my eunos v-spec has been crashed [:(] and i’ve got to put a ‘at fault claim in’
i’m insured with aon classic policy
the damage is : 2 new alloys, 2 new hubs and bearings, 2 new upper arms, 1 new rear bumper, 1 new rear light, also has damage to rear quarter wing and sill damage.
i’ve been quoted to replace all parts £2000 plus labour/paint. this is from mazda direct.
do you think it will be wrote off?
how much will they pay out?
on my insurance policy the car value says £3000/market value what the hell does this mean?
thanks for any help or advice as i’ve never made an insurance claim.
Hi David, sorry to hear of your troubles, hope you and anyone else involved is ok. We need to know what sort of car you are talking about, a new MK3 would obviously be paid out, a 1990 rough old Mk1 may well not be------------------
wow superfast reply’s its a very nice tidy 1992 eunos roadster v spec black wi tan leather soft and hardtop nobody was hurt, only the car. has any one got any advise on dealing with AON Classic policy thanks
joe how much did it cost to buy back?, how much did they pay out?
Not sure if Autotrader is the standard, but there is one black V spec at £1889. if the damage to your car amounts to £1000 ish the insurance company will probably write it off, not what you want to hear I’m sure, but with an Own fault claim I think that this is most likely…
My VR-Ltd Combination B was damaged in a crash a couple of months ago. It was an excellent example with low miles. The insurance assessor phoned me after he’d inspected the car, and told me it was a write-off and that he was going to price it at £3500. However, I talked to him, explained that it was a rare limited edition, and was able to point him to a number of dealer ads which supported my argument that I would have to pay around £5000 to replace like for like. In the end he agreed with me, and that’s what they paid out. Mine was a no-fault claim; not sure what difference that may have made. So stick with it - present a reasoned argument, and don’t feel obliged to accept their first offer. Best of luck.
Frankly, MX5city is overpriced.Imports are difficult to value, and they will look at values of “Mk1 MX5s”. There are many other import specialists offering cars much cheaper.
£2-2.5k is what I would think is reasonable. A cousin had his beloved Roadster written off a week after last year’s (2007) National Rally. The damage was relatively light, on the face of it (a wing, two front wheels), but it was written off. He enquired about buying the car back and repairing it himself. They wanted £750 back for the car, and pointed out, as a write-off, it would cost him more to insure it (significantly more). My own view was to consider the damage in the worst case scenario; the true extent of the damage might only appear until after they start stripping the car down, and in the case of rear end damage, some might only be apparent after the car has been collected. Its not unknown for owners to pick up MX5s from a repair shop, only for the diff to fail within a week. They had offered him £2k for the car, which was fair. The repair required, even using used parts, I estimated could be very close to the overall payout, and afterwards, he would be left with a car worth much less than another Roadster. So he passed, after stripping the extras off it.
If the car is not in your possession, you might find the insurance company crushing it anyhow; happened to my brother’s FTO, which suffered damage amounting to a bumper, bonnet and a couple of lights. Mitsubishi prices meant the car was written off. The car was recovered to a compound. The first offer was ridiculous, so he declined. It took the insurance compnay a further 2 months to respond with a higher offer, which was still nowhere near the replacement cost. He declined. A week later, he wreceived from the DVLA paperwork regarding a change in ownership in the car; the insurers had sold the car to a salvage yard. He obviously went ballistic, as he was erring towards getting the car repaired himself… Now, that was no longer an option. He had to threaten court action to get the insurers to issue a better offer, with a fullsome apology, and “inconvenience payment”.
So, if you want to stretch out a negotiation with the insurers, note:
Best to keep the car in your possession; have you got somewhere where it can be stored. You may have to pay £1-200 to get it recovered if it is not drivable.
Some insurers will charge for storage fees, which could largely negate the few hundred you have been fighting for; be realistic about what the car’s replacement costs are. In some cases, you will have to accept this little incident is going to cost you.
Imports get written off very easily, due to the cost of parts.For most insurances, the poolicy dies with the car. Weigh up thoses costs as well. Additionally, you will find very limited courtesy car support in the event of a write-off. Write offs are generally when the costs exceed 60-65% of the value.
If its not your only car, or if you are not in a hurry to replace it, consider importing a car yourself. www.autolinkuk.co.uk brought my brother’s FTO in, and they only acted as an agent on his behalf, selecting the appropriate car in Japan for his, based on his requirements. He ended up with a mint FTO, fully serviced and taxed, for about two thirds the cost of an “FTO specialist”. For him the process was largely risk free, as Autolink underwrote the car if he decided it wasn’t upto scratch. He did have to pay monies up front, at various stages. Dealing with Autolink though meant he didn’t have to worry about overseas banking arrangements, but only with Andrew Stott, whom, I think it would be fair to say, is one of the most trusted MX5 specialists in the country. Similar savings can be achieved for Roadsters.
You can always try to arrange for the insuers to only cover part of the damage, and you could pay for the rest (depending on how bad, it might not need to be done straight away) - I mean, do you need new alloys, or could they just get refurbished/reparied, for example?
This is the worst thing about Mk1s - however much we love them to death and keep them pristine, from an insurance number-cruncher’s point of view they have a very low write-off price level. It’s gutting.
