Assistance required - valuing a GTE

[Mel]

Hi all

I know this has probably been done before, but I need some of my own assistance. As some of you may know I was involved in a pretty nasty car accident in June 2011 completely gutting my GTE. I am unfortunately still having arguments with the Defendant's insurers in relation to the valuation of it, and keep hitting a brick wall.

So, to provide some assistance to me, I have come to the best available knowledge bank around - other Nova enthusiasts who actually know what they are talking about!

What would you value a roadworthy (MUST be tax and tested!) original Nova GTE at? My car was subtly modded, but I am more interested in the BASE value of a roadworthy, standard, GTE

Bit of information on mine below:-

-Original interior (unmarked driver's seat); original bodykit and engine (116k);
-Welding work to repair ALL rust including new sills, new arches etc etc (not done professionally but rather by me and my dad) so did not need ANY welding done
- some minor remedial work required to the welding on the passenger side rear arch. It literally only needed a minor amount of grinding down and smoothing out - there is about 3mm to 4mm of uneven surface - by no means a "pristine" example but certainly not poor
- full respray carried out which obviously included a lot of remedial works to the said welding
- brand new Tax and MOT
- 1989 "G" reg - Not that it makes much difference but it was a black GTE

To prevent influencing anyone's opinion, I have not included what they have offered me. (Yes Burgo that also means you can't say it either!)

Any help would be much appreciated.

Mel :)

[Edd]

£1500 tops

But imo take anything above £900

[kent14sr]

I would say between £750 and £1000

[Novasport]

There is a black GTE on PH at the moment, print the ad off and present that to help withe argument. Find as much info like that.

[scott.parker]

Like Rich said use other adverts of the same model car selling today to represent its "current" value etc, as imo £700-1200 is all they will want to give tops, as i struggled to get agreed value on my 1.2 to what i wanted, and they gave me £1250 agreed insurance on it in the end.
Sorry to here your havving these issues Mel, be nice to see you get another one!

[blue_peg_16v]

I'd say 1250 maximum but there probably offering £600

[womble sri]

I was offered 250 for one of my sri's and I showed them two eBay adds and they gave me £875

[andyredtop83]

Exactly the same thing happened to me in July last year while i was driving my white GTE. I'd stopped at traffic lights, the car behind also stopped but an iveco truck hit the car behind pushing it into my nova. Apart from an ashley exhaust system and slightly smoked rear indicators the car was completely standard. Even though i'd had quite a lot of welding done on the car to keep it on the road it wasnt in to bad condition for an F reg. I bought the car for £1000 so thats what it was worth on the insurance. When the assessor came out to view it i would have been happy to get £1000 but he said i think its worth more. We're going to give you £1500! The buy back was 15% so i got a cheque for £1275 which i put towards my redtop nova and kept the car most of which was salvagable

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/3889/1000769g.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/513/1000769g.jpg/)
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Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[andyredtop83]

Im going to have a good look at home because i must have the letter somewhere from the insurance company saying our assessor has looked at your car and valued it at £1500

[Nova_Tek]

Only thing you can really do is get on to sites like Autotrader, ebay, Piston heads and look at Novas in similar spec and condition the same condition.

[Mel]

Thanks guys

I have done the above and I am hitting my head against a wall. They have offered me £680 (being less the scrap value) and I have printed off other adverts showing that you cannot buy another Nova GTE for that amount of money. Not only therefore is that valuation low, but I have found ones selling for £850 with NO tax or MOT but which requires all the welding work I had already carried out on my Nova. So, I would have to find an extra £170 to buy another GTE in the first place; carry out ALL welding work on the car to get it to roadworthy standard; get it MOT'd (another £50) and then get it taxed (another £120), meaning I would be out of pocket by at least £350 or thereabouts because of some T**T driving through a red light?

I have also got good documentary evidence to show that the cheapest taxed and tested GTE is £1,600. All others selling below that level are WITHOUT tax and MOT, but they are unwilling to reconsider their valuation.

What peed me off more, is that the insurers have used only three adverts to place a valuation on the car; none of which have Tax or MOT. Only ONE is a GTE; the other two are not GTE's. They have used a 3.0l V6 modded GSi (yes, that's what I said, a mark 2 not a mark 1) with NO tax and mot and the other is a GTE REPLICA (originally and actually still registered as a 1.2!) with no tax and MOT. Those have a valuation WITHOUT tax and MOT at £1,500 minimum, and yet mine is worth £680 WITH a tax and MOT??

So, not only have they placed a valuation that they cannot support, but it is also based on completely different model, shape, interior and bodykit!

Confused? Yes me too.

[Nova_Tek]

Have you told them that those three examples are a load of sh*t? I can't believe that they have given an example of a car that is tax dodging (i.e 3.0l registered as 1.2?) lol

Send them your examples of GTE's in good condition and road legal. And let them reconsider their valuation. Are you able to go to independent valuers to give you valuation on your car if it were in it's original condition?

[Mel]

Yep already done that five times now, on each occasion with different adverts over the period July to November 2011, (approximately 15 or so) and already pointed out the said error.

Also given them examples of the roadworthy GTE's selling at a minimum of £1,500 and the response I continually receive is "our valuation stands".

