My understanding would be that in law you would be entitled to claim for the lower of the cost of repairs or the economic value of the vehicle. An independent engineer would assess the market value of the vehicle,presumably Churchill appointed one.If you disagree with their valuation obtain your own report.If you sufferred any consequential losses e.g. hiring another vehicle,then you could claim for that as well provided you mitigate those losses (i.e. reduce them to the minimum possible). Your claim is technically against the third party driver  and you would first have to prove liability, but he can choose to seek indemnification from his insurers.Either way,I would be very wary of taking them to court if they have an experts report which values the car below the cost of repair.I fear you would lose despite some of the angry advice given above.

Sentimental valuations unfortunately don't cut ice with the law.I would look to minimise my losses and take the £400 if you accept that is it's full valuation.

Hi just thought I would see if I can help here.

As Churchill are the 3rd party insurer you have no legal contract with them or any obligation.  The insurer is legally responsible to declare the vehicle a write off and the catagory applicable a - d

If there is no damage to the chasis then it sounds like the engineer has deemed it to be a C or D write off.  If this is the case then you are fully entitled to repair the vehicle and get it back on the road (expensive but still your choice).  You are the legal owner of the vehicle and it cannot be scrapped (unless cat A burn out) without your permission.

Claims are settled all the time on a cash in leiu basis so why churchill are refusing to I don't know!  One point to note is that if the vehicle is a cat C write off then you will have to repair it, new mot and arrange for the DVLA to inspect the vehicle before it is considered legally roadworthy.

On the information provided by I'm Me I think Churchill may be adhering to the letter of the law but giving the lie to its cosy user friendly high profile advertising campaign. I wouldn't take its treatment lying down.

I think you have to remember that you have no contract with Churchill Insurance and they have done you no wrong, so, why do you feel entitled to money from them? Your claim is against the person who crashed into and damaged your car. Write him a letter and send it by "signed for" delivery and tell him you are holding him liable for the cost of repairs to your car and if he does not pay, you will raise an action against him in the County Court or, if he lives in Scotland, the Sheriff Court.

He then has two choices. He can accept responsibility and agree to pay for the repairs or he can invoke the protection offered by his insurer, Churchill. Do remember that in law your claim is against him and not against Churchill.

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Fear Mor.

krypto:

Do you not know how insurance works? It's a £400 car. They told you if you scrap the car they will give you the cost for it. They told you that they would pay out. If your not willing to accept it then thats your own tough luck.

its you who doesn't seem to know how insurance works !

It's Me isn't insured with Churchill, so Churchill cannot impose any conditions. Its the other party that's insured with Churchill. (RTMF)
Quite simply if break the front window in your house I'm liable for the cost of repairs, and if I back into your car I'm also liable for the cost of the repairs. Whether I have insurance in either case is of no concern to you. I just owe you the money. That's they way it works.

The abusive comments you make about the cost of the car just go to show you know nothing about the law, as it apply equally no matter what the value of your property.

Perhaps you should stick to giving advice on subject you know something about?

Read your mail and I have dealt with a similar issue.
Dont buy your car back you will never get decent insurance again, no matter what an engineers report says.

simply photocopy the bills, and take the other driver to the small claims court.

Its his/her resposobility to deal with Churchhill, not yours.

Do not accept churhill take on rthings, basically the other driver damaged your property, so is liable. If his insurace company do not wish to pay out, or wish to pay out with conditions then thats his problem , not yours.

A magistrate will almost certainly take your side

Best of luck

Also might be worth exploring the option of entering into a settlement figure. Ie. they only pay you £300, but dont write the car off. They save £100, you have £300 towards the repair, and dont have any hassle trying to re-insure a write-off.

This is the method that Direct line have just used to settle for a friend of mine.

Fiamold aka Dave

Using this method, be sure to get an engineers report saying the repairs have been done to a high standard, and that it is now safe and legal. Be very careful doing this as insurance companies will not like the idea that it is a previous write-off.

Fiamold aka Dave

There is another solution, you can put it to them that you will accept the settlement figure of £400, on condition you are allowed to buy the car back off them for the scrap value only, say £100 max try £50 first. This would allow you to spend up to £300 on the repairs at your own garage.
It has been done before, the car depending on the damage will be recorded as a category C or D write off, and won't be worth much but you can still retain and use it's sentimental value.

Edited to remove cross community link.
Community Editor

Krypto, are you some sort of an idiot? They crashed into his car, surely its his right to be reimbursed how he sees fit! If the car has sentimental value, whos has the right to decide that it be scrapped? It seems perfectly fair to request that the value of the car go towards repairing the same car, as it would make no difference to the insurance company where the money goes.

Surely if you send them the bill for the repairs they are legally obliged to pay for the repairs?

Oh my god.

All you wanted is "a few hundred quid" - LOL

Do you not know how insurance works? It's a £400 car. They told you if you scrap the car they will give you the cost for it. They told you that they would pay out. If your not willing to accept it then thats your own tough luck.

They won't just give you some money to get it repaired when it really isnt worth it.

Get a decent car, and then drivers may actually care about swirving around you.

Also, let me guess, you change insurers each year right? Maybe you shouldnt just think about price next time you choose an insurer, and look at exactly what your buying.

I stay with my insurer for the fact that I have heard their claim service is excellent. Sure, I can find it £40 - £50 cheaper elsewhere at my last renewal with exact same cover (i searched on this site out of interest incase it was say £100 cheaper) but I chose to stay who i am with, and who ive been with for 6 years, purely because they are excellent.

Next time you find a quote £3.75 cheaper, maybe you will actually think about what your paying for instead of being the same as every other dull minded customer.

I have never had insurance with Churchill but one experience has put me off them completely.

One of their customers crashed into my car (entirely his fault) and of course, because my car is old they wanted it written off. But the car is a) of extreme sentimental value and b) perfectly repairable. I said I wanted to get my £400 (that's what the car is valued at) towards repairs. But they wouldn't pay out unless I gave up the car for scrap.

F**k that, it's over a year later now and I decided the car was worth more to me than the money. Car is now awaiting repairs out of my own pocket and Churchill haven't given me a penny.

Ok, I know all insurance companies have policies they have to follow and Churchill is not alone, but some flexibility please?! All I wanted was a few hundred quid and then I would leave them alone, it's not as if I crashed a BMW or something! Throughout my claim I suffered long arguments with call centres and a million 'lost' claim forms.

Why are they treating me so badly when the crash wasn't even my fault?! I didn't ask to be crashed into by a Churchill customer!

I am keeping the claim open for now (much to their annoyance) and will try to claim back for repair costs after the car is fixed, though I don't believe for a second that I will be successful.

Rant over.