Ok, hope it’s ok to start another post. Looks like my neighbour that simply can’t be bothered to leave his car/ Transit in gear on our hill of a road has written off his second vehicle in the street. Namely mine this time. I posted about the specifics a month or so back but it’s all moot now really. Though incredibly annoying still. He’s also hit at least 3 other cars in the street on individual occasions whilst 3 point turning his works Transit. Anyway, I digress.

Car looking to be likely classed as Cat N, uneconomic repair. Bumper, headlight, number plate. £2,500. A little Vauxhall Agila, 10 years old.

Anyway, I’ll likely buy it off insurance (do they always give you the option??), sort head lamp and keep it as it’s a sound, economical little car.

Now…. Bought with a loan specifically for the car arranged by Zuto, over a 3 year payment period. I have only 4 months of payments to pay before the loan is fully repaid…

Are there any implications to not fully owning the car as yet, regarding getting the insurance payout? Obviously I will pay off the balance! Only just over £400 left to pay before all settled this December.

Also, as it’s a Cat N write off,I don’t need any special test/MOT after I get head light sorted I believe? Bumper damage is cosmetic.

Thanks as always!
😃

Was it an unsecured loan, HP, or what?
Unsecured then it’s your car from day one.

It’s by no means a given that the insurance company will let you buy it back.

Indeed – my dad’s micro camper had lock & door damaged by attempted break in. It took weeks of wrangling to persuade the insurer that the vehicle was roadworthy and they should let him keep it.

Insurance company will settle any HP first (usually directly).

You’ll then get the rest. If they let you keep the car they will charge you the salvage fee.

To reinsure, they will probably want to see a repair invoice, photos of the repair and a new MOT but it depends on the specific insurer.

It will remain on the register as a write-off so you’ll need to be honest when you sell it on.

Thanks guys. Unsecured loan but specific to the car.

Fingers crossed they will let me bit of from them but we’ll see.

It’s all been handled by Enterprise on behalf of Meetings Direct and outs been a complete mess. The car has been st are a garage for over 2 weeks with nothing progresses as Enterprise say they never got any informally from them. Garage said they did provide updates,I believe them.

Didn’t even know things were basically on hold till enterprise called to say they wanted the courtesy car back yesterday.

get the car back to your house – it puts you in a better situation with the buy back

Unsecured loan but specific to the car.

That’s a bit of an oxymoron really, but an understandable one as brokers like Zuto muddy the link, it’s either a personal loan, or a secured loan – there is no in between.

Anyway, the point being, no, no implication at all for you in this respect.

As above, the insurer don’t have to let you buy the car. Some do, some don’t I don’t know why. You usually have to reject the initial offer.

You don’t need to re-MOT a Cat N, which seems mad, but you don’t.

It will possibly cost more to insure, but given your car isn’t worth very much (no offence) it was always going to be a write off because the cost of admin / claims etc will be higher than the value of the pay out, even if it was only a few hundred to repair.

No offence taken matey.

Yes, not exactly unexpected regarding the write off. Hopefully I do get it back as I hate the lottery of looking for secondhand cars particularly at my budget. Fingers crossed.

You will need a fresh MOT for most insurers for a Cat N car – mine needed one.

get the car back to your house – it puts you in a better situation with the buy back

this, and be quick about it. it wouldn’t be the first time someone asked about buying their car back to find out it’d already been crushed

Thanks guys. Kind of out of my hands at the moment as the garage have magically told me, unofficially, that the car is likely a write off but that has yet to be confirmed by the insurer as they are playing catch up.

Once I hear it’s a write off I can’t just go to the garage to say I want the car back I’m assuming?

No idea if I’m legally allows to drive it home as once insurance say it’s a write off I guess ask bets are off?

No idea if I’m legally allows to drive it home as once insurance say it’s a write off I guess ask bets are off?

That’s a tricky one.

There’s the obvious question of if it’s legally roadworthy and another of if your are insured to drive it, or whether the insurance is now void pending settlement.

I might risk the former if it’s minor damage / not far / in day light, even the broken light, the latter I wouldn’t – even ignoring the obvious issues if you have an accident, the fines for no insurance are huge and obviously a damaged car on the road will attract attention from the Old Bill.

I’d be surprised that the insurance company will pay off the HP. Usually they’re nothing to do with each either. I would expect the insurance company to pay the owner and it will be up to the owner to pay the load company. Especially if the loan is a bank loan type deal, the insurance company won’t have a clue that the car is being bought on a loan. If it was an old school HP situation or PCP deal then yes.

