The missus hit a small deer with the car last night. Thankfully she was ok, but one dead bambi and a cracked car.

She drove the short distance home but car has a burst radiator, cracked bumper and valance and a couple of minor bent bits. Overall minor damage.

Repair shop down the road reckons it will be 700 to 1000 pounds to repair, car is worth I reckon about 1500. I have protected no claims bonus and a voluntary excess of 400.

Insurance company doesnt want to bother with an estimate and is sending round an assessor next week to look over the car.

My gut feel is they will want to write it off, so I can feel a wrangle over car value coming up.

I could probably patch it up and repair it pretty quick for a few hundred quid and not bother with a claim, or carry on and risk increasing my premiums for the next few years.

It will depend on what the assesor says I guess?

I think the fact that you've already spoken to the insurance company and they're sending round an assessor will mean that your record is marked as having had an accident – which you will also have to declare to other insurers. Even if you don't actually claim I suspect you're going to get some sort of premium loading from most insurers going forwards.

You could always have a poke about on a comparison site to see if there's any difference in premiums between declaring an accident but stating 0 value to the claim, or declaring an accident but stating the value as £1000 or whatever.

I think the fact that you've already spoken to the insurance company and they're sending round an assessor will mean that your record is marked as having had an accident – which you will also have to declare to other insurers. Even if you don't actually claim I suspect you're going to get some sort of premium loading from most insurers going forwards.

Yep this is true. Your premiums will go up cos its a notification. So they'll weight your premiums

For a car of £1500, I'd of got a 2nd hand radiator from the scrappy and not bothered fixing the other stuff. Waste of money.

But as said above…it's already on your record now.

Edit…for proof of value when they offer you a pittance, just print off a load of Autotrader adverts of cars with similar mileage/age/condition. Shouldn't have too much of an arguement that way.

If it was my car, I'd let them write it off…get the pay out…say you're not in when the scrap people want to come and collect it and then just repair it and put it back on the road after a VIC test.

I'd get the cheapest place you know (mate's contacts or anything?) to do the radiator work & get a bumper from a scrapyard – they're actually pretty easy to fit.
What car is it?

dooosuk – Member
For a car of £1500, I'd of got a 2nd hand radiator from the scrappy and not bothered fixing the other stuff. Waste of money.

But as said above…it's already on your record now.

Just what this man said 🙂

Are you allowed to keep and eat the deer?

Are you allowed to keep and eat the deer?

Nope , you're not allowed to pick stuff up that you have knocked over but the person in the car behind could legally pick it up.

If you hit a deer at 30 there's around an 80% chance it will live.

Or it might be a child, I can never remember.

Bambi is mashed Im afraid, killed instantly I would say from the damage and the blood sprayed across the road into the verge, some animals have dragged it away/ eaten it already 😯

Never had a claim before, wrong side of 40, and protected no claims bonus so about as low a risk as there is in that respect.

I honestly dont have the time for major repairs (a Zafira) at the moment otherwise i would patch it up. We also do a fair mileage in the car so it does need fixed properly, or at least robustly.

Its a pain in the butt so it is. 😐

if you have protected no claims you will be fine.
As ither have said you could have doen a functional repair for the cost of the excess ie £400.

Friend of a mine did a deal to get to keep the car and get a slightly smaller pay-out, having said that, his was just bodywork damage and fixed with gaffer tape, actually ended up in profit. His was a junction collision.

Your local garage will probably be less than your insurers choice of bodyshop, especially if you are both happy with scrapper parts. Scrap parts aren't necessarily worn out, could be a rear ended car.

I had the same situation a few years back with a nice old Merc E class, worth about £1500 or so, someone ran in to the back of me. When the engineer/adjuster came to look at the car and I told him I wanted to keep it, so they gave me the write off value and I patched the car up for a few hundred quid and just lived with some cosmetic damage.

The car will always be listed as a category D write off, sold mine a few years later listed for spares or repairs although it still ran perfectly.

http://www.find-a-part.com/

had several parts from various supplyers over the years. Never had a problem. Quite the opposite. Good luck.

It may be on your record, but only of (real) interest if the Ins Co. actually paid out.

Just ring and cancel, and have it fixed up cheaply.

But I guess the fact you rang them means you are fully comp – is that same as me where comp is cheaper/same as 3rd party – otherwise, why?

when someone ran into the back of me on my motorbike it wasnt economical for insurance to repair and we negotiated a cash settlement, bike isnt listed as a write off

I will wait and see what this assesor says and take it from there, I reckon it can be repaired/ patched up up for 400 – 500 quid. As said above the car is worth more to us from a functionality persepctive than market value.