Help - car has been written off

Madmonk

Hi I'm totally screwed up with anger and confusion PLEASE can some one help! My P reg Clio (1.4) was hit all along one side this morning - wing mirror off and scraping all along driverside from one end to other! I'm fully comp with saga with a £200 excess. The person didn't stop and "no-one" saw anything! I have just spoken to saga and they say the cars a write off and they are sending someone from co-part to assess the worth of the car! I've just looked up the company on the web and it's an auction company! The person from saga said I had to hand over all my documents to this company and they would decide how much the cars worth! Anyone had any dealings with Saga and this Co-part company? I seem to remember my sister years ago got to keep her car and the insurance company then gave her a cheque for the value of the car and then we had a friend do the work -can I still do that, I would much rather keep my clio and have it fixed rather than let some fly by nite company give me peanuts for it! Any help gratefully recieved

MM

daveyjp

You always have the option of not claiming. If the car is a good runner and the damage is only cosmetic - i.e. it will still pass an MOT this may be a sensible option rather than taking a cheque for a few hundred quid (less your excess) and then trying to find another car.

LandyAndy

daveyjp wrote: »

You always have the option of not claiming. If the car is a good runner and the damage is only cosmetic - i.e. it will still pass an MOT this may be a sensible option rather than taking a cheque for a few hundred quid (less your excess) and then trying to find another car.

That was my first thought as well. Slap a wing mirror from a scrapper on it and carry on driving.

Has it damaged any of the lights or wheels/tyres?

Are there any sharp edges to the scraped bodywork?

Do the doors still open/close/lock?

Madmonk

Trouble is I've already rang Saga to put the claim in - I was just so furious I didn't really think a head, theirs no real mechanical damage just the missing wing mirror! I've rung Saga back (now that I've calmed down a bit!) and explained that I would prefer that the car wasn't written off as the damage is cosmetic and they have offered to send an accessor round next week and then they will make me some other offers? So I shall wait and see what happens next week! I'm wondering why I ever bothered with getting fully comp for my insurance! Next time it will be just third party!

MM:mad:

cyclonebri1

And for certain I would not entertain thew idea of handing the documentation to anyone, hang on to your entitlerment. Deal with them, realistically at the value you feel for the car, must be above the suggested figure ??

LandyAndy

Madmonk wrote: »

Trouble is I've already rang Saga to put the claim in - I was just so furious I didn't really think a head, theirs no real mechanical damage just the missing wing mirror! I've rung Saga back (now that I've calmed down a bit!) and explained that I would prefer that the car wasn't written off as the damage is cosmetic and they have offered to send an accessor round next week and then they will make me some other offers? So I shall wait and see what happens next week! I'm wondering why I ever bothered with getting fully comp for my insurance! Next time it will be just third party!

MM:mad:

Write a letter saying that you no longer wish to make a claim at this stage based on your original call and then fax it to them before posting.

Tell them that there is no need for an assessor to call as you are not making a claim at this point.

You might be surprised to find how little you save going third party.

wr1ght

do some research online same car similar mileage, year etc so you have an idea how much there selling for

petrolhead69

just ask to buy back the salvage, they will give you market value of the car minus salvage value so say for example the car is worth 600 and salvage is 150 they'll give you a cheque for £450 and you keep the car, dependant on category of damage you might need to get a vosa check done before putting it back on the road but it's simple and easy.
I think its too late to withdraw the claim, as even if you don't claim you've already notified them of the accident so legally you have to declare it when you next get insurance and your premium will be jacked anyway so might as well see this one through.

[Deleted User]

petrolhead69 wrote: »

I think its too late to withdraw the claim, as even if you don't claim you've already notified them of the accident so legally you have to declare it when you next get insurance and your premium will be jacked anyway so might as well see this one through.

But it's such a shame to send a perfectly serviceable little old car to the scrap heap over a little cosmetic damage.

Madmonk

Saga have now cancelled the co-part people and are sending out their own assessor to check it over. Then they will be in touch to give me some options! I definately don't want to lose my clio as I've forked out over £600 on new tyres and head gasket etc in the last 3 months and I know I'm only going to be offered peanuts for her. So I'll try and find out the going rate for her and wait and see. Thanks for all the advice - just wish I could get hold of the s**t that did the damage! and then drove off!

MM

petrolhead69

Deleted_User wrote: »

But it's such a shame to send a perfectly serviceable little old car to the scrap heap over a little cosmetic damage.

Did you not read what I wrote directly above that?