Hi guys - we've been told the wife's car is a write off as it's beyond economic repair having been shunted from behind one evening by a runaway parked car. The other side have finally admitted liability so we aren't losing our excess or ncd and tbh we'd expected that the car would be a write off as it's not worth all that much. I enquired about keeping it however as it has passed it's MOT since the damage was done but have been told by the assessor that this would be more trouble than it's worth as we'd need to find new insurance and this would be impossible unless we get it tested first (can't recall name of test - but it costs £85) and had any damage repaired.
Is this correct? Ideally we'd like to be able to use the car until we find another but obviously if it's all too much hassle we'll just have to live with the decision and find another vehicle asap.
Thanks as always guys.
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If the payout is coming from your own insurer.....
Then they are actually writing the vehicle off, will register it as so, and depending the category it may well need some form of test. In any case they would normally retain the vehicle. It is unusual for them to part with the wreck unless there is something unusual about the car or the claim. [unique/rare/old vehicle for example]
If the payout is coming from the TP insurer....
Then they are not really writing the vehicle off. They are giving you a sum of money in lieu of repairs. Unless the vehicle is dangerous, then they are normally quite willign to let it go; even then they still often do.
Your assessor doesn't appear to appreciate the difference.
I would seek clarification with the TP insurer. I would also expect an offer along the following lines; (fantasy figures, obviously)
Pay-out, they retain salvage. - £!,000
Pay-out, you retain salvage, vehicle is not registered as written off - £900 +vehicle
Pay-out, you retain salvage, wehicle *IS* registered as salvage. - £990 +vehicle.
If someone insists it will be registered as a write-off, then I would be saying;
1) Take the vehicle now. Collection/transport at TP Insurer cost and storage until then will be charged to them by you at £25 per day.
2) Tell them to expect a rental car bill starting today for three weeks which is about how long you think it will take to buy a replacement vehicle since they are informing you that you should not be driving the current one.
3) Their explanation as to why they consider a car with a recent MOT dangerous. And I don't mean philisophically, I mean exactly what is the difficulty with the car and how come their all-seeing, pyschic, assessor, who is seemingly on his own agenda and probably did no more than ask the nearest passing bloke what he thought was wrong with the car, can work it out visually when the combined brilliance of the DOT in general and the examining station in particular were unable to find such a fault during what the authorities that be consider to be a thorough and practical test which actually invlves touching the vehicle..
4) Failing that, I would expect their written explanation as to why they have allowed you to drive a vehicle from the date of inspection until now whihc they maintain is dangerous and would have known it was.
Then I'd sit back and wait for the panic.
If they give you any carp then come back here and we'll see where to go next.
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I've always understood there is a fundamental difference between an economic write off and a physical write off. It's not difficult to think of examples where the cost of repairing superficial damage to an old car might easily exceed its value, yet the car be perfectly useable, safe to drive, and MOTable. I've known people in exactly that position, who have chosen to go on driving bashed-in bangers and simply pocket the insurance money. In fact one friend was run into twice within the month, and got the write-off book value on each occasion. He was still using the car when it received a third hit that really did write it off.
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If it is scrapped, don't forget to reclaim the RFL and then make sure someone (insurer or you) tells DVLA of its status.
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If they do 'write it off' the class of writeoff depends on if it will need the VIC test. This is to ensure it isn't rebuilt from stolen parts or a stolen car being re-introduced via a writeoff. Normally if it is only cosmetically damaged but expensive parts - a class D writeoff then only an MOT is required (even though you have just had one, part of the paperwork is to send the V5 and MOT to the DVLA or insurance company who won't return the MOT).
The car I'm driving was a class D writeoff - just the front and rear plastic bumpers with painting would be almost as much as the car was worth.
Martin
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If it is scrapped also remember to remove the radio, mats if worth keeping, and any other fitments. When mine was written off I remembered most things but missed a rather good first aid kit and, more annoying, the particularly good phone fitment. What was particularly galling was that I had just filled the car with Ultra petrol - over £50 worth. The recovery people said you would be amazed what they find in 'scrapped' cars!
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If it is scrapped also remember to remove the radio, mats if worth keeping, and any other fitments.
If the radio is the factory fit one, then it belongs with the car, not with you. This also applies to many other parts on / in the car. Items such as mats are more than likely exempt as they could have been fitted at any time. The insurance pay out accounts for things like the stereo, alloy wheels and the like, so removing / swapping for lesser value equipment basically boils down to theft.
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Ta for the replies all.
To clarify - the assessor was from our insurance company. The other side have accepted liability and my understanding is that my insurers will sort it all out, pay us then claim back the money and their costs from the other side.
The incident happened in Oct and it took until a few weeks ago for us to get clarification that the other side were accepting liability. If this hadn't been the case we would not have had the car repaired as we would have lost the wife's excess and NCD which are worth more than the car. In the meantime we were using the car and the MOT was done at the end of Nov. before we were told that liability had been accepted. The assessor today explained the damage he'd inspected which tallied with what I already suspected. He said that we could continue using the car for the next week or two if we wanted but that as soon as the claim was agreed it would need to be collected from us. He gave me the impression that the damage was simply uneconomic to repair new colour coded bumper, brackets, rear panel damage repair etc. as opposed to being structurally important. He said that once declared a write-off, new ?? regs. meant that it would need to undergo a more detailed structural test before it could be declared roadworthy again and insured. I agree this does seem illogical because the car is MOT'd and we could go to the repair centre and drive it away today if we so wished, forget about the claim and keep the car. Having said that it wouldn't be the first time that regulations have been seen to be totally illogical or contradictory would it lol
Has about 5 months rfl - so will claim that back if we can.
Cheers
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>He said that once declared a write-off, new ?? regs. meant that it would need to undergo a more detailed >structural test before it could be declared roadworthy again and insured. I agree this does seem illogical >because the car is MOT'd and we could go to the repair centre and drive it away today if we so wished, forget >about the claim and keep the car. Having said that it wouldn't be the first time that regulations have been seen to >be totally illogical or contradictory would it lol
That's rubbish the only test is a VIC test on Cat C which only checks the cars provenance, eg. not nicked!
Cat D is normally just an MOT because the other will be sent back.
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Cheers for the feedback everyone. Does seem a bit odd all this so I will double check with my insurers on Monday morning. Also ta for the reminders to remove stuff from the car - can I remove the 5 almost new tyres and leave the car jacked up on bricks? LOL
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