Possible Write Off, What Are The Chances Of Getting To Keep The Car?

[xntrq]

Alright guys, so Insurance is paying me out and I'm not entirely happy with the result.

As in their PDS, they say (in short):

- Your policy will end

- Deductions made in according to unused CTP/on-road costs etc.

- They take the car

I'm not happy because I'm not at fault and I'm losing out on at least $5K easily.

They are paying out less than my agreed value, which the agreed value was the exact price I got the car for. I had to add on top of the buy price a few thousands for RTA/RMS costs, CTP and comprehensive insurance which costed me the good $5K. Seeing that I'm not at fault, my insurance policy has ended, my CTP, on road costs would need to be refunded (what remains of it) to me, put my plates into storage and pay more money to get new plates since the front one is crushed.

Now I have to pay more money to buy another insurance policy, CTP again, on-road costs again, number plates again, also put more money into buying the same car (about $1500 more). Realistically I'm getting half the agreed value...

Anyone know what my rights are?

[GTR-N1]

If NRMA has not abided to the letter, their own PDS, you Ricky can take the issue up with the Financial Ombudsman Service on...

[email protected]

1300780808

[sydking]

id be bloody filthy mate! Do what yo can to get what your entitled to and what youve paid for.

Almost sounds you would of been thousands in front if you have Third party only huh.

[xntrq]

id be bloody filthy mate! Do what yo can to get what your entitled to and what youve paid for.

Almost sounds you would of been thousands in front if you have Third party only huh.

Yeah, if I'm not mistaken, their PDS says that if my car was written off, and I'm found not at fault, I will GET TO KEEP THE CAR and have the VALUE OF THE CAR refunded. Pay more, get less, pay less, get more. Strange things work in this world.

[xALmoN]

just mention ombudsman and they cower in fear.

[tara]

Omg im going through the same thing...I have a Nissan Skyline Gts-t 40th Anniversary... Some dumb ass lady came and hit me at 80..and I hit the front car too...

I only have 3rd party insurance cos im a good driver..lol.....accident was not my fault...

The car is getting assessed on monday.. Im taking my head unit,amp,sub out tomorr..car has $70 fuel,1000 tyres,all parts that were replace were new,which i would find myself and give my machine....

I have talked to a few ppl,depanding on what kinda damage u have..The car is never how it use drive..

Suxs big time ha..u spend sooo much and insurance wont pay for things u have added..we had to have time off work,hire a car for a few days...no one pays for that too..sux sux big time...find cars like yr car online and give them to the insurance company and dont take first offer...thats what i have heard,thats what im doing..Good luck..

Edited October 6, 2012 by tara

[xntrq]

Omg im going through the same thing...I have a Nissan Skyline Gts-t 40th Anniversary... Some dumb ass lady came and hit me at 80..and I hit the front car too...

I only have 3rd party insurance cos im a good driver..lol.....accident was not my fault...

The car is getting assessed on monday.. Im taking my head unit,amp,sub out tomorr..car has $70 fuel,1000 tyres,all parts that were replace were new,which i would find myself and give my machine....

I have talked to a few ppl,depanding on what kinda damage u have..The car is never how it use drive..

Suxs big time ha..u spend sooo much and insurance wont pay for things u have added..we had to have time off work,hire a car for a few days...no one pays for that too..sux sux big time...find cars like yr car online and give them to the insurance company and dont take first offer...thats what i have heard,thats what im doing..Good luck..

Yeah it sucks. take out whatever you think you can take. if you have nice wheels as well, take those. TAKE EVERYTHING. they will dog rape you in every angle possible. this was my first lesson, and a costly one.

[Adriano]

I just had the opposite occur, someone ran up the back of my wifes car(mitsu rvr)we were offered market value, plus extras(sunroof and factory bullbar)$7600 for a car we would have been lucky to get $4k then they offered us the wreck for $650 which i sold on ebay for $1100, we then cashed in our rego, greenslip and insurance. Just go through the other persons insurance and send a letter of demand,

Edited October 7, 2012 by Adriano

[sydking]

Ricky - Did you go through you insurance company or the other drivers?

As the post above got me thinking, When not at fault you mearly have to tell you insurance company what happened, Just for the record, Then the rest is up to there company.

[Borci88]

Omg im going through the same thing...I have a Nissan Skyline Gts-t 40th Anniversary... Some dumb ass lady came and hit me at 80..and I hit the front car too...

I only have 3rd party insurance cos im a good driver..lol.....accident was not my fault...

The car is getting assessed on monday.. Im taking my head unit,amp,sub out tomorr..car has $70 fuel,1000 tyres,all parts that were replace were new,which i would find myself and give my machine....

I have talked to a few ppl,depanding on what kinda damage u have..The car is never how it use drive..

Suxs big time ha..u spend sooo much and insurance wont pay for things u have added..we had to have time off work,hire a car for a few days...no one pays for that too..sux sux big time...find cars like yr car online and give them to the insurance company and dont take first offer...thats what i have heard,thats what im doing..Good luck..

This can all be reimbursed if you keep receipts and what not, the other driver has caused all this and thus insurance is liable to reimburse you for your time.

