Rear-ended - what should I do about resale value?

FrankGrimes

I tried posting this in another thread on here that seemed similar, but didn't get much response probably as it was sidetracking the OP which is fair enough.

My main concern is that even when my car is repaired its resale value will be affected - what should I do to protect against me incurring that loss?

I was rear-ended in rolling traffic approaching a roundabout by a woman in an SUV last week. She accepted full liability (I'd say she was looking back at her kid in the rear seat).

I got an estimate from a garage that came to €5k for all the damage to the back of my 2003 VW Passat. I was very surprised at the force of the impact and the amount of damage done - heavy things those SUVs (BMW X5).

There was a crack to a fuel line in the front beside the engine and my mechanic mate patched that up so I could get it to the garage, though they forgot to include that in the estimate. My mechanic mate replaced my CV bolts and joints a while back and given the price of VW parts, I went with generic "spurious" parts. They work fine but every now and then (once a day) the ABS sensor would kick in when breaking and just make a noise. Since the crash it now happens every ten minutes, so I think it will affect the resale value. What should I do to get that addressed?

Assessor for her insurer (Allianz) had a look on Monday and said he'll get in touch with the garage and the insurers will get back to me. I mentioned the 2 above items to him. Is there anything normally done for the probable impact to the resale value (i.e. even when the damage is repaired someone might be wary of buying a car that has been in a crash)?

R.O.R

Ask them for 15% of the repair bill for additional depreciation.

blastman

Allianz aren't famous for their generosity in payout situations. Get a good estimate and make it as high as you can without being dishonest because they almost certainly will knock the price down on the repair, let alone the depreciation of your car's value.

FrankGrimes

Thanks for that lads. All I want is to get my car back to the condition and the value it was before she crashed into me, or be compensated for the difference. I'll play as much hardball with them as I need to.

I just took the car to the nearest garage to work - if I was looking to get a generous quote I'd have gone to another mate's garage but I wanted to play fair. If they start acting up I'll take it to him and get a worst-case scenario estimate.

FrankGrimes

I've also heard people having trouble with getting insurance quotes after an incident like this with the insurers saying that even though you weren't to blame, you were involved in a claim so you don't get a no-claims bonus.

Anyone had similar situations?

Again, if it seems likely my insurance will cost me more than it otherwise have done due to this incident, I think I'm entitled to claim for those out of pocket expenses. Am thinking I may need to get a solicitor involved at this point to be sure I am not at a loss here.

Barr

FrankGrimes wrote: »

I've also heard people having trouble with getting insurance quotes after an incident like this with the insurers saying that even though you weren't to blame, you were involved in a claim so you don't get a no-claims bonus.

Anyone had similar situations?

Again, if it seems likely my insurance will cost me more than it otherwise have done due to this incident, I think I'm entitled to claim for those out of pocket expenses. Am thinking I may need to get a solicitor involved at this point to be sure I am not at a loss here.

If you have no liability your bonus wont be affected.

Get the insurance company to get one of their approved garages to do a quote for you . These tend to be the best and give the most expensive quotes as they know the insurance will be paying .
When you get this qute you could get the cheque sent to yourslf and get the car fixed elsewhere (sometimes consierably cheaper) and pocket the difference for "depreciation"
Getting a solicitor involved wont be of any benefit , infact they would probably slow things up .

FrankGrimes

Thanks Barr, will give the insurers a call tomorrow and see what the story is. Will wait till I get the garage to include the updated estimate for fuel lines and ABS breaks and then see how things look and push for the depreciation costs. Reading around on the web it seems they give 15 or 10% in cases but that generally applies to cars under 5 years old.

My 2003 Passat was five years old in June but I don't see why that should have any impact on me being compensated for the drop in resale value.

Will try get an update tomorrow.

