Insurance Claim ...Engineers Visit Onimous???

It's normal with Axa I think if they think it may be a write off. I had the dreaded Axa engineer visit a year ago, but it seemed to be mainly to get an agreement between parties as to what the value of the car is. Study Autotrader before the visit, that's what my engineer used as his 'similar car' value guide!

It could be that the 3rd party insurance wants to take a look at the damage.

snipped

afaik this visit is on behalf of Axa ...I'm not even sure if the 3rd paty's insurers are even aware of the incident yet Stuart

Well, it is not economical to repair.

I should have said it is an R reg ( reg's March '98) Stuart

Sorry..I don't remember you being out to see the car ..When excatly was that ..Was I out at the time ??? lol Stuart

Well, you say the second accident is worse damage. The cost to fix the first is 659 quid, so the second will be more. An 8yo mondeo is worth about a grand, so it looks like it's not going to be economical to repair.

However to you the car is possibly worth more (eg you know its condition). So you get the insurance to pay the write-off value, and then buy it back off them for not very much. Then do any fixing you want cheaply rather than perfectly (eg just push out the dents and spray over the scratches!), and take the money difference as compensation for having the pain of driving a less-than-immaculate car.

Well, that's what I'd do anyway...

cheers, clive

Sounds ok except that there is a 3rd party involved here as there was for the first incident so his insurance company should be coughing up same as Admiral did for the first accident.......The cars is in very good condition if you ignore the damage in this claim...and it's worth more to me as a car than as cash ...... Stuart

condition).

Did you miss the bit where I said you can have both the car and the cash? Or is immaculate condition very important to you?

clive

Well we will see what this guy says on Wednesday ......I'm not that bothered if it looks like a cheap repair so long as I get to keep the car and the cash gets recovered from his ins company and my premiums arent affected ... Stuart

On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 18:28:01 -0000, "Clive George" wrote: snipped

I should have said earlier but i amended the date of reg of the car to

snipped

If, as the guy says, its a 98 R Verona with low mileage, its worth about £2k. Perhaps more, judging by the stuff on Autotrader.

"Michael Rodgers" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Asking Price != "Worth"

How many of the £2k ones will still be there next week or the week after or the week after that?

Which is why there is any suggestion of it being uneconomic to repair just for two dented doors ...I also looked at Autotrader and saw what you saw Michael

Stuart

My 98 S Ghia cost £1600 almost a year ago, what people ask for on autotrader is usually more than a little optomistic.

Quite, my 99V Ghia X was only a grand more than yours a year ago, but since then I've seen very, very few at the same price. I've been keeping an eye on the bottom end of the Mondeo market becuase we are after a second to use as a cheap car, and it really does seem the very good condition low mileage examples are about £2k for an R plater. £1500 gets you the tatty/high mileage ones, and £1k gets you sheds.

I work in that area, and an engineer looking at the car is completely usual for repairs above a set level, to avoid repairers taking the piss, and people claiming for existing damage etc. at the same time as accident damage. Some repairs are authorised without the car being examined, but only if they're of low enough value for the cost of an inspection to outweigh possible savings. TBH, the car could be written off with repairs costing anything between 70% to 100% of the vehicle's book value, depending on how valuable your insurance company considers the scrap. IMO you should have no trouble finding another 1.8 Mondeo for what the insurance company will stump up, as it's a post 96 car and you're likely to get dealer retail.

And nobody will repair a car beyond their threshold, no matter how much you kick and scream that you want it done. The values that the insurance companies put on cars have to be justifiable in court. If you insist that you don't want the car written off, they may give you some cash to have it repaired yourself, but if they don't think it can be safely repaired, it'll be written off. And if it is written off, and you keep the salvage, and are thinking of putting it back on the road, you'll struggle to find insurance if you tell them about it, and find yourself up s*it creek if you don't and claim.

You'll most likely get glass's book retail. You'll pick up one privately for far less than that. I'd not kick up a stink until you've been given an offer by the insurance company / assessors TBH.

Thx Doki

Is that "book value" the amount I would get as a trade-in or how much I should epect to get selling a similar car or how much I would need to pay to replace it .....remembering it has only done 48000 mls.

Well the damage is two dented nearside doors with no sill damage so I can't really seee how the cost of repairs should be particularly high ...I'll report after Wednesday but meantime I am going to get other estimates for the repairs from independent repairers. Stuart