insurance writing car off what next?

[fisingblade1889]

I have a R reg renault scenic, mechanically sound, but daughter smashed front drivers side wing, bonnet, bumper and light, cut a long story short I am just geting over major surgery and have been off work since feb/08 so really cant afford a new car, the sickening thing is this scenic was running perfect, we spent about 400quid on it to get it through its test as I said mechanically it runs great, can you haggle over the price they offer us? can we try and get the car repaired? or buy it from the insurance company? any advise will be helpfull thanx

[raskazz]

can you haggle over the price they offer us?

You can't 'haggle' as such (it's an insurance contract not a souk!) but you certainly challenge the insurer's valuation if you think it is too low, and to do this you will need evidence that your car is actually worth more - e.g. a full service history, evidence that your car sells for more than the values given in the price guide that the insurer uses, and so on.

can we try and get the car repaired? or buy it from the insurance company?

Depends on the nature of the damage, write-offs are classified into categories. Category A and B cannot be returned to the road. You can in principle buy back category C or D cars but if you do this you may need to complete something called a VIC check and get a fresh MOT before insurers will cover it again.