Cat d write off - buying back from insurance and their salvage rates query x

masonj3

Hi

My car has been written off by my insurance zenith as a cat D. I am currently negotiating a settlement fee but as I had owned the car from new, it has very low mileage I would like to retain the vehicle and repair it.

Zenith said I can do this but they charge a non negotiatable salvage fee of 32% of the market value of the car. This seems quite steep and on internet searches I ve generally seen people being charged between 10-20% but I cannot find anything recent or any clarification.

Does anybody know if I can challenge this or where I could check for further advice? Thank you xx

Quentin

You can try and negotiate, but you have no "right" to the salvage.

Hintza

If the car is say worth £6k you want to be all in after repairs at less than £4k to make it worthwhile so the maximum reppairs can cost you are £2k.

So you pay a third repairs cost a third and you have a third to cover loss of value. You just need to work out if it is worth it to you. If you plan to sell in the next few years probably best passing on the offer, but if you plan to run it in to the ground then just do the sums.

vaio

You are certainly entitled to ask for the salvage and the insurers response must pass the FOS fairness test.

Similarly I'd guess the value of the salvage would also need to pass the fairness test

masonj3

masonj3 wrote: »

Hi


Zenith said I can do this but they charge a non negotiatable salvage fee of 32% of the market value of the car. This seems quite steep and on internet searches I ve generally seen people being charged between 10-20% but I cannot find anything recent or any clarification.

thank you all, i am going to try to negotiate but just cant find any clear guidelines as to how insurances calculate such fees, just seems high to me - confused

TrickyWicky

You won't find any guidelines as each company will have its own policies which are decided by its managers. They can conduct their business any way they want as long as they obey certain rules and I don't think the buy back %age has any rules to follow.

If its easier you could simply cancel the claim but be warned if they collected the car for the assessor to look at then they could ask you to reimburse them for this.

NVRAM

Admiral
Cat B 2%
Cat C 9%
Cat D 20%

FRom a recent "incident" haha

AdrianC

NVRAM wrote: »

Admiral
Cat B 2%

Keep the salvage from a CatB? Are you _sure_ about that?

colino

Unless you are fixing it yourself, know to expect the unexpected extra damage behind the cosmetics and are content that your low mileage car will be forever regarded as damaged goods, what is the point?
Salvage nowadays seems to be a trading market between the insurance companies and Copart and percentages are all out of the window with insurance company analysts trying to make a profit on this long forgotten part of the industry.
You could always wait and buy it online at the salvage auction.

ohreally

Quentin wrote: »

but you have no "right" to the salvage.

Its his property.

Quentin

ohreally wrote: »

Its his property.

Of course.

But that is not the op's query! Which is can he challenge his insurer over the salvage valuation.

As posted, negotiation is the only way forward. If they don't want to they don't have to let him keep the salvage.

Things are different when you claim off the third party, but the op says he is dealing with his own insurer,