Insurance Write-Off, How Much Is My Car Worth?

[nvisibl]

last time i posted in this forum is when i first purchased my RAV - happy days!

but alas i crashed the RAV at the weekend and the insurer has written it off

so in waiting for their settlement cheque i'm looking into how much my car was actually worth as i'm very sure the insurance company will offer me as little as possible

can anyone offer advice or a good resource to help me determine how much my RAV was worth?

specs:

2.0 Litre Petrol engine

3 door NV model

Registration YS03 XUH

170,000 Miles on the clock

Bodywork in decent condition

Full service history, last 3 services not done in Toyota dealer garage

Issue with central locking, changed transponder and lost key

What do you think?

[CharlieFarlie]

last time i posted in this forum is when i first purchased my RAV - happy days!

but alas i crashed the RAV at the weekend and the insurer has written it off

so in waiting for their settlement cheque i'm looking into how much my car was actually worth as i'm very sure the insurance company will offer me as little as possible

can anyone offer advice or a good resource to help me determine how much my RAV was worth?

specs:

2.0 Litre Petrol engine

3 door NV model

Registration YS03 XUH

170,000 Miles on the clock

Bodywork in decent condition

Full service history, last 3 services not done in Toyota dealer garage

Issue with central locking, changed transponder and lost key

What do you think?

Book prices are

Toyota RAV4 4x4 2.0 NV 3dr 2003 (03) 170,000 miles

Dealer £1,430

Private £1,095

Part exchange £945

Trade £825

You are correct .. The Insurance will make a low offer first but You can of course refuse it and likely will....

Hope You get a good outcome !!

Wee Charlie.

[Davrav]

last time i posted in this forum is when i first purchased my RAV - happy days!

but alas i crashed the RAV at the weekend and the insurer has written it off

so in waiting for their settlement cheque i'm looking into how much my car was actually worth as i'm very sure the insurance company will offer me as little as possible

can anyone offer advice or a good resource to help me determine how much my RAV was worth?

specs:

2.0 Litre Petrol engine

3 door NV model

Registration YS03 XUH

170,000 Miles on the clock

Bodywork in decent condition

Full service history, last 3 services not done in Toyota dealer garage

Issue with central locking, changed transponder and lost key

What do you think?

Book prices are

Toyota RAV4 4x4 2.0 NV 3dr 2003 (03) 170,000 miles

Dealer £1,430

Private £1,095

Part exchange £945

Trade £825

You are correct .. The Insurance will make a low offer first but You can of course refuse it and likely will....

Hope You get a good outcome !!

Wee Charlie.

As Charlie says, under no circumstances accept the first 'offer' - unless of course it is fair.............

Oh look - a flying pig just went by

Good luck and shame about the RAV. No one hurt I hope?

[nvisibl]

cheers guys

none of us was hurt, thankfully

when the insurer issues their offer... on what grounds can i negotiate? would i need to provide some formal info?

I'm also in the situation of requiring a car as soon as possible so can't deliberate for long

[CharlieFarlie]

I once wrote an R1 motorcycle off.. The assessor turned up to inspect and straight away offered a grand more than I was hoping for !!.......

With cars though I think its much easier to value them..

You could argue that the book does not take into consideration that the car could not be replaced for even top book as 4X4s of any kind have shot up in value due to the last two winters !! Worth an ask at least ......

Wee Charlie.

[Joylove]

The best way to find out what it's worth is to use autotrader and find 5 cars of a similar or slightly better spec/age/mileage within normal travelling distance (say 20 miles/30 minutes) and take an average of their value.

There may be one cheaper, but if you've got to drive 4 hours to see it it's not really going to happen.

[nvisibl]

nice one on the motorbike charlie... thanks for the tip, very true

thanks joylove, i did a search and got the following:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/toyota/rav4/postcode/g459pg/radius/60/price-to/4000/sort/priceasc/quantity-of-doors/3/transmission/manual/engine-size-cars/2l_to_2-5l

£1,500 seems an average ball park given the mileage

[jedi134]

I think that mileage will kill things a little, but on a higher note the rear tailgates are worth in excess of £350 upwards, as they are like rocking horse !Removed! to get hold off.

What is the actual damage to the car any pics?

[nvisibl]

damage only on the drivers door panel and wing, with a buckled wheel to match

the insurance called just there and offered £1500 (which is a little more than I was expecting)

however this is the figure before subtracting the £300+ excess and £120+ for the remainder of the policy payments

so the figure comes down to £1050

i responded back that i wanted a like for like and not to incur any loss. i.e. to be able to go and buy myself a similar make/model

i also mentioned the tip from yourself charlie re: rising costs of 4x4

also mentioned that i was looking at the average costs as per autotrader

they're going back to the garage engineers for a rethink

we'll see how it goes

either way i'll take the offer but it would be nice to get a little more and not to feel the kick from the £300+ excess

thanks for your help guys

[jedi134]

ask them how much they will sell it back to you for, as you said you wanted to fix it.

