Serious car crash, insurance trying to stooge us, help!

fungi79 on 27/02/2010 - 00:30

2 days ago my brother was involved in a serious car accident and totaled the family car, thankfully he escaped unharmed. The car in question is an 07 model mazda 6 sedan bought for 28K. When our insurance broker called back the offer was 16250!

Having not had much experience with this kind of thing, I don't know if the insurance company is trying to rip us off or not. Do you guys think this is a fair value? How can I get the insurance company to up their offer? Please offer me advice if you have experienced something like this.

Another thing, what kind of insurance should I be looking to get for our next car so the valued offered (should we have another accident) is fairer? Does anyone have experience with insurance that offers "new for old" replacements?

General Discussion

Comments

  • AntMan76 on 27/02/2010 - 00:58
    +1

    It was obviously a Mazda6 Limited for that price. Depends on how many kms were on it and general condition of the car. Do a search on carsales, carsguide, tradingpost, drive etc to compare and get rough idea of what its worth as a second hand car.

    If you were on finance, this is where the shortfall insurance comes in. Regardless of what you owe and what they offer you on payout if written off, the insurance would pay any shortfall, if there is any.

    In 06, I was involved in a serious car accident in an 03 Mazda6. Car written off, resale still high, ended up getting paid out more than I owed on finance. Financially wasn't too bad but the whiplash injury still causes me pain.

    • fungi79 on 28/02/2010 - 08:58

      When you mention finance you mean from the dealership and not a personal loan from the bank?

  • bluetongue on 27/02/2010 - 08:42
    +4

    You can research your Mazda car value at http://www.redbook.com.au. Make sure the model matches and you include all accessories. The red book is used by many organizations to determine second hand car values.

    • fungi79 on 27/02/2010 - 10:24

      Thanks blue tongue, that website is seriously useful!

  • retiredfeline on 27/02/2010 - 11:10
    +1

    You have to look at your policy document. It would be either replacement value or agreed value. For example I get very little if my car is totaled, because the market value is so low now. But then I pay less premium.

  • zhenjie on 01/03/2010 - 11:07

    Yep, it depends of you signed up for market or agreed value. It sounds right for market value. You would have had to pay more for a higher agreed value.

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