Best way to deal wth Insurance company!

[lizard121]

Please can I have some advice...

I posted a few weeks ago as my Sport was stolen. Have just had a call from insurance company to offer very silly money to settle (£1100). Am quite cross. Insurance handler is obviously focussing on any negative he can like the fact that my car is a registered cat D which is true. As I said that can be immaterial as it depends on quality of resto work and if the car has been looked after since - which mine has.

Any insight from Zoners with previous experience of this kind of situation gratefully received!

[Rich320I]

well, i had a over enthusiastic pensioner drive into the side of my e30 the other week, but it did have agreed value so that was fine,

however my friend had exactly the same situation with a old 190e, the insurance company offered him the opportunity to prove the cars worth with ebay adverts etc,

basically as it wasnt your fault, my understanding is that you shouldnt be any worse off prior to the accident than you where before are you third party or fully comp?

theres some zoners on here who work in insurance and have far more knowledge than myself, the above is just my experience, sure someone more with more knowledge will be along shortly

[Prey]

just gather as much 'proof' as you can to justify your value, ebay adverts, auto trader, cost of work, cost to get another one to the same level, etc etc.

[skyinsurance]

The Cat D does effect things unfortunately. The best way to value the car is how much it would sell for , in today's selling market, to a like minded car enthusiast (who is aware it is a Cat D).

Post up some details about the car, mileage, and some pictures and see what other zoners think.

Ollie
Sky Insurance

[Kos]

beardymatts old sprt was a cat C or D. its changed hands for 5k plus IIRC

we all know a CAT D is there becuase the insurers believe the car was beyond economical repair, in simple terms the repair costs were 66% of its value. on an sport this could be a front bumper, lower valance a wing and headlamp. all superficial cosmetic damage. it all depends when/what was damaged and how will it affect the value

personally, for insurance reasons any sport should be valued at 2K. every sport should be on an agreed value policy

[E30BeemerLad]

I would question when the Cat D took place.

If it was 10+ years ago, it could have been fairly substantial damage and therefore the car may not be too perfect.

If it was a year ago, well then it could have been nothing. If I walked past a tidy sport and keyed every panel, it would probably be cat d, but the structural integrity of the car would not have been affected.

Often, a car that has some previous form (Cat C or D) usually has it's value reduced by around 30% from that of a car with no history. So a £2500 car would be worth £1750.

[pel]

I work for an accident management company and get a lot of old motors bought in after accidents to be assessed and valuation reports done for the insurance settlements, If you have any reciept's for work you have had done on the vehicle put them all forward because it will usually all go towards your settlement.
We had a MK1 golf cab come in a few months back and it was a bag of sh#t, it had been rear ended, it was in a real bad way before the accident but as the owner had reciept's for work done he was paid out over £5000.

[cecotto479]

Cat D means nothing other than the insurers chose not to repair it. There's no reference to PAV/cost of repair ratio or anything. It's just that they didn't want go repair it, but decided it didn't need to be inspected before it went back on the road. A lot of Cat Ds were stolen, paid out and subsequently recovered - often undamaged but needing a lock kit or whatever.

It will definitely affect its current market value.

[mwggriffiths]

My story:

Someone drove into my iS 2 months ago, insurance valued it a £700 and tried to Cat C it (Based of Glasses Guide value for an E36 ). I went at them with a two pronged approach:

1. I knew their valuation was as good as made up so I asked, in writing, for evidence of where they got their valuation from, knowing they were in a corner.

2. With the help of Zoners I buried them under other ads for iS's, and picked holes in each one explaining how mine was better. I also scanned my BMW Service Book and all the receipts that came with the car (totalling over 10k in the past 22 years ) and sent them some very shiny pictures I'd taken of the car just a week beforehand.

Then I waited. If you don't get a response within a week or so ask to speak to the claims handlers manager. If they don't let you do that then ask them for their formal complaints procedure (That tends to get them squirming a bit....)

Then, about 4 weeks into my claim, I received a phone call. The Claims Manager had reviewed my case, and the car had shot up from £700 to significantly more than the £2000 the garage quoted for the work overnight!

My iS is currently being repaired (It was two months last Friday someone drove into it )

But the moral of the story is this: You can win by being proactive - get a freephone number and call them every day, demanding updates, not being afraid to call BS on their part, having a figure you want in you head and not being willing to settle for a penny less and just generally being a pain in their backside!