C944 NHR. Written off

[dirtydirtyharry]

Hi fellas, Ive not posted on here in a while but I know that some previous keepers of my car reside on here quite a bit.

On the way into work a couple of weeks ago a van ploughed into the back of me and I hit the crash barrier. I got a call from the insurance today to say that the car is being written off (unsurprisingly given that virtually every panel was damaged in some way)

Im gutted and have dreaded posting it on here to be honest as its something that I always hoped I would never have to do.

Its so ironic given that she got me through the winter as an everyday car on the motorway and a lot of treacherous roads. I got out of it fairly lightly considering the lack of an airbag - broken nose and 2 black eyes.

Im hoping to get another one so I will still be on here hopefully. I do have a few quick questions which I could do with answers to to help me out a little bit if you dont mind.

(a) I paid £3000 for her about 2 years ago and the insurance got back to me today to say that they have been trawling autotrader etc and that they would not be willing to offer me any more than £1900. I mentioned that she has the most incredible service history going and was in very good nick but the guy from AXA simply said that there were more for sale with FSH etc and described as "mint" condition etc for under £2000. He is going to email me details of the offer.

Am I knackered? Can I get that value upped in anyway?

(b) I mentioned that the car had a private reg (which was absolutely MEANT for me - my initials plus 944 in it!) He said that the reg number is totally seperate to the claim and i could always try and get this back if I want it.

How would I go about getting this reg plate should I end up getting a 86+ reg 944 next?

Cheers fellas and thanks for all the great advice which I have had in the past! Hopefully it wont be the last!! [&:]

 

[Frenchy]

What 944 model is it ?
Contact the DVLA regards plate ownership, did you put it on the car ? as i am sure it would help in your claim.
Sorry to hear the news, at least you are OK thankfully they are pretty strong cars !

 

[944 lux]

Sorry to hear your bad news. As far as the offer made to you by the insurance company, have a read of this

Until the insurers settle, the car still belongs to you so you should be able to apply to the DVLA to have your private plate put on retention. The DVLA will want the current tax disc and MOT certificate - you can read more here. You should speak to your insurance company about this too.

 

[944Turbo]

Very sorry to hear the bad news as its my old car - glad she looked after you and you escaped relatively unscathed, the mirrors will be worth money if you can get them back,
It was Excellent when I had it and had even more done to it by the owner after me, so worth top money, Argue with the insurance and reject the first offers.

[][][]

 

[rav]

I have good experience of this type of thing after writing off my first 944 turbo se and then a 968 sport.

DO NOT ACCEPT THE FIRST OFFER.

I was offered £1500 for my 944 turbo se and i finally settled for at least five times that. With the 968 i was offered £3k and i finally settled for three times this, plus keeping the salvage.
You have to argue the case, i made a big folder of information. I cut out adverts for similar cars from magazines, autotrader and ebay. I asked Porsche to value the car. Perhaps you can ask the club to value your car for you?

Its in your interest to make the case, show them the service history. The pictures that 944turbo has posted look great, show them these. The car was in great pre -accident condition and was your pride and joy.

If you need any more advice, please PM me.

Oh and make sure that you keep the salvage. You can strip the car for all the worth while parts and wither sell the shell to a Porsche breaker or just weigh it in for £200. Make sure you get the plate off the car though.......

 

[Mike_Pollock]

Sorry about the car but as the others have said you've come out basically ok.

I second everything Rav has said - I did 7 years insurance broking - including claims - many years ago - get every bit of paper and pic you can on your car, every advert for top line 944 and don't accept the first offer.

Good luck with it and we look forward to seeing pics of the replacement!

 

[Fat Albert]

Sad to hear the news
You can get the plate off onto retention for £105 (this is for 1 year and includes transferring it onto another car)
You need the V5, MoT Certificate and the code and expiry date from the tax disk, take them to your nearest local office and they will do the paperwork within 10 mins. They will then send through the new registration within a week, and an updated V5 within 4 weeks

I have just been through this with my Wife's car as we were selling it and needed to start the process before we got her new one so couldn't do a straight transfer.

