Any assistance much appreciated

[iball]

Hi all, I bought a '96 P reg Mk3 Gti 8v about 3 weeks ago, I was very impressed with it, then on Tuesday of this week I decided to find a greasy/wet/oily bend entered it at a sensible speed but the rear suddenly broke loose without any warning. I then proceeded to fish tail for a little bit down the road then investigate what was at the bottom of a nice big ditch!

Front of the car was a mess, both front wings were badly damaged, bonnet was bent in half, bumper, headlights, grille, radiator were all destroyed. I'm expecting them to write the car off as drivers side wing was pushed back over the drivers door and the drivers door didn't close properly so I'm guessing the whole car is twisted.

Anyway the car was in mint condition had just had new tyres, exhaust, had done 70k miles was a 5 door, completely standard car. Anyone like to hazard a guess at the type of money the insurace company are likely to shaft me with for it? Also I'm looking at getting another one but possibly slightly older to save a bit of money. Are there any differences in the specs between say a 95 M reg and a 96 P? Any information would be much appreciated.

Cheers

[DubFan]

Check the Parkers guide:

Volkswagen Golf Hatchback
2.0 GTi 5d  1996/P  
Average mileage:  70,000 miles  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Original Price  ? 14390
Dealer Retail  ? 3925
Private Good  ? 3450
Private Poor  ? 2440
Trade  ? 2825


Being nasty by nature, the insurance company will probably offer you something ?2500 and ?3000 or perhaps even less if they can manage it, it depends on how much you had it insured for. My un-moddified Mk3 16v is insured for ?3500, but I've no idea if I'd get that if it was written off.
Sounds like an unfortunate accident, nobody to blame, so thank goodness for fully comp.
Anyway, ?2500-3000 might be able to get you an earlier M reg in decent nick, but take your time to find a good one.

[AdamB]

I have heard of cases where people argue the point and refuse the first offer, this will usually result in a better offer from the company. If you get the oppurtunity to take the car at its scrap value as part payment - I advise doing it, as you can salvage the good parts and keep/sell them and make a little extra.

[Dizzie]

I'll have the glove box handle

[iball]

Cheers for that. I paid ?3450 for it as I'd been looking for one for a while and it was absolutely immaculate with full VW service history and every receipt for all work carried out. I was expecting them to offer me ?2500 so will wait and see, will just argue with them till I'm blue in the face to get more cash. I've actually come across an M reg with 90k that looks in good nick going for ?3k but from a dealer so there should be room for negotiation with them. Might go have a look this weekend.

The crazy thing is I got an insurance quote on an M reg worth ?3k and the quote was ?50 LESS than what I paid 3 weeks ago for the P reg one, and I told them about the accident and gave them a claim value of ?3.5k which I'm never going to get from them. How strange insurance is!!

[iball]

I'll have the glove box handle

You could have it mate but I'm afraid because of where the accident happened, the car is in storage 60 odd miles away and as I have no car I can't go and see it!! Sorry mate.

[AdamB]

Check you aren't incurring storage charges. I was in the same situation about 10 years ago, and the bloke tried to sting me ?60 a day storage charges!! But only after keeping the car there for a few weeks did he tell me this - needless to say he got sod all from me for it, thieving git

[Omar]

I wrote a car about 2 years ago, the first offer really took the pee. I argued I wanted to purchase an identical car to replace it.......I got all the money I needed (tesco insurance)!  

........maybe just luck??


BTW, I wrote off an Alfa 145 Cloverleaf and then bought a mk3 16v, best thing I ever did  

[iball]

Well just called the insurance company and they were pretty useless, just told me that they'd received an initial quote from the garage and they told me where the car has eventually ended up. I checked about storage charges and I'm not going to incur any. The recovery people have also been told to bill my insurance company. I phoned the garage that the car is at and they told me that best case scenario it's going to cost in the region of ?3-3.5k to repair, so I kinda reckon it'll be written off!!

How does the pay out work from the insurers, is it a case of say they are willing to give me ?3k for the car I actually end up with ?2.5k as they deduct my ?500 excess from it or does excess not apply when it's been written off?

Thanks Again.

[jv]

the excess will apply as it kind of sounds like your fault  

good luck!