Insurance write off

[Bazza 907]

My Mum was driven into on the snow and now her insurance company is saying that her 1995 Suzuki Vitara is uneconomic to repair.

As expected they have just made a silly first offer but reduced it by a further

[wayneb911]

HPI check can be done online for about

[Bazza 907]

Thanks - I'll give it a try

[mangel]

If the dealership still exists and you have the bill of sale form them you may be abole to go back to them and have words based on the trades descriptions act.

They should have stated that the vehicle had been involved in a serious accident at the time of the sale and if they did not its false representation!!

[Bibs]

They should have stated that the vehicle had been involved in a serious accident at the time of the sale and if they did not its false representation!!

Do they though? Wasn't caveat emptor the case back in 1996?

[wayneb911]

I think by law if you are awaer of the history you have to disclose it. Being that i have worked for a number of dealerships in the past i have alwyas known them to HPI a vehicle upon part exchange so im sure this is the case in all dealerships. Dealers always try and pay the bear minimum for a part exchange and therfor if they had done a HPI they would ahve knocked the customer down even more in price upon finding this information.

Another issue though... Was it a main dealer and how many years ago are we talking. HPI was not always available to the public and if they were just a small one man band car dealer they may not have had access to this information.

[Simon350S]

They don't have to tell you anything out of the goodness of their hearts.

If you ask a direct question they have to answer if truthfully and if this involves the accident history of the vehicle then so be it.

Unfortunately we are dealing with used car salesmen here,as bad as new car salesmen are, used are an even worse example of the worlds low life, rated amonst double glazing and kitchen sales men.

Obviosly some of a good nature and honest. We have one somewhere in here but in my experience I've learnt to not trust anyone to be truthful when it comes to buying, servicing/repairing and selling a car.

It's sad.

[Bazza 907]

I decided to try the

[andydclements]

It may be that the car was declared a write off but the owner decided to not claim for some reason, in which case I don't think they record them. Also a lot of company cars are not insured fully comp, the companies simply cover minimum legal requirements (third party unless they self insure) and then accept the hit themselves if it's damaged.