Lotmontel

Hi all who have helped me! (Payrac-man, the assesor's report said that it would cost €7700 to repair with a valuation of €2500 before accident, so no option there to do it ourselves!) I just want to thank everyone for their replies and to AnOther for his pm (I didn't follow it up but ty). I have decided to just accept that insurance companies are 'not very fair and just' and move on. My next car will be a RHD car because I can't afford a LHD car. When it comes to insuring it, I will certainly take on your advice and ask them to clarify exactly what value they are placing on the RHD car and to adjust our premiums accordingly. Once we have arrived at an OK premium price, and signed the insurance contract, we will change our policy for my husbands RHD Mondeo to 3rd Party, fire and theft. Thank you all for all your help and advice. Lotmontel

ANOTHER UPDATE! The assesor won't budge on the valuation because he said that RHD cars are not worth anything in France. Our insurance brokers are saying that they can only go by what the assessor says. We are now trying to discuss this with the actual insurance company - Generali. It's looking like I would have been better off spending my money on a LHD 206 and squeezing the children's car seats in a 3 door car. I now have the horrible decision of whether to buy a LHD or RHD. Whatever I choose is going to be expensive but going for LHD is really totally beyond our budget so I guess there is no big decision there!!! So much for paying for insurance for a RHD car; your car can be written off through no fault of your own and you end up wiith nothing! Still fuming!!! Lotmontel

R/H, I know that I should keep this in perspective and I am so grateful (to whomever) that nobody was hurt in the accident. I can still hear my son's screams in my head! We will go back to the insurance company asking how the assessor reached the valuation armed with the argus value found on Sundaydriver's link and see what happens. Thank you all so much for your help.

I don't think that I'm wrong wanting like for like. I didn't ask for the stupid person to drive on the wrong side of the road and hit me head on. There is no doubt who was at fault so her insurance company should pay out for the car at the point of the accident. Sorry, if I've been rude but I'm beyond upset right now. I loved that car!

UPDATE - please help! We received the assesor's letter today. It states that the repair costs for my car would be €6611,43 HT and €7907,25 TTC and the value of the car (avant sinistre) is €2090,30 HT so €2500,00 TTC. The letter continues to tell us our options i.e. ceder / faire reparer / conserver votre vehicule. Obviously there is only one realistic option! I have looked at the argus link given by Sunday Driver and the value of my car comes out at €3900 base with an allowance for low kilometage of €1010 and an additional €130 for the fact that it was a later model 2001. This would be €5040 then. British prices going by the April 2010 Glass's trade book value it at £2375 plus £154 for low mileage so £2529. (Neither prices reflect the extras such as fingertip remote control CD / Audio system.) My RHD car is being valued as 50% less than an equivalent LHD car in france and, using 1.12 exchange rate, 12% less than the value of the same RHD car in the UK! Surely there must be a "like for like" payout situation when you are not at fault. I don't care whether I drive a LHD or RHD car but I want the same family car. I am starting to print off the costs incurred to buy a second-hand car in the UK - so far €304.50 euros just for the first registration and eco-tax. Still need to find out the cost of the Certificate of Conformity, headlamps replacement and cost of registration plates; let alone the cost of going to get it and bring it back. I will not accept that a stupid driver can write my car off and I will end up being worse off. Perhaps I'm naive but it's just not fair! I am gathering the relevant information to write to the insuance company but if anyone has advise about what to add or say then I would be really grateful! TYIA Lotmontel

Thank you all for your replies. The argus website was interesting - it is curious how private sellers here are asking for considerably more than the actual argus value! Perhaps it is a seller's market?! Thank you again.

Ty for your reply Anton Redman II. Our insurance is arranged through an Insurance broker so I will contact them on Friday (after the bank holiday). I'm surprised that I would need to discuss the valuation with the insurance company as other posts on here have said that one would need to negotiate with the assessor. However, do you think that a photocopy of the relevant page of the lastest Glass (?) magazine would suffice for the value of the car in the UK? If not, do you have any ideas about what evidence the insurance company would need to accept the value in the UK. The cumulative cost of the CoC, change of headlamps, carte grise and registration plates should be easy enough to ascertain as will the premier registration in France eco-tax be easy to calculate. I may even throw in the cost of the lift to the airport, one way flight to the UK, taxi / train fees to pick up the car / hotel fees / ferry crossing / fuel for driving the car back to exactly the spot where the accident happened!!! I'm being flippant but I'm still so angry at the other driver and will be even more so if I end up having an inferior car just because she was driving like a maniac on the wrong side of the road! Anton, I don't understand your last sentence. Are you saying that toutes risques for RHDs is worth it, or one can never know if it is worth it until your car is written-off and then you find out! Thank you for replying, Lotmontel

