First crash...advice!

KierNet

Just had a phone call from them. The other party are saying that I already had damage on the car...which isn't true, I had a bit of rust on the near side front passenger door, but nothing else. Time to start writing EVERY thing down I think!

Strider590

I noticed the rust.... It looks to me like it's rotted from the inside out though?

neilmcl

KierNet wrote: »

Just had a phone call from them. The other party are saying that I already had damage on the car...which isn't true, I had a bit of rust on the near side front passenger door, but nothing else. Time to start writing EVERY thing down I think!

Yeah but have they admitted/established fault yet? This is the important bit for now.

KierNet

neilmcl wrote: »

Yeah but have they admitted/established fault yet? This is the important bit for now.

Nope, they just confirmed that they were involved.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

most definately a write off, no iffs no buts, they wont entertain in even inspecting the pillar, they will assume its affected by the damge running accross both doors and write off accordingly as the pillar will cost too much to rectify.

ive seen 2004 focus astra clio meganes written off with scrape damage less than the OP's purely because the damage is near or on a sturctural part or the car pillars frames chassis.

how do i know this, OH uncle runs a insurance approved body shop, he's the main body shop assessor and area assessor, anything worth less than £3k and show signs of structural impact isnt fully assessed based on that it will be costly to repair the structure of the vehicle and is assumed the structure is affected this keeps the costs down for insurers in labour stripping back the panels etc so they can maximise profit from the scrap that comes directly from the bods at the insurers to him.

mikey72

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

most definately a write off, no iffs no buts, they wont entertain in even inspecting the pillar, they will assume its affected by the damge running accross both doors and write off accordingly as the pillar will cost too much to rectify.

ive seen 2004 focus astra clio meganes written off with scrape damage less than the OP's purely because the damage is near or on a sturctural part or the car pillars frames chassis.

how do i know this, OH uncle runs a insurance approved body shop, he's the main body shop assessor and area assessor, anything worth less than £3k and show signs of structural impact isnt fully assessed based on that it will be costly to repair the structure of the vehicle and is assumed the structure is affected this keeps the costs down for insurers in labour stripping back the panels etc so they can maximise profit from the scrap that comes directly from the bods at the insurers to him.

It is a quite lucrative business now, as alot of cars appear to be written off, and "disposed" of by the assessing garage before the owner even knows.
Worryingly, it seems to be even a few hundered pounds panel damage is being writen off, possibly as you say above, it's not even looked at by the insurers.
I've seen a few cat D's that really only need a bumper, and a light sparay.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

mikey72 wrote: »

It is a quite lucrative business now, as alot of cars appear to be written off, and "disposed" of by the assessing garage before the owner even knows.
Worryingly, it seems to be even a few hundered pounds panel damage is being writen off, possibly as you say above, it's not even looked at by the insurers.
I've seen a few cat D's that really only need a bumper, and a light sparay.

he rarely get a visit from the insurers own managing assessor, even though he owns runs his own body shop he is also contracted to visit people at home to do a home assessment where the customer claims limited amount of damage for 3 large main insurers, the only time they do come out is for high value vehicles, OH uncle has a VX220 speedster that has light cosmetic damage from a motorbike scuff to the OS drivers wing and door, there a few cracks to the fibre glass, the car is a 54 plate, guess what written off. OH uncles says it would literally cost them £1000+vat in parts then another £900+vat in labour, the cars value is quite high but yet the insurers have decided not to repair and cat D it.

he's specifaclly told not to touch any vehicle under £3k value as the insurers wont pay the labour in stripping it so he cat d catc writes them off he gets paid a rate for collection and storage, then they go to another compound when the assessment is over its out of his hand from there.

mikey72

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

he rarely get a visit from the insurers own managing assessor, even though he owns runs his own body shop he is also contracted to visit people at home to do a home assessment where the customer claims limited amount of damage for 3 large main insurers, the only time they do come out is for high value vehicles, OH uncle has a VX220 speedster that has light cosmetic damage from a motorbike scuff to the OS drivers wing and door, there a few cracks to the fibre glass, the car is a 54 plate, guess what written off. OH uncles says it would literally cost them £1000+vat in parts then another £900+vat in labour, the cars value is quite high but yet the insurers have decided not to repair and cat D it.

he's specifaclly told not to touch any vehicle under £3k value as the insurers wont pay the labour in stripping it so he cat d catc writes them off he gets paid a rate for collection and storage, then they go to another compound when the assessment is over its out of his hand from there.

Then we get told insurance is going up because of whiplash.
Or uninsured drivers costing us a packet.

More likely every car under £3000 being written off for a trolley dent in a carpark.

KierNet

For those interested, the third party didn't admit fault, despite them pulling out of a side road..god knows how they think its my fault! However, the insurance company have found the third party to be at fault. I can now get my car off to the garage without having to pay any excess and won't lose my no claims .

Going to be getting a hire car too, as I can't get lifts to and from work as I'm starting too early next week and doing lates this week. Hopefully its something nice to drive.

Printed some adverts off for cars local to me that are the same spec, just incase it gets written off. They are all more than I thought though, around £1,500. This wouldn't matter would it?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

KierNet wrote: »

For those interested, the third party didn't admit fault, despite them pulling out of a side road..god knows how they think its my fault! However, the insurance company have found the third party to be at fault. I can now get my car off to the garage without having to pay any excess and won't lose my no claims .

Going to be getting a hire car too, as I can't get lifts to and from work as I'm starting too early next week and doing lates this week. Hopefully its something nice to drive.

Printed some adverts off for cars local to me that are the same spec, just incase it gets written off. They are all more than I thought though, around £1,500. This wouldn't matter would it?

dont forget to claim out of pocket expenses, i e hire car, it wasnt your fault and eventhough you didnt opt for curtesy car your entitled to be put back in the financial posiotion your were in before the accident.