Car with small dent in door written off!!! Help!!!

nightjar

Hi All!

Summary: last weekend my wife's car was parked on the roadside in London overnight, and someone bumped into her door leaving some paint damage, a saucer-sized dent (nothing major) and pulled the wing mirror off. The car is a 1995 (M) Fiesta with 71000 miles on the clock but is still extremely reliable, has full service history and is insured fully comp.

My wife made a claim on her insurers and the car was duly picked up by the body repair shop. The body shop later phoned her back to say that the repairs would cost £800 and because the car was apparently valued at £450 the insurers had written it off. She told them she didn't want it scrapped, collected it and drove it home.

The body shop manager then said that he could repair the damage for £500 (not via the insurers), but in the meantime the insurers have now told my wife that the vehicle is uninsured. This is despite my wife telling the insurers that she wanted to withdraw the claim. Incidentally, is this cheap "offer" ethical/legal?

Am I right in thinking that my wife is in a difficult position legally, and that by having a car parked on the road (fully taxed and MOT'd) she's committing an offence? Any advice would be most welcome!!!!

chanz4

its correct if they have cancelled the insurance, wasnt worth claiming from the start been honest cost you less getting parts from scrapyard

nightjar

chanz4 wrote: »

its correct if they have cancelled the insurance, wasnt worth claiming from the start been honest cost you less getting parts from scrapyard

Yeah, that's true, and really, given that the body shop's wanting £500-800 it doesn't seem an economic repair.

Our main concern now though is that she's not going to get done for having a vehicle uninsured parked on the road.

Quentin

If the car is on the road uninsured then she is committing an offence! (Court or FP -£200 + 6 points)

She needs to resolve this urgently - and get the car off the road until it is!

(Re the cheap offer, yes it's legal) Even if the price for the insurer was £500, they wouldn't have agreed it.

Torry_Quine

What should have happened is that she waited until the insurer gave her a valuation or the car allowing for its present condition as opposed to scrapping it. If acceptable she could then have got some money and had the car repaired for the amount quoted. The insurer will need to see repair has been done and new mot certificate as it was written off before continuing to insure it.

alistair.long

Quentin wrote: »

If the car is on the road uninsured then she is committing an offence! (Court or FP -£200 + 6 points)

Are you sure its £200 and 6 points for no insurance while parked?

I thought it was a fine only.

anniecave

Torry_Quine wrote: »

What should have happened is that she waited until the insurer gave her a valuation or the car allowing for its present condition as opposed to scrapping it. If acceptable she could then have got some money and had the car repaired for the amount quoted. The insurer will need to see repair has been done and new mot certificate as it was written off before continuing to insure it.

I agree with most of that post. However the insurer may not need to see evidence of a repair or a MOT certificate. When a similar thing happened to my car, my insurance company "wrote it off", issued me with a cheque for their estimated value (less the excess) but continued to insure it, at my request. 8 months later I still had not had the dent repaired, and it passed the MOT even with the dent still there.

Double check with the insurer, and if necessary escalate up to a manager or superviser, if you're not getting anywhere. They certainly should agree to continue to insure the car if you ask them, especially if the damage is merely cosmetic, not structural.

Also from looking at the DVLA website, the £200 and 6 points is for DRIVING with no insurance. Just having the car parked without insurance appears to be £100 penalty but you risk having the car towed and crushed, so I would move it somewhere off road until you've sorted the insurance out!

Torry_Quine

anniecave wrote: »

I agree with most of that post. However the insurer may not need to see evidence of a repair or a MOT certificate. When a similar thing happened to my car, my insurance company "wrote it off", issued me with a cheque for their estimated value (less the excess) but continued to insure it, at my request. 8 months later I still had not had the dent repaired, and it passed the MOT even with the dent still there.

Double check with the insurer, and if necessary escalate up to a manager or superviser, if you're not getting anywhere. They certainly should agree to continue to insure the car if you ask them, especially if the damage is merely cosmetic, not structural.

Also from looking at the DVLA website, the £200 and 6 points is for DRIVING with no insurance. Just having the car parked without insurance appears to be £100 penalty but you risk having the car towed and crushed, so I would move it somewhere off road until you've sorted the insurance out!

Thinking about it it actually depends on what category it is written off under.

paddedjohn

Quentin wrote: »

If the car is on the road uninsured then she is committing an offence! (Court or FP -£200 + 6 points)

She needs to resolve this urgently - and get the car off the road until it is!

(Re the cheap offer, yes it's legal) Even if the price for the insurer was £500, they wouldn't have agreed it.

even if the car is parked on the drive uninsured, she is committing an offence unless the vehicle is sorned.

Rover_Driver

There are now two different offences in respect of insurance:

1/ Using a motor vehicle on a road without insurance, contrary to s.143 Road Traffic Act 1988 - even if it is just parked, it is considered to be 'using' - often dealt with by way of a fixed penalty of £200 and 6 points.

2/ The new offence of being the registered keeper of a registered motor vehicle that does not meet the insurance requirements, (unless it is SORN) contrary to s.144A of the same act - dealt with by way of a fixed penalty of £100 (no points), But I understand they will write to you first and ask you to take out insurance, if you don't, they will then invoke the penalty.

nightjar

Thanks for all your valued advice folks - she's sorting it out today hopefully. And yes, another call to the insurance company will be in order!