I unfortunatly had a head on collision on saturday and it looks very much like the car is going to be written off as it is a complete mess.

I am now in full panic............

The car I crashed was a Dec 2003 Mercedes SLK 230, top of the range, walnut dash, AMG alloys and only 21000 miles on the clock. So far looking at adverts on Exchange and mart average price is £15000. and I know full well the insurance company will not pay out this figure even though they say they will pay market value(Sainsburys insurance)

I understand that the money will not go to me and will therefore go to Capital bank , but will Capital bank accept a crap offer from the insurance company and then leave me with the excess of the loan to pay off? I was not made aware when buying the car of GAP insurance and if I had been, most probably would of taken it up. Has anyone been in this situation before? Do the hire company also want to get the most money, as I was kind of hoping to get some remainder money so I can start up another HP as I am self employed and it works out doing it this way with VAT and accounts.

Details of loan below

I have a hire purchase agreement on the car with Capital Bank ( bank of Scotland)

Amount of credit was for 15,995 as I was buying car for 20,995 and put deposit of 5000 down.
Initial payment of £189
there would of been 36 payments of £298.07
and final optional balloon payment of £9031.25

I have paid to date 19 payments of £298.07 and was going to hand the car back and get a new one once the 36 payments were completed.

Sorry to hear of your accident. I do hope you and no other party were hurt.

Gap insurance is available to new cars and can "normally" only be valid for the first three years of its life. In the event of an accident they will give you the cash to purchase a new car of the same spec or they will replace your car with a new one from the factory. Your car was more than three years old so I am guessing that GAP was not applicable to this situation.

The finance company will want all their money. If the payout is less than what you owe then they will come after your for the remainder. They will not be bothered if the settlement from the insurance does not cover the whole amount as the aggrement is with you not them! Before you accept any settlement from the insurance company have a good look at the purchase value of your car and if the offer is below the average sale price then refuse the offer, inform them that you cannot purchase the same car with that amount therfor not a market value offer.

Out of interest, who was at fault? If the other party was to blame then you could sue them for whatever a solicitor suggests!

Wishing you well.....

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Just food for thought!

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Well it looks like both parties were at fault- my light was green and he says so was his!!!!??

Will the insurance company let me know of the offer or does that go straight to the Finance company as my car has very low mileage and have done research and exchange and mart have two merc same year above my mileage slightly for 15999, and i have roughly worked out that I owe company just over £14000 , plus I have a few more extras than those cars too..........I know roughly now what it is worth, but I dont want the offer going straight to the Finance company and then them accepting low amount when they could of got alot higher and then for me to still owe them money!!!!

My car was written off by a drug addict, i had to pay all the finance off between the insurance and shorrt fall which took me about 2 years todo. But yes i agree do refuse the first offer collect paper cuttings etc and even dealer quotes and you will be suprised what the insurance come back with. They will however talk to you about the price first, but 1 rule never have finance I learnt my lesson

Im sorry to hear about your experience, the last thing people think about it having their car written off, and we don't realise what affect this has on the finance part. Finance works well for me as Im self employed and I can claim part of the payments through my accounts so I doubt I will stop doing it but praying to get a good price for the car, which will mean less short fall for me to pay.