Hopefully insurance for the OP won’t change much as the claim will surely be against the van drivers insurance?

No idea if I’m legally allows to drive it home as once insurance say it’s a write off I guess ask bets are off?

Speak to them – mine said something like if it’s in the period where an MOT is booked they’d cover it third party only.

I live about 2 miles from the garage not even an ANPR camera on way from memory . Moot point though, I’m not keen on driving it back if not covered for obvious reasons.

I drove the car before the process kicked off for about 2 weeks, so it’s certainly “safe” to drive. It’s about the legality of it really.

Hopefully might hear something tomorrow and press the point that I want the car back if at all possible.

I’ve been through something similar over the last few weeks. My advice would be:

– Chase, chase and chase again. Noone seems as keen to move things forward and get information to you as you will be. If they have taken away the courtesy car, they ought to be being better at communicating

– Reject their first settlement offer if it cannot buy you an equivalent car. Their calculation of the market value may come from the lowest guide prices they can find, but the financial ombudsman service (where you will ultimately end up if you cannot agree) does allow for advertised prices of equivalent cars to be used in some circumstances. I believe we are in those circumstances at the moment and many second hand cars are selling for advertised prices. I never got them up to what I considered a fair market value, but they did come up by just over 6% on their initial offer

– Ask what they will sell the car to you for. Reject their first offer. Mine went down by 25% just by me replying “Really that much?” I’m now buying the car as a bodyshop has given me a fixed price for the repair which the insurance settlement will cover

Good luck. They’re very good at taking premiums and less good at paying out.

If you have the cash, could you settle your loan to make it clean for the settlement?

I had the front wing of my Octavia smashed in on a roundabout, repair shop said it was uneconomical to repair, and I was told it would be taken to Copart. I asked the insurance company if I had the option to keep the car, as the damage was really just cosmetic, and they agreed to let me keep it, with a reduction of 28% on the payout, so I kept the car, and got £680 instead of the £900 it was valued at. They also requested a new MOT to confirm roadworthyness, which I had done, despite the MOT place saying it wasn’t necessary. Anything for a quiet life.
My insurance company is Saga, and they were really excellent at dealing with the situation, I even had a hire car for a month!

This is relevent to me right now!

Some drunken idiot rammed me and my car will be taken away for assessment today. Obvioulsy I’m keen to understand whether there might be any structural damage – aesthectics wise it’ll need a new bumper but not much else.

Can I tell the insurers that I do not want them to write it off if just basic repairs needed? I have read the above about buying back from them etc but when do my options run out and when do the insurers ‘own’ the car? Do they have absoulte authority to write it off (structrual issues aside)?

Its Direct Line and so far they have been very efficient, haven’t asked them these questions as yet…

When this happened to me I asked to buy the car – once they realised it was on my drive they said I could have it FOC because of the cost of collecting it. If I remember correctly that would have been Admiral.

I had this a few years ago, minor damage to the boot of an estate. Bought it back for £50 but the insurer said they needed an ‘engineers report’ to say it was roadworthy. I asked if a new MOT would be sufficient,they said no. I asked if they’d accept a report from me (engineer) also no. So I showed the car to the guy in my local garage, he squinted at the tiny crease in the boot and said ‘you write the report and for a tenner I’ll sign it’.

That sorted the situation until I moved house and the DVLA withheld the v5 incase it was cloned. That would have required a day off work and a 100 mile round trip to have it checked. Then it failed an MOT, at which point I gave up on that car.

I think its time that mr plod had a word with your neighbour

If they can be bothered of course.

I’m really curious as to the advice being given above stating that an insurance company may not ‘allow you to buy your car back’. This may be the case, but surely only once a settlement has been agreed and accepted by the insured. Until that point, the insured owns the damaged vehicle, not the insurance company. The time to decide whether you want to keep the vehicle is BEFORE a settlement is agreed, and the damaged vehicle can make up part of that settlement, if so negotiated. I don’t think (and I could be wrong, IANAIU) there’s anything in law that says that the vehicle ownership must be forfeited automatically once a claimable accident has occurred.

if they’d accept a report from me (engineer)

I had this on am old 4*4 I had that was hit and repaired

They said engineer report I sent report signed for by me with full title (also engineer) and no more was said.

Thanks for the continued replies,I am reading them.
The courtesy car is due to go back Monday so I suspect I might get more info then. I’ll be calling them either way.

Thanks again guys.