Hi I have searched the forum and have read such worrying info that I thought I would start my own post! Briefly; I was involved in a car accident last Thursday on the school run, rural road, I was approaching a junction to turn right, young woman turned left into my road completely cutting the corner and hit me head on, no major injuries (thankfully, especially since I had my 5yr old in the back). Completed and signed the constat (with the help of what seemed half the village!); other woman agreed (and made the appropriate cross) that it was entirely her fault. Photos of the accident were also taken. My car has been assessed to be a write-off. We are currently awaiting the valuation of the car. The woman who works at the garage (and is friends with the assessor) said that it was not looking good for the valuation as it is RHD. Car is a french registered Scenic Dynamique (late 2001) 1.6 16v with 103,000 kms with good service history in VGC (or was!). Insured for toutes risques. Does anyone know how the assessor works out the valuation of RHD cars? As I said I have searched the forum and found posts suggesting that assessors have valued RHD cars at 'nil' in the past. I'm not expecting to get the same pay-out as for a LHD but surely the pay-out must be realistic. We have been lent a courtesy car but it's not clear how long we will get to keep it. Has anyone else been in a similar position? Are payouts on RHDs really that bad and if so is it really worth taking out toutes risques insurance for a RHD car? Many thanks for any comments Lotmontel

Hi I know I'm probably asking for the impossible but I'm going to ask anyway!  My brother (with wife and two young children) are looking for a B&B in the Tours area for one night (Saturday 23rd May) as a stop-over.  Can anybody accommodate them?  Many thanks! Lotmontel  

Thanks for the links Clair (the french was easier for me to read, more to do with the google translation than my french though!).  Unfortunately, MOH's boss changes her employees' days off from week to week so she has the discretion to simply allocate May 1st as a day off for her employees.  The legislation didn't seem to cover this scenario. Love the idea of 10 bank holidays but MOH works on all the other jours feries (excluding Easter Monday and Christmas Day).  If he happens to have any of the jour feries off (including Easter and Christmas), then it is simply one of his allocated days off.  So he actually doesn't benefit (work-wise) from any of the jours feries.  It's nice to have him home on Christmas day though!!!

[quote user="Clair"]I's say it's very unlikely, as it is La Fête de Travail. May 1st is the only Bank Holiday in France when employers cannot ask employees to work (with the exception of essential services like hotels, hospitals, public transport...) [/quote] What is the point of La Fête de Travail?  It is true that MOH's boss has given her employees the day off on May 1st, but she just cancels their other day off during the week instead, so in effect, none of the employees gain anything from this fete de travail!  Some fete!!  I could rant about some of his other working conditions but I won't, for fear of sounding like I don't like France! [;-)]  

I also would never advocate anyone misleading Mr Murdoch's employees........ [:D].  Lucky that I'm asking all these questions hypothetically......... [Www]

[quote user="Ron Avery"] Not seen anything about out of contract cards no longer working.  As you can get all the free to air stuff like Ch4 and 5 with an out of contract card or a freesat card why should you not be able to continue to do so?  Surely these new cards are only of interest to those who subscribe to SKY through a UK address?    Anton, Tim where are you??? [/quote] Hi Ron, not all channels available with the current blue skycard (even if you don't pay a subscription) are available with a normal free to view box.  For example, Five US isn't.  This probably won't be a problem for the majority but as a fan of CSI, I would prefer to carry on getting Five US! So Claire, if, on the off-hand you know (!), if the card is activated in France but your other half is sitting in their house in the UK, could they not telephone SKY and relay the information on the screen?  [:)] 

Hi Am confused (no more than usual!).  I understand that the new card will be sent to the UK address, but does the sky box have to be in the UK at the time at which the new card is activated? Anyone know? Thanks L

Don't worry about it, Jeremy is,as always, using satire. I'll bring it up with him when I next see him.