My S2 declared a total loss after being hit whilst parked

[Marc]

Hey!

I left my flat the other day, and noticed that the car parked in front of mine was only about a cm away, which was troubling. Surely they must had at least touched my car to have got so close.

Then I noticed a post it note stuck to my window to which I thought, ah, another person wants to buy my car for a fiver, but when I took another couple of steps around to the back of my car my theory about the car in front was proven to be ******** - they hadn't hit me - I had hit them!

And the post it note wasn't from some fellow enthusiast or some chancer, it was from the guy that rammed the back of my car, shunting it about a metre from where I'd parked it, into the car in front.

Well, at least they did the right thing having first done a very wrong thing.

To cut a long story short, my insurance company, who acknowledge that the fault is with the person who hit my parked car, decided minutes after I completed the online claim form, to treat my car as a total loss. This is upsetting.

I am trying to get them to repair it as I have no intension of parting with my car. In the meantime, they've told me that an independent evaluator has valued it at £6,400. I am now trying to present sources of valuations to dispute this paltry sum.

It's a 1996 Coupe with about 130k on the clock. It's mechanically sound, has a bunch of the usual upgrades. I'm not sure how much attention they've paid to the condition (it needs some TLC), as they've valued it off the back of some photos I sent of the damage.

The problem is that there aren't that many for sale and it's difficult to get an idea of what they've changed hands for recently. I've got a few examples, one great one of being one that was up for auction on Bohmans that didn't meet its reserve that got up to £17,500.

Does anyone on here have any info that could help me get the evaluator to appreciate how much these cars are worth these days? If you've sold or bought one recently and have any info I could use I'd be extremely grateful. Any figures that are given to me privately, I'll obviously keep private.

Worse comes to worse, I'll keep the car, it'll be flagged as a category N, and I'll try and get it repaired for the £5k that they'll give me. Not entirely sure where I'll get the bumpers from.

Anyway, thanks in advance.

Marc

[Ian Simmonds]

There looks to be some unpleasant movement in the rear, folding at the top of the rear arch, unless it's an optical elusion.

[Marc]

Yeah, I see what you mean. I'll have a better look tomorrow.

[Tractor Dave]

I sold one last year. Drop me a pm. Bumpers not too difficult as same as v6 cabbie and lots being broken. I would take the car for a proper inspection and see what's actually been done.

[newsh]

Definitely get an evaluation, the rear quarter has moved above the arch, can almost certainly be pulled by someone who knows what they're doing.
We really need agreed value on these cars now that they're going up in value don't we!

I have a pair of bumpers, not perfect but better than those.

[anthonys2]

Sorry to hear about this you must be bloody fuming! In terms of valuation at £6400 is an absolute joke and insult. Get the car independently inspected my S2 Coupe is a 1995 model with 217k on the clock and immaculate and has a guaranteed valuation of £22k.


Am trying to find examples for sale:

KGF cars had a green S2 94 100k and am sure that was for sale around 20k its sold. (still on Pistonheads).
Newsnow.co.uk there was a lovely black S2 Coupe for sale 93 model immaculate at £17k and that sold recently to a new member on here.
Car & Classic have a red S2 Coupe up for sale at £8750 but this is a project and requires alot of work, also a silver S2 coupe 3b model 92 model at £6250 but this is a very poor example as its another project and requires a hell of a lot of work.
Ebay has a kingfisher blue S2 Coupe 94 model 174k that requires alot of work being advertised as spares or repair and thats £12495.

These are examples to print out to your insurance company to tell them that your immaculate S2 Coupe before it got hit has to be worth a minimum of around £17k to £18k with your sort of mileage.

Good luck and hope this helps you out a bit.

[Nathan94]

DO NOT ACCEPT THE OFFER, DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO TAKE THE CAR AWAY!

You can refuse them taking the car to copart, do not under any circumstances let them take it away if you intend to keep it.

