010 Vauxhall Zafira). We stand to lose a significant amount of cash through no fault of our own as we need to replace with the same or similar model having two kids and a third on the way.

Does anyone know if we have any recourse to sue the driver for the loss we stand to make? We have a highly credible witness who saw the whole thing and even took a photo herself, photos of both cars that we took soon after the incident and a note from the driver admitting she caused the damage (including her name and (correct) contact details) - although she’s now denying she hit our car and that she wrote the note (staggering, I know - judging by her landline code she lives about 60 miles away so we’re presumably to believe a random passer by wrote the note and just happened to know her name and her contact details!!). Any advice gratefully received.

I hope you get it sorted!, with a witness you will, but I have been through this and for me it took a long time, it seems once they deny it, regardless if they are guilty, it takes ages.

I suppose once the person who got home, she confessed her misdemeanours to some wanna be lawyer type, and he advised her to say it was not her..

Stick to your guns though, regarding the value of the car, it's like the insurance companies are going by a somewhat outdated car comparison site, pre covid.

When I was looking at my car the other day, just for curiosity, a similar replacement would be about 3k more than the insurance estimate it for.. I think from what they say, a non-fault accident, they have to put you back in the position you were, before the accident occurred.

 

[MajorR]

To the OP, there’s some good advice on here. Another way to get an indication of how much your car is worth is by getting a value off we buy any car, also go on to compare the market, start a new insurance quote and as soon as you put the registration number in they’ll value the car - but it will be bottom book. I do this when I’m looking for a new car.

My father was involved in an accident a few years ago, he was sitting in traffic on the M4 slip road at Ynysforgan and car hit him from behind. Guy driving the other car jumps out and starts to blame my old man. Car was a write off. The passenger in my old man’s car suffers from osteoporosis and has previously broken vertebrates, passenger was unwell after the collision so ambulance and police were called which was a good thing. On police arrival the other driver initially tried to blame my father, but there was an independent witness who told the police officer exactly what actually happened - the other driver was caught out, police report went in his insurance company paid out. My old man’s passenger suffered sever discomfort, but has never claimed for injuries etc - I bet they’d get a few quid if they were minded to claim.


Does your independent witness have a picture of the other driver or can they describe her etc? You need to gather as much evidence as you can and build your case. If this woman is playing funny b……. and you’ve got her banged to tights via the independent witness, then make it clear she’s lying, make the link to dishonesty etc. If she’s in contact with you tell her straight, tell her she’s lying and that you can and will prove it. Insurance companies don’t like dishonesty, once she’s been proven a liar her credibility is completely tarnished and she won’t have a leg to stand on.

I’ve read about cases where 1 party has lied and been caught out, insurance companies have been known to cancel policies and once that happens getting insurance becomes extremely hard if not impossible. This woman needs to realise that before she digs herself in to a massive hole that she can’t escape from.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to complain if you’re not happy with your insurance company. Wifey once Parker her car at her place of work. A delivery driver hit the car and one of wifeys work colleagues saw it all. Said delivery driver denied any knowledge. We got the police involved, but as it was a private car park they didn’t want to know. Our insurance company was also the other parties company and they decided to settle it as knock for knock on the basis of the other party’s denial and the lack of independent witnesses - the work colleague was not deemed independent !!!

As you can imagine I was livid. I made a complaint and the matter was referred to solicitors, the long and short of it was that the other party’s insurance company admitted liability, paid for the repairs and paid me compensation. If you’re getting messed about, don’t be afraid to make a complaint or threaten to complain to the ombudsman. Hopefully your policy will have legal cover, if it doesn’t make sure you get it when you renew. It’s not expensive and it’s well worth having.

 

[Dr. Winston]

In a lot of cases Insurance companies will try to write off basically any car of a certain age no matter how much it'll cost to fix because they know that they can make a chunk of any insurance payout back by selling it on for repair elsewhere. Sometimes even a profit if there's not too much damage.

It's well worth following Squarebear's advice and getting some prices from elsewhere.

 

[Evanski]

To the OP, there’s some good advice on here. Another way to get an indication of how much your car is worth is by getting a value off we buy any car, also go on to compare the market, start a new insurance quote and as soon as you put the registration number in they’ll value the car - but it will be bottom book. I do this when I’m looking for a new car.

My father was involved in an accident a few years ago, he was sitting in traffic on the M4 slip road at Ynysforgan and car hit him from behind. Guy driving the other car jumps out and starts to blame my old man. Car was a write off. The passenger in my old man’s car suffers from osteoporosis and has previously broken vertebrates, passenger was unwell after the collision so ambulance and police were called which was a good thing. On police arrival the other driver initially tried to blame my father, but there was an independent witness who told the police officer exactly what actually happened - the other driver was caught out, police report went in his insurance company paid out. My old man’s passenger suffered sever discomfort, but has never claimed for injuries etc - I bet they’d get a few quid if they were minded to claim.