Barr

I know Hibernian only give depeciation for cars < 3 years old. Highly unlikely they'll give you depreciation for a 2003 .
Thats why you're better off getting an expensive quote possible and maybe stick in abit extra for loss of use (this doesen't usually need to be vouched) to safe gaurd any depreciation down the line .

nogoodnamesleft

Had a very similar accident last year in a 01 vw Passat same shape as yours Learner driving unaccompanied and i suspected was also on the phone crashed into the back of the car as I was stopped in traffic. back of the car was mangled chassis was bent.ripples on both of the rear wheel archs and roof, panel gaps were closed around the bottom corner of the rear doors. Assessors had a look at it, crack on the front bumper as I was shunted into the car in fromt of me. was quoted 5k for repair but insurance co declared "uneconomical" to repair as it was high mileage.

Id be arguing that the car would be harder to see with accident damage. They might offer you the market value of the car but id put them under pressure as they will probably chance giving you a lower figure. Remember their main aim is to settle claims as quickly as possible as it costs them less money the quicker its settled. Did you suffer any injurys?

FrankGrimes

Thanks for the input.

nogoodnamesleft - what do you mean by "was quoted 5k for repair but insurance co declared 'uneconomical' to repair as it was high mileage." - did the insurance company just prefer to offer you the cost to replace the car instead of repairing it?

And I'm not sure I get ya when you say "Id be arguing that the car would be harder to see with accident damage. "

Am no expert, but I think the side panels may have been bent - think they were included in the estimate from the garage. Estimate was €4,860 but they'll need to add in some for the fuel line and to fix my ABS break issue (i.e. generic parts or not, they weren't giving anywhere near that much hassle before she hit me). So it'll probably be around the 5.5k mark, though I'd expect the assessor to bargain it down from there with the garage.

It seems like a bit of a broken system whereby the only way I can protect myself against resale loss is to get an inflated quote, when I was trying to just get it done honestly.

Assessor saw the car on Monday and said the insurers would call me, but no word yet.

My car is a 2003D Passat with 65,000 miles on it and has all the good specs - climate control, leather heated seats, upgraded alloys, tiptronic gearbox, 6CD changer. It was 16k when I bought it last May (13k cash, 3k for my 99 Astra). Not sure what it would be worth now with the market drop, but I would've guessed around €10k at least. So given that, do you reckon they would still regard it as uneconomic to repair or prefer to go ahead?

I had a stiff shoulder and lower left back the next morning and mentioned that on the phone to Allianz. They've improved since though the back is still a little stiff - I've an old injury there it may have exacerbated. If it doesn't shift I'll get it looked at but know from the last time I'll probably be perscribed anti-inflammatories and maybe physio.

nogoodnamesleft

"economic to repair" means simply that the cars worth didnt warrant the cost of the repair. The car was high mileage 144k:o. Assessors looked at it and put a value on it,however was a bit lower agrued with claims and got something more reasonable. I was in bits for a good 8-9 months afterwards and still suffer wit lower back pain and attend regular phiso since.luckily for me I only signed for material damages. Pity that the new stricter rules governing learner drivers didnt come in earlier and the accident would probably never have occured.:rolleyes:

I loved d old car so much I got a 2003 highline passat as the current car.

cuilium

Just got rear ended myself this morning on a roundabout... traffic behind was awful so I restarted that car and came off the roundabout and pulled in but the car that rear endeed me drove right past me. I couldn't believe it.

Fair play to a motorist who was behind her, he follow her up the road and came back to give me her details and where she pulled into work.

No real damage to the car (that I can see), there is a scrape on the bumper.

Don't know if there is any point in following it up though, since I'm not sure what the insurance company would say seeing as I pulled off the roundabout.

D_murph

cuilium wrote: »

Just got rear ended myself this morning on a roundabout... traffic behind was awful so I restarted that car and came off the roundabout and pulled in but the car that rear endeed me drove right past me. I couldn't believe it.

Fair play to a motorist who was behind her, he follow her up the road and came back to give me her details and where she pulled into work.

No real damage to the car (that I can see), there is a scrape on the bumper.

Don't know if there is any point in following it up though, since I'm not sure what the insurance company would say seeing as I pulled off the roundabout.