With regards to value, do not accept anything less than £12k, regardless of whether or not you keep the car, their original offer will not allow you source a like for like replacement. They usually low ball you first time anyway. Ask to speak to the engineer and ask them to prove how they came to this abysmal assumption.

Show them all the ones currently for sale and depending on thr condition of yours, go up or down from there.

Even if they refuse to pay its value, you can involve the ombudsman who will make an impartial decision based on evidence provided and they will look at values and market rates and their decision is final.

[Rikki Kitto]

DO NOT LET THEM TAKE IT AWAY Mines been writen off 3 times for nonsense stuff like front bumper damage always take the best offer keep the car and repair it

[Rikki Kitto]

I had agreed value of £10,000 turned out it wasn't worth the paper it was printed on

[Rikki Kitto]

The damage to mine was very similar happened in an underground carpark that was valet parking I was nt even with the car at the time thus was 10 years ago and they valued my car at,wait for it, £1800

[Marc]

There looks to be some unpleasant movement in the rear, folding at the top of the rear arch, unless it's an optical elusion.

I've just checked, and unfortunately it's not an illusion. Well spotted. Cheers!

[Marc]

Definitely get an evaluation, the rear quarter has moved above the arch, can almost certainly be pulled by someone who knows what they're doing.
We really need agreed value on these cars now that they're going up in value don't we!

I have a pair of bumpers, not perfect but better than those.

"Better than those" Cheers, I may be in touch.

[Marc]

Sorry to hear about this you must be bloody fuming! In terms of valuation at £6400 is an absolute joke and insult. Get the car independently inspected my S2 Coupe is a 1995 model with 217k on the clock and immaculate and has a guaranteed valuation of £22k.


Am trying to find examples for sale:

KGF cars had a green S2 94 100k and am sure that was for sale around 20k its sold. (still on Pistonheads).
Newsnow.co.uk there was a lovely black S2 Coupe for sale 93 model immaculate at £17k and that sold recently to a new member on here.
Car & Classic have a red S2 Coupe up for sale at £8750 but this is a project and requires alot of work, also a silver S2 coupe 3b model 92 model at £6250 but this is a very poor example as its another project and requires a hell of a lot of work.
Ebay has a kingfisher blue S2 Coupe 94 model 174k that requires alot of work being advertised as spares or repair and thats £12495.

These are examples to print out to your insurance company to tell them that your immaculate S2 Coupe before it got hit has to be worth a minimum of around £17k to £18k with your sort of mileage.

Good luck and hope this helps you out a bit.

Much appreciated. All good info.

[Marc]

DO NOT LET THEM TAKE IT AWAY Mines been writen off 3 times for nonsense stuff like front bumper damage always take the best offer keep the car and repair it

No. It's my car. They can't have it!

[Marc]

DO NOT ACCEPT THE OFFER, DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO TAKE THE CAR AWAY!

You can refuse them taking the car to copart, do not under any circumstances let them take it away if you intend to keep it.

With regards to value, do not accept anything less than £12k, regardless of whether or not you keep the car, their original offer will not allow you source a like for like replacement. They usually low ball you first time anyway. Ask to speak to the engineer and ask them to prove how they came to this abysmal assumption.

Show them all the ones currently for sale and depending on thr condition of yours, go up or down from there.

Even if they refuse to pay its value, you can involve the ombudsman who will make an impartial decision based on evidence provided and they will look at values and market rates and their decision is final.

They say the assessment has been performed by an independent evaluator, which I guess allows them to say it's not us, it's them. But yeah, I will be challenging their evaluation, but asking them to justify how they came up with the figure is a good idea. In my ignorance / naivety I thought they'd be more on my side given it's clearly not my fault, and that they'd be negotiating with the other insurance company on my behalf. I now understand that they just decide the value and repair costs themselves and then bill the other company. Seems a bit too cosy. But yeah, I can see this going all the ombudsman.