Car Written Off - Buy back from insurance at 35%???

SethJohnson555

Hey Guys,

My car had some minor damage done to it by some yobs but because it's old and only worth a couple of grand tops, the insurance company has written it off (Category D). I have the option to buy back the car to get it repaired myself but they will charge me 35% of their valuation/write off payment. This works out to me receiving £700 less as a result of the write off.

Is that normal? I heard that I could buy the car back at the salvage value, i.e. about £100 maximum but my insurance company said it's 35% full stop.

The company is esure. Has anyone dealt with them on this kind of thing before and made them change that or is 35% now standard across the insurance industry?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

~S

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

Its upto the insurer what value to sell the car back at.

Going by your figures your car is valued at 2k. a car of that value could be written off quite easily (i.e a few new bodyparts)

the insurers thinking will be that you will likely fix it up on the cheap for a couple of hundred quid thus they should charge you in respect that the car will be worth still quite a bit rather than scrap value

At the end of the day its not really anything wrong and its up to you to choose if you want to accept their offer.

dacouch

The salvage value of a vehicle is not neccessarily £100, its worth about £100 if its only of use as scrap. if it can be economically repaired then the salvage value goes up to take that into account.

They will have an agreement with a chain of salvage companies who will buy the salvage vehicles off them for a set amount typically 35% which is why they offer it to you at the same price.

Bear in mind once you have repaired your vehicle that a Cat D vehicle is generally worth a little less when you sell it on

SethJohnson555

Thanks guys. I opted for buying it back and paying the £700 and then spending the remaining cash on the repairs as I would rather do that then start thinking about buying a replacement car instead.

Cheers!
~S