:eek: :eek: :eek:

if someone rear ended me and drove off like that, i would make it my business to make sure they paid for whatever little damage they did to my car on a point of principle.

this "princess" thinks that she can get away with what is basically a hit and run here and if you can get this other person that followed her to be a witness, then you should be able to get it sorted id imagine.

unless the scrape is tiny and you dont need the hassle, id pursue this one if i were you TBH and a whole bumper respray would cost this idiot a lot more than hanging around and taking care of her responsibilities :rolleyes:

of course, had she the maturity to stay around and deal with it, you might have not bothered repairing it

_Kaiser_

D_murph wrote: »

:eek: :eek: :eek:

if someone rear ended me and drove off like that, i would make it my business to make sure they paid for whatever little damage they did to my car on a point of principle.

this "princess" thinks that she can get away with what is basically a hit and run here and if you can get this other person that followed her to be a witness, then you should be able to get it sorted id imagine.

unless the scrape is tiny and you dont need the hassle, id pursue this one if i were you TBH and a whole bumper respray would cost this idiot a lot more than hanging around and taking care of her responsibilities :rolleyes:

of course, had she the maturity to stay around and deal with it, you might have not bothered repairing it

+1 here

Whatever about the actual damage, I'd pursue this one if only to get the b*tch to realise she can't just drive into someone and continue on. You should get the car checked out anyway because there could be damage you can't see visually.

Fair play to the guy behind her who came back with her details though! That sort of thing is all to rare these days.

L1011

Could be crash bars, support gear, etc damaged behind the bumper. I'd get an estimate - and make her pay if the garage charges.

Steve

I'd also report the incident to the guards as a matter of course. It may help any insurance claim.
In any case what she did was illegal (leaving the scene of an accident) let alone disgraceful.

Seth Brundle

cuilium wrote: »

Just got rear ended myself this morning on a roundabout... traffic behind was awful so I restarted that car and came off the roundabout and pulled in but the car that rear endeed me drove right past me. I couldn't believe it.

Fair play to a motorist who was behind her, he follow her up the road and came back to give me her details and where she pulled into work.

No real damage to the car (that I can see), there is a scrape on the bumper.

Don't know if there is any point in following it up though, since I'm not sure what the insurance company would say seeing as I pulled off the roundabout.

Many rear ended cars may show little or no signs of an impact but the re could easily be hidden damage - get it looked at and make sure the other driver pays!
Furthermore, I'm sitting here with a neck still sore from a rear ending last April. I've had several physio sessions and have to do exercises every day.
It took a number of hours for it to arrive though - get a doctors opinion if you are in any way unsure and make sure the useless bitch pays for it!
I would also report the incident with the gardai, if even for her to eb formally cautioned for her dangerous and illegal driving.
Lastly, no insurance company is going to fault you for trying to keep a roundabout free. Had you not done so and a garda arrived, the first thing they would tell you is to move the car!

Top Dog

FrankGrimes wrote: »

I got an estimate from a garage that came to €5k for all the damage to the back of my 2003 VW Passat. I was very surprised at the force of the impact and the amount of damage done - heavy things those SUVs (BMW X5).

If the estimate was 5k to repair it, I wouldn't be too surprised if the car was considered an uneconomic repair and wrote it off. Thats nearly 50% of (a generous) open market selling price for such a car. I'm not positive about this, but I think in cases where the estimate to repair is over 40% of the value of the car then an insurance company will likely write it off.

For example (and in the interests of simplicity) if the car was worth 10k pre-accident. Then after 5k worth of repairs it might be worth maybe 7-8k. That means the cost to repair, when taken against the value afterwards, is over 50% of the value of the car.

If it was me, I'd want a replacement car - which would also erase your worries about the depreciation as a result of the accident.

draycottgirlz

I was stopped in a que of cars behind a bus when the car two cars back was looking of the building to his right and drove straight into in and pushed that car into mine.

Now I have got a quote for repairs, (which I notice doesn't list the repairs to the lock). Repairs quote is €3500, but the value of the car is near €5k.
Any suggestions on what I should do?

Seth Brundle

Is that quote in writing?
Show it to the person who caused the incident and see what they say. If they can't/won't cough up then go through your insurance company.
You should probably let them know anyway just in case you need their help in a few weeks.
Make sure that medically you are alright also!

draycottgirlz

Thanks. I've had to go to their insurance company with my written quote.