[CharlieFarlie]

damage only on the drivers door panel and wing, with a buckled wheel to match

the insurance called just there and offered £1500 (which is a little more than I was expecting)

however this is the figure before subtracting the £300+ excess and £120+ for the remainder of the policy payments

so the figure comes down to £1050

i responded back that i wanted a like for like and not to incur any loss. i.e. to be able to go and buy myself a similar make/model

i also mentioned the tip from yourself charlie re: rising costs of 4x4

also mentioned that i was looking at the average costs as per autotrader

they're going back to the garage engineers for a rethink

we'll see how it goes

either way i'll take the offer but it would be nice to get a little more and not to feel the kick from the £300+ excess

thanks for your help guys

Unfortunately the 300 quid excess is just part of the deal.. You can insure the excess and pay more for the premium but its a case of assuming the risk If You as most don't do it

The remaining insurance payments will ensure You have cover for the remaining period of the Insurance term which You would have paid anyway so its not realistic to deduct this money from the settlement...

Dont just accept that first offer !! Tell them firmly but politely that the amount offered will not replace the car !! It may take a few more days but its worthwhile hanging on !

Do Not mention that the excess is one of the things that cause the amount to be insufficient as this as said is the basis and terms of the policy and They will not sympathise or accept it !!

Jedi. Mate the valuations above take in the slightly high mileage of 170.000

I would play firmly on the fact that the book prices have not taken into consideration that 4X4s are far more expensive to buy especially at this time of the Year... Prices have held up way in advance of book drops because of the last two winters and the forecasted bad one coming .... Basically just waffle on a lot !!

Trust Me. No insurance company expects You to take the first low offer.. But They will always make it just in case !!

Lastly.. Ask if Your policy gives You a courtesy car in the interim period ,, Point out the difficulty that having no car puts You in...

Wee Charlie.

[Joylove]

nice one on the motorbike charlie... thanks for the tip, very true

thanks joylove, i did a search and got the following:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/toyota/rav4/postcode/g459pg/radius/60/price-to/4000/sort/priceasc/quantity-of-doors/3/transmission/manual/engine-size-cars/2l_to_2-5l

£1,500 seems an average ball park given the mileage

I changed the search to national 3 and 5 door, over 100k miles and search criteria 2003, got 10 results. Lowest £1995 @178k; highest £3995 @102k. Average looks around the £3800 mark. £1500 seems way to low no matter how you look at it.

[nvisibl]

sounds advice charlie thanks

i told them in the call that i'd accept £1800... so if they remembered my saying that they may come back with something closer to this

i'll hang on a bit and see what they come back with... need to sort out a DVLA issue with my address anyway, they have a different address for me in their system from the one i have on my driving license. however the heck that happened i'll never know

will probably buy another less expensive car just now anyway as cash flow has taken a dip in recent times and i can't keep up the running costs for the rav, especially as i do so many miles each week

[nvisibl]

interesting joylove thanks

i told the lady handling my claim that i referenced autotrader for costs... so i presume she may do the same to check it out

[Joylove]

interesting joylove thanks

i told the lady handling my claim that i referenced autotrader for costs... so i presume she may do the same to check it out

I wonder if you did a sort by distance and took an average of the 5 closest cars, or knocked off the highest and lowest priced car and averaged the rest, you could remove that £2k shed from the results and push for £3500-4000 to actually replace the car in the real world.

EDIT: In fact if you take off the £4k upper price restriction and sort by distance, over 100k miles, 3 or 5 door, petrol or diesel, search 2003, you get 18 results, the nearest 5 average at £4194 and about 105k miles.

[nvisibl]

okay what's happened is the insurance company (elephant.co.uk) has came back to me saying that because I never disclosed information regarding 3 x motoring convictions (for speeding) over the past 4 years that there will be a charge associated. Conveniently this charge equates near to the penny of which they were due to pay me! about £1,300 after deductions

My insurance was renewing automatically year by year and I guess then I didn't disclose any of those convictions as I just took things for granted. I'll need just to take the hit on that. How they arrived at the £1,300 figure though i'll never know and they won't tell me, i've asked! They said that they don't disclose such information to the public as to how they calculate this.

I just received a call there of them offering me my car back, which is fairly damaged, written off by them. I couldn't afford to repair it. But if anything wondered I if i'd get anything for it from the local scrap merchant, or other interested party? The damage done is to the right wing and which has buckled the wheel. This is all the damage info I have on it at the moment.

Any feedback for me guys?

thanks

[webleymk3]

When my xt4 was written off I simply haggled with them based in how much it would cost me to replace like for like from a Toyota dealer. Me reason for wanting it from Mr T was that the written off one was an approved MrT car and was still in warranty. As such i expected like for like.

I had also paid extra for tow bar and sensors. I haggled those into the price too. I then bought a car just before the settled so I told them I had replaced my car and that I had haggled a new tow bar and sensors into the price. I told them what the price was and they agreed to pay it.

I think the problem is that a lot of people are out to make money from insurance companies. Once they realised I wasn't they then played fair.