[xntrq]

I just had the opposite occur, someone ran up the back of my wifes car(mitsu rvr)we were offered market value, plus extras(sunroof and factory bullbar)$7600 for a car we would have been lucky to get $4k then they offered us the wreck for $650 which i sold on ebay for $1100, we then cashed in our rego, greenslip and insurance. Just go through the other persons insurance and send a letter of demand,

What if the other guy is with the same Insurance I'm with?

Ricky - Did you go through you insurance company or the other drivers?

As the post above got me thinking, When not at fault you mearly have to tell you insurance company what happened, Just for the record, Then the rest is up to there company.

As above, and yeah I thought it was as simple as that too. now my money I paid for the insurance policy is gone, my cars gone, they didn't pay me any extras for the bits i put in. They don't want to help me that much since the more they help me, the more they lose. I will be lodging a complaint with the FOS to have the money back since it's not my fault.

[sydking]

Lodge a complaint for sure- Then change insurance company ASAP

[CEF33Y]

What if the other guy is with the same Insurance I'm with?

I had this happen to me. T-boned by a driver, swerving all over the road, after the incident had a witness say he's been following said driver, and they were all over the road, driver couldn't produce australian licence, or speak english, police wouldn't turn up. (no injury's) Eventually showed me a international licence, took all details, + witness report, no one else spoke to at scene.

Inform insurance company (just cars) few days later get a call saying they have a conflicting witness statement saying i pulled out infront, causing accident. They would not let me see this statement, and said due to two different statements, we had to fix our own cars out of our pocket!

Turns out Just cars was underwritten by AAMI, who insured the other driver. So it would be a loss for the insurer either way.

Took a month of phonecalls and a letter of demand from a lawyer before they magically decided to repair my car and the other driver was at fault.

Needless to say, got the car fixed then cancelled policy.

Scammers

[sydking]

faaarkk aye, half of these big companies are just a licence to print money and rip people off.

Its a bloody oligopoly

[666DAN]

Lol like when my car was stolen. They quoted 3k to repair. So I went down to look at the car and asked how they came to that figure....next thing 18k to fix so was written off. They tried selling it back to me for 15K, hahaha as if!

[xntrq]

lol i got a quote from local repairers thats not NRMA, they quoted $5k. and the damage isn't that much that even I could fix myself.

[SMOKEYV35]

unfortunately i have had a couple of experiences with this process, but I do have good news.

Firstly, your rights in terms of your parts fitted, like your pedals and shift knob are : if it's NOT declared on the policy, then you ARE allowed to visit the wreck and retrieve the parts but you MUST replace the parts with the original stock items. EG. you remove your shift knob, the factory shift knob must be replaced in the car. I know this because I used to work in the salvage department of one of the largest auction houses in the country and we constantly had to escort people to their car to retrieve their head units etc. Hilariously, most people would just throw the stock head unit in the back seat - it doesnt have to be installed or working - just physically present. All you need to do is to contact your insurance company, say you need to retrieve personal items and then ask for the storage location of the salvage. Contact the storage location (most likely a panel beater, but could also be an auction house), book a time to go and visit the car, and then retrieve your items. It was my day to day job to manage the transition of vehicles between the owner, the insurance company, and the auction house - so I know this for a fact. The assessment value was based purely on market value and does not take into account things like your 'rims' or your 'body kit' - it's just a number from a big book, so unless your mods are factored into the policy (and thus your agreed value) then you won't be getting paid out on it anyway, and as such they have no right to it - but you do. Obviously a storage location may not be happy with you jacking a car up and taking wheels etc off due to OH&S but smaller items are fine. ****

Secondly, in terms of your pay out figure. If you are not happy with the figure they have offered, you can ask to have your car independently assessed. The inedpendent assessor may give a more honest figure reflective of the car's condition which gives you some power to negotiate with, but at the end of the day the insurance company does not have to honor this.

You can offer to buy the wreck back and as has been said, they will come to a figure (usually what the assessor put down as the salvage value, ie. what they expected to get for it at auction) and deduct that from your payout. However, if the vehicle has already been moved to a salvage location (read: auction house) then there is very little chance of you getting it back - it will be 'in the system', and they will probably say no. You can buy it back at auction, and you can ask the insurer to tell you where it is and contact them to find out when it will be auctioned - but you'd be competing against other bidders, you may come out on top, or you may lose.

Finally, if you don't like the above, you can chose to WITHDRAW your claim. Again, it depends on the location of the vehicle and how far along they are in the process. From what you've said it may not be an option. But if you can, you're allowed to WITHDRAW your claim and if you're 100% not at fault, you can confidently pursue the other party's insurance company for damages. This is a risk, but I have done it before and was successful.

(My car was t-boned and i was not at fault - my insurance company offered me next to nothing for my car, so i had it independently asssessed at a figure 3 times the initial valuation, i sought legal advice and they pursued the other party for damages and legal fees. The car (a 1988 R31 Skyline) went from a 2k payout to over 6k payout plus 3k of legal fees, plus i got to keep the wreck. It took 6 months, and it was a lot of running around - but it was my first car, I was at uni and had plenty of time - so it was worth it!)

A long post, but i hope that helps - i think it should! Good luck!

Cheers

Mat

****(Note: this is why you NEVER let your car get towed from the scene of an accident directly to a panel beater. ALWAYS ask for your car to be towed home, it gives you time to take off parts and avoid all this butt hurt).

Edited October 17, 2012 by SMOKEYC34