before stolen: smooth drive, nothing wrong with it..

after stolen recovered: insurance says it will cost £2300 to repair it hence offered me 'total loss' and got me a 'salvage offer' of 4k.

Insurance is saying l only got two opetions accept offer or have it repaired. l think offer is low and dont wanna get it repaired in case something else goes wrong with afterwards..

l always thought you can reject first offer so how come in this case l am not getting the option to reject offer???

Insurance are saying they are getting on 4k from salvages for the car hence wont give me more then that.. but shouldnt my insrance top up with some more or am l being silly?

please advise.....
car is 54 reg 2004.

l have already told insurance that similar cars on auto trader are going over 4.5k.. but they are saying you either accept the offer or we will repair it for you. they are saying thats all they are getting from salvages for the car?

am confused..

Insurance companies always try it on, they normally make up to three offers but if ur car was low mileage, good condition etc, etc. point it out, they make statements like ''this is our last offer'' etc but just keep refusing till u r satisfied. If u cant agree go here & complain, this normally sorts them out, before u complain just let them know what u intend to do as its sometimes enough.
http://financial-ombudsman.org.uk/
Also check out & make a list of prices so that u can quote, try Loot or Autotrader, a good idea is to get the name of the person dealing with ur claim & bug them every couple of days, eventually they get sick of it & in my experience they just settled. Just remember that they cannot refuse to pay u so just keep pushing, also check the small print of ur policy.
REMEMBER TO POINT OUT THAT YOU DO NOT WANT BACK A SERIOUSLY DAMAGED CAR AS IF YOU SELL IT YOU WILL HAVE TO TELL THE PROSPECTIVE BUYER AND YOU WILL NEVER GET A FAIR PRICE FOR A SALVAGE VEHICLE!!
What they can or cannot get for the salvage is not ur problem, if they never reckovered ur car does that mean that u get nothing??? The reason that u take out insurance is to make good ur loss, send them a recorded delivery letter setting out what u require & keep a copy, make sure they r aware that u know what u r doing or they will just fob u off.

The insurers will only pay market value or if lower - the cost of repair to ur vehicle.

The only way around this is to find a similar car, similar specs, similar mileage & on a garage forecourt with a higher price than they r offering - that is then the replacement value 'on the street'.

Insurers will always try to reduce their losses.

Second option is to get it repaired & upon collection - drive it & find fault with it - if there r faults - take it back until it is repaired propely.

Never accept first offer & do what l did (as above) go round all the dealers & find a car that is bascially the same & compare prices to what is on offer - get photos if poss & send them to the insurers to back up ur case.

You are being silly.

Take the 4k get yourself a nice second hand motor

In future lock your car, Why should the insurance offer you more?

You are lucky they found it.

l think One Life has covered most but just remember, they took your money so they MUST give you the service you paid for.

As a former adjuster, l would have tons of questions to ask u to give u proper advise on how to handle ur claim. As a former adjuster, l would not want to repair the vehicle because it would be something that would never go away.

How did the insurance company determine the value of the car? Was it before the car was recovered. In all my times of handling stolen cars, l never ran across one that was not in perfect condition until the were recovered. Keep that in mind when dealing with the adjuster.

Next, if the adjuster was thorough in determining the the value of the car, then there is very little room for negotiations. You r not settling a bodily injury claim here.

The best way to change the adjusters mind on the value of the car is by doing ur homework & showing fault in his evaluation. Until u can show him how his evaluation has errors, then u r likely to persuade him to change his value. You must do this with tact & respect or he will shut u down. DON'T ATTACK the adjuster. Just point out his errors.

Finally, in my state, ur vehicle was either totaled or not. l have a hard time believing the adjuster might have a choice of options. If the vehicle is totaled, then u can sell the car to them for a price or u can do what they call an Owner Retain Salvage & they will pay u ACV (Actual Cash value) less the salvage value for ur vehicle & let u keep it. Then it is up to u to either sell it or fix it.