Accident - MOT expired - advice please!

sarriep

They said the exhaust wasn't much good - not just the fitting of it although they mentioned this too.
We were very happy with the car - we've had it from new and really wanted it to be repaired

dacouch

Which Insurer have onequotedirect insured you with (It's on your Certificate of Insurance)

sarriep

It's got OneQuote Direct at the top of the certificate - and Service XK - underwritten by Service Insurance Company Limited ...

dacouch

They are a cheap and cheerful company, I suspect they will have something in their policy requiring the car to have a policy which they may initially raise. Do not worry about this as it is completely unenforceable. They can only decline the claim for the damage to your car if they have an explicit requirement in the policy that the car is maintained in a roadworthy condition AND that the unroadworthyness of the car CAUSED or SIGNIFICANTLY caused the actual accident.

If the Insurer do raise the issue of a lack of MOT, direct them to section 13 of this link http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html#13 Have a read of the whole link as it will explain how the Ombudsman expects an Insurer to handle a written off car including arriving at valuations. As I stated before they will typically offer you what is now as the "trade" value in settlement which is roughly the value a dealer would pay as a trade in.

As the Insurer is at the lower end of the market you may find that when they pay out on the claim that the cover will cease, so you may need to budget for this as they will not refund any of your premium.

A lot of Insurers will deduct any remaining instalments you have from the settlement.

In cases where the damage is fairly superficial you may have the option of buying the salvage off the Insurer and then having the car repaired yourself and keeping it as well as the balance of your settlement. The reason this can work out in your favour is the Insurer will have to use new parts and normally genuine parts to repair a car which can force the cost up. If you go to a local garage they can often do the repairs considerably cheaper by knocking out dents, using non genuine body parts or buying parts from the scrap yard etc. My father had his car written off, received £1300 settlement less £250 salvage and had the car repaired for £700 so the balance of £450 he kept as well as his repaired car.

Don't worry about the lack of MOT, we have had quite a few people in your situation and each one of them have received a settlement for their car, it did in some case take a couple of letters though. So providing the car was not "Unroadworthy" eg and the unroadworthyness directly caused or significantly caused the accident you will be ok.

As I mentioned before Service are not the greatest company so they may try and fight it to start with, but if they do a well worded letter quoting the link from the FSA should get them to relent. Have a good read of section 15 of the link, do not be afraid to remind them should they initially decline the claim of what this section contains and that you will look for compensation under this section if they unreasonably deny the claim and / or delay the claim.

Also have a read of section 16 as they may try and have the car taken away by a salvage company before they have agreed a settlement with you. This section will advise you of your writes on this.

Do not forget to go to the garage to take out your personal effects and the road tax, you can claim the balance of the road tax back when you settle the claim

sarriep

Thanks so much for your help! I didn't realise they would still charge us the rest of the insurance installments - we only insured in November and are paying monthly - will they expect the next 9 months of the insurance payments too?

They've quoted £2500 for repairs. If we were interested in having the car back would it still be classed as a Cat C car even if repaired? We wanted to own it til it died a natural death so wouldn't be looking to sell on anyway ....

I will have a good read thanks.

S

sarriep

Can see how it would make sense them wanting their full insurance installments!

dacouch

sarriep wrote: »

Thanks so much for your help! I didn't realise they would still charge us the rest of the insurance installments - we only insured in November and are paying monthly - will they expect the next 9 months of the insurance payments too?

They've quoted £2500 for repairs. If we were interested in having the car back would it still be classed as a Cat C car even if repaired? We wanted to own it til it died a natural death so wouldn't be looking to sell on anyway ....

I will have a good read thanks.

S

I can't find a Service Policy Booklet on line so I cannot confirm they will cancel the cover but it is common with companies at that end of the market. The reason why is you had a contract to insure the car, as the car is written off and in effect no longer exists they have full filled their side of the contract.

If you get your policy booklet out, it will confirm whether they do the above, it's usually in the section about cancellation.

The Insurers will normally only allow you to buy the salvage off them if the car is Cat C or Cat D.

sarriep

Its Cat C so will see what they say. They can't want much for it I wouldn't think. Wouldn't they just scrap it? Or could it be sold on to a repairer?
Yes fair enough, we were quoted for a years insurance so fair enough they want it all! We've only been with that company for the last 3 months. I'll check out the policy too.

Thanks again

Wig

What car is it? make, exact model & reg date, exact model to include gearbox, doors, fuel, body, engine, etc
What damage has been done?

Just my 2p to Dacouch

What if OP can get a back street repair shop to quote a repair price of say £1000 This would then mean an economic repair is possible and OP won't lose out, what if the insurer does not agree to the repair?

dacouch

Wig wrote: »

What car is it? make, exact model & reg date, exact model to include gearbox, doors, fuel, body, engine, etc
What damage has been done?

Just my 2p to Dacouch

What if OP can get a back street repair shop to quote a repair price of say £1000 This would then mean an economic repair is possible and OP won't lose out, what if the insurer does not agree to the repair?

If she can get the car repaired for £1000 from a back street garage and the write off value is say £2000 the OP might as well take the £2000 (Less Excess) and keep the balance.

Obviously if they have paid a large premium and the car is not worth much it might be worth following your advice to save on the potential lost premium from the policy being cancelled (It won't be cancelled if they repair).