Motor Ridiculous offer from a UK insurer

During a visit to the UK, our unoccupied car was hit while parked.
No question about liability, the other party's insurer accepted liability and arranged a hire car to get us home.

Now the problems start. The UK insurer says the car is beyond economic repair. They phoned and offered €4000 in settlement. They refuse to budge from this.
I've done a search on several car sites in Ireland, and the cheapest car (same model and year, lower mileage) is €5250, and most are closer to 6000. So there's a huge gap in what they are prepared to pay, and the cost of replacing the car.

They basically said either we accept their offer, or claim through our own insurance. That carries risk of having to pay excess, loss of NCB, etc, if they can't recover the full claim.

It seems highly unfair, when we're not at fault, and the UK insurer can simply decide what to pay, regardless of the costs of replacement in Ireland. Has anyone any advice?

Thanks for any tips.
D

They basically said either we accept their offer, or claim through our own insurance. That carries risk of having to pay excess, loss of NCB, etc, if they can't recover the full claim.

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That is not correct.

If you do not accept their offer, you take legal action against them to get paid what you think is fair.

Are you sure that they're not offering you sterling? £4000 sterling is almost €5000. You could argue your case with them by providing details of similar vehicles in Ireland, as there isn't really any comparison between prices in the UK and ROI if this isn't the case. You would also be entitled to reimbursement of any motor tax remaining on your vehicle and any charges made by your insurer to change over vehicle details etc. Would it work out better to source a similar vehicle in the UK and pay the duty to import?

Brendan Burgess said:

That is not correct.

If you do not accept their offer, you take legal action against them to get paid what you think is fair.

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Against the insurance company or the insured?

wednesday said:

Are you sure that they're not offering you sterling? £4000 sterling is almost €5000. You could argue your case with them by providing details of similar vehicles in Ireland, as there isn't really any comparison between prices in the UK and ROI if this isn't the case. You would also be entitled to reimbursement of any motor tax remaining on your vehicle and any charges made by your insurer to change over vehicle details etc. Would it work out better to source a similar vehicle in the UK and pay the duty to import?

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Thanks for the comments.

They offered £3225. I explained to them what I'd found online, that there's a smaller pool of cars in Ireland, used cars are more expensive etc. They said they'd look again, called back and didn't change it by a penny.

I don't think I should have to be searching for cars in the UK just to save them paying out the fair amount.

Do you know what is the legal requirement? Does the insurer have to pay the "market value" of the car written off (as per some industry book) or the cost of replacing that car with the same model/year/mileage? Because those two are clearly not the same.

In your rate conversion you are out by about £1000 which is about 25% of the valuation you have in mind. Is the car still in the UK?, if so, your insurance co could liase with the other partys insurance regarding the car inspection to avoid having to appoint another engineer to inspect the car and avail of the UK salvage to avoid taking the car back home. They would pay the market value applicable to Ireland and they would be reinburst from the UK insurer. This would be nothing new as tomorrow it could be the other way round re: the insurance companies involved. Also you say the other partys insurance have accepted liability so I dont see the problem. If you did not have full comp cover, you would have to go down that other road..

LS400 said:

In your rate conversion you are out by about £1000 which is about 25% of the valuation you have in mind. Is the car still in the UK?, if so, your insurance co could liase with the other partys insurance regarding the car inspection to avoid having to appoint another engineer to inspect the car and avail of the UK salvage to avoid taking the car back home. They would pay the market value applicable to Ireland and they would be reinburst from the UK insurer. This would be nothing new as tomorrow it could be the other way round re: the insurance companies involved. Also you say the other partys insurance have accepted liability so I dont see the problem. If you did not have full comp cover, you would have to go down that other road..

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The offer was £3225 which is €4000. Yes the car is at a garage in the UK.
I think what you suggest is what I will try ... I guess there are pitfalls. My Irish insurer could just say they failed to get full reimbursement, so goodbye to my excess and NCB? You can tell I don't trust insurance companies.