Written Off - 530D Sport (2002)

[clarky]

Guys & girls - looking for some insurance related advice and hoping someone on here can help.

My Dad's 2002 530D sport has been written off after my poor Mum decided she didnt like the look of the front end and introduced it to the rear end of a articulated lorry ... fortunately she's unscathed which is the main thing.

Anyway, our insurer has come back - via the engineer - with a valuation of £14,500 which I reckon is a tad on the low side. I was expecting somewhere between 15-16k as a starter. The spec of the car is as follows;

2002 (02) plate

50,000 miles (just under i think)

Full BMW service history and 4 new tyres (just had insp 1)

530D sport - 4 door in metallic grey

grey leather interior

auto / tip gearbox

18" M Paralell alloys

6 disc CD changer

... i think these are all the extras over and above standard

From Glass's guide (via spending £2 on the website) I get trade value as £15,000 and retail value at £18,000.

Can anyone advise on how best to play this and what the hell these guys base their prices on? - The chap on the phone said he had carried out extensive market research couldnt give me any details of how he came to this figure (he hasnt even seen the car - pre-accident condition was excellent - unblemished paintwork. Dealers are asking £16,995 for similar cars - allbeit without the 18" alloys and I've seen private sales ranging from £14,500 with much higher miles and no leather.

Hope someone can help - many thanks in advance

Incidentally, they reckon there is £11,000 worth of damage

Clarky

[NewNiceMrMe]

Hmmm, interesting one.

My first thought when I noticed the cost of damage though was - would you want it repaired? Or, would you prefer it writing off and get a vehicle he knows hasn't been in such a bad smash.

That said, if they're valuing the car so lowly then I can imagine frustration at not being able to get a similarly specified model for the money they're offering.

Ultimately, I guess if he's valuing it at £14,500 and trade value is £15,000, then it's very very borderline and it might be argued thats why he's written it off - bearing in mind that few dealers meet the Glasses guide price and will go in below it.

Not an easy one, thats for sure. You might be best attracting the attention of the someone like insurance_jon for an expert opinion.

Glad to hear your mum is okay.

[clarky]

Thanks MrMe - very much appreciated. She was quite shaken for a few days, but seems to be on the mend.

I've spoken to the BMW dealer who assessed the car, and they stated that the engine has moved off its mounts on the front passenger side. The engine lost a lot of oil as well, so I guess there's no telling if there is any internal damage to the engine? The passenger and rear passenger door have also shifted back an inch or so. My Dad loved the car, but I think he would prefer not to have it back.

The valuation is frustrating as they have given no clear indication of what they are basing their figures on. I guess trying to be balanced, we would all like as much as we can for our pride & joys when something like this happens

Thanks again - I'll try sending insurance_jon a pm

[NewNiceMrMe]

Ooo, if the damage has moved the engine and impacted on the rear doors then I think I'd be inclined to not want it back.

You can try getting the BMW dealer who has serviced it to vouch for the condition of it though. That can often help. I once did the same with a Mazda MX-5 (which I rolled) because Eagle Star offered £1,800 less than I thought it was worth. The dealer wrote a letter for me and they upped their offer to within £300 of what I'd wanted on the second attempt.

[Ben]

Just provide some evidence of how much it will cost to replace - print out some ads and cars off the BMW site.

I can't see how you can be expected to buy the eqivilent car for less money - or just tell the insurer that you don't want the money, you just want an exact replacement, and if they can get it cheaper then so be it.

Feckers.

[clarky]

Hmmmm - think I've just got a result ...

At lunchtime I bumped into a friend who is of equal petrolhead'ness and told him my (or rather my Dad's) woes. He works for the same company who are our insurers - but it never occured to me to ask for any favours etc.

Anyways, he emailed me later this afternoon for the policy number and said he'd see what he can do.

Now I've just arrived home, play phone messages and there is one from insurance engineer to say he has had a re-think about the value and saying could I contact the claims dept at the insurance company to find out the new value.

Wait for it .... original offer was £14,500.

Now offering .... £16,500

Result me thinks?

I've been unable to confirm if my new best chum had anything to do with this - but seems like a very healthy leap regardless

Cheers for your support & interest guys ... I think we'll go with this figure as they are retailing at £16,995

[PeterS]

Don't accept the first offer would be my advice. When we had a Mégane written off after being shunted by a Volvo, kinking the floor and roof the initial offer was fairly low at around £10.5k IIRC.

I just did a search on the Renault website and pulled off a few examples of similar cars which were priced around £13k, and explained that ours was also fitted with leather, panoramic sunroof which should have added £500 or so (it was only around a year old). They upped their offer to £12.5k, which I was happy with as we’d bought it new for less through someone we know wheo could get us a Renault staff discount

Peter

[eolair]

I had this a couple of years ago - with a stolen A4. What worked for me was the policy was worded "market value" of car.

Insurance guy came up with a quote of 13.5. I went on to autotrader and found 5-6 cars in my area with same/similar spec, and onto Yahoo cars and did same thing. Printed all off, and posted. Price range was 14.5 to 16.5.

Engineer calls up, says they'll offer 14.5. I sat on phone for 45 mins, and explained repeatedly (politely) why 14.5 wasn't enough to get a replacement. In the end he gave up and they gave me 15.5. Result!

The best part was I'd bought the car for only 12. Except I'm fecked with having a claim on my history. But still.

So anyway, get a few examples of cars in your area (50-80 miles) with same spec, and argue from there.

[clarky]

cheers guys - now looking good for at least £16,500 - going to try for a tad more when I call back tomorrow

[Wallachie]

My Dad just traded his old 530d Sport in a couple of months ago for a new 535, BMW gave him £16,500 for his old one. It was a 2003, 52k, silver, black leather, M Sport pack, 18" parallel alloys, sat-nav, auto etc etc.

So I think you've done pretty well if your Mum's was a 2002.

[Golfer]

This proves the value of "GAP" insurance, if you had this you would have got back what you paid for the car originally.