Your car was damaged in an accident. More or less seriously. You need to take it to a body shop or even have it towed away.This is when procedural questions crop up. Whose fault was it? Will the other party pay? And will it therefore have to be referred to his insurance? Or was it your fault but you have fully comprehensive insurance, so your own insurance company will settle the claim?Or maybe it was your fault and you don't have fully comprehensive insurance and are forced to deal with everything on your own?

 

In most cases there will be a friendly body shop that will take care of everything for you. But at times it is still good to know which parties are dealing with your accident claim.

 

Events insured against.

 

For one thing there is the insurance company. Naturally they want to know the exact extent of the damage to your your vehicle and send out an expert. The expert then takes a close look at your vehicle, checks the damage, takes photographs and estimates the extent of repairs needed and how much that will cost. At the same time he will calculate the replacement value of your vehicle. If the ratio between repair and replacement value is not favourable, he will also determine a residual value. That means the price that you are still likely to achieve for your accident vehicle on the open market.

 

Replacement value and residual value are very important.

 

You should be aware that most car experts will, after agreement with your insurance company, advertise your accident vehicle on a professional salvage exchange like AUTOonline. Screened professional dealers from all over the UK are associated to AUTOonline and will see your vehicle with all the relevant details -but completely anonymously - and may express an interest.They offer a price at which they would be prepared to buy your vehicle and collect it from you. Usually that takes no more than 24 hours. Your car expert will then receive the best bids from AUTOonline and can now get an idea of the residual value to use for his expert opinion.

 

Soon after that you will receive some information from your insurance company. Namely, how much the insurance will pay for your car. This is based on the following formula:

 

Replacement value minus residual value.

 

Example:

 

The replacement value of your car stands at 10,000 Pounds.

The residual value determined via the salvage exchange and in line with the market is 3.000 Pounds.

In this case the insurance would pay you 7,000 Pounds.

 

And if you don't want to repair your accident vehicle and continue to drive it, you can just sell it to the dealer who offered those 3,000 Pounds. Ask your insurance company or your expert for the AUTOonline bid sheet, which contains the offers submitted by dealers, accompanied by their addresses and telephone numbers.

 

Always wait for information from the insurance company before finally selling your vehicle.

 

Sometimes it is very sad to see your damaged car. Maybe you can't or don't want to drive it any longer. In those cases you ask yourself what to do with it. Or you may wonder how to dispose of it and whether that might even incur costs to you. At those times we are rather relived to be able to pass it on to someone else, so the whole matter is over and done with as quickly and simply as possible. At whatever price. That may cause problems, though. Because remember that the insurance only pays you the difference between the replacement value and the officially determined residual value. The worst case scenario would lead to a financial loss for you. Suppose you had sold your vehicle for 500 Pounds and the officially determined residual value was 2,000 Pounds. In that case you would have incurred a loss of 1,500 Pounds.

 

Give your insurance company a chance. Because your insurance company can help you to achieve the best possible price for you accident-damaged vehicle by providing you with the right information. And the whole process is rather convenient, too. With AUTOonline for example the dealer collects the vehicle from its location, without charging you. The height of convenience, and you don't have to lift a finger. And what's more, AUTOonline will even guarantee that.

 

What if there is no insurance to pay?

 

Never mind. Then you can advertise your vehicle in the salvage exchange and sell your car directly at the best possible price. Or you can talk to your body shop who would be happy to do that for you. They might even be able to make you a better offer on your new vehicle by using AUTOonline. Because AUTOonline residual values give you the chance to refine your calculations.

 

Be smart. It's worth it. With AUTOonline every car is a winner. Advertise online now ...