XC70: General Written off, what to accept from insurance

[SignumGB]

Originally Posted by spyboy

I wouldn't go past Mill! I am on my second XC70 and like you say they were very fair and helpful.

Unfortunately, the prices are out my forecasted budget. I am moving house at the end of the year, otherwise I would get a loan to fill the gap.

Just a really bad time for this happening to me.

[isleaiw]

.

I have just moved house and now in a position to treat myself - I have an 11 plate D5 SE Lux 205ps with 68k on the clock. You can have it for dealer trade in price if you want?

If you are interested PM me and I will give you reg and some history...

Part ex price is not quite in 5 figures by the way...

[tt82]

Originally Posted by SignumGB

Yes been book marking various links. D3s seem to be quite a rarer engine type to find..... Now I know why and if I got another, I'd go for a D5.

http://www.motors.co.uk/car-45606041/?i=47&m=sr

This one has more miles and is only 2WD where I had AWD. I've saved a few links anyway and see what the average price ends up being.

Your thread has made me do a bit of research.

Your first problem is insurers do not take any note of prices in 'for sale' adverts. What they go off is the guide prices like Glass'. Saving links is pointless as if the ad is removed, all you will have is a link that doesn't work. What you should have done is printed them out but then this is pointless as well.

The financial ombudsman regulates the insurance industry and they have a pretty good explanation of what they use to determine prices here...

Some people tell us they don’t think the insurer has paid them a fair price - because they’ve seen similar vehicles advertised for a higher price.

In general, we don’t think adverts and listings are a reliable guide to a vehicle’s price. That’s because vehicles are usually advertised at a higher price than they eventually sell for - and small differences in condition can have a big impact on the value. So it’s unlikely we’ll use adverts when we’re deciding whether an insurer’s valuation is reasonable. Be we may do if the car’s a classic or rare model.
To decide whether an insurer’s valuation is fair, we’ll check the selling price of similar vehicles in specialist motor trade guides called Parker’s, Glass’s and CAP. These bring together thousands of selling prices - taking into account variations like age, mileage, condition, and regional or seasonal differences.
If the amount the insurer paid is in line with the guides, it’s likely we’ll say the valuation is fair. But if we think the insurer hasn’t made a fair valuation, we’ll tell them to adjust it - using the guide prices.
If one of the guide prices is significantly higher or lower, we may think it’s reasonable to ignore it. What’s significant will depend on the price of the vehicle - for example, a difference of £200 would be significant for a £1,000 car, but not a £9,000 car.
It’s important to check that the vehicle’s details have been recorded correctly. We see complaints where insurers and their customers have made mistakes - meaning the prices they’re disputing are wrong in the first place.

A 2012 XC70 is not going to be considered rare so you will be relying on the price in the expert guides. The best you can hope for here is saying your vehicle is in good condition. Recent photo's may help here.

Your second problem is that the Glass' guide etc generally refer to basic models and take no account of factory fitted optional extras.

Again, the Financial Ombudsman has advice on what to do in the situation here...

Mrs B paid £7,995 for a second-hand 2006 Vauxhall Corsa which had a specialist sports body. Ten days after she bought the car, it was badly damaged in an accident. The insurer declared the car to be a total loss, as the estimated cost of repairs exceeded £7,000. So it offered Mrs B £6,900, which it said was the fair pre-accident retail value of the car.

After Mrs B rejected this offer, insisting that the insurer had not taken the car's special features into account, the insurer offered her £7,175. Mrs B felt this was still not a fair offer, so she brought her complaint to us.

Complaint upheld.

Because Mrs B's car had fairly unusual features, it was not as quick and easy as is usually the case with more standard models to just check in the trade guides for a guide retail price.

However, we told the insurer that if it had contacted the compilers of these guides and made some further enquiries, it should have been able to obtain an accurate guide price for Mrs B's exact model.

The insurer then made the enquiries we said it should have undertaken when Mrs B first made her claim. As a result, it established that the guide price was higher than either of the amounts it had offered Mrs B. We said it should settle the complaint by paying Mrs B the correct guide price.

You mention in the original thread that your car was an SE Lux and had other options such as Xenon lights. Xenon lights normally come as part of the SE Lux spec although spec levels alter from year to year. Registering with 'My Volvo' should get you a build spec which will detail any option. Combined with a price list/brochure for your model year you can work out your cars actual OTR price compared to the standard model. If their is a significant difference you may be able to ask your insurer to get a more accurate valuation.

[isleaiw]

That's great advice. The other thing to remember is that you shouldn't be put in a worse position so they should not offer trade in value but reasonable buy price - so check the guides for sale price not part ex price.

Good luck!

[exseesixoh]

Originally Posted by SignumGB

Yes been book marking various links. D3s seem to be quite a rarer engine type to find..... Now I know why and if I got another, I'd go for a D5.

http://www.motors.co.uk/car-45606041/?i=47&m=sr

This one has more miles and is only 2WD where I had AWD. I've saved a few links anyway and see what the average price ends up being.

Great to see it in very fetching Jambo Maroon 👍🏻