A mate was rear-ended (oi oi) a couple of days ago and is now sorting out his claim. The other driver has admitted liability. Problem is that matey’s car is worth about £2k and he’s been told it’ll probably be written off. Car is still perfectly driveable as the damage (so it appears) is purely cosmetic.

His insurer say the car will be picked up by some salvage company to be assessed, during which time he’ll be given a hire car. The other driver’s insurer have also been in touch with him direct to say they’ve accepted their client’s liability and are also offering their own courtesy car package etc.

Now, does he have to hand the car over to them or can he get his own quote via a garage of his choice? He’s not sure if he’s willing to accept it being written off due to liking the car (he’s had it ages).

What are his options?

Cheers

If they write it off they’ll make an offer (you don’t have to accept the first offer they make). What they also do if offer to sell the car to you as salvage (you may have to ask). I got rear-ended earlier in the year – they offered (after some negotiation) £4600 or something like £3200 + keep the car – so if it just a technical write off, and just cosmetic damage, that might be an option.

I think their insurance company have the right to inspect it themselves. That’s what happened to me – my insurance company initially dropped me off a hire car and took my car away, and the 3rd party picked the car up from them to assess – they like to store it themselves while the claim is being processed to mitigate the storage charges of whoever might be holding the car otherwise)

You can get your own quote and then negotiate with your insurer. However there may be T&Cs that change the guarantees and terms of recompense when not using one of their approved repairers. Any amount of bodywork – you don’t know what hidden damage there is – no matter how small with original parts once you add in labour will probably write off a 2 grand car. % cost of work vs. value of car.

As regards a hire car, most policies these days do not automatically include a car if yours is written off or stolen. Extended cover is usually sold as an add-on option so do not assume you will be entitled to a car. This may be why the 3rd party is offering a package as it would be cheaper for them than you hiring a rental car and adding it to the total claim.

Cheers chaps. He says it’s only cosmetic hence wanting to assign a garage of his choice. Could be something more structural – who knows … Now sounds like a salvage company (IMS?) are wanting to take the car for assessment.

Yes, sounds like he’s being offered a courtesy from the moment they pick it up. I think his concern is that this IMS bunch are going to write it off, he’ll not see the car again, his insurance will become void and he’ll have to haggle a better price.

The insurance won’t void. It will still remain in force for the remainder of the insurance year. When the claim is settled, he can transfer it to another vehicle (and pay any additional premium if higher rated) or if his car is repairable (even uneconomically in the eyes of the insurer), he will usually have to provide some evidence to ensure it’s roadworthy – normally, a new MOT but could be repair photos and invoices as well.
I used to work in insurance claims and i’ve had a Cat C car and motorbike put back on the road after non-fault claims.
The car was inspected at my home by an insurance engineer and the motorbike was taken to a salvage yard, inspected and then returned.

Regarding offers, he doesn’t have to accept the first one but should be realistic. Having some links to similar vehicles on auto trader, going for higher than the offer usually helps.

He might be able to get cash in lieu and have it repaired himself ,i work in a body shop and have seen this a few times if the cars in good nick but the insurers dont want the hassel of repairing it and hire car charges

he’ll not see the car again,

having written the same car off three times 😯

my advice would be hold onto it – they will charge you all sorts of fees which relate to storage and things anyway.

but hold onto it. tell them the inspector can com out to you.

Having had a car written off by some old duffer in Dundee earlier this year, here’s my experience.

1. As soon as the engineers write off the car, the hire car has to be returned. Makes no sense at all, but there you go. See if your mate can arrange that the hire car stays until the settlement figure is paid instead.

2. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES allow your mate to accept the first offer the insurance company make. They are chancers, and they’re out to minimise their losses. It took me nearly 3 months to get the amount I insured the car for, and I was way more than fair in my valuation. The insurance company tried everything, offering older cars with different spec and in worse condition, eventually getting as low as half what I’d insured the car for. They even suggested that as I’d initially bought the car needing a new set of keys programmed (and thus below market value) that they should only pay out based on the value of similar cars on the market, despite me having sorted the key issue. Eventually, I found a bit of info from the Financial Ombudsman regarding insurance valuations, see here. I sent them this, plus valuations from Glass’ guide that put my car at somewhere between 50-100% more than I was asking for, and they sent a cheque for the insured amount the next day. The key points are:

In most cases, we assess the market value as the retail price which the consumer would have had to pay for a comparable vehicle at a reputable dealer, immediately before the date of the damage or theft, and

We do not usually find advertisements for similar vehicles very persuasive. A vehicle may often be sold for less than the advertised price – and differences in mileage, year of registration, model type etc can significantly affect the value.

3. They may well allow him to have the car back. Mine was a Cat C writeoff, but we got it back for £125 under the proviso that it was only used for parts. I always thought Cat C could be put back on the road with an engineers report, but by that time I wasn’t bothered and the guy I bought it from wanted it back anyway, so there you go.

4. His insurance won’t end. I just swapped my original policy over to the new car and that was that.

Push for cash in lieu of repair. You get paid out the book for the car less salvage value – usually 80 to 90% of book, and it’s not recorded as a wrote off. The car needs to be roadworthy for this – if you’re asked if the tailgate shuts OK, it does. Often if it doesn’t it’s viewed as unroadworthy as fumes could get in.

I briefly worked in the insurance business and have posted about this quite a few times before. Key things are to know what the car is worth in the real world and to bear in mind that most insurance companies starting offer for a write off is 70% of book.

As it’s a no-fault your mate may as well go via accident management, we used Europa who were absolutely fine with me ringing up and saying “I want to avoid a write off, preferably go for cash in lieu and I don’t need a hire car” which is usually anathema for the accident management boys as they make most of their £ off car hire. Accident management gets a bad rap, but I’m happy for them to spend their time arguing with insurance assessors rather than me. And they have a copy of Glasses guide too, so they know immediately when the insurer is taking the mick.