Procedures after an accident - write off

AubreyMac

I'm in making an enquiry on behalf of a friend.

He had a car accident where he hit the car in front. The car in front was the drivers company car, therefore he didn't think it was a good idea to sort this out privately.

His own car is considered a cat D, he was told this by his own insurers in the last couple of days. The insurers will get back to him with a quote.

He doesn't know anyone who knows anything about cars.

When I had a accident and my car was written off, I was advised by some people to a) look on auto trader to see what the prices were for similar cars as insurers were likely to undercut and b) get an itemised list of works that need doing then take that list round to garages to get quotes.

I'm my situation I took the insurers cheque as it was so stressful on top of traumatic that I just wanted the admin parts over with asap.

With regards to b, is this a good idea? Looking back now, I think I was ripped off by my insurers but as I didn't know what to do at the time, I just followed their instructions.

My friend has a gut feeling that his car isn't as bad as the insurers are making out. What can he do?

forgotmyname

His car was already a CAT D? If so the will reduce the payout. Or its a CAT D if they repair it?

Whats the car worth and what quotes have they received so far?

AubreyMac

To be honest, I'm not understanding all this cat D business. When I had my own accident I wasn't quoted any categories, I was just given a quote and was told that if the cost of repairs were more than 60% of the cars value then it would be a write off.

With my friends situation he is unsure when it would be a cat D, he was just told that it was a cat D and they will call him back with a quote. He looked at similar cars and came up with 3.7k on average.

forgotmyname

If its already a CAT D then the offer will be substantially lower than if it were not.

Is the car badly damaged? Driveable?

OnanTheBarbarian

A Cat D marker could reduce the pre-accident value by as much as 30%, which would also make the possibility of it being written off now much higher as it was worth less to start with.

Presumably your friend did not know about the previous Cat D action?

If so, I believe there is a financial ombudsman decision which may favour the insurers not reducing the value by 30% if the policyholder had no knowledge the vehicle had been a previous write off.

tykesi

The way I read it is that the insurers are saying it's a Cat D write off after the accident, not that it was one before. I could be wrong, hopefully the OP can clarify.

AdrianC

Cat D means that the damage to your friend's car would be cheaper to repair than the pre-accident value, but the insurer have decided not to repair it for other reasons, often to put a lid on the maximum claim (hire-car, etc)

If he failed to do his research properly when he bought it, and bought a previous write-off without knowing, that's not exactly the insurer's fault.

macman

OP, if you get an HPI check it should show the date it was declared Cat D.

AubreyMac

Hi, to clarify it was not a cat D before he brought it.

He brought it second hand from someone who had it brand new. All HPI checks were done before he purchased 3 years ago.

After the accident he drove it home then called insurers, so it was drive-able. Someone from insurers came to pick it up and take to a garage (insurers choice of garage).

My friend and other driver is ok, not a single scratch on him. He wasn't travelling that fast anyway, no air bag came out or anything.

What I'm trying to find out for him is that if he doesn't believe what the insurers and their mechanic is telling him, what can he do about verifying their claims on the cost of damage? Would it be ok to do B above, which is to get an itemised list of works and find out from other garages what they would charge?

bod1467

Bought

/pedant

pulliptears

This happened to DS last month. 07 Plate Clio, low speed impact, no damage to the car he hit but damage to his enough that the insurance wrote it off.

Games will now be played. In DS's case the courtesy car was taken away as soon as his car declared a write off. Obviously this made life much more difficult for him for work. A very very low offer was made that 'could be with you tomorrow!' It was declined.

We researched every car we could find of the same year and spec as Ds's, similar mileage etc. We then put all that together into a spread sheet showing the least expensive, most expensive and average price of his car and emailed it over to the insurance company.

To be fair to them they came back pretty quickly and agreed to the average price. The money appeared in his account within a few days.

We asked for copies of the damage report but they were never forthcoming. Taking the car back wasn't something DS wanted anyway.