cat 3 insurance write off

gilfachboy

hi, My car was vandalised by paint stripper 9 days ago, insurance company is writing it off as a cat c writeoff, they have offered me the car back plus a small pay off, the only damage is to the paintwork. other than that the cars in A1 condition. can i still drive it without having the paintwork done, and will my insurance continue until it expires next may, will i need a new mot for it and a vosa vic check and have i got to get it re-registered with the dvla. i want to keep the car for myself and just run it til it stops. to have it re-sprayed is going to cost a lot more than the car. i dont want to pay out for the re-spray just incase its damaged by who ever damaged it in the first place.
thanks

kitchpoo

I am surprisd they have Cat C'd a car on merely paint issues, I would have thought a Cat D would be the correct. (D I thought was for uneconomical repair and not requiring a VIC - which would sound right for merely paint problems)

There must be more to this than meets the eye. Ask your insurer why it is a Cat C and not D.

gilfachboy

i ask him that, but he said the pre-value of the car before the paint damage was less than the re-spray would cost. he said if the re-spray came to less than 60% of the cars pre-value then it would be a cat d. their recommended garage said it would cost £2100 to do, i had an independant estimate which only came to less than £1200 but he said no to it. because they said the value of the car was only £1.704

anewman

How about using some coach enamel paint to make it look somewhat presentable?

This post http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?t=234403 suggests these paints http://www.tooled-up.com/MicroCategory.asp?CID=38&SCID=588&MCID=2639#prodlist will also not do a bad job of painting up a car as DIY.

Main concern really would be rust if the paint has been stripped.

kitchpoo

I still would take this to the ombudsman, as I think the category is wrong. Why on earth would you need a VIC for paint? Tell the insurance company you do not want to persue the claim and to drop any moves they have made to categorise the car.

If you do this...

a) the car does not appear on HPI , and the V5 isnt marked = greater resale value.

b) It does not effect your insurance premium trying to insure a cat c car

c) You do not lose your excess

d) It does not effect your future premium with the same insurer by losing your no claims discount.

This does depend how far down the road of the claim you have gone.

raskazz

The category is not wrong. Category C is for cars that are repairable but the costs of parts, paint and labour would exceed the market value. Category D is where the vehicle is in theory repairable but other factors prevent it - e.g. parts being totally unobtainable, or that the car was stolen and recovered but the policyholder has already been given a settlement.

Now it's been classified a Cat C the information will have been added to industry databases and the insurer cannot simply pretend that nothing has happened. It has to abide by the codes laid down by the Governments' Vehicle Crime Reduction Action Team, which means that it has to send the registration document to the DVLA and a VIC is required before a new registration document is issued.