The thing for me is the engineer has said my GTE had "poor previous repairs all around", but did not look around the whole car. He only looked at the damaged driver's side and rear, and the repair work previously carried out was in fact all smooth, apart from the said passenger side rear arch. The engineer, though, has not provided an explanation to me of what the "poor previous repairs" were given that there are none, neither are the insurers. After a further investigator, their "head engineer" had also said that the paintwork is "dull", but when I pointed out to them that the respray was in fact matt black, and not simply "dull", I was met with silence. Not only did one engineer not know the difference between a GTE and a GSi, but their head engineer cannot tell the difference between matt black and normal paint!

Believe me I have tried and tried.

Re engineer's report, I have not got the money to do so. Not only that but the insurers will ONLY refund up to £100 (bearing in mind reports cost at least £150 plus VAT?) IF the report comes back showing a higher valuation. What they have already told me, however, is that even if the said report shows a higher valuation, they will not increase their valuation. So, why bother?

Head - brick wall - yup. Me - p**ed off - yup

[Matt2107]

I'd take it to the financial ombudsman

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

[andyredtop83]

Tried to PM Mel but inbox is full.

I've got a letter from my insurance company saying my nova GTE had a pre-accident value of £1500. I know your accident happened the same time as mine and they were both GTE's. If its any help i can give you this letter to show your insurance company. PM me if you want a copy of the letter.

If nothing else works i'd try the Financial Services Authority, my girlfriend had problems with a company owing her some money and they didnt want to know so she got the FSA involved and all of a sudden the company was falling over themselves to help her.

[boomtings1]

Wats the name of the other drivers insurance company ur having problems with? Name and shame.

[Nova_Tek]

Tried to PM Mel but inbox is full.

I've got a letter from my insurance company saying my nova GTE had a pre-accident value of £1500. I know your accident happened the same time as mine and they were both GTE's. If its any help i can give you this letter to show your insurance company. PM me if you want a copy of the letter.

If nothing else works i'd try the Financial Services Authority, my girlfriend had problems with a company owing her some money and they didnt want to know so she got the FSA involved and all of a sudden the company was falling over themselves to help her.

Always the way. Had a time when we had 'insurance on our TV/electrical stuff. and when it came to claiming they tried fobbing us off with something no where near the spec/value. In the end we went to trading standards. They got in touch then all of a sudden the most helpful service and all resolved in a couple days lol

[Mel]

Thanks guys. I have another step which I can do before writing to the Financial Services Ombudsmen but I will make a complaint if this fails!

It's Liverpool Victoria by the way - I have no problems in naming and shaming them!

I have PM'd you Andy, your help would be appreciated!

And the best bit - they are dealing with a lawyer who specialises in personal injury, so even your own status/experience is irrelevant to these insurance companies!

The joke will be on them. The longer they keep messing me around, the longer my prognosis will be because this accident has made me so angry which just escalates when I deal with idiots who admit they are wrong, but are unwilling to do anything about it.

I will keep going ;)

[siegsi8v]

My nova gsi was rear ended back in june..insurance company esure quoted me £250 value even though it was insured for £1600,..And they wanted £50 tow it away...During this time the bloke who hit me contacted me and his insurance company took care of everything...they sent an engineer who valued the car at £900 but if i could prove other wise i could up the price..found a gsi on flea bay £1500 and sent it to them...i got £1100 for the car and got to keep it but now its a cat D which aint nowt...I used the money to fix it back up and its in better condition now than before the smash..that gte didnt look that badly damaged unless the whole thing is twisted.
hope ya sort it mate.

[woodygte]

Good luck with this hope you get it sorted. They are so happy to take your money but never want to pay out.

[Pistol Pete]

Thanks guys. I have another step which I can do before writing to the Financial Services Ombudsmen but I will make a complaint if this fails!

It's Liverpool Victoria by the way - I have no problems in naming and shaming them!

I have PM'd you Andy, your help would be appreciated!

And the best bit - they are dealing with a lawyer who specialises in personal injury, so even your own status/experience is irrelevant to these insurance companies!

The joke will be on them. The longer they keep messing me around, the longer my prognosis will be because this accident has made me so angry which just escalates when I deal with idiots who admit they are wrong, but are unwilling to do anything about it.

I will keep going ;)

But this is a car aciddent??!!

TBH they will try and give you peanuts for it. Skim read, but what have they offered you?

[Mel]

But this is a car aciddent??!!

TBH they will try and give you peanuts for it. Skim read, but what have they offered you?

Erm, yes, I am a personal injury lawyer. In other words, I specialise and am experienced in all types of accidents, including road traffic accidents! I therefore know full well that they are not doing their job properly because of my professional experience and knowledge

They offered me £800, less £120 scrap value giving me £680. They have now agreed to waive the £120 scrap value giving me £800 in my pocket. My question is and always has been how can that put me in a position where I can buy another roadworthy GTE that doesn't require any welding work, bearing in mind that roadworthy (taxed and tested) GTE's in the same position are selling well in excess of £1,500?

[mowgli]

No offence, but the rest of us are now reading this & thinking that a lawyer earns quite large money, especially in the personal injury field, and we are wondering why you are driving round in an old nova & not a really expensive thing....

[JunkMan]

No offence, but the rest of us are now reading this & thinking that a lawyer earns quite large money, especially in the personal injury field, and we are wondering why you are driving round in an old nova & not a really expensive thing....

Surely cause he has a liking for nova's?

I hope you get this sorted man, it takes the biscuit that they can try short change you on something like this.

Would say the waiting around has caused you to become upset and you keep having dreams of the accident due to the stress being brought on by them farting about.
Worked for my uncle...

[scott.parker]

He's a She dude! lol