Car rear ended likely written off - value?

MAJJ

Hiya,

Our 00 Corrolla VVTI got rear ended by a landrover - crushing the bumper, metal under bonnet and boot lid crushed and won't open.
120k on the clock, running well serviced each year by a solid indy, last few and last week by me NCT was due in 2 days, flew through all the last few.

Bumper is cracked and metal behind it dented also. Wife was driving is sore but reasonably ok.

Am assuming the car is a writeoff and not worth repairing. I will of course get quotes from Toyota and a mate.

Any thoughts on value before crash and what offer would you accept? How would you proceed? Thankfully never had to do this before.

Jaysus not our fault and going to cost us. Also, if I had the money would be driving my kids around in a landrover - feckin thing barely scratched!

S31

Your car will definitely be written off. The insurance company will only pay you the current market value of your car so check Carzone/ Donedeal websites and find cars similar to yours re
mileage, condition etc and see what they are selling for. Be mindful however that these are just 'asking prices'. The insurance company will check the Car Sales Guide and also the market value. Unfortunately they are likely to deduct a sum from the pre-accident value for
no valid NCT. I know how you feel, its annoying that you have all of this inconvenience being the innocent party, but unfortunately that is the nature of an accident and why motor insurance is
compulsory. I hope your wife is ok & best of luck!

MAJJ

Thanks S31, had heard that about the NCT value, 2 days away from it !

S31

Its very frustrating! Whatever PAV offer you receive make sure to argue it, the claims person usually has authority to increase the offer on the spot by a
couple of hundred euro at least

slimjimmc

If the NCT wasn't due for another 2 days then surely that would make it still valid at the time of the collision?

S31

If the current NCT is still valid there won't be any deduction made but if it is overdue then the insurer will deduct a couple of hundred euro or so

Gael23

NCT was valid at the time of the accident so shouldn't be an issue, I hope everything was documented at the scene because the insurance co will do all they can to prove it wasn't valid.
Theres no question the car will be written off. As for value, if I got €1500 I would be happy.

Del2005

ryanf1 wrote: »

As for value, if I got €1500 I would be happy.

From a quick look on done deal €1000 might be more likely.

fastrac

You will be lucky to get the 1k. Stick to your guns if they try to beat you down too low.

robtri

Del2005 wrote: »

From a quick look on done deal €1000 might be more likely.

which means ins company will offer around 800.... be prepared to argue and haggle.... start your bid high

blond45

why is the bonnet damaged if car was rear ended, thought the bonnet is the front of the car

MAJJ

blond45 wrote: »

why is the bonnet damaged if car was rear ended, thought the bonnet is the front of the car

Simple typo all rear. Bumper fine :-)

MAJJ

blond45 wrote: »

why is the bonnet damaged if car was rear ended, thought the bonnet is the front of the car

Simple typo all rear. Bonnet fine :-)

galwaytt

S31 wrote: »

If the current NCT is still valid there won't be any deduction made but if it is overdue then the insurer will deduct a couple of hundred euro or so

No, NCT irrelevant.

Just got our payout from a 3rd Party's insurer after 9 weeks of arguing, and about 6 weeks of that over the value.

Replacement value is what you want, not what you think your car is/was worth. And make sure you tell them you'll want costs for the interim if they don't settle promptly.

I got over the so-called 'market value' after much work.

MAJJ

Cheers,what costs for the interim? Thinking doctor, physio and car rental or taxi any other ones.

galwaytt wrote: »

No, NCT irrelevant.

Just got our payout from a 3rd Party's insurer after 9 weeks of arguing, and about 6 weeks of that over the value.

Replacement value is what you want, not what you think your car is/was worth. And make sure you tell them you'll want costs for the interim if they don't settle promptly.

I got over the so-called 'market value' after much work.

MAJJ

Well confirmed as written off by assessor today , let the games begin and thanks for the advice folks

derry

Contrary to mistaken believe the land rovers do not have good safety record for their drivers and passengers .The crash forces if the car doesn't crumple up like a land rover with solid chassis has means crash speeds are passed onto passengers and drivers . I would rather some crumple on my car to absorb the impact than a solid chassis that risks to breaks my neck more easily .
Mercedes often have the better safety record and they sure crumple up a lot in crash.
The smaller jap crap stuff crumples up far to easy but its able to resist suburban traffic speed impacts OK but forget highway with speed crashes your probably dead .
My Suziki Swift 1999 version 1000cc got robbed . However before that my mate ambulance driver said any time they arrive to these where they crashed at speeds of over ~30MPH into something solid like walls most everybody in those death traps would be dead .

I am single and old so dont care for these details so as good granny mobile cheap to run lived with the risks as it was so mega cheap to run .

