(not sure where to post it) Help with car insurance claim

[Stefano]

Hi people,
I'm desperately seeking for help and I hope there someone in the forum that can advice me.
Mod: please feel free to move it to the appropriate section.

Briefly I was involved in a minor rtc and it was my fault.
Since I had comprehensive insurance, I decided to open a claim for my damages to my insurance. A 3rd party company that the insurance used to evaluate the damage, told them that the repairs costs exceed the car value.
Today I spoke with the insurance to disagree with the decision and they told me that their engineer have to check the pictures.

I'm scared that they want to write off the car!
I asked them to withdraw the claim, but they told me I've to wait for the engineer.

I had the car checked by a body shop and it's repairable (non structural damage). I'm now waiting for his quote.

What would you advise? Should I just wait for the insurance engineer?

 

[ph001]

I would accept the payment for the write off (but never their first offer) on the condition that you can buy the car off them. Then fix it (assuming your mechanic is correct regarding the category).

 

[Ole gits rule]

As ph001 has said make them an offer to buy by it back and get it repaired.

My son had his 420D written off and they only paid out 15K but offered him the car back for £1500 and he sold it to a breaker for £4500 so he ended up actually making a few quid as he only paid £18k for the car in the first place.

 

[Jfgoldfish]

As already suggested, take the payout and buy it back. I bought my old banger back for 45 quid when someone rear ended it.

You will end up paying most of it back as increased premiums for 5 years. In order to break even you will have to get as much out of them now as possible.
I hate this silly insurance game :thumbsdown:

 

[Stefano]

Hi, thank you for your answers.
Do you by chance know what happens to the policy?
Let's say the car will be Cat-N and I'll buy it back from the insurance. Can I still use the remaining of my policy?

 

[Jfgoldfish]

Do you by chance know what happens to the policy?

You should be able to use the remainder of you policy. I was able to when mine was a cat C. Your insurer should be quite transparent about that.

Normally it only needs to be declared when the policy renews.

 

[Vonlipvig]

Had to claim on insurance when my wife's car was hit while parked and the tw*t drove off. They wanted to write the car off, E90 318, I disputed, got a quote from our local body shop for a repair and they agreed to cover it and not write it off. That might be an option you can pursue if you don't want it written off

 

[Vonlipvig]

Do you by chance know what happens to the policy?

You should be able to use the remainder of you policy. I was able to when mine was a cat C. Your insurer should be quite transparent about that.

Normally it only needs to be declared when the policy renews.

Might need a fresh mot on it as well, I needed one when my old car was written off but I brought it back as cat c

 

[Chippie]

i thought if the car was a wright off then the insurance policy was cancelled and you would need to re insure it

 

[mmm-five]

i thought if the car was a wright off then the insurance policy was cancelled and you would need to re insure it

It depends on how the OP gets the car back.

1. Try to get it repaired by taking it to a cheaper garage who can use non-genuine parts, and have no write-off marker (insurance will be continued)
2. taking cash in lieu of repair and repairing it at his leisure, and have no write-off marker (insurance will be continued)
3. having it written off, getting a payout for it, then buying the salvage back very cheaply to repair himself (insurance will be cancelled)

Depending on the insurer (and how badly damaged the vehicle is) they may or may not allow you to buy the salvage, as some have agreements with salvage companies for all their salvage and won't allow it to go back to the owner once it's written off.

 

[Stefano]

i thought if the car was a wright off then the insurance policy was cancelled and you would need to re insure it

It depends on how the OP gets the car back.

1. Try to get it repaired by taking it to a cheaper garage who can use non-genuine parts, and have no write-off marker (insurance will be continued)
2. taking cash in lieu of repair and repairing it at his leisure, and have no write-off marker (insurance will be continued)
3. having it written off, getting a payout for it, then buying the salvage back very cheaply to repair himself (insurance will be cancelled)

Depending on the insurer (and how badly damaged the vehicle is) they may or may not allow you to buy the salvage, as some have agreements with salvage companies for all their salvage and won't allow it to go back to the owner once it's written off.

Hi! Thank you for the clear answer!
When I called them yesterday morning I was expecting to hear from them all these option, but they only confused me more.
Maybe because they still dodn't have the assessment made by their engineer.

They where vague when I asked who was this affiliated company that contacted me, saying that was uneconomical to repair. They just said we will show the pic to our engineer.

I would be happy with option 1 and 2 also because the damage is a minor aesthetic one. I'm just not sure (and so scared) that they can decide by them self that the car has to be written off

 

[kis]

From an insurance perspective, the quotes will be based upon getting Genuine, new parts from BMW. Then factoring in any paint, labour, overheads, etc. 99% of the time with cars this old it'll just be written off.

We've had a car written off previously, and registered as a CAT D. We received our payout and also bought back the car. The insurance continued. So it wasn't cancelled. I'm not sure if this was a 'back in those days thing' or not, but it wasn't just cancelled like some other people have experienced. So worth checking what your insurer would do.

I replaced the panels myself (bumper, bonnet and a headlight). And I didn't get a new MOT. We didn't need to, it was optional/recommended but not mandatory. Again, I'm not sure if there are new laws, etc. It may well be mandatory now, so worth double-checking this as well. When the next MOT did come round, went straight through. No problems

Be interesting to hear if they don't write this off, another member posted that you can get the car back, have no insurance marker (not written off and the insurance continue). I was under the impression once you declared an accident you couldn't un-declare it?

Best of luck with the car OP! I do hope you can swing it so the car isn't written off!

 

[Jfgoldfish]

Might need a fresh mot on it as well

That is a good point.
I do seem to remember needing a fresh MOT. To satisfy insurer.

(insurance will be cancelled)

My insurance company were happy to continue cover. They don't always cancel in the event of a write-off.

I am also not sure how the OP would get the vehicle repaired at this point without it being declared as a write-off.
I don't know if it differs between insurers but taking the vehicle away with no declared write-off and still getting a cash payout seems like totally circumnavigating the system.
If that is always an option, why don't more people take that route? It seems cheaper for both the insurer and driver.

 

[mmm-five]

Might need a fresh mot on it as well

That is a good point.
I do seem to remember needing a fresh MOT. To satisfy insurer.

(insurance will be cancelled)

My insurance company were happy to continue cover. They don't always cancel in the event of a write-off.

I am also not sure how the OP would get the vehicle repaired at this point without it being declared as a write-off.
I don't know if it differs between insurers but taking the vehicle away with no declared write-off and still getting a cash payout seems like totally circumnavigating the system.
If that is always an option, why don't more people take that route? It seems cheaper for both the insurer and driver.

I was speaking in general terms, as I can't know what every insurance company's T&Cs are.

If it's likely to be written off simply due to being uneconomical to repair, rather than completely bent, then the uneconomical to repair bit is moot as the owner is repairing it himself, with cash in lieu of the repair. Some insurers allow this, some don't.

It will still recorded as a claim (but not as a total loss/write-off) so will appear on the insurance history, and you'll still have increased premiums from declaring the claim.

All you're doing is taking a payment from the insurer to do the repairs yourself (at your risk) rather than them assigning a bodyshop and paying the bill.

 

[Chippie]

I don't know if it differs between insurers but taking the vehicle away with no declared write-off and still getting a cash payout seems like totally circumnavigating the system.

If that is always an option, why don't more people take that route? It seems cheaper for both the insurer and driver.

I think most people can’t be bothered getting a car repaired if the insurance has offered to write it off, it’s too easy to take the money and buy another car

 

[ph001]

If the insurance pays out on it, it is a ‘write off’ by definition. It’s just that there are different categories of write off.

 

[Jfgoldfish]

If the insurance pays out on it, it is a ‘write off’ by definition. It’s just that there are different categories of write off.

That was my interpretation of it too. Following the letter of the law, it will be recorded as a writeoff on the DVLA database.

I know that some category write-offs (S and N) can be repaired and others can't but I really don't think there is any way to walk away with a wad of cash and a car the has not been written off.
Unless of course someone along the line completely disregards the rules!

I know that a lot of people can't be bothered but I still think that if it was an option, more people would be taking it. I know I would have, hence why I am curious.

 

[Mr Tidy]

My nephew had a bump in his car a couple of years ago and his insurer wrote it off as a Cat S (Structural) - although it should have been Cat N. They didn't even send anyone to look at it, but wouldn't budge so he gave in as he wanted to get it sorted.

Anyway he took the money, kept the car and got it repaired with a new wing and a 2nd hand bonnet. He got it repaired within their payout including a respray of the front end and a 2nd new wing so no more stone chips or crusty front wheel-arches! I'm sure they continued cover but I think he had to get a new MOT because of the Cat S.

The main reason he kept it was it was an E46 Sport Touring 325i in Imola Red and manual 6 cylinder Tourings don't seem to be too easy to find - it took a while to find his!

Anyway OP I hope you also get a good outcome.

 

[Argyll Andy]

it’s too easy to take the money and buy another car

And to convince the OH that the inevitable upgrade wasn’t your fault, the pesky insurance company made you buy a newer, more expensive car

 

[mmm-five]

If the insurance pays out on it, it is a ‘write off’ by definition. It’s just that there are different categories of write off.

Are you really suggesting that any insurer that gives you cash in lieu of a repair should list the car as a write off - or did you mean that if the insurance pays out on a total loss basis it is a write off (which I agree with)?

If the former, then my £1700 bump in my Z4MC (when it was still worth £25k in 2009) where the insurance offered me the cash towards getting the repair done at my preferred bodyshop (BMW to preserve the paintwork/bodywork warranty) instead of their £20/hour ARC shop, should have been registered as a write off???

Even my much larger accident in 2015 isn't listed as a write off - even though the final repair bill was about the value of the car at the time. The original estimate was just short of their 'uneconomical to repair' total loss level.

It 'should' be written off if the insurer decided it is too damaged to be repaired, but if it's just down to the cost of the repair being more than 60% of the value of the car, then this uneconomical repair 'write off' can be mitigated (and kept off the record) by fixing it yourself with the cash payout.

If a car is written of in a category N situation, the insurer does not tell DVLA/VOSA of this - only cat A/B/S. However, even a cat N should show in a vehicle history check.

But again, unless it is officially written off by the insurer, it will not recorded as a write off - no matter how the owner decided to get it fixed.

In general, there are 3 ways you can be recompensed for a damaged/stolen vehicle:

• Insurer pays one of their approved bodyshops to repair your car (not listed as a write off)
• Insurer writes off car (listed as write off)
• Insurer gives you cash for you to get your car repaired by yourself (not listed as write off) - and they may suggest your choice of main dealer/specialist bodyshop is too expensive so it will be written off to persuade you to go to one of their cheaper approved repairers...or accept a lower cash settlement

If the car is too bad to be repaired, then the insurer will give you a cash pay out and might sell you the salvage (to repair or break for parts - although some insurers will only do that for cat S/N).