[Closed] Bumped car-write off?

Was this the same car that was untaxed and out of mot ?

That little lot could easily top the value of the car; it’s something like no more than 60% of the cars actual value.
Mine had the front offside wing pushed in by a stupid driver who forced herself past me on a roundabout after she changed her mind. The car was only worth £900, so the insurance company gave me the option of have the money and scrap the car, or keep the car, accept £658 and have a new MOT to prove roadworthyness.
I opted for no.2, as I couldn’t afford a new car, and it’s fine apart from the wing.
Let the insurance company sort it out and see what options they give you.
I’m with SAGA, and they’ve been really good, I even had a hire car for a month or so while mine was being looked at, no cost to me apart from a full tank when it was picked up - £72, but I got nearly 900 miles out of the tankful the car had on delivery!

Terry, no, that is the Smart.

Cheers CZ, that is helpful.

That little lot could easily top the value of the car; it’s something like no more than 60% of the cars actual value.
Mine had the front offside wing pushed in by a stupid driver who forced herself past me on a roundabout after she changed her mind. The car was only worth £900, so the insurance company gave me the option of have the money and scrap the car, or keep the car, accept £658 and have a new MOT to prove roadworthyness.
I opted for no.2, as I couldn’t afford a new car, and it’s fine apart from the wing.
Let the insurance company sort it out and see what options they give you.
I’m with SAGA, and they’ve been really good, I even had a hire car for a month or so while mine was being looked at, no cost to me apart from a full tank when it was picked up – £72, but I got nearly 900 miles out of the tankful the car had on delivery

That doesn’t seem great to me.
My lodger hit a car that pulled out in front of him. The other drivers insurance company sent a chap round who looked at the car to assess it.
The car is a 2001 Ford ranger which looks like it’s fallen down the stairs. The damage is to the bumper which is the wrong colour due to the last one being shattered on a wood chipper. He was offered £1500 and no requirement to MOT it. It may of helped his case that he told the assessor that most of the damage was already there and enough cash for a bumper from the scrappy would do.

Mine had the front offside wing pushed in by a stupid driver who forced herself past me on a roundabout after she changed her mind.

After you had tailgated and intimidated her for miles, Countzero. We haven't forgotten your long description of your bullying behaviour and finally driving into the poor woman when keeping well clear of her would have been very easy and obviously the best thing to do if she was drving as badly as you claimed.

Edukator, earlier:

Big Hitting everywhere!

cynic-al Subscriber

So the Mini that was up for sale got bumped and needs a new bonnet and bumper/air dam and some trim.

You posted a pic of it in another thread?
From the brief look I had at it, it looked like the sort of thing a decent independent bodyshop repairer could push out, repair and respray for way less than replacing all the parts with new.

Yes stumpy, ta. Here it is again, the bumper is plastic tho and already has paint damage so I'd hope for a new one.

https://flic.kr/p/2fFsJy7

Ah - I've just re-read your post & saw the line about a confession and insurance details.

I'd be tempted to just get some quotes and see if it can be done outside the insurance route.

I’d be tempted to just get some quotes and see if it can be done outside the insurance route

I would have, but a works van and straight to their insurers.

OP unfortunately I'd say your premium would go up even with protected no claims etc.
Mine died a few years ago with s no-fault claim, the money grabbing....

OP unfortunately I’d say your premium would go up even with protected no claims etc.
Mine died a few years ago with s no-fault claim, the money grabbing….

Loads of people say this, but my one and only shunt, my fault (technically, guy in front changed his mind at junction and slamed on the brakes), protected no claims, premium went down next year and hadn't gone up for ages after until I changed to a more expensive car.

As insurance is up on my other car, I got some quotes and it's maybe 10% up.

Have emailed pics into repairers, fingers crossed for a write off and decent evaluation.

500 quid tops to repair at small bodyshop

"Gemini" chain are doing it, and there are a couple of creases you can't really see in the pic. Cheers

Well fans, an engineer is assessing it as a write-off. New bonnet, respray bumper, 3 x trims and vinyl striping front and back.

Valuation, I take it there is a fight to be had about that? Do they go off Parkers and condition?

Write-offs - are they the value of the car, or they value of the insurance claim against the repairs? (ie. the total cost).
I caused, what I'd guess was £400 damage (replacement bumper) recently and the claim has gone up to £5.9K

Value of the car pre-accident I'd have thought.

cynic-al

Subscriber
Well fans, an engineer is assessing it as a write-off. New bonnet, respray bumper, 3 x trims and vinyl striping front and back.

Valuation, I take it there is a fight to be had about that? Do they go off Parkers and condition?

That's crap, isn't it?! Can't you go back to the insurer & say that you don't want it to necessarily be repaired with 'as new' parts; you just want it back on the road.
I bet those clamshell bonnets aren't cheap!
Crazy to write a car off completely because of what is effectively just cosmetic damage!

Engineer will look at pre=accident value of the vehicle, usually using Glasses Guide as a start and change depending on condition and mileage, if the value of the repairs needed is 60-65% of the vehicle's value then they will deem economic write-off.

If vehicle is Cat "n" then you can retain the vehicle for the pre-accident value MINUS the salvage value and your excess.

If you want them to get rid of vehicle, then you will get full vehicle value minus your excess.

Cheers Scud

Crazy to write a car off completely because of what is effectively just cosmetic damage!

I know, but it's possible to buy-back and get fixed.

cynic-al

Value of the car pre-accident I’d have thought

I know that, but is it against the full claim or just the repairs? I mean, the claim against my insurance can't just be the repairs - must be car hire and a bunch of other fraudulent things.