 

[944Turbo]

If it helps I may have some more pictures in my office, However off to Cyprus at early o'clock tomorrow and not back till Saturday.
Tony

 

[dirtydirtyharry]

ORIGINAL: 944Turbo

If it helps I may have some more pictures in my office, However off to Cyprus at early o'clock tomorrow and not back till Saturday.
Tony

Cheers for all the tips guys. I will have to consider the retention thing on the plate.

944 turbo, you were kind enough to send me lots of photos when i first got the car and I kept them but thanks for the offer. I will refuse the first offer and see what they come back with. The problem is that the insurance company have a point, if you have a look on the net right now there are a number of similar standard (on the face of it) 944s with less miles going for less money than I paid. I will try and get it upped though.

thanks again.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Hi Neil,

Sorry to hear this. Sadly it's often the case that the insurers have you over a barrel unless you've got a guaranteed value insurance policy. Their attitude is, if you don't think it's worth getting a policy that insures your car for more than average, why should we pay a more than average claim?

I've had success with a few Club members who've had claims increased after much correspondance between us all, but being brutally honest a Lux will have halved in value in the last few years, as almost everything else has. I don't know if you're a member but most insurers accept the Club's RSs valuations, or at least consider them.

You're also a victim of the marketplace. People do advertise cars as "mint", when you go to view they're a cat-c rustbucket. You need to prove why your car is better than the adverts they're looking at: they'll be trawling the usual places such as Pistonheads or Autotrader. If yours has had exceptional amounts spent on it you're entitled to more, after all the policy should enable you to be put back in the same position you were in before the accident, repair of replace.

Your insurers won't want to pursue this, despite it being, I assume, a no-fault claim as the other driver hit you from behind? Imagine the costs of taking the other insurer to court, or it's often the same company under a different name. They want a cheap settlement, no fuss, so be difficult. Do you have legal cover with your insurance?

 

[dirtydirtyharry]

Yeah I have legal cover. Ive got a solicitor involved due to my injuries etc but they dont really have anything to do with the settlement value as far as i can see. I will have to have a good trawl through pistonheads and whatever tomorrow and see if i can prove mine was a better one than most. From what I can gather the insurers are meant to give you a price you would expect to pay at a dealer as opposed to a private sale. There are garages around who sell lux's for far more than £1900 and i doubt they will have been in better nick. There is a garage down yorkshire way which regularly sells them for 4-5k so I may be able to use examples like that to get my settlement value upped a touch.

 

[dirtydirtyharry]

Having had a good look round autotrader and pistonheads I dont think im going to be able to talk AXA up much.

When you see the prices that lux's are going for ie here... http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/porsche/944/postcode/ts260sh/radius/1501/price-to/8000/sort/priceasc/price-from/500

lower miles than mine (166k) , similar good condition etc. I think im foooked tbh. The prices do seem to have plummeted but i suppose if i get offered 1900 then i will be able to get another one i decent nick.

 

[vincematthews]

If 944turbos photos still represent its pre-accident condition, I would have thought it would be 2.5K to 3K from a dealer?

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Yeah I have legal cover. Ive got a solicitor involved due to my injuries etc but they dont really have anything to do with the settlement value as far as i can see.

Worth pushing. You are entitled to be in the same position after the claim as before the accident: no better off but no worse off either.

The problem I've come across several times with member's cars is that the insurers argue over mechanical repairs. It seems that the classic policies are willing to pay out on a car that's had money spent on bodywork repairs, or "restoration", but not if you've spent money on refurbishing, say, the suspension. A new clutch can double the price of a Lux and should count for something IMO. If you're not a Club member, then maybe the specialist who services it would write on your behalf to say why your car is worth more than average?

