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[wingman]

Recently my daughter and her husband were out in their Fiat Stilo, 04 reg with 40k on it, average condition (yes I know bag o shite - told them not to buy it), when they were hit in the rear by another driver who straight away admitted liability and gave his insurance details. The apparent damage did not look too bad but when I looked at the car later it seemed that apart from being difficult to close and with a dent in the tailgate and a broken rear bumper, the o/s rear door was rubbing on the door opening. This made me suspect that the shell was slightly twisted.  The other drivers insurance (Liverpool and Victoria) were very prompt in contacting my daughter and sent an assessor to look at the car.
They (LV) are now saying that the car is a write off, the assessor saying that repairs will be approx £3500 which I find a little hard to believe. LV are now asking for details of the finance agreement on the vehicle, presumably to see how much money is outstanding on the agreement. I presume that is so they will settle this amount. If this is what they are suggesting it will mean my daughter is left with no car and with no money for a deposit and finance on another one.
To my mind they should be put back into the position they were in before they were invoved in this accident for which they were completely blameless i.e. have a vehicle of the same standard and value as the Stilo which is to be written off.
Having never being involved in a situation like this with outstanding finance on a car, I don't know how to advise them so that they can pursue this to their satisfaction.
I am sure that there must be others on the forum that have had this happen to them. What was your experience? Any suggestions on how they can proceed with this would be gratefully received.

[Gaffers]

afaik you are under no obligation to inform them of the finance left on the car, it is upto them, the assessor and your daughter to come to agreement as to the value.  Look around on autotrader, ebay and local papers for similar cars and present it to them when if they try and fob you off with a rubbish amount.

Glad to hear noone was hurt, good luck

[Kevin Wood]

Agreed. How you paid for the car is none of their business. Their job is indeed to put you back in the position in which you were before the incident.

If you don't like what you're hearing tell them you're going through your insurers rather than settling with them directly, and of course you will be claiming for a hire car while it gets sorted out. If they see their costs about to go sky high they will make a better offer.

Kevin