Had an accident :(

debred86

was just wondering how much damage in an accident before they would write off your car??

I annoyingly skidded into a wall yesterday morning! (never have an accident at the weekend! insurers are useless). Thankfully im ok, my poor car however now has a nice injury.

its now in the garage, the front left wheel arch was all bent which popped the tyre, and the bumper was also damaged, the windscreen is cracked and the airbags deployed. just wondering how much damage they allow before they write off a car??

I really dont want mine to be written off as ive not had it long

anyone know ?? cheers

bigjl.

Age and value of the car come into play, plus the cost of the repair.

debred86

well its a 2009 ford fiesta bought it a few months ago for £7000

i was told its just cosmetic damage but it hasnt been looked at properly yet

Premier_2

debred86 wrote: »

...its now in the garage, the front left wheel arch was all bent which popped the tyre, and the bumper was also damaged, the windscreen is cracked and the airbags deployed. ...

debred86 wrote: »

well its a 2009 ford fiesta bought it a few months ago for £7000

i was told its just cosmetic damage but it hasnt been looked at properly yet

Sounds more than just cosmetic to me, but due to the high value of the car, it may still be possible to repair.
Will be interesting to see what value the repairer puts on correcting the 'cosmetic damage'

debred86

i know i thought that myself! i mean it wasnt all crunched in because i wasnt going all that fast but i thought it started getting costly when airbags come out etc.

I imagine its gonna need a new bumper, front left panel, windscreen and tyre. and obviously new airbags need fitting. to b honest i was lucky it only damaged that front bit and not the whole side of the car! but i guess you dont know if anything underneath is damaged.

bigjl.

Sounds like it maybe touch and go as to whether it's a write off or not.

blue_haddock

debred86 wrote: »

I imagine its gonna need a new bumper, front left panel, windscreen and tyre. and obviously new airbags need fitting. to b honest i was lucky it only damaged that front bit and not the whole side of the car! but i guess you dont know if anything underneath is damaged.

I supply panels to the crash repair industry and based on what you have said you will need a fair bit more than what you have described.

You will also be needing things cross members and front panels plus all the assorted trims and grills for the bumper. Depending on how the airbags fit in this model it may even need a new dashboard.

Plus you have all the labour costs of stripping and repairing it. I could actually see this being very close to a write off.

debred86

hmmm thats what i thought well thanks blue_haddock i was hoping someone from the industry could give me advice

i guess ill just have to keep my fingers crossed!!

dacouch

As a rough rule of thumb, an Insurer will normally write a car off, if the cost of repairs exceeds 60% of the market value of the pre accident car.

Bear in mind that most Insurers will stop the use of their courtesy car when they realise the car is a write off, a few Insurers will also cancel the policy (Without refund) once they pay out on a write off.

If your car is written off, you may find the attached link a useful link http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html

Which Insurer are you with ?

vaio

£7k car with front, side, ?suspension?, bumper, screen & airbags damage?

I’d say start looking for a replacement

Also, when it comes to valuation, remember that on recently bought vehicles the price you paid is generally assumed to be the market value.

debred86

ok thanks guys!

im with first direct for my insurance, havent had a courtesy car as of yet, not even sure if i can have one on my policy because the insurance place was closed when i called back after going to the hospital.

also im not sure how this insurance thing works, will i get what i paid for the car? as i said it was only bought a few months ago and havent put many miles on it.