Insurance dispute – any help greatly appreciated UPDATED resolved!

monaco_blue said:
You might wish to give the likes of http://www.europaconsultants.co.uk/services.php a bell to help you fight your corner.
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Well worth the money. I'm sure I've met the guy who runs it many years ago, when PH was just a message board.

But do plug away and escalate your call past the call centre.
 
Sorry to hear OP. I have to say Admiral are awful at paying out. I had an E46 written off by a lorry so the claim money wasn't even coming from them, they could recover it all from the other party. In the end I had to settle for less than it was worth. I even provided all necessary evidence to say the glasses guide is complete and utter bull. I will never insure a car with them again even if they are the cheapest premium.

Hope you get it sorted and keep plugging away. I needed the money quickly but if you can hold out it'll be worth it in the end.
 
I'm willing to pay around 4k for your car in the condition it is in. I would definitely buy the car back as there is profit to be made for both of us. I'm 100% serious about buying the damaged car and would collect within few days with cash.
 
Apologies if this is a repost.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html
 
Hi all,

A quick update - I sent a 3-page document arguing my position, with supporting excel database of prices, quotes from EVO, PH and others, and noting I was happy to engage the financial ombudsman and / or an accident management company.

Their response so far is that they have looked at Caps and Parkers (as well as Glass's). The max price they have seen is £11,800 and so that is the max they (the claims department) can offer. If I am not happy then they can escalate my case to another team who look after dissatisfied customers. As noted before, despite my disatisfaction with their offers, I have found them very professional and pleasant to deal with (so far). I have arranged a call with them tomorrow at 2pm to give some time for me to get my thoughts together.

I am pleased to be £3K better than where I started (£8.8K was ridiculous!), but I think I am still ~£2K short of what I would need to replace it. I am going to push for more and see where I get to.

DPG - thanks for sharing the link.

HubertK - thank you very much for the offer. I have had a couple of other offers over £5K and Admiral are now quoting me just over £4K for the salvage. Its going up with the market value but I am hoping to negotiate this down. PM me if you are interested in stretching further.

Thanks again everyone. It's great to have such a supportive community! I will let you know how things go.

JT
 
Heading in the right direction, stick to your guns, you've paid for cover to replace your car so make sure thats what you get :thumbsup:
 
Seems a bit of a steep repair, have you thought about going to an BMW approved repair centre that is not a dealer?

Unfortunately I had the same issue on a previous car (Cooper S), where after haggling and showing them Autotrader ads, they refused to budge on price, and then told me to I either had to accept their offer or refuse it and get nothing. I'd say stand your ground with the insurers, but also get quotes to repair from reputable bodyshops that specialise in accident repair.

My guess is Sytner are charging over £100 per hour for labour costs...
 
Sytner's labour rates and margins are massive. Nor does BMW approval carry much weight with regards to the quality of a repair.

I would be getting prices from a good independent bodyshop. The damage in the photo does just not look sufficient to write off the car. However, once the insurer has taken the decision to write off the car its difficult to change their mind.

If you are unable to get the insurer to increase their offer to something reasonable you have the option to request a valuation from an independent valuer. You also have the option to go to the financial ombudsman.
 
Thanks. I'm waiting to hear back if they will increase their offer further. I think it is likely I will buy the car back and may get it repaired, or sell it on to someone else who wants to take it on - there are a few interested here so it will be easy to keep the car in the forum :thumbsup:

As you say, it does look very fixable. It has not been stripped down so hopefully there is nothing nasty lurking that we can't see beyond what has already been quoted.

I will go and do some research on body shops. If anyone has a preferred body shop, ideally in East London/Essex, then recommendations are welcome :D
 
Hi everyone,

After quite a bit of back and forth (first with the claims team, then escalated to the quality team) I have got the insurers up to a place I am happy (enough) with. Their value is not quite where I wanted to be, but once I have bought and sold the car I will end up better of that the price I paid for it 18 months ago, and in a good position to get another M :driving: So I am happy to call it a day rather than battle on over Christmas.

Thank you to everyone for all of your help. It helped me quickly pull together a compelling argument and I made up most of the difference I wanted to in the first few days of negotiating with them.

There have been a number of people interested in buying the car from me. I think I have PM'ed you all, but if I have missed anyone or if you are just reading this and interested please PM me and let me know as soon as possible otherwise it will be gone. There are pics (before and after) and other details on the first page of the thread. The one update is that the insurers have classified it Cat D.

Thanks again to everyone for your help, this is a really great community :)
JT
 
Can't believe that was written off! So sad! Will be a lovely car for someone when repaired, this is why when I had a similar small shunt I fixed mine outside of insurance as they wouldn't guarantee me being allowed to buy it back! Glad you got an outcome that suits you!
 
Settled with the insurance and have sold the salvage to a fellow forum member. Hopefully it will find itself back roaring on the roads in the new year!

I will be purchasing another M soon. I've got a provisional price agreed on one, so potentially very soon :driving:
 
Any advice on how to get the insurers to pay more mate?

I'm with admiral and currently have a fight on my hands which they are refusing to budge on!

I am at there 3rd offer now which still isn't enough for me to replace it like for like. Who did you speak to/ what department to get it increased?

Ash
 
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