[Hoovie]

Ref is it worth getting the car back, I would say that if it is not repairable economically, then there will still be valuable parts for breaking which would cost a lot from a Dealer - doors, trims items, lights, etc, plus mechanical stuff like engine, gearbox - that you could stick on eBay and get a reasonable amount for them.

Hard to know if the way they calculated their 'adjustment' to end up by making everything even in terms of not paying out anything, but not revealing 9 points on your license means they could well be in their rights to just void the cover anyway.

It is possible that as they have not paid out anything you could just recind the claim and if you made no other claims in the insurance period, get back the outstanding installments you said they are wanting, but I wouldn't hold out much hope for this.

It is important that either way, when you get insurance for your next motor, you must disclose this accident, whether there is any payout or not, or even if any claim was made or not.

Ref getting a decent offer, some companies do do this without having to overly argue! Last Jan, had a 306 pranged on a patch of black ice and was written off due to the cost of repair vs car value. The car cost £750 11 months earlier, but had had £300 worth of advisory repairs in Nov following the MOT. The Co-op asked for receipts for the repairs and paid out just under £1,000 agreeing that the value had increased following the repairs!

[jedi134]

You`ve got nothing to lose, as you`ve got nothing to start with

Rav4 parts are quite expensive you will be supprised what price they go for, rear tailtage upward of £300 for a start, and thats without spare wheel(£50) and wiper locks etc.

Try and get if fixed you might be supprsied how little it actually costs to repair, do you have any pictures of the rav in question? if not ask the insurance company for some and post up as the car will be lying in some auction house compound waiting for the go ahead from IC to sell.

You say front wing and wheel bent?

might just need jig work and a new wing, or maybe just a wishbone if ya lucky.

Post up some pics if you can.

Having not declared your convictions??? they could turn round and say Insurance invalid and you get done for no insurance too?

I dont know how this works?

[CharlieFarlie]

okay what's happened is the insurance company (elephant.co.uk) has came back to me saying that because I never disclosed information regarding 3 x motoring convictions (for speeding) over the past 4 years that there will be a charge associated. Conveniently this charge equates near to the penny of which they were due to pay me! about £1,300 after deductions

My insurance was renewing automatically year by year and I guess then I didn't disclose any of those convictions as I just took things for granted. I'll need just to take the hit on that. How they arrived at the £1,300 figure though i'll never know and they won't tell me, i've asked! They said that they don't disclose such information to the public as to how they calculate this.

I just received a call there of them offering me my car back, which is fairly damaged, written off by them. I couldn't afford to repair it. But if anything wondered I if i'd get anything for it from the local scrap merchant, or other interested party? The damage done is to the right wing and which has buckled the wheel. This is all the damage info I have on it at the moment.

Any feedback for me guys?

thanks

Just be thankful that Your accident did not involve the Personage or property of a third party !! You would have been up the creek if it had !!

Not declaring one conviction is enough to let an Insurance company make Your cover null and void. 3 is S creek .....

The risk and cost of the policy is based on the risk as they see it.. 3 SPs would have meant a completely different premium indeed... I think You have got away very lightly..

The salvage will be worth something but very little. Around 200 quid scrap value.. Breaking the vehicle is quite an undertaking and If You have neighbours it may not impress them if You have to do the stripping outside the house ....

[shcm]

Breaking the vehicle is quite an undertaking and If You have neighbours it may not impress them if You have to do the stripping outside the house ....

It really depends who's doing the stripping in my opinion. :). Naked vehicle breaking is a new one on me though. Is it an extreme sport? Surely not in this weather? ;).

[Big Kev]

Breaking the vehicle is quite an undertaking and If You have neighbours it may not impress them if You have to do the stripping outside the house ....

It really depends who's doing the stripping in my opinion. :). Naked vehicle breaking is a new one on me though. Is it an extreme sport? Surely not in this weather? ;).

...HAD TAE THINK THERE

[Davrav]

Breaking the vehicle is quite an undertaking and If You have neighbours it may not impress them if You have to do the stripping outside the house ....

It really depends who's doing the stripping in my opinion. :). Naked vehicle breaking is a new one on me though. Is it an extreme sport? Surely not in this weather? ;).

...HAD TAE THINK THERE

I didn't have to think at all..........

Ola Jordan - she could easily crack nuts with those thighs ;)

[nvisibl]

Thanks guys, at this point and in going by your responses i think i'll just cut my losses and move quick as i can away from the situation. because i am to blame for the accident and there is a 3rd party involved.

I couldn't strip it down , I don't have the know how for that, so would much rather sell it to a scrap dealer. And hopefully have them pick it up directly or have the insurance company transport the car to them, any advice on this?

Here's the photo's from the accident:

[CharlieFarlie]

From the picture I would think the door pillar will be bent.. Chassis damage 90% certain.........

It is a tough one to call ! Why not take possession of the car and have it inspected ?? Could be a fairly simple repair but as said its a tough on without seeing it in the flesh...

As The Insurance are not paying out will the car be recorded as a write off and go on the register ?? Obviously if it doesn't and it would repair for under say a grand then that's the way to go.. If it is on the register it wont be worth anywhere near as much when repaired and this should influence Your decision