Does your independent witness have a picture of the other driver or can they describe her etc? You need to gather as much evidence as you can and build your case. If this woman is playing funny b……. and you’ve got her banged to tights via the independent witness, then make it clear she’s lying, make the link to dishonesty etc. If she’s in contact with you tell her straight, tell her she’s lying and that you can and will prove it. Insurance companies don’t like dishonesty, once she’s been proven a liar her credibility is completely tarnished and she won’t have a leg to stand on.

I’ve read about cases where 1 party has lied and been caught out, insurance companies have been known to cancel policies and once that happens getting insurance becomes extremely hard if not impossible. This woman needs to realise that before she digs herself in to a massive hole that she can’t escape from.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to complain if you’re not happy with your insurance company. Wifey once Parker her car at her place of work. A delivery driver hit the car and one of wifeys work colleagues saw it all. Said delivery driver denied any knowledge. We got the police involved, but as it was a private car park they didn’t want to know. Our insurance company was also the other parties company and they decided to settle it as knock for knock on the basis of the other party’s denial and the lack of independent witnesses - the work colleague was not deemed independent !!!

As you can imagine I was livid. I made a complaint and the matter was referred to solicitors, the long and short of it was that the other party’s insurance company admitted liability, paid for the repairs and paid me compensation. If you’re getting messed about, don’t be afraid to make a complaint or threaten to complain to the ombudsman. Hopefully your policy will have legal cover, if it doesn’t make sure you get it when you renew. It’s not expensive and it’s well worth having.

Many thanks to all who have responded for your advice, it’s very much appreciated.

Major - I’m sorry to hear about what happened to your father (and his passenger), that’s awful.

Luckily we do have an independent witness. They’ve been brilliant - they’re happy to give a statement and they even took photos after it happened. They saw the whole thing, can identify the driver and saw her leave the note on our car, which she’s denied writing. She doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

Our insurance co have been pretty useless. My mrs had to speak to 3 or 4 depts, told one of them about the witness but when we spoke to the liability team y’day they weren’t aware there was a witness! Anyway, they’re going to speak to her now so it should get sorted. Due to their inactivity I’d spoken to the driver’s insurance co on Friday and she’s made a claim saying someone had hit her, so she’s pretty fecked!

We’ve asked a local garage to have a look at our car. So long as there’s no structural damage (eg chassis) they reckon they can fix it for about £800, and it wouldn’t be a write-off for insurance purposes then, so our premium shouldn’t go up. We had to hire a car on the weekend to go up north for the missus’ old man’s 70th, so we’ll be demanding that back, along with a few taxis we’ve had to take.

All things considered we should be ok, it’s just been a massive kerfuffle and a strain on the mrs, being 6-months pregnant. Above all it’s disheartening that someone can be so dishonest and show so little regard for other people who’ve been inconvenienced due to her actions. Initially we were philosophical about the whole thing since she’d done the right thing and left the note, and accidents do happen, but now I hope her insurance co and the police thrown the book at her.

 

[monmouth]

Lying to her insurance? She might come to regret that. Effectively a knowingly fraudulent declaration.

 

[CygnusX1]

Insurance companies can be a pain to deal with. On the way back from our 0-0 draw with Everton in 2014, someone decided to change lanes and went straight into the side of me. The guy admitted it was his fault to me and to his insurance company (he was in a company car). Nothing happened for ages and both insurance companies kept telling me they were waiting for the other one. In the end I called them both and gave them the contract details of their counterparts. It was sorted a few days later. Drove me bl00dy mad.

 

[legoman]

If your car is comprehensively insured then regardless of whose fault the damage is, the own damage section of your policy should apply. In this case the principle of indemnity should apply which in insurance terms means that your insurer should put you back in the same position you were in before the damage, unless of course you have an agreed value written into your policy (some do this for specific/unusual/classic vehicles).

So as others have said on here I would advise you go onto Webuyanycar and Cinch and even Autotrader to get a fair value of your car taking into account it's age and condition. Those valuations should form the basis of your negotiations with your insurer. I'm disappointed to hear you are having issues with Admiral. I have been with them for a good few years now and have remained loyal to them because I've found their claims service to be top drawer. Additionally I worked in commercial insurance for over 30 years.

Now, you pay a premium to your insurer for protection and they should, after settling your claim, pursue in your name, any party they believe is responsible for damaging your vehicle. They should keep you informed of their progress as if they recover their loss, then that needs taking into consideration when your renewal comes round.

You say you hired a car. Make sure you keep all the paperwork associated with that as you will be entitled to claim that outlay back from the other drivers insurer. However you are only entitled in law to recover your "reasonable" outlay; so for example don't expect the other insurer to agree to the hire of a Mercedes if you had a 2010 Zafira! If the other insurer does not seem to be playing ball, look to see if your own policy has a "Legal Expenses" extension and speak to the Legal Expenses insurer as they can help you make that recovery.

Finally a bit of advice for anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation in future. If it's clear you've been in an accident which is not your fault, get the other drivers insurance details and contact his insurer early doors. They will want to control the cost of your claim so a good insurer will quickly take over your repairs and should provide you with a hire car for the duration. You must tell your own insurer as well but make it clear you are pursuing the other driver and are advising them for their records only (you have a contractual obligation to do this in the terms of your policy)