As I said, you have to prove that your car was better than the ones they are quoting at you: this means condition and money spent over the last couple of years. If there's nothing major you've paid out on recently then it's likely they'll say your car is no different to any of the others for sale. If you can show that yours was in better condition than most, i.e. concourse awards, evidence of exceptionally good, and treated, bodywork etc. then again you're entitled to more than average.

If you've not got an agreed-value policy, or at least a classic car policy, then unfortunately your car is just another lump of metal to the insurer. This is a third-party claim, so your insurer should be fighting for you, but it's not in their interest to do so. They want to keep costs down, so all you can do is hassle them to do their job properly. You also have to be coldly realistic: if the car was £3K two years ago then values have fallen so £2K is probably about right. You can then only try to push for more based on what work you've put in to it, and only then if you would genuinely have to do the same to another car. Routine servicing or wear and tear items don't count.

 

[edh]

Anyone reading this who hasn't got a club valuation and/or an agreed valuation from their insurers ought to be getting them sorted asap (Sorry if I'm making work for you Paul [])

 

[pauljmcnulty]

ORIGINAL: edh

Anyone reading this who hasn't got a club valuation and/or an agreed valuation from their insurers ought to be getting them sorted asap (Sorry if I'm making work for you Paul [])

No, it's less work getting a free valuation than it is dealing with a claim after the event. [&o]

 

[robwright]

First of all sorry to hear your bad news mate you must be devasted but again at least you are safe and there are other cars. Your plight did get me worrying and thinking a little. For all interested including yourself for the future mate I just got a quote from Heritage for classic insurance with agreed value of £5000, fully comp, legal, glass and breakdown on 5000 miles for £278!!! Yes £278!!! In fact I had to add extra to it because the will only do monthgly on polices £300 and over. I added keys, immobiliser fobs and house key cover for an extra £15, which took it to £293, which was close enough for monthly payments. This is a SIGNIFICANT saving on what I am paying now!!! The only thing is it does not cover you for 3rd party on other vehicles but I can blag my way around that with the other household vehicles. What the hell have I been doing before now []

 

[dirtydirtyharry]

In the summer of 2007 the car was subject to an agreed value on a classic car policy for £4000. Since this date it has had another 20,000 miles added and is obviously 3/4 years older for wear and tear etc. Would the current value be higher than £1900 or would the insurers just claim that times are hard etc and the market has fallen away.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

In the summer of 2007 the car was subject to an agreed value on a classic car policy for £4000. Since this date it has had another 20,000 miles added and is obviously 3/4 years older for wear and tear etc. Would the current value be higher than £1900 or would the insurers just claim that times are hard etc and the market has fallen away.

I'd say that unless you've put a lot of work in to the car in the meantime them a drop of half isn't far off correct. Luxes struggle to better £2K unless very special, as I said you need evidence of that. Has the car had major restoration or paintwork in your time, or is it a concourse-winning car? What major mechanicals have been replaced in those years, and are things like belts all well up to date?

I know it's not palatable, but my Lux dropped 2/3rds in value from 2004 to 2009, and the only thing that would make it go back up would have been major money put in to it. Agreed values tend to be on the high side, that's the point of them: you get to buy a replacement and have a bit left for improving it to your previous car's standard. That £4K in 2007 was quite a lot for a Lux even then, and it was before the recession hit.

 

[peanut]

I worked indirectly for Sun Life and Norwich Union 7 years ago as an accidental damage assessor for property.

We were trained to look for ways of avoiding liability and instructed to offer less than the true market value.

Insurance Companies rely on people being lazy and ignorant of their rights. They know from vast experience that the majority of folk will not be sufficiently motivated or tenacious to put up much of a fight and will very quickly give up and settle for anything .

The accident was not your fault and you now have to go and buy a like for like replacement vehicle. Don't give up too easily. Be prepared to fight and whatever you do make sure that every phone call is recorded and you keep a copy of every written communication with them.

Oh and I forgot to say I'm glad you're alright apart from the shiners and a broken nose. [] The same thing nearly happened to me once and its very scary. I wish you luck with the insurers.