Motor insurance company entitled to ask for service history?

tommy21

Hey, was in car accident recently (not my fault other driver admitted liability). They rang today after waiting 3 weeks to say its beyond repair and to enquire/double check mileage, nct etc. they also asked me for dates and mileage of each service - my question is can they ask for this/do i have to answer them. I will ahve to check this tomorrow as I got the car from a family member ages ago and am unsure if it has a great service history, though it always ran great. I feel like they are trying to trick me or something into devaluing the amount they have to pay out. that said, if ye think its a fair question, then I'll just have to accept it!

Another issue is reclaiming the motor tax (4 months left) - do I ask them to include this in the valuation? I looked at the form for applying for tax back but car "written off" is not an option, only destruction of car meaning I might lose out on my tax as I won't see a vehicle destruction cert and even if they offer to send me one I don't want to be following it up (after all I didn't cause accident).

Finally to those in the know, out of interest, what do you think I'd get for it: a decade old fiat punto, 56,000 on clock, nct until may 2011. I asked the original dealer for cost of a replacement and they said to get similar would be €1700. I looked on carbuyersguide online and was getting values of €1200-€1400. That said I always hear they try screw you over, fair assessment do people think? Advice for getting as much as possible from them? Thanks in advance

January

Obviously if it has a service history it is in better nick than a car that wouldn't have been serviced regularly therefore worth more money surely? It would be in your best interests to keep a car serviced as it is worth more then.

Of course they are entitled to ask for it.

jap gt

adrieanne__x wrote: »

Obviously if it has a service history it is in better nick than a car that wouldn't have been serviced regularly therefore worth more money surely? It would be in your best interests to keep a car serviced as it is worth more then.

Of course they are entitled to ask for it.

i service my car every 3 to 4 k and i dont keep a history, it would help if you had it but i never heard of it being required that you must show them

tommy21

jap gt wrote: »

i service my car every 3 to 4 k and i dont keep a history, it would help if you had it but i never heard of it being required that you must show them

But do you service it yourself or through an authorized dealer>?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

jap gt wrote: »

i service my car every 3 to 4 k and i dont keep a history, it would help if you had it but i never heard of it being required that you must show them

Every 3 to 4 K? Surely not! What possible service work is required at such short intervals?

Do you "service" it or do you have it serviced?

OP: They are entitled to ask but I'm sure a recent service history would suffice. You bought it "ages ago" so give them the service history since you've owned it. Your garage will be able to furnish the dates etc.

Del2005

tommy21 wrote: »

Hey, was in car accident recently (not my fault other driver admitted liability). They rang today after waiting 3 weeks to say its beyond repair and to enquire/double check mileage, nct etc. they also asked me for dates and mileage of each service - my question is can they ask for this/do i have to answer them. I will ahve to check this tomorrow as I got the car from a family member ages ago and am unsure if it has a great service history, though it always ran great. I feel like they are trying to trick me or something into devaluing the amount they have to pay out. that said, if ye think its a fair question, then I'll just have to accept it!

Another issue is reclaiming the motor tax (4 months left) - do I ask them to include this in the valuation? I looked at the form for applying for tax back but car "written off" is not an option, only destruction of car meaning I might lose out on my tax as I won't see a vehicle destruction cert and even if they offer to send me one I don't want to be following it up (after all I didn't cause accident).

Finally to those in the know, out of interest, what do you think I'd get for it: a decade old fiat punto, 56,000 on clock, nct until may 2011. I asked the original dealer for cost of a replacement and they said to get similar would be €1700. I looked on carbuyersguide online and was getting values of €1200-€1400. That said I always hear they try screw you over, fair assessment do people think? Advice for getting as much as possible from them? Thanks in advance

Tell the insurance company that you don't have access to the service details. They've no right to any of your records if their client was in the wrong and has already admitted liability.

Also if your car wasn't serviced correctly how would that affect someone else hitting you?

On a 10 year old Punto a full service history will make it slightly easier to sell but won't add any value. You'll proberly get around €1000 off the insurance company for the car if your lucky, they use "Book Value" not what people are asking.

OP, depending on the damage done to your car you can keep it, you get a payment less the salvage price of the car. Then you can bring it to your local panel shop and get it repaired. The insurance company write the car off as they use new parts and expensive labour rates when doing their assessment/claim.

Del2005

Grace Bald Camouflage wrote: »

Every 3 to 4 K? Surely not! What possible service work is required at such short intervals?

I'd assume only oil and filters every 3-4k with scheduled services done on time.

Do you "service" it or do you have it serviced?

I've serviced all my own cars. I've never kept a record, but I always use OEM or high quality spurious.

OP: They are entitled to ask but I'm sure a recent service history would suffice. You bought it "ages ago" so give them the service history since you've owned it. Your garage will be able to furnish the dates etc.

Why have they a right to ask for a service history for a car that was crashed into? If they buy the wreck off the OP then they might have a right to ask for the service history but the OP is a private seller and doesn't have to provide anything when selling their car.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Del2005 wrote: »

I'd assume only oil and filters every 3-4k with scheduled services done on time.

Apologies for wandering off topic, but Oil and Filters every 15K Kms or annually is what my dealer recommends.

jap gt

my car is a 97 celica, i do oil every 4 myself, why pay someone to do it, anything major the local garage will do it

Gurgle

OP, your mileage is low for the year.
Most likely they're just trying to verify it for calculation of the book value.

More than likely you'll get more than the Buy&Sell 'going rate'.

As for road tax, AFAIK you can only claim from the date on the destruction cert to when the tax runs out. Theres feck all chance of getting anything.

Rulmeq

jap gt wrote: »

my car is a 97 celica, i do oil every 4 myself, why pay someone to do it, anything major the local garage will do it

And you dispose of the oil in an environmentally sound manner?

Del2005

Grace Bald Camouflage wrote: »

Apologies for wandering off topic, but Oil and Filters every 15K Kms or annually is what my dealer recommends.

Some people don't trust the service intervals given by manufactures. Personally I'm every 10k miles or annually, but then I've a car I don't really care about once it works, others have cars they care about or drive hard and need more TLC.

Rulmeq wrote: »

And you dispose of the oil in an environmentally sound manner?

Most civic refuse centres have oil disposal for free, in Dublin south anyway. I think they learned it's better to take it for free then have people dumping it. What makes you think that a garage, which has to pay for oil disposal, is doing it correctly?

Grace Bald Camouflage

Grace Bald Camouflage wrote: »

Apologies for wandering off topic, but Oil and Filters every 15K Kms or annually is what my dealer recommends.

Many recomeded service intervals nowadays are to long, just because a fully synthetic oil will still be in spec doesn't mean it shouldn't be changed before. 15k kms isn't too bad, some of them are longer. On a car that does low miles I change it annually, otherwise every 6000 miles. It's a very cheap way of keeping an engine tip top if you do it yourself.

Rulmeq wrote: »

And you dispose of the oil in an environmentally sound manner?

I service my own car, my Dad's and my sister's. Dad brings the oil to the recyling place in Cork City, once you have the receipt to prove you have paid your bin charges it is free.