Car Write-Off

[acarmody]

you dont sign off on it until you are sure everything is as it should be.

How do you get them to prove there is no more damage, get a second opinion? They won't let it out of the repairers yard without a signed form.

 

[HamaTime™]

PICS!!!!

Lodge a claim with your company against her.

 

[acarmody]

PICS!!!!

Lodge a claim with your company against her.

That's the first thing I would have done after taking her details.

I've been hit twice by other people and both times I lodged my own claim on the spot.

 

[rusty411]

good advice me thinks

 

[Supe]

1. Claim it on your insurance as a not at fault accident instead of hers (this will give you a lot more control over the process)
2. Pay any excess if requested to your insurer
3. When you're happy with the repair then send her a letter of demand for the excess plus any rental cars costs, she has to pay, or claim those costs against her own insurer.

Most people are worried about claiming on their own policy but these days, especially for not at fault claims you are entitled to claim on yours and then your insurer will pursue her insurer for the damages and if you were on full no claim bonus you will usually; almost certainly keep it since you weren't at fault.

 

[EDGE3]

Its your car that got damaged so its your insurance company that has to assess the damage and either repair/write it off then they go and chase the other drivers insurance company for the bill thats the way it works,its called not at fault,Supe is totally correct.Ive had 3 not at fault accidents and every time my insurer assesed the damage paid up then billed the at fault driver/insurer.

 

[brianbee]

Spoke to insurance company today and told that they had not even had an assessor of theres even look at the car, yet 2 days ago they told me they had.Car has now been towed to there assessor to be looked at next week.From what i can gather from the calls ive made the reason they are now repairing it and not claiming it a total loss is because of the payout quote. The car is insured for 32500 but the way they spoke the market value must be a lot lower (what is the market value) and with 18000 damage.
If the car is to be repaired they say atleast 4 weeks,so rang the other partys insurance company and told them the predicament how need car to take kids to school and get to work and they said sure we should be able to cover the cost of hire car so said can i have it in writing and got a no can do. So now i am in quite a predicament without no car... as for putting up photos ill look into it but not to sure how to do it.

 

[Supe]

The term is called "demurrage" I think and you don't need to get it in writing first, it's just part of basic law. Basically any out of pocket expenses that this person has caused you, taxi, rental car of the same approx value of your own car are all acceptable.
Here's the thing though, you must pay for it up front, you must have receipts and you then send a letter of demand to the woman that hit you, she then passes it along to her insurer and they pay. Trust me, I've done this twice now.
Last time I did it I got a smarty at the other persons insurance company that said they wouldn't pay $99 a day for a rental car and I told her I was entitled to a rental car of similar type to my damaged car for the duration of repairs ($2800) and told her if she didn't pay it I would simply lodge the claim through the sheriff as an unpaid debt, they paid it 7 days later obviously after speaking to legals. The takeaway message here, 1) Claim what your owed 2) DONT be bullied by them!
The only downside is that you must pay for it first and you must send your claim for demurrage on a fairly standard "letter of demand" which you can probably download or ask your lawyer for a template.
I might even have one if you need it.

 

[EDGE3]

I dont understand your car is insured for $32500 and your paying a premium for this amount so if the car gets written off then this is the amount that you should receive because thats what its insured for.And if theres $18000 damage then thats how much damage needs to be fixed for crying out loud, if the chassis was damaged,also the body of the car all warped/crumbled if so then they have no choice than to write it off because even if its repaired the car will not be as safe as a new car and if I was you I would tell them that there is no way that I would be driving my kids in the car.Like I said in my previous post thats what happened to my car it was warped/crumbled and no repair would make it safe enough if it was in another accident so I refused to have it repaired,there was no way I was putting my kids in the car.I told my insurer why the hell have I been paying you insurance all these years? Definately not to be given an unsafe car to drive.

 

[UFO]

pretty close to be being written off! $18,000 from $32,500 is 55%- I think most insurers will write it off if it hits 60%, it's a shame the assessor couldnt find another $1500 or so. stick with it though... your insurer may very well assess the damage to be a little higher and actually write it off anyway. make sure you mention your concerns about the drivetrain, maybe the other insuer assessor didnt factor in some things to specifically keep it under the 60%.

of course everyone would rather their car just gets written off (no one wants to own/drive a car that's had serious repairs done to it), but unfortunately this isnt your call and the reduction in value once these repairs are done isnt factored in to your premium. it sucks, but thats the way it is.

keep us posted on how things go.... you are right on the cusp, hope your insurer finds another $1500 in damage the other guy didnt!