Insurance Write off. Help getting max from Ins. Comp.

[Gusher]

My Girlfriend has smashed up my car, well its not her fault but, she was driven into. I got told today its a write off but I havnt gone back to accident repair place to get a list of the damage etc etc. Must be close though coz i drove it there and it felt fine. Damage was all down left side, just dented in with some metal pulled back over itself and nothing visible inside the car. So now begins the battle to get as much off the Ins company as I can and ask for any hints and tips from you guys, please please please..........
In a nutshell it is (was) a very good example: 53 reg pre face lift, 57,000, FSH (6/8 services at Honda including last 4), standard car, Front fogs, full leather seats, no dents chips etc etc, no colour fade, garaged.......
As i got it from a Honda dealer I had a look and saw currently there are only 3 cars honda have that are close to it:

53 reg at 67000miles 6949, not got FSH
03 reg at 50000miles 6500, FSH
03 reg at 51000miles 7494, FSH

None have front fogs or leather seats and there isnt a type R at a honda dealer with leather seats ATM, and im pretty sure there wont be any time soon as they are rare as ****. Found a couple on Autotrader for £7500 ish with leather but they were '04 with lower milage, which doesnt help. Apart from printing off these adds and listing the condition of the car etc etc what else can i do to maximise the money im gonna get back and also what do you think im gonna be offered??????

Help appreciated.

 

[rossy t]

you have done all the right things so far. like you say the fact yours has leather adds to the rarity. printing off ads from autotrader is a good idea too.

i presume she has informed her insurance company about all of this, that is why you are at the write off stage? hopefully the insurance company are doing a good job; it sounds like you will be getting a write off offer very soon. as always reject the first offer, that goes without saying. as long as you can quantify why you are rejecting the offer with the prices you have put above and the adverts you will start getting them to your wavelength. if you feel that the offers are poor you can get the correct money owed by either claiming for her other losses or use a third party claims company to recover them.

 

[Chris.]

I had to prove to my insurance company that what they offered could not replace the car I had, with the use of adverts.

 

[Gusher]

you have done all the right things so far. like you say the fact yours has leather adds to the rarity. printing off ads from autotrader is a good idea too.

i presume she has informed her insurance company about all of this, that is why you are at the write off stage? hopefully the insurance company are doing a good job; it sounds like you will be getting a write off offer very soon. as always reject the first offer, that goes without saying. as long as you can quantify why you are rejecting the offer with the prices you have put above and the adverts you will start getting them to your wavelength. if you feel that the offers are poor you can get the correct money owed by either claiming for her other losses or use a third party claims company to recover them.

Yer it is now a write off. They say there was £4,250 worth of damage, which if you look down the list of what they think needs doing, its rubbish, but thats another story. Have been told that i need to send off my V5, MOTand cert of ins. and they will send me an offer so what i was gonna do is send all that with a letter to prove what i think its worth and im also hoping to get a letter from the garage it was bought and serviced at to show how well its looked after and what i would need to pay to purchase anther one of similar age, milage and condition. Wasnt too sure on the autotrader adverts at first because if im replacing a Honda approved used id want money to pay for another honda approved used and not one from a private seller or non maindealer trader, so will prob include Honda ads only to start with.


The only thing im not happy with the insurance comp about is that they are calling it a 'non fault' accident. My girlfirend over took a tractor doing 5 miles an hour which was towing a very large trailor that had no break lights or indicaters (photos to prove) and as she got level with the carrage the tractor turned into a field on the right without looking left to see her next to him, without indicating and without checking his mirrors, whilst towing a huge freekin trailor with no lights. On top of that after the guy hit her he didnt stop so she had to drive through the field after him and threaten to call the police. In the picture ive got you can see the straw sticking out the bottom of the car door where shes shut it in the door whilst hunting him down. Glad it wasnt muddy!