Can Anyone Help With Upping An Insurance Valuation?

[Pewe]

Last month my 1994 GS300 was 'written off' (uneconomical to repair according to the insurance co) when some idiot decided to reverse his van without looking and took out the front of my car.

I bought the car 12 years ago with 58,000 on the clock and it currently has 110,000.

In that time I looked after it meticulously and the bodywork was immaculate (no dents/dings/scratches/rust), the interior was also rip/stain/tear free.

In fact last sept I spent £500 on having a dent to the front passenger door repaired and the whole side repainted to restore to pristine condition after someone damaged it in a car park. (In hindsight this was money wasted).

The insurance company initially valued the car at £800 but have subsequently increased that to £950 saying this was over the market value as all the vehicles they have seen on Autotrader (their benchmark) were less than their offer. Currently there are no GS of the same vintage for sale.

They did however also say that if I could find an example of a similar vehicle (model, age and mileage) for sale for more money they would consider upping the figure to match as they would have justification for doing that.

So (without holding out much hope) does anyone here know of anywhere there may be a 1994 Lexus Gs300 with similar mileage up for sale at more than £950.

If there are any then maybe I will be able to get them to justify a better offer.

TIA

[Stuno1]

Only places to check are eBay, autotrader and pistonheads. Maybe gumtree?

Stu

[bobbyc]

Hi Peter

Have you considered paying for a Parker valuation?. I had a very similar issue when my Mazda 6 sport was written off and they could not find any suitable examples within a set distance. When I spoke to them they advised that one of there vaulation methods was autotrader etc and also Parkers guides. Therefore I paid £3.50 approx for a vaulation and this showed the car was worth more than the insurance company claimed. I emailed them back with the vaulation and told them I wanted more money because I could not replace the car for the money they were offering. They came back and met me in the middle with the price (which I had already suspected they would do because I had asked for more than I paid for the car 9 months earlier). In the end I was only down about £100 on the price I paid and also had the exceed deducted. This was with Hastings Direct.

Something else you could consider is saying to the insurance company that they can find you a suitable replacement. I have never tried this but I have heard of it happening.

[Pewe]

Thanks guys.

I have searched all car sales sites - and nothing.

I spoke to the insurer again after my original post and during the conversation they said 'we want to put the insured back to a position they were in prior to the accident' so I suggested they find a replacement vehicle in the same condition - they said that was not possible.

They also said that they use two guides, Glasses and one other which they didn't name. They went on to say they could up the offer to the average of the two, and raised it to £1068. So if they went from £800, which they claimed was glasses figure, to £1068 and this was the average, the other guide must be closer to £1300 - so I wonder what guide that was - further investigation needed.

PS I don't suppose anyone has a '94 GS300 they want to put up for sale at £1500

[doro708]

2 years ago i was in similar position with you and i have spent nights and days trying to find out how to get the best quote for my car and i have used glass car valuation . I paid £3.95 or something similar and there is where i got the best quote . My opinion is that if they went up it means you can definitely get more and if I were you i would try the glass evaluation and put something extra if you have any recent receipts for any work carried. When you will get you valuation you can call them and say that you have an official evaluation because you will receive a proper email that will list everything and say that you will not accept anything less than that. Good luck !

[wendle]

Would you consider buying the car back from the insurance

company, I think its 10% of the cars value and then getting it repaired

yourself, or is the damage to great?

[Pewe]

They wanted 20% to return the car to me and the repair costs would be approx £1500, providing the body shop could find good second hand parts. If not it would be closer to £2000.

I have badgered the insurer again and they eventually offered £1200 saying if I wanted more it was an Ombudsman case. I could be hassled with all of that so took the £1200 - which at least was better than the original offer of £850.

Not happy about the whole saga, but at least I can move on now.