Insurance write-off as donor car?

mad_rich

My friend has an almost identical car to mine. Skoda Fabia 1.9 Tdi Estate. Mine is 02 reg, his is Y.

A couple of weeks ago, his was rear-ended and written off. Relatively minor damage, and still drivable, but given its age, it's a write off.

He is able to buy it back from the insurance company for £120, and has offered it to me, as long as I can sort out the collection (he lives 300 miles away).

Not sure whether it's Cat D or Cat C. but as I understand it, it will need an inspection before being road legal again.

I'd very much like the turbo off it, as the turbo vane is sticking on mine, and I've been quoted a new turbo at £1.2k! (Obviously, reconditioning mine would be another possibility.)

£120 sounds like a very attractive price. I'm just wondering how much it would realistically cost to get it back to my house. A transporter seems like it would be at least a few hundred quid, and I have no off-road storage available.

So get it MoT'd (and insured) and drive it up here myself?

How easy is it to salvage the turbo off it, and get it fitted to my car? Just drive them both to the local garage and tell them to get on with it?

And if I did that, what would I be left with? Any value in a car with no turbo? Or do I just send it for scrap. Maybe keep a few other bits and pieces?

Thanks in advance

gazfocus

Not sure about getting it to your house but I would take what bits I needed off it and then send it to scrap - you may even get your £120 back in scrap value depending on what you take off the car.

Mankysteve

You may be able to rent a car trailer if you've got a tow bar/find a friend who does. You'll need to check your car towing weight etc first though.

facade

Price a recon, or good second hand turbo.

Most likely it will have to be collected from a garage, who will charge you storage from when the insurance wrote it off.
If it is at his house, go and remove the turbo, then get the rest collected for scrap as above.

It seems a lot of trouble and expense just for the turbo, and you don't know how long it will last anyway.

mad_rich

It's at his house, and he's currently still driving it (although reduced to third party only) while he looks for a replacement.

His insurer has given this advice by email:

If you wish to retain the vehicle, the level of cover provided under the policy is temporarily reduced to Third Party Only.

This is because we need to make sure that the vehicle has been repaired satisfactorily before we can increase cover back to the level provided prior to your vehicle becoming a total loss.

Before we increase your policy cover back to the original level we require the following (at your own expense):-

1. An engineer's report to confirm that the repairs have been carried out to a required standard (a recommendation is The Institute of Automotive Engineer Assessors - https://www.iaea-online.org).
2. The repair invoice from the repairing garage
3. A new MOT certificate
4. Please note the following will be required if you decide to sell your vehicle at a future date.

Proof that you have presented the vehicle for a Vehicle Identity Check (VIC); this does not apply to Category D vehicles. Further information on the VIC scheme can be found at https://www.vosa.gov.uk. This is a Government-imposed requirement designed to prevent stolen vehicles resurfacing as post-repair vehicles. The VIC is a check of identity and does not formally assess the quality of the repair or confirm roadworthiness.

The above documents would need to be provided to our underwriters within 14 days otherwise the policy will be cancelled.

If you need an extension to obtain these documents, please speak to Chaucer Direct on 01227 284 040.

Once you have received the engineers report and repair invoice, the documents need to be forwarded to us so they can be referred to our Underwriters.

It's not clear (to me) whether the engineer's report and evidence of repair are a legal requirement, or just a requirement of this particular insurer to gain fully comp insurance.

I want this to be as little hassle as possible for my friend.

scheming_gypsy

Like Facade said. I'd go down, buy the car, take the turbo off, take the car to the nearest scrap yard and weigh it in.

DavidFx

The current MOT is still valid (it is not a legal requirement to have a new one). The car has to be roadworthy
If you have DOC cover on your insurance then you can drive it back. If not then find someone who has or add yourself as a named driver on your friend's insurance.
If you cannot store it off-road then it will have to be remain taxed and insured until you get rid of it.

mad_rich

Grrr.

I phoned my insurance company. They won't add a temporary vehicle to my policy if it's Cat D. I would have to take a new policy.

I asked about driving other cars. At first, it sounded like I would be covered this way as long as my friend's policy was current, at least until I became the owner. But then she went away to 'double check' and the answer is no.

The good news is that it's been confirmed as Cat D.

paddedjohn

As others have said, the cheapest and easiest option is to take whatever parts off the car that you want and weigh it in locally, to be fair this is only worthwhile doing if a) you aren't making a special journey 300 miles just to get the bits and b)if the parts are like rocking horse s4it to get hold of.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

your all banging on about getting it but are the turbo's interchanganeble, does it have the same engine code, vw skoda used a variety of different engine code to their vehicles and turbo's will have different indentity numbers per application

Muscle750

If its rammed up the bottom and the lights are bust you won't be able to drive it back anyway still viable thou to get it dragged back and rob the turbo etc my son in law Rover died he sold it to a scrapper got £140