Value for written off car - 2002 avensis gs

Bagel

Looking for some advise. My car was written off in the uk as repair bill was over £4k. We are claiming thru the other drivers insurance as she was at fault. They offered us £1,400 as fair price in the uk. They accepted car prices different here and I need to justify higher price. The problem is the spec of the car - It was a 2002 avensis gs 94k miles , full service history automatic 1.7 petrol, 5 door model. I bought the car from my uncle 3 years ago and am gutted as had no problems with it.

I can only find around 5 auto 2002 avensis on car zone . The only one I would buy is based in cork has less miles but lower spec and is on for €3,500 . I'm in Wicklow . The others have very high mileage /. Seller sounded dodgy etc.

I'm not replacing like with like so would feel cheeky asking toyota garage for a quote. Am a bit clueless to be honest and would appreciate any advice anyone has to offer. Thanks guys.

jayok

As it's UK based, why not find a similar model in the UK and calculate the VRT and expenses to bring it in? Then, show this to the Ins Company so that you're loss can be restored at Irish prices?

bazz26

The GS would be similar to an Aura spec here however most autos sold in Ireland would have been either bog standard Terra or the higher spec Sol model.

Being honest, whoever is asking €3500 for a 10 year old auto petrol Avensis is dreaming.

Bagel

Thanks guys. I looked just now on the vrt website and it has the open mkt value as €2,000. The ones advertised were ;

2.3k (140k miles), 3.8k (138k miles) , 3.5k. (79k miles). 2.9k (98.5k miles). The last one was sold.

I would have thought the revenue would overstate rather than understate the omsp? I know there are great deals to get but would a garage offering a car for sale for 3.5k drop to 2k? Can you use the vrt site as a bargaining tool?

colm_mcm

They're worth nothing till you actually need one. This is a problem in general with insurance. Any replacement car has potential problems around the corner, as could your old car had it not been crashed, Trouble is you'll expect some sort of assurance that the car you're getting is as good as what you've built up your own to be.

With a car in a rare spec it's a pain as there isn't much choice out there and something like an autobox is only an extra as far as the insurance is concerned.


Was the car on an Irish insurance policy, if so, why isn't your insurance company fighting your corner?

Bagel

Thanks again. I'm with rsa via 123. They haven't been very helpful tbh. But had bought the extra cover for legal and they touch wood seem to have taken things in hand. So hopefully they'll advise and advocate but I need to provide them with the supporting evidence.

Argh! Will think twice before bringing car on holidays again. The whole thing had reached pantomime proportions by the time we got home involving three hire car companies , a trip from Liverpool avis office to Manchester to collect a small bit of green paper to allow car to Ireland . Then my other half had to return the car to Belfast the day after we returned as the £300 one way hire didn't count Dublin as a destination. Thank goodness the other person accepted liability as rsa said their car hire and breakdown cover only applies to Ireland so it would have been up to ourselves to get home . So cautionary tale to double check with insurance before going to uk and get top up cover if necessary.

I'm exhausted by whole experience by now!