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[grifter]

A couple of weeks ago my brother left his car in the local railway station car park and while it was there, a woman with a disability car reversed right into the front offside wheel area, bent the wing, bonnet/damaged light and whatever else damage done underneath. It doesn't look that bad on the face of it but imagine it might have damaged the steering/suspension as there was a big puddle of what looked lke steering fluid on the ground.

The front of the car was shunted about 3 feet sideways out the parking bay. Apparently the woman driving it was the friend of the actual named driver and she said she had drove it as her friend wasn't well, but turns out she wasn't insured to drive it.

The car is a VW passat 15 plate 1.6 diesel with just shy of 50k miles and I think valuation is around the 7 grand mark thereabouts. Insurance company said they were willing to cover it but have now said it is deemed a write off. I think it can still be repaired but is deemed a certain category of repaired write off.

I am no expert in this but how do they determine the car is written off, is it if the cost exceeeds 70% of the value of the car or similar?

I think there is also the option he can get the car back from the insurance and use the valuation the insurance give him to get it repaired himself. He is currently on the sick, needs the car for dialysis and would potentially have to pay any difference in repair costs over the book valuation he gets from insurance, if that's what it comes to.

Just wondering what his options are, he'd prefer to keep the car and not sure if he's get one the same with such low miles unless he forked out a premium.

Thanks

G

[Doctor Gollum]

Cat C or Cat D it can be repaired. Cat B is spares only and Cat A is crush only.

Cars can be written off if any parts are on back order, and I think 70% is optimistic... 50% more likely.

Damage assessments are somewhat subjective... Pictures would help, but ultimately, it needs to be partially stripped to assess it... At the very least, wheel arch liners, wheels and bumper off, and ideally the front wings, as just because the hit was on one corner, any significant impact other than straight on will potentially shove the whole front structure across.

Budget to repair should include everything obviously damaged plus: all the front suspension, drive shafts, track rods, rack and the radiator support structure.

He could take the money and let it go, take less and keep/repair it and/or sue the owner/driver for a replacement.

[grifter]

I think an engineer is going to phone him today with all the details, probably the damage assessment and the category of write off. I did think he could take the driver to small claimes court for out of pocket expenses if he has to fork out for a replacement or repair costs.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

No cat A B C D anymore. The definitions changed several years ago.
Never accept the first offer from the insurance company. Always haggle.

[ronnyd]

When a car gets hit on one side, there is usually a knock on effect on the other side due to the forces involved. When my Desmond was written off by a neighbour leaving his hand brake off, i bought it back from the insurance company and got it repaired. After that, it took quite a few weeks to find out all the bits of damage that had occurred at the front end, dash/ centre console etc, even though it was hit at the rear.

[Doctor Gollum]

No cat A B C D anymore. The definitions changed several years ago.
Never accept the first offer from the insurance company. Always haggle.

Cat C now S  for Structural and Cat D now N for Non Structural, but well reminded

Most anything over a certain age will be Cat N for silly bolt on stuff like bumpers and mirrors.

[Rangie]

I had problems several years ago when my Mazda estate was damaged and parts were a problem ( tailgate) a colleague who used to be in the insurance industry advised me to tell LV that " I need the indemnity that my policy provides"  a satisfactory agreement was agreed within 24 hours , so worth a try if your relative gets messed around.

[grifter]

No cat A B C D anymore. The definitions changed several years ago.
Never accept the first offer from the insurance company. Always haggle.

Sound advice, I'll pass that on to him. Thanks for all replies so far 

[GastronomicKleptomaniac]

No cat A B C D anymore. The definitions changed several years ago.
Never accept the first offer from the insurance company. Always haggle.

Sound advice, I'll pass that on to him. Thanks for all replies so far 

WRT to the haggle, get three adverts for similar cars and they'll probably agree on the middle one. Harder obviously to find low mileage or if it has an unusual spec but push hard.

[grifter]

They came back and said there was no structural damage but the repairs would cost about £6850, and the car was valued at £7007, strange number to come to that!

I'd looked at similar cars on parkers and they were up about the 10k mark, I know dealers will whack on a margin I suppose, there is the market value and the insurance's book price as well, obviously the latter being less.

Still doesn't make sense why they would not be able to repair it but can pay out the value of the car and he can get it repaired that way with no real losses. Must be that the cost of repair is over 50% of the value of the car.

[johnnydog]

From past experience, insurance companies will offer the trade value of the insured vehicle. As has been said, evidence of
retail and private adverts of like for like vehicles are a must. Your insurance company cannot argue the fact that you, as a private individual, cannot buy a replacement like for like vehicle in the trade and at trade prices, so they have an obligation to pay out a figure that would enable you to buy at a retail prices or privately. It happened to two family members that were unfortunate enough to have their cars 'written off' by a third parties, and a 'true' value to get a like replacement was subsequently paid out.