Evening all.
Last year in October I wS involved in a collision. Without going into too much detail a pedestrian ran out in front of me. He died at the scene. It's been a horrible few months and the police investigation is over. They said there was nothing I could do so no further action.
Now they have released the car. An approved garage picked up my car 4 months after the collision. They have assessed it to be a total loss. It is only cosmetic damage with most I can live with. New side panel, windscreen, passenger side window and a few dents.
The garage said the repairs would cost around 4000 pounds. The car is worth around 3200 pounds. I bought it for that just one month before the accident. I rang the insurance and told them to hang on while I get another garage to look at it. They went to look at the car yesterday and said the car would be easy repairable for 1500.
Today I rang the insurance up to tell them and I will email the invoice.
My concern is that they said they will still make the decision if the car can be repaired for the price my own chosen garage quoted.
I feel their going to write it off no matter what. Can they really decide if the car is allowed to be repaired or did they mean to say that depending if it would be a cat a,b,c or d then that's what would deem the car repairable or not. I'm guessing it's going to be a cat c as its only cosmetic damage.
They also talked about selling me the car back after writing it off. I was wondering what kind of price I would pay for this or how it even works.
It's been a long time with all this and getting the car back on the road will finally allow me to get my life going again. I know it's only money and metal and that's nothing compared to what happened. It's just the incident was bad enough and I was close to just ending it and now the insurance are making it very difficult. They've already sent one assessor out and they said they would send another.
I'm thinking of just getting the car to the other garage asap. The insurance approved garage, where my car is now, have said they will take it to anywhere I like for free as he felt sorry for me. Thanks for listening.
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I smashed my Saabs left front door and fender in last year. Aviva wrote the car off against estimated repair of £4500. The PAV came out at £4000 and my excess was £350. I bought it back from then for 26% (apparently this is standard). So I got my car back plus about £2600 cash.
Cost me less than £1200 to repair (nearly half of which was the professional respray of over half the car). Admitedly the door and fender were used, from a similar age car but virtually perfect. Spent the rest on new suspension, wheel refurb, a set of tyres and a variety of other bits.
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203590719395606&...r
This after the repair:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201455162088008&...r
IMO, writing cars off after a modest crash is a huge scam. There was even an article saying much the same in Telgraph Cars supplement about 6-8 months ago.
Don't let anyone touch it till you've settled up with your insurance though.
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Personally, there is no way I would ever want a car that I knew had killed someone. I would demand the insurance company wrote it off.
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In this the car is neutral. We do not know why the pedestrian ran in front of the car, nor is it our business.
Through no fault of his Raikky suffered a traumatic event. Whatever he wants to do is surely enough just to accept. I see no purpose in comments concerning the emotional/psycholical aspects of decision making.
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It's my personal view, which I'm more than entitled to hold.
In no way am I seeking to make any sort any judgement in relation to the OP.
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I never dispute the right to hold an opinion and I had no intention of implying it was any sort of judgement. Obviously you felt it did, so I apologise for my lack of clarity. . My post was merely pointing out, in my opinion, it was unnecessary.
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Raikky, if the insurer is going to give you what you paid for it then I suggest you would be better off accepting that. If they write it off and you repair it then it will always be worth less when you come to sell it because of the insurers marker on the DVLA database.
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Raikky, if the insurer is going to give you what you paid for it then I suggest you would be better off accepting that. If they write it off and you repair it then it will always be worth less when you come to sell it because of the insurers marker on the DVLA database.
I agree with the above and have some sympathy with the all the views expressed in the four previous posts. However the original poster may have a hefty insurance excess, a loss that possibly he can ill-afford and has no realistic way of reclaiming. Personally I wouldn't want the car back in view of it's past, I would want to start affresh with another car.
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I understand the car won't sell for much if it has a marker of cat c or d. But I have no intentions of selling the car. I will run it for as long as I can.
My excess is 250. So not too bad. I bought the car for 3250 or so and spent money on a new flywheel and clutch and new brakes. The car had just passed an mot so I was in a good position with the car. If I accept I write off I will lose a lot of money and financially be in a bad position as I still have payments on the car as I bought it on a credit card free interest for two years. If the car is written off I would also lose my insurance which I paid in full for the year.
I can see people have different views on whether they would be able to drive a car after such a tragic accident like mine, but I cant just think with my heart all the time. It might be a bad decision but I won't know until I drive it again. In fact I never thought about it before but I would probably have said the same, that I would never want a car back after such an event. If I get the car repaired I can sell it later on if it effects me, as it won't of been written off so won't lose as much value. But I know the insurance just want the cheapest option.
At the end of the day I still put things into perspective so whatever will be will be.
I emailed admiral a estimate from a local body repair. 1650 pounds vs justcarclinic quote of over 4000 pounds. We will see what the assessor says after he has looked at it. I asked the insurance how much they would settle if it was to be written off, but they refused and said it was nothing to do with them??
Cars don't kill people, dangerous drivers do, and sometimes careless, and the rest. It's something I hope you never experience. The police on the night were amazing to me. It's something I still wake up and think about it everyday. If it wSnt for my family, friends and counciler I might not be here to type this. I know in 30 years time I will still remember it like it was yesterday. I just hope the young lads family have had as good of support I have had and they can recover from this.
Edited by Raikky on 09/03/2016 at 21:22
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I have every sympathy: although no way was it your fault, you can't help having it on your conscience. There but for the grace of God go all of us.
I agree with most - a death by misadventure is nothing to do with the car itself and it's entirely up to you whether you feel comfortable keeping it. You just have to make the decision based on what is financially best for you, both short- and long-term.
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I had my old car just written off as a non economic repair which sounds the same as yours. Mine was a non fault accident claimed direct off te 3rd parties insurer.
Privelidge insurance paid out £1725 which was a fair valuation. I bought the car back for 9% of the value (£155) which I was told was the standard. 9%that is. The 155 was deducted from the payout.
So you should be looking at around £300.
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The way you have coped with one of the most traumatic motoring accidents anyone is likely to experience is commendable. Those who have posted with the best of intentions and who have not gone through a similar experience, including me, will find it difficult to appreciate the anguish that you feel. However you resolve the matter of the damage to your car I wish you well for the future.
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Thank you all for your responses. Admiral say they will let me know on Monday what there decision is.
Drive safely everyone
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IMO, writing cars off after a modest crash is a huge scam. There was even an article saying much the same in Telgraph Cars supplement about 6-8 months ago.
I agree. Every RTC is an opportunity for the motor and insurance industry to create work and print money, all of which is supplied by the hapless driver.
A couple of yrs ago our then 14yr old Focus had its rear bumper destroyed and slight damage to a wing. The initial humble apologetic letter from the 3rd party's insurance company (NFU) changed to an attempt to write off a cared for car in excellent condition. I dug in and they eventually agreed to pay for repair, but what I found particularly galling was the length of time it took, a month! So the cost of the hire car they insisted was necessary (ours 'unroadworthy' because of sharp exposed bare metal bits) exceeded the cost of the simple repair. And to cap it all we later had phone calls from a foreign sounding fraudster exhorting us to make a false claim for non-existent whiplash injury.
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