Al, my car was written off a couple of years ago by someone overtaking a cyclist on a blind bend. The damage wasn't mega bad, but it was still a write off. I found that-

- My premiums have been the same of slightly lower for the two years afterwards
- You could argue til you were blue in the face about the value but the assessors will not budge. They go off book value and there wasn't a single car comparable to mine within £500 of the value they were offering (the value was about £7k). I asked for them to send another assessor and they wouldn't do it. I was told I could take it to the ombudsman but that even they only take book value into account.
- The valuation was based on the pre-accident value, obviously.
- They won't assess the damage based on second-hand or pattern parts.
- For me, buying it back and fixing it wasn't worth it but that was because the rear wheel was out of alignment. For the damage you've got it might be worth it, but then if you still want rid of it you'll be trying to sell it as a Cat C. You may end up quids in for all this though, you'd have to do the sums.

Cheers Luke, I'll see what numbers come back - tempting to buy/do-up/sell but you'd think the buyy-back price takes account of cat C selling price and repairs?

but is it against the full claim or just the repairs?

I get the pre-accident vaulation (no excess, it's on my policy and no-fault), the other costs will go against the perp's insurance.

I was getting a hard puch to take a courtesey car from both the garage and my insurer's car hire people - IIRC that's a money-maker? I refused on principle (and having a 2nd car...)

I’ll see what numbers come back – tempting to buy/do-up/sell but you’d think the buyy-back price takes account of cat C selling price and repairs?

The buy back price is usually a set % of the valuation of the car.
My son recently had a 'bump' and we bought it back at 10% of the valuation, so £75. The rest of settlement was paid direct to our bank minus the buy back cost.
We then had to MOT it to prove road worthiness then everything continued as previously.
All i did was T Cut out the scratches on the front bumper. There were a few other marks but nothing to worry a 18yo driver.

My buy back price was about £1500 compared to a £6.5k valuation. Repair costs even when I got my own quote were around £5000, but yours is just some panels that you could get second hand. Painting them to match won't be cheap though.

I've found bonnets and bumpers in the right colour, but miles away, colleciton only and peeling/damaged.

I’ve found bonnets and bumpers in the right colour

If you buy it back, you have no obligation to do the repairs they identified. Provided it's roadworthy, usually tested via an MoT, you can choose to keep the money and live with the scratches.

Edit - just remembered you were trying to sell it. At the right price, somebody who needs a cheap car will buy it with the scratches. You won't get what you'd have got before the damage, but you'll probably get more than the buy-back price.

All this insurance talk/write offs terrifies me!!

I’ve an 07 Octavia that’s likely worth, at best, £900..

But..it drives like a dream, is spotless inside, with the tiniest bit of cosmetic damage to the trim..
It’s my ‘dream car’!!

I’m terrified that if it were ever in a shunt, i’d Be offered £900 cash and a pat on the back... THe money would be useless to me; i’d Much rather have the car than £900..it’s worth so much more (to me!)...

So can one refuse the terminal “it’s a write off” verdict, and go another route then?

DrP

There is no Cat C and Cat D anymore, it is Cats A,B, S and N, something like cynic-al's will be a Cat N:

Easy article here:

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/buying-and-selling-guides/changes-to-insurance-write-off-categories/

You no longer have to go through the VIC check either to get a Cat S or N vehicle back on the road, it would just go through it's next scheduled MOT.

So can one refuse the terminal “it’s a write off” verdict, and go another route then?

no. you can argue there's no similar cars at the same price (which if there aren't, is a fair argument), but otherwise you're on your own - which is good as it stops £10k repairs for £1k cars being paid out, which would bump up insurance costs to us all

OP : I'd suggest buying it back and popping it on ebay as-is. Lots of folks would be fine driving around like that - I did the same with my porsche that was written off with a similar sized dent - priced it £500 less than it would have been and it got snapped up

if you do think the valuation of the vehicle is too low, and sometimes Glasses guide can be a bit out. Best thing to do is go back to your insurers with examples from Auto-Trader in your local area, if you can show same model and similar mileage, then insurance engineers can be a little flexible (I work as an insurance fraud investigator)

5lab cheers, but I expect a 05 Mini has less cachet than any Porsche!

You no longer have to go through the VIC check either to get a Cat S or N vehicle back on the road, it would just go through it’s next scheduled MOT.

It was just MOT'd, I'd need to do nothing? Woop!

All this is speculative, it's not been written off yet...

My insurers demand MOTs for the Cat C/D cars I've had, yours will likely want a fresh one for this after the accident to provide cover. I'd ask them about it.

Dr P - you could have your car written off for minor damage like Al's, say "fine" then buy the car back. The insurer will pay out their valuation minus the salvage cost, then you can fix it as you please (provided it's not damaged beyond a certain point that means it wouldn't be legal to repair it).

Just spoken to insurers who asked me if I wanted it written off???!?!?!?!!

Valuation coming tomorrow.

Well I have a valuation slightly higher than I expected to sell it for.

Good result, but I'll check comparators (hints welcome)

That's a pretty good result then. Are you going to buy it back and sell it or will you just leave it to them?

I'll see what they offer it me for.

On the one hand some cash would be nice, but I CBA with loads of hassle getting it fixed and/or selling it.

I asked for £350 more based on upgrades and Parkers valuation

haggle with service history and the like if you can be bothered Al.
FWIW I managed to get a decent payout for our written-off 900 -- bulkheads creased in an already old a hard to fix car was never going to end well.

Sheaf of adverts, paperwork, services, letter from garage. More paperwork the better.

Well I didn't get any increase in valuation, and was told that buying back the car was not an option!

Whut? That's a wierd outcome - if it's not a Cat A or B write off (i.e a Cat S or N) you should be allowed to buy it back. I'd call again and speak to someone else- my insurer offered me this option without me asking.

I CBA Luke, plenty other shit on my list.