Me I always prefer to buy cars with big boots or estates or something with crumple region before any the passengers ( rare event ) in the back get it in the neck.
I like the jap import diesel 1993 Toyota Carina I have it has a big boot . However is undergoing major renovation works for next few months and rebuilding the front suspension and steering .
My smaller 1999 Jap crap 1400cc car was dream car only had it one month before serious rear ending sent it to the bean can makers . details of the rear ending from 40KPH impact here on subject bad tires
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=92999968&postcount=66

Now I am back with old faithful 1998 Fiat Bravo SX 1400 which has no rear end so feel vulnerable until I can replace with maybe a Corolla with boot on it
.

If you get rear ended and there is some injuries then you have to be careful that if you accept the money for the broken car your nor blocking yourself from getting the injury claim .

For example if the car insurance people send you the money for the car value with no paper work and you take it there exists the case to say that you were happy you were paid in full and that covered all costs including injury costs .

Normally the insurance will send money for car replacement with paper work to say the car has been replaced and the acceptance of these funds has no effect or bearing on any future injury claims ( something along those lines ) .

That still allows you to continue the claims for injuries such as doctor and hospital bills and the rest for injuries compensation.

If the injuries are significant a solicitor ( to solicit = to whore ) might be the way forward for some . However there exists risks with them as some of them will end up charging you so much that the vast majority the injuries claim will go into their pockets .

The no win no pay bunch seem to vary a lot in quality and charging cost vary a lot from very good to to very bad . The time they take to pay you can vary a lot from very quick like weeks to very slow as in several years to sometimes on rare occasions never .

The normal charging flat rate type solicitor can vary a lot from very good to very bad with the bad which seem to have on some occasions all sorts of extra hidden unseen add ons that get slapped on when the claim is paid out
As the solicitor get the claim money first they get to take their costs from it .
If that happens where the solicitor pocket most the injury claim complaining to the solicitors ombudsman is like complaining to the madam boss the service of the whores house that the gal you woke beside was real old and real ugly when you sobered up . The result is years later the solicitors ombudsman (They have a similar system but not exactly a ombudsman some sort of fund they use and abuse ) after leading you merry dance will nearly always find for their client the solicitor that robbed you and might even charge you costs for wasting their time . After all the Ombudsman get paid by the industry he represents as their mafia don so you can hardly expect them to bite the hand that feeds him .

Best is if you know a friend who employed one of these solicitors for car crash injuries and he got a good deal probably best to try that solicitor .

My friend who got compensation for rear ending got 20k for it some years back .He reckons since then that he has spent at three times that on medical bills and solutions or more like 60k . So dont allow yourself to be done out of correct amounts if the injuries are big enough .It often takes 2 years or more to get the correct amount from the insurance companies who always after 6 months tend to make low offers to get you off the books .Once you agree a sum you can not go back for more if there is some other hidden injury that pops up later

We live in world of snakes and ladders with more snakes and less ladders than we like .

The recent jailing of few ROI solicitors for serous bad practice and the solicitors bonded fund to cover their illegal activities taking a big hit with huge payouts has seen a recent rise in the quality of service in solicitor practice so they say .
It is hard to know is temporary or permanent rise in standards. Buyer beware .
The legal crowd in Ireland are for us Joe soaps the den of vipers or as native USA Indians said it the white man speak with forked tongue before they got nearly wiped out off the planet .



Derry

randy hickey

Jesus H Christ. My head hurts.

galwaytt

MAJJ wrote: »

Cheers,what costs for the interim? Thinking doctor, physio and car rental or taxi any other ones.

We had no injury costs so none of that: but if you do, you do. For us it was mainly car hire and some out of pocket expenses due to no car being available.

You won't have a blank cheque though: as I've learned, there is a thing where you are expected to mitigate your loss, even if it's not your fault, so they won't volunteer anything over the bare minimum. For us, the other party didn't even report the accident to their insurer for the first few weeks, so we HAD to hire a car, no choice. Our own insurer would only pay for 2 days hire/€200 (lesson learned there btw !!), so it was useless. Car hire in Galway for a Corolla was €460 a week.

Ordinarily you'd be luck to get any more than 1, maybe 2 at a stretch, weeks of car hire.

MAJJ

galwaytt - thanks, same here the other party hasn't reported to their insurer yet, so like you it's taxis or car rental.

MAJJ

Just to update and say thanks to all who posted. We got a settlement for the car, after a lot of offers we accepted 1500 for the car, less 300 for excess. Had a rental car on our policy which helped. Wife is still sore and getting regular physio so will see where that brings us.

The payout still won't get us a same replacement car so will now need to stump up for a car.