Car prang....Insurance assessment.

jonnie comet · Feb 17, 2016

Wife has just pranged her car (really.....I was nowhere near the bloody thing

)

Slowish speed....on ice ...couldn't stop at junction....slid into another car...everyone OK.

The damage looks fairly superficial (though I do know that these things add up )

Car, 2008 Honda Jazz 30,000 miles, FSH, just serviced/MOT ed, Immaculate pre prang.

Insurance co' already saying 'write off' before they have even seen it.

The car is clearly nothing special but it is just perfect for the wife and we don't want it written off if it's at all possible.

Insurance bod calling in a few days to assess damage. Is there anyway that I can sway the bods opinion re not writing it off or is it all cut and dried ?

Never been through this before and I would appreciate any advice given......Thank you... :thumb2

karlp · Feb 17, 2016

You can always buy it back and repair yourself but it will probably then be a Cat D.

If it is the car you want/ like then so what.

Only downside is when you come to sell it will be worth nothing.

wozalldisden · Feb 17, 2016

The insurance co probably mean a write off in so far as uneconomical to repair. My experience suggested the ins co wouldn't repair if repair costs exceeded more than 50% of the cars market value.

You may be able to negotiate buying the car back from the ins co and finding your own repairer. This will probably involve a Cat C or D against the vehicle wihich may well affect future sales value though

Edit - KarlP beat me to it :blast

Twintec · Feb 17, 2016

1. Tell them that you will not be claiming for the damage to your car, only the 3rd party. Then keep the car and repair to whatever extent you wish obviously at your expense either yourself or through a local garage, tell them to use secondhand parts etc to keep the cost down.

2. Get your local independent garage or bodyshop to quote for the work if possible and submit this to the insurance company.

3. If written off, see if you can buy the salvage as the above poster says, so you end up with money plus the car, then repair as in 1 above.

Nice 'n' Fat · Feb 17, 2016

I can't see how they could write the car off without a physical inspection first unless they have a photo of the car with the front wheels where the back wheels should be?

Twintec · Feb 17, 2016

Actually many cars get written off 'over the phone' just by age really, as it costs more to send out assessors etc and the cost of repair is so high and with used cars being cheap.

I see it regularly at work.

Greg Masters · Feb 17, 2016

karlp said:
You can always buy it back and repair yourself but it will probably then be a Cat D.

The car belongs to you/your wife until you agree to sell it......

jonnie comet · Feb 17, 2016

Twintec said:
Actually many cars get written off 'over the phone' just by age really, as it costs more to send out assessors etc and the cost of repair is so high and with used cars being cheap.

I see it regularly at work.

This is exactly what I have been told by my broker. The car is eight years old and that's it, mileage/condition/FSH is irrelevant to the claim.

Just to point out that that the issue of it being classified (for whatever reason) as a 'Cat C/D'
is not an issue to us. We will never sell it on, we will just run it until it drops....that is how we always run cars. We only value this car by the job it does, there is no 'attachment' to it whatsoever.

Many thanks for the replies they are very much appreciated...... :thumb2

GS-Jonesy · Feb 17, 2016

jonnie comet said:
This is exactly what I have been told by my broker. The car is eight years old and that's it, mileage/condition/FSH is irrelevant to the claim.

Not strictly true. You can gather evidence and submit it to show that the value of the car exceeds their estimate. They will base their suggestion that it is a write off on a hastily calculated value. You have to "accept/agree" with this value for them to proceed. If you provide evidence to dispute their valuation and evidence to suggest their cost of repair is inaccurate (they often inflate this to help argue the case of write off) then it has to be considered by them. If you and the insurer can not come to an agreement then there is an escalation process.

I would wait and see what number they come back with re vehicle value. Get your own cost of repair quotes and then go from there. If you feel like they are being fair, go with them. If not, don't be afraid to dispute.

If you guys are happy with the car and going to run it into the ground then the advice given above re buy back and repair yourself is good advice IMHO.

Best of luck

jonnie comet · Feb 17, 2016

GS-Jonesy said:
Not strictly true. You can gather evidence and submit it to show that the value of the car exceeds their estimate. They will base their suggestion that it is a write off on a hastily calculated value. You have to "accept/agree" with this value for them to proceed. If you provide evidence to dispute their valuation and evidence to suggest their cost of repair is inaccurate (they often inflate this to help argue the case of write off) then it has to be considered by them. If you and the insurer can not come to an agreement then there is an escalation process.

I would wait and see what number they come back with re vehicle value. Get your own cost of repair quotes and then go from there. If you feel like they are being fair, go with them. If not, don't be afraid to dispute.

If you guys are happy with the car and going to run it into the ground then the advice given above re buy back and repair yourself is good advice IMHO.

Best of luck

Thank you for that.....Food for thought....... :thumb2

I have just had a look through all the paperwork. The car was bought three years ago and my wife has now put just 11,000 miles on it in the three years that we have owned it.

I've done more miles on my push bike (seriously).......

Car prang....Insurance assessment.

jonnie comet

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karlp

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wozalldisden

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Twintec

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Nice 'n' Fat

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Twintec

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Greg Masters

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jonnie comet

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GS-Jonesy

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jonnie comet

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