Citroen XM Forum

With your car, be aware that as yours is a 3rd party claim, you can legally insist on a repair at whatever cost, rather than accepting a wright off value.

I would make the rest of the car as presentable as possible first.

Dieselman wrote:
I would make the rest of the car as presentable as possible first.

Rob

Dieselman wrote:With your car, be aware that as yours is a 3rd party claim, you can legally insist on a repair at whatever cost, rather than accepting a wright off value.

I would make the rest of the car as presentable as possible first.

You mean, wash it?.
There made to be another way

Paul what are the "others getting away with", Did they throw the wheel at you?
Be very carefully with this, you do indeed, in theory have the right to a repair regardless of cost but you are going to have to fight for it, long, very long and very hard, if you take a payment you will end up with some cash and a Cat write off which depending on the payout will leave you in a worse position than you started, you are going to have to see this through now and make sure you know the law and your rights, the insurance company will try to brush you off depending on who your went with.

Sorry to see this has happened and good luck for a positive outcome.

D

As a 3rd party you could accept cash payment and no write off status. You have a legal right.

Only if you are the insured can the ins. Co. force a write off situation.

Get a quote for a repair then tell them to pay you that. What you do after that is up to you.

Dieselman wrote:As a 3rd party you could accept cash payment and no write off status. You have a legal right.

Only if you are the insured can the ins. Co. force a write off situation.

Get a quote for a repair then tell them to pay you that. What you do after that is up to you.

Come on Will, we all know it should be that simple, very rarely will they roll over and pay a repair in what is technically a write off situation, the insurance company will try to hand over a few hundred quid and call it a day, its the path of least resistance. There are good insurance company's out there though so it may go smoothly, Russ is the most recent example.

D

Dieselman wrote:I would make the rest of the car as presentable as possible first.

He has made a start by cleaning the dash - the rest is still at the planning stage.

All insurance companies want is for claims to process as smoothly and cost effectively as possible. Get a quote done by the local garage who always does your work and present it to the ins co with pictures of the damage. There is no way that this can be deemed to be your fault and they will want you off their back quickly.

From personal experience.

Generally it is nowhere near as easy to progress claims in the manner suggested above.

Deal first with the continued use of the vehicle on the road.
Get your regular MOT man to examine the car and give you a written confirmation despite the damage as temporary repaired it is fit for continued use.
Pay for this letter but do not let him MOT the car. Insist if he says paperwork is not necessary.

Was the wheel an orphan? If so you are claiming on your own insurance until wheel ownership is proved AND accepted.
Has the 3 wheel car owner been identified? Need to prove liablity for accident, identify insurer and get claim accepted.
Who attended the incident? Get copies of their reports.

Keep all correspondence written so you have a full record and there can be no miss-understandings on facts or agreements

This may seem a bit negative but can be critical in getting a fair result out of the claim.

The insurance category for a car after an accident condition report is applied using a set of rules.
These are effectively fairly draconian when applied to low value older cars.
This is not just insurance companies avoiding claim costs.
It is part of national policy to keep potentially unsafe and poorly repaired cars off the road.
That information is entered by the insurance company into the national database at the DVLA.
It is not a system open to the car owner to negotiate grading.
Disputing grading after examination by the assessor is always difficult as you are asking a professional to admit he was wrong to his employer.
The best you can do is ask to be present during the examination and speak to the assessor or pay for your own loss adjuster to be present.
The grading is seldom mentioned by the insurance company in the claim correspondence with the car owner.

The right of a third party to be put back as before the accident is not absolute.
In some cases it is not feasibly and reasonable damages are paid in lieu.
The standard for cars is simple.
Parts if required must be new and available in this country.

John

Hi john..

Police delt with them.. it was a front off side wheel had left a car doing say 70mph.. had hit one car head on and was on the rebound from that car which had written it off..

Police then came to us with the car owners details and they had already accepted full liability.. my door mirror case is still at the scene.. their insurance has contacted me and said fully responsibility has been accepted.. we will sort your car out but being a 1991 could well be an uneconomical repair.. their photographer has been and taken the pictures of the and damage.. just wait see what they say..

Just what ever you do Paul, get everything in writing. That was the best advice all you guys gave to me. And it worked.
As Dean says it really could rumble on. Mine took 6 months to fully resolve. Slightly different situation I admit, but again it was firmly someone else's fault.

It think the best you can get out of this is money to cover replacing or fixing your door dent and having your mirror resprayed.
But that's an ideal world!

Best of luck and be bloody stubborn.