Car Insurance write off settlement offer

[jtr63]

I have received a settlement offer on my Audi A5 cabriolet 3l Quattro. At the moment there is no equivalent car wrt specification, mileage and price available through the Audi dealer network. I strongly feel I should not be required to drop to a lower level of car due to an accident that the other party accepts full responsibility for. I would consider putting some additional money towards getting a newer / lower mileage car but do not feel I should take the full hit on it. I am currently in a hire Mercedes E class provided by the insurers that lists at around ~£500 per week on the Hertz website.

Does anyone have any experience of negotiating on an insurance settlement offer ? I feel that I could get somewhere offering a quick settlement, and off hiring the Merc, in return for an increased settlement offer. Any thoughts ?

TIA
John

(An old Fool, but a Lemon virgin.)

[bungeejumper]

At the moment there is no equivalent car wrt specification, mileage and price available through the Audi dealer network. I strongly feel I should not be required to drop to a lower level of car due to an accident that the other party accepts full responsibility for.

Hmmm, I may be misunderstanding your point, but if you're saying that you'd be forced to buy a more recent car (at a higher price) to get the same specification and mileage as your present motor, then the insurance company will probably say hard cheese, we're not in the business of helping you to upgrade.

If, on the other hand, you're saying that you could get the same spec and the same price, but on an older car, then you may have a better case to make. Maybe you can assemble some info about what cars of the "right" year, but with lower spec than yours, are currently being advertised at?

I'd seriously doubt that the Merc is costing your insurer £500 a week, unless it's one of those scam emergency-car providers that CK was talking about last year. £200-300 at trade rates excluding VAT would be more likely. But yes, it should give you some sort of bargaining leverage.

You know this, obviously, but you should always reject the first cash offer for a write-off. They'll always try it on with a lowball offer, and they'll be straight back to you with a better offer, probably within an hour.

BJ

[Stonge]

Is it a genuine write-off or an 'uneconomical to repair' write-off?

If the latter you may be able to buy the salvage and have it repaired locally at a lower cost.

[Clitheroekid]

I have received a settlement offer on my Audi A5 cabriolet 3l Quattro. At the moment there is no equivalent car wrt specification, mileage and price available through the Audi dealer network.

Your only legal entitlement is to be paid the value of the car, and you are not entitled to insist on keeping the hire car until the exact specification of replacement car that you want becomes available. If you can't find the same type of car on the market that's your problem, not the insurer's.

Does anyone have any experience of negotiating on an insurance settlement offer ? I feel that I could get somewhere offering a quick settlement, and off hiring the Merc, in return for an increased settlement offer. Any thoughts ?

Yes, about 35 years of experience in such negotiations! The first thing to say is that virtually all settlement offers are negotiable, but it does help if you provide some justification for your proposed increase, not least because it makes the job of their claims negotiator easier - he may be quite willing in principle to offer an increase, but he has to be able to justify it to his boss.

If you can't agree on a valuation you could request a professional opinion from a motor engineer. It's part of their job to carry out such valuations, and the report would be paid for by the insurers. However, it's not without risk, as it may come back with a lower figure than you've been offered. It may therefore be worth obtaining such a report yourself, and only disclosing it if it supports your argument.

You can find an engineeerhere - http://www.iaea-online.org/

They will be keen to off hire the Merc. but this works both ways. If they've made what they consider to be a genuinely reasonable offer they may well take a hard line and say take it or leave it, but if you refuse it we're cancelling the hire contract at the end of next week (you should always be allowed at least a week or so of continued hire after receiving payment, so as to allow you time to drive round looking for a replacement). This then puts pressure on you, as you are potentially going to be without a car in the near future.

Just a passing thought. If you were injured at all, even a very minor injury, you could legitimately say that although you had so far waived your right to pursue a claim if they refused to make you a decent offer you might have to reconsider. As even the most trivial PI claim is worth around £1,000 it should offer a fairly powerful incentive.