My insurer says my car is a total loss. Can I insist they repair it?

My 2015 BMW 1 Series sustained damage in an accident so I need a new front bumper and bonnet. After a lot of pushing, my insurance firm said the value assigned to my car was £4950 (high mileage, perfect condition). My initial repair quote has been rejected (£4000) with Admiral saying my car is a Category N, total loss. I have submitted a second quote at £3300 from a different garage (I'm waiting to hear back on this) but suspect they will say it is a Category N again. The policy document says: ''We'll repair your vehicle if it's damaged due to an accident. If it's not economical to repair your vehicle, we'll pay out a sum not exceeding the market value.''

Am I within my rights to insist on my car being repaired? My understanding is that they should because the value of the repairs is less than the market value (£4950) they have given it. I'm finding it very difficult dealing with them. Do you have any advice for how to insist they repair if they are required to? Many thanks.

Asked on 12 July 2021 by Rebecca Schofield

Answered by Dan Powell

Car insurance doesn't work this way. If the cost of the repair exceeds 50 per cent of the car’s value then the insurer will usually consider it economically unviable to repair and write it off. You can dispute the payout level or offer to buy the car back. But the car will still be written-off and owning a Cat N vehicle will present costly problems when it comes to insurance.

Tags: insurance write offs cat n

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