Car writeoff query

cheekychappy777

Hi all, I have recently had my car wtritten off and I agreed a settlement cost with the insurance....however they still have not yet took ownership or tried to collect the vehicle so I was wondering if anyone knows whether after 28 days if they do not collect would I be able to keep the vehicle and repair it myself ???

I would be greatful for any feed back on this subject

Thank you

cyclonebri1

cheekychappy777 wrote: »

Hi all, I have recently had my car wtritten off and I agreed a settlement cost with the insurance....however they still have not yet took ownership or tried to collect the vehicle so I was wondering if anyone knows whether after 28 days if they do not collect would I be able to keep the vehicle and repair it myself ???

I would be greatful for any feed back on this subject

Thank you

I would call or write to them suggesting the value of the car is less than the cost of recovering it. You may just get a result. Or if they wont, offer them whatever it's worth to you, but not too much;)

Don't know how long before it legally becomes yours however, someone will.

cheekychappy777

thank you for the reply, the only reason i was asking 28 days is as thats the time if you hand lost property over to the police and no one collects that is when it becomes yours legaly, thought it may be the same

Thanks

dacouch

cheekychappy777 wrote: »

thank you for the reply, the only reason i was asking 28 days is as thats the time if you hand lost property over to the police and no one collects that is when it becomes yours legaly, thought it may be the same

Thanks

Have you reported the car on your drive to the police as lost property yet and have you chased the insurer to collect the car ?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=31210931&highlight=#post31210931

cheekychappy777

no i have told them i wish for it to be wrote off and that they are now able to collect-as they have issued the cheque.
That is all I've stated as it is not stolen and the insurance company have my contact details and address-I figure it is now down to them rather than myself.

dacouch

If they have paid you for the car it belongs to you and not them, you need to speak to them and tell them to collect the car, as I mentioned before you can advise them you will start charging for storage if it's on your private property from x date in the future.

cheekychappy777

yes well thats what i was thinking... I have said they can collect however they have not so i figured after a monmth I will phone my soliciters dealing with the crash and advise them that I want
A. the car removing + storage costs for the month ( not sure what would be deemed fair though )
B. let me keep the car due to how long it has been left on my premises.

Dick_Van_Dyke

cheekychappy777 wrote: »

yes well thats what i was thinking... I have said they can collect however they have not so i figured after a monmth I will phone my soliciters dealing with the crash and advise them that I want
A. the car removing + storage costs for the month ( not sure what would be deemed fair though )
B. let me keep the car due to how long it has been left on my premises.

You cannot do this. You would need to advise in advance that you were charging. You cant just decide to charge them.

Personally I would say give them a month - they will likely sell the scrap to a local salvage firm and that might take time.

After the month write to them giving them 14 days to collect it or you will charge £5 per day (or whatever you want).

Option B is basically blackmail. What car is this on your drive? If you want to keep it phone them and make an offer. I'm sure they will be easy to deal with. If you try and screw them over though they won't be.

eira

If you want to keep the vehicle you can buy it back as scrap-apparently 10% of the settlement but beware-The insurance will be for the scrap value , if you get it repaired the ins company will take 20% off the value in the event of a claim

I know this because my insurance company totally messed up a claim for a total no fault accident

cheekychappy777

the insurance wanted almost £700initialy to buy back however due to the damage caused and the impending loo of value on any resale due to the wright off that cost seems a little steep.

Would I be able to maker some sort of counter offer???
Also if I was to write telling them I will be charging for the vehicle staying on my land would they legaly have to pay?

Dick_Van_Dyke

cheekychappy777 wrote: »

the insurance wanted almost £700initialy to buy back however due to the damage caused and the impending loo of value on any resale due to the wright off that cost seems a little steep.

Would I be able to maker some sort of counter offer???
Also if I was to write telling them I will be charging for the vehicle staying on my land would they legaly have to pay?

You can make a counter offer however to me it sounds like the car isn't that badly damaged and hence will likely go to a salvage expert who might pay a bit more than scrap for it.

As for charging. You would need to give them reasonable time to collect it before you can charge them.