Car deemed a "write-off" but it's completely driveable

mrwibble

Pukeko, Usually £2000 is when write-offs start to be automatic - by the way did you quibble the payout ? Its not your fault so you should not be put into a worse situation - surely you should get value + costs incurred.

a131d

any one know how to buy salvage cars direct from insurance companies as a business - any info would be appreciated - email me on abid@jannah.net - thanx everyone

Astradude

Hi

Just wanted some advice, I was involved in a car crash on the 6th of january, my car was written off because the insurance company have valued the cost of repair to £2700. The other driver was at fault therefore he has claimed liability for all the costs. I am currently driving a hire car which i requested from the insurance company. Since then they have offered me £1700 for the car. The car was modified a bit aswell therefore they have said the car is worth £1200 and the alloys are worth £500. Im happy with the price of the alloys but they have not given me a good price for the car. Oh yh the car involved was a Vauxhall astra 2000 w reg with about 75000 miles.

Im not in a hurry to buy another car because the hire car is just as good as the one i had. 1700 does anyone think they will offer me anymore for the car.

Hintza

a131d wrote: »

any one know how to buy salvage cars direct from insurance companies as a business - any info would be appreciated - email me on [EMAIL="abid@jannah.net"]abid@jannah.net[/EMAIL] - thanx everyone

I have two cars running that were Cat D write offs. Both bought on EBay which is a good place to start. You will then start finding the websites of these guys and other salvage companies.

Some good tips:-

You need a tame repair company (I went to school with the guy I take mine too) to keep costs down.

The repair costs are always higher than he tells you but I keep some back for contingencies.

I tend to buy sight unseen as most are down south. This can cause problems for example:- if drive half shafts are bent and you don't factor in the possibilty of a new gear box. So you need to ask lots of questions if buying this way (probably not the best way to do it)

The car will never be worth as much again and can be a problem to sell on so you need to factor that into any calculations.

How have I fared? Well both were new Pandas and the first was dream to repair costs came in pretty much on budget and it drives well with no problems and my daughter therefore had 2 year old car which didn't cost too much.

The second one has not been so good. New gearbox had to be bought and then it wasn't fitted correctly and the engine fell out which was a bit of a pain and more costs. The OH drives it and although it is OK now I should not bought it as the damage was greater than the first and this caused the problems. But at that point I was flushed with success from the first one!!

On Ebay type in this or cat and paste to cars section:- (damage, repairable, salvage)

housesitter

Cat D's are a good buy as nothing is on the V5 to show it.
Once it's certified, the car will be worth approx 60-70% of the insurance value compared to a non-cert car of the same type.

It's obviously best if you can do your own work.

Hintza

housesitter wrote: »

Cat D's are a good buy as nothing is on the V5 to show it.

Aye but they soon find out if the HPI it or check with their insurer. (I only add this to make folk aware that it is all recorded)

Interestingly sold a Golf for the other half and she had a wee ding in it. She ran into the back of someone and it required a bumper and bonnet, it was certainly never written off but the guy we sold it on to resold it and the other party was not best pleased. Fortunately we never heard anymore but I was very surprised at the time.

peter_the_piper

Astradude wrote: »

Hi

Just wanted some advice, I was involved in a car crash on the 6th of january, my car was written off because the insurance company have valued the cost of repair to £2700. The other driver was at fault therefore he has claimed liability for all the costs. I am currently driving a hire car which i requested from the insurance company. Since then they have offered me £1700 for the car. The car was modified a bit aswell therefore they have said the car is worth £1200 and the alloys are worth £500. Im happy with the price of the alloys but they have not given me a good price for the car. Oh yh the car involved was a Vauxhall astra 2000 w reg with about 75000 miles.

Im not in a hurry to buy another car because the hire car is just as good as the one i had. 1700 does anyone think they will offer me anymore for the car.

Their offer is just the opening offer of a negotiation. Reject and ask for more than you want. Eventually you will settle for something close to what you wanted.
I gained a few hundred more off the insurance company this way.

goldspanners

just a side note, ive noticed a hell of a lot of cat d and c right offs repaired and being resold recently,especially on ebay.
but ive also noticed an increase of folk on here surprized at thier car being written off. why is this? is this due to the weather and people not driving accordingly or are cars being written of to easily?

Hintza

goldspanners wrote: »

just a side note, ive noticed a hell of a lot of cat d and c right offs repaired and being resold recently,especially on ebay.
but ive also noticed an increase of folk on here surprized at thier car being written off. why is this? is this due to the weather and people not driving accordingly or are cars being written of to easily?

I think a mixture of reasons.

Insurers are quite quick to write off cars these days as I think more folk are interested in salvage so probably just economics to them as they receive more than in the past for salvage. Cost of repairs going up especially at approved insurance body shops.

Greater visibility of damaged cars eg website and EBay.

Will be interesting if the trend continues and decent used car prices continue to head south.

goldspanners

Hintza wrote: »

I think a mixture of reasons.

Insurers are quite quick to write off cars these days as I think more folk are interested in salvage so probably just economics to them as they receive more than in the past for salvage. Cost of repairs going up especially at approved insurance body shops.

Greater visibility of damaged cars eg website and EBay.

Will be interesting if the trend continues and decent used car prices continue to head south.

yes, with there being so many repaired write offs out there the price of "straight" used cars will be affected i would guess.