My Poor LCR :(

[Daedalus]

I fear that my beloved 2004 LCR is damaged beyond economic repair after some dosy cow wasn't paying attention and hit the car behind me in a queue, smashing it into the back of my car. It's currently at the insurers' repair place but they say they're awaiting an external engineer's assessment as the damage is too much to quote for. It was a pretty spotless LCR before the accident, running beautifully and very well looked after, all original Seat/VAG parts and so on.

My main worry now is that they'll decide it's worth far less than it actually is, and as a result write it off and give me far less cash than a replacement would cost. Looking at Autotrader for example, the few decent LCRs are generally in the £3,000-4,000 bracket, so I would expect mine to be worth in the region of £3,500, even though most of the ones listed are a lower spec (no sat nav, no cruise control etc.).

Does anyone have any experience in this sort of situation? My mind is constantly imagining getting a phone call and telling me that it was only worth around £1,000 which isn't exactly doing my stress levels any good. It would help if I knew that quoting currently listed ads might help to show what it's actually worth, but I don't know if they'd even entertain that idea or just try to fob me off with a grand. Any advice for me?

Thanks

 

[Zardoz]

Sorry to hear this

You most certainly do not accept their first offer (whatever they come back with).

I had a similar experience a year or so back, someone scuffed the side of my Mk1 Leon, very minor but the insurer said it was a write off!

Good thing is though they paid me out £1700 (after they took a chunk off) and I still drive and enjoy my car today.

Hope you get a good offer back from them.

 

[Priz91]

I had this last year mate.. i think they valued my LCR around the £4500 mark and gave me an option to source my own parts so it wouldn't be a write off, therefore i had some parts genuine and other parts non genuine but good quality OEM from Euro's which eventually insurance agreed to payout.. Best thing to wait for what the engineer says and try getting your garage to negotiate to them that if we source parts for cheaper whats the chances of it being kept as non write off.. After all, the garage wants the job otherwise theyre losing out on business..

Hope it goes well mate, be a shame to see another LCR off the road.

 

[Daedalus]

Cheers guys, will wait and see what the engineer says. Fingers crossed! It would be a shame alright, especially when it wasn't my fault!

 

[Daedalus]

Well, they came back and said it's a write off with £5000 of repairs. Kinda knew it was coming since the rear quarter panel was warped and most likely the boot floor is knackered too, but still not nice to hear. One more LCR off the road...

Having spent the weekend looking at similar cars, it looks like their offer is leaving me around £1000 short at the very least for one in similar condition to mine, and that's without things like cruise control, Satnav/CD changer system, Bluetooth kit and what not. Sigh.

On the plus side, there will be some decent LCR parts going in some breaker's yard near Glasgow soon enough if anyone's looking for anything.

 

[Priz91]

Thats a shame, sorry to hear that mate.. £5000 worth of damages jesus christ! That's a big amount for an LCR tbf.. Surely youre going to contest the offer to get more though right?

What mods did you have on yours mate that are gonna be coming off?

 

[Daedalus]

Cheers. Yeah, it's basically the cost of straightening out the chassis. It's totally original so there's nothing to come off it. About a grand's worth of brakes and tyres after going onto it in the past few months, but there's no way I can get them back, and I've nowhere to store a car for stripping. Oh well!

 

[CRNeo]

This sucks, my g/f had her mini written off recently we spent months sourcing the one she wanted with the pan sunroof, chrono pack, heated leather etc. it was spotless.... the offer was pathetic and we had to haggle even for that. Just had 4 new tyres, 2 new wheel bearings and I did the brakes all round, so frustrating. Meh, at least no major injuries and no serious harm done to people involved.

Good luck finding something else! We decided to get something else newer and cheaper to run as we just couldn't find another mini in the price range of similar age.

 

[Headsnap]

Sorry to hear that. When I put my first Cupra into a fence my insurance offered me about £300 off what I paid for it. It was a facelift model and I made sure they knew it was worth more and listed all the items that made it worth more. They gave me exactly what I paid for it eventually minus £100 excess. Just make sure you let them know you're not someone to be mugged off and let them know exactly why they should give you more. They will probably quote Glasses or Parkers and give you a bottom book price. Don't accept the first offer!! Depending on mileage they may give that as a reason to give you a crap offer. Get evidence together showing the market value of car prices in your local area, both local and trade. Use this to get the best offer. Best of luck mate.