Negotiating Market Value of Written-off Car

tyvod on 15/11/2018 - 21:33
Last edited 15/11/2018 - 21:37

Hi all,

Recently, my partner's Corolla (2011 Conquest hatch - 135K ODO) got rear ended by someone and now the car has to be written off.

His vehicle was insured at market value through RACV Comprehensive insurance. On Tudsday, we've got a call from a car valuer and got offered $10,000. We thought it should be valued at around $12-13K (he bought it as brand new in 2011 for a little over $26K) so we disputed over the phone but had no success.

I've been reading Whirlpool forums regarding negotiating tips and a few people were able to get a higher price by showing a few online car listings of an exact model. I've been searching for 2011 Corolla 'Conquest' on carsales.com.au but there are only two listings in VIC - one is listed at $9.9K and the other at $23K(??). So I guess I can't really that tactic.. link here

For those of you who had their car written off before, any tips or advice will be much appreciated!
Cheers

Automotive Car Insurance Insurance

Comments

  • Smashed Avo on 15/11/2018 - 21:46
    +3

    If you wanted to haggle over the insurance payout, you'd have insured the car at agreed value. When you're only insured for market value that's at the whim of the insurance company.

    • tyvod on 15/11/2018 - 21:48

      Yeah, I just realised the difference between agreed and market value after the vehicle got written off… All my bad

  • askme69 on 15/11/2018 - 21:51
    +6

    The $9,999 car in the AD is from a dealer, so Private sale i reckon you could get it for $8500. So $10K for yours with 1 years less kms is pretty good.

    Take it.

  • justaperson on 15/11/2018 - 21:57
    +2

    You can buy a 13-15 Corolla for 13k. 10k is very generous for that age and kilometres. I'd be taking that payout before they change their mind.

  • 2jzzzz on 15/11/2018 - 22:02

    You can appeal and go to vcat. This threat usually bumps up their offer by minimum $1000.

  • tyvod on 15/11/2018 - 22:30
    +1

    Hmm, since all the comments are suggesting $10k is a good price, I might just take it then.

    • thatonethere on 15/11/2018 - 23:07
      +2

      Yeah. Take it and move on. Good on you for having insurance.

      • neo on 15/11/2018 - 23:35

        Agree. I'm glad it's not one of those "Partner crashed the car and doesn't have insurance" threads.

      • tyvod on 16/11/2018 - 07:32

        Yeah it's good to have an insurance. They've been doing all the talking with the other party's insurance + hired a rental car for us

  • p1 ama on 16/11/2018 - 00:59
    +2

    $10k for a Corolla of that age and mileage is a fair price, in my opinion. For what it's worth, it's on the high end of what Redbook is suggesting you'd get selling on the private market.

    https://www.redbook.com.au/cars/details/2011-toyota-corolla-…

    As per the other comments, I strongly suggest taking the $10k before they change their mind!

    • tyvod on 16/11/2018 - 08:08

      Just out of curiosity, can they actually change their mind? I mean they're the one who inspected the car and came up with that figure.

      • BOGOF on 16/11/2018 - 08:15
        +3

        They don't change their mind. But if you reject their offer, then it is no longer available, so they may offer a different price, and sometimes it can be lower.

      • p1 ama on 16/11/2018 - 20:33

        I'm saying that more as a euphemism, but as pointed out already, if the original offer is rejected, they could come back with something lower.

  • JmanNick on 16/11/2018 - 08:13
    +1

    One thing that most people don't take into account is that cars rarely sell for asking price. I.e. The advertised price isn't the same as the sold price. I generally expect a minimum of 10% off when buying a new car, more for used.

    *obviously there can be variables, but in general you shouldn't